WHILE Ian Paisley was impressing upon Tony Blair yesterday the need for the Provisional IRA to “wear sackcloth and ashes”, an Irish court was jailing some of the terrorist’s group’s members for spying on government ministers.

Niall Bennett, 35, from Crumlin in Dublin, was convicted at Dublin’s Special Criminal Court along with Kenneth Donohoe, 26, from Tallaght. Both men were given four-year sentences.

Judge Diarmuid O’Donovan said that, although the IRA is on ceasefire, there was nothing to suggest that the men would not pursue activities with an illegal organisation in the future.

Bennett was found to have documents about a number of TDs — members of the Dail — including three former justice ministers. He is a key election worker for Aengus O Snodaigh, the Sinn Fein TD.

Their convictions last week and the sentencings yesterday have prompted few headlines, possibly because the news runs counter to the impression given in recent days that the IRA is on the brink of shutting up shop. But with the exception of a rump of dissidents — between 50 and 100 people, some of whom hold high office — the organisation remains as disciplined as ever, according to a range of experts from the security, academic and republican worlds.

The IRA was spying on politicians with the intention of digging dirt, according to Irish police. The two convicted members followed politicians and made notes of where they drank and who they met.

In a raid on Bennett’s house the police also found a list of criminals, believed to have been drawn up so that the IRA could target figures who refused to pay protection money. The IRA is believed to have shot dead at least five Dublin criminals in the past two years.

Enda Kenny, the opposition Fine Gael leader, raised the issue yesterday during questions to Bertine Ahern, the Taoiseach, requesting that the remit of the international monitoring commission, which monitors terrorist activity in Northern Ireland, could be extended to the Republic.

Three weeks ago the government-appointed commission reported that the Provisional IRA, as well as other terrorist groups, shows no sign of winding down.

The report painted a picture of a society where many working-class communities are still controlled by armed groups. The report said that while IRA violence had decreased between March and August this year: “It continued to recruit, though in small numbers, and to gather intelligence.”

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