Irish Republican News - Newsflash: Statement by 'IRA Army Council' on Eve of Olympics 2012


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The Real IRA and a number of breakaway IRA organisations, including
Republican Action Against Drugs and Oglaigh na hEireann, have come
together to issue the following public statement this evening in the
name of the IRA Army Council.
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Following extensive consultations, Irish republicans and a number of
organisations involved in armed actions against the armed forces of the
British crown have come together within a unified structure, under a
single leadership, subservient to the constitution of the Irish
Republican Army.

The leadership of the Irish Republican Army remains committed to the
full realisation of the ideals and principles enshrined in the
Proclamation of 1916.

In recent years the establishment of a free and independent Ireland has
suffered setbacks due to the failure among the leadership of Irish
nationalism and fractures within republicanism. The root cause of
conflict in our country is the subversion of the nation's inalienable
right to self-determination and this has yet to be addressed. Instead
the Irish people have been sold a phoney peace, rubber-stamped by a
token legislature in Stormont.

Non-conformist republicans are being subjected to harassment, arrest
and violence by the forces of the British crown; others have been
interned on the direction of an English overlord. It is Britain, not the
IRA, which has chosen provocation and conflict.

The IRA's mandate for armed struggle derives from Britain's denial of
the fundamental right of the Irish people to national self-determination
and sovereignty - so long as Britain persists in its denial of national
and democratic rights in Ireland the IRA will have to continue to assert
those rights.

The necessity of armed struggle in pursuit of Irish freedom can be
avoided through the removal of the British military presence in our
country, the dismantling of their armed militias and the declaration of
an internationally observed timescale that details the dismantling of
British political interference in our country.

Signed Army Council - IRA.