Does anyone know why there is a raised terror alert from Irish Republicans?

[coffeeisnectar]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36267052

Just that really. Surely we aren't going back to the bad old days of the IRA etc. I thought the Peace deal which was brokered letting terror leaders become politicians sorted things out for good.

Do we really want to go back to terror alerts everywhere? Never mind what the poor people of Ireland and Northern Ireland will need to deal with.

I don't understand what they want.

[sillyoldfool]

Isn't it probably just because the elections have just happened and there's always a possibility someone will take umbrage at the result?

[coffeeisnectar]

I have been looking online and apparently there have been several hundred people willing to carry out attacks on mainland Britain for years. However, they didn't have the equipment or ability to do so. That's what has changed, they now have the ability to make IEDs and rocket launchers and have been using them in Northern Ireland and the thought now is that they will attempt to use them on the mainland.

I just don't understand why?

[GhostofFrankGrimes]

Dissident Republicans opposed to the GFA.

[CormoranStrike]

I flew from Belfast to mainland just last week; every man travelling alone was being stopped and quizzes, very noticeable.

[coffeeisnectar]

Sorry, I know I'm probably being a bit thick but what is the GFA?

Cormoran I presume that's new? I haven't been to Belfast so no idea what normal protocol is but I can only imagine they are stepping up security. Odd that it's only single men that were stopped. They do know that there is a likelihood that it could be a woman being used to come over I guess?

[CormoranStrike]

I am guessing that there had been terror chatter picked up,, and they were looking for a specific thing/person.

I have not travelled to or from Belfast in years, but it was noticeably different to recent interns flights from Edinburgh and Gatwick, or even international flights.

[Cocolepew]

GFA - good friday agreement

[JinRamen]

I agree they must have picked up chatter, as they say in the article that the dissidents are examine potential targets and now have the capability to act upon them.

[sarahquilt]

It's because the year is 2016, exactly 100 years after the Easter Rising and the birth of the Irish State. We are having lots of commemorative events in Ireland. I'm no expert but I'm guessing why people think there might be more risk.

[coffeeisnectar]

Thank's Coco.

It's really worrying, not just for the mainland but for the ordinary people of Belfast and other areas who face the threat of going back to the dark old days of the 70s and 80s.

I remember news footage where kids needed a police escort just to go to school. No one should need to live like that.

[AdoraKiora]

If you read the commentary underneath the BBC news link you posted, it clearly explains why.

[RockMeMomma]

I think there has always been 'rumblings', but the public are kept in the dark to prevent panic. I was afraid they would take an opportunity for the 1916 celebrations in Croke Park but luckily it went well.

[sarahquilt]

I'm surprised how little coverage there's been in the UK media about the 1916 commemorations.

[ColdMeatPlatter]

DH flew from Belfast to UK mainland a few weeks ago and wasn't even asked to show ID Presumably there must be some new intelligence received. The dissident threat in NI is more severe than on the mainland, and attacks on the security forces seem to happen maybe not regularly but I'm not surprised when I hear of them. Scumbags. (The terrorists I mean )

[scaryteacher]

The IRA never went away, and the threat has always been there. Presumably more concrete HUMINT and chatter.

[fanjoforthemammaries7850]

This is worrying us as we are going there in July. Loved it last year..so friendly and relaxed.. and know it's important not to give in but want to seem relaxed on holiday. We were on the road bomb was found on this week, last year.

Obviously people have to get on with their lives living there. Just a bit stressed in general so the news stories are adding to my worries.

[fanjoforthemammaries7850]

Not going to cancel or anything just hoping someone in the know can give me some correct persepctive

[fanjoforthemammaries7850]

I know my holiday is minor compared to people actually living there, too.

[ColdMeatPlatter]

Well fanjo it's funny, I've lived here my whole life. There was a huge bomb in our town following the GFA, the worst of the troubles in terms of death toll. Yet I go about my day to day business without a 2nd thought mostly, even though I have terrible anxiety. I didn't let ILs take DC to the Belfast Marathon around the time of the flag protests, I'd be too nervous to go to London or take a European City break or anything like that. I know IABU in that but I just know I wouldn't enjoy it. Day to day though the threat here doesn't cost me a thought. The arms find this week is significant , but I haven't came across any police checkpoints or checks recently. I'd rather be here than an English city at the moment tbh but Im not basing that on anything concrete!

[wigglesrock]

I don't know what I can say really to reassure you, threat levels can and do change, mainly based on intelligence. The threat level here is the same as it was when you were on holiday last year. I'm a bit confused as to what bomb you mean that was found this week - do you mean the arms find in the forest? I live in Belfast, my kids go to school here, I use public transport, I go to concerts, shopping centres, cinema - normal stuff. I've been to London recently with one of my kids, I'm heading on holiday to a busy European city with them soon, I'm trying desperately to sneak off to Paris again too.

[IoraRua]

As a Dubliner I wouldn't have seen republicans as a threat in the Republic during the 1916 commemorations. Loyalists, sure, I was very suspicious of what might happen during the parades.
They must've picked up on chatter, that's what I assume.

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

Presumably Brexit will also be an issue? If folk vote out, there'll need to be a "hard" border reintroduced between NI and ROI and that has all sort of implications, both real and symbolic.

[wickedlazy]

The dissidents think the "old" ira and Sinn Fienn have given up the fight, and aren't properly representing the wishes of republicans any more or doing enough to ensure a united Ireland. So they're taking matters into their own hands and using the old terrorist/ fear tactics to try to get their own way. Which won't work this time around, because they don't have the support they did before, and can't keep up with the new intelligence technology. As pp's have said, the anniversary of the Easter rising has inflamed the situation, "100 years and Britain still has the North". Senior republican politicians know who they are, but can't name them. I just hope the recent arms find wasn't the tip of the iceberg. There have some been some awful "punishment" killings recently, over drug dealing activity, which is frowned on by the dissidents. In the protestant area, the paramilitaries (uvf, uda etc) and drugs go hand in hand (this has caused many turf wars over the years). The two sides have very different attitudes to it (both extreme in their own way).

Good video about the Southern (and much tamer compared to their Northern counterparts) dissidents.

Tourists should be fine, I don't think the dissidents would target "shared space" areas, and risk harming one of their own by mistake, more likely to target protestant areas (where tourists are much less likely to go), or members of the security forces/psni/etc, as with Adrian Ismay, the prison officer who was murdered by the new ira in March. They put a bomb under his van outside his home in the East of the city

Lived in Belfast all my life, and love it despite the obvious downsides to life here. We're generally a friendly, welcoming wee city. I haven't noticed any increased security either.

[Underbeneathsies]

That's right, you're correct ItsAllGoingToBeFine and a hard border between NI and the south is in breach of the GFA, so it will have to be renegotiated.

Another reason to vote against Brexit.

[IPityThePontipines]

A hard border between NI and the south is in breach of the GFA, so it will have to be renegotiated.

This is a major undertaking, but seems to have completely been swept under the carpet by the media.

Yet another reason to vote to stay!