The British government has pledged to appeal last week’s decision, which saw four County Tyrone men cleared of belonging to the group that killed 29 people with a car bomb at Omagh in 1998, because the Real IRA was not specified in Britain’s anti-terrorism laws.
If the appeal fails, British Secretary of State Paul Murphy said Parliament will pass legislation to correct the loophole that has left a transatlantic anomaly in which the Real IRA is effectively outlawed in the U.S. but apparently legal in the jurisdiction where it operates. The ruling has also creates cross-border confusion, since the Real IRA is outlawed in the Republic.
The Real IRA is specified as a foreign terrorist organization under current Department of Justice regulations. Fundraising or other activities on the
Real IRA’s behalf is prohibited in the U.S.
Until last week it was believed that the group was outlawed in the UK. But Justice John Girvan cleared the four Tyrone men of membership because the UK’s terrorist legislation does not specifically list the Real IRA.
The four men — Donald Mullan, 33, from Dungannon; Sean Dillon, 27, and Kevin Murphy, 33, both from Coalisland, and 26-year-old Brendan O’Connor of Pomeroy — are still on trial for conspiracy to murder and possession of a rocket launcher in February 2002.
The confusion about the membership charge arises because the British government named the Irish Republican Army as an illegal organization, believing that would cover all the various IRA factions, including the Real IRA, which split from the Provisional IRA in 1997.
“The term ‘IRA,’ I think, both in Ireland and in the UK, was an umbrella term for all the different groupings within the Irish Republican Army in the Terrorism Act 2000,” Murphy said as he announced the British government’s appeal.
“It was felt then — it certainly wasn’t challenged then — that that covered the Real IRA, and that is why it caused everybody to believe this was the case.
“If this is a loophole, we have got to cover up, then we’ll deal with it. We’ll take it to appeal.” Families of those killed at Omagh said they were dismayed by the ruling.
“This is an organization that’s hell bent on creating death and devastation,” said Michael Gallagher, whose son Aiden was killed in the bombing. “It just leaves you without words that something like this can happen.”