THERE have been dramatic changes on the IRA’s ruling army council in preparation for a shift of direction by the terrorist group.

British security sources believe that Martin McGuinness, Sinn Fein’s chief negotiator who is standing for the Mid-Ulster constituency in this week’s general election, has stood down, along with Sean Gerard Hughes, a south Armagh hardliner, and Brian Keenan, a former chief of staff who is suffering from illness.

Intelligence reports suggest that Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein leader, and Martin Ferris, the Kerry North TD, are also preparing to step aside from the council. The intelligence is based on information from informants, surveillance reports and listening devices.

The reshuffle, the most extensive in recent times, comes at the start of an internal consultation process on whether the IRA should stand down and disarm. Adams has called for the organisation to commit itself to “purely political and democratic activity” and the IRA is preparing its response.

One security source said: “These changes are being so widely talked about that we suspect the republicans are briefing people on them in the hope that it will trickle back to us. If this is true, they are trying to show that the Sinn Fein leadership is severing its links with the IRA.”

The new members have no role in Sinn Fein, but strong IRA records. They would not be open to criticism that they were acting out of self-interest if they approved a shift towards non-violence.

The IRA army council, which has seven members, is responsible for setting strategy. It is appointed by the 12-strong IRA army executive, a body of trusted veterans. The executive has the power to sack or appoint army council members but otherwise stays in the background.

The executive is in turn elected at a general army convention (GAC) or delegate conference. The last GAC was held in Cavan in June 2002. Another is expected to be called to ratify any change in direction by the IRA.

The other main body is the general headquarters staff (GHQ), which is appointed by the army council and is responsible for keeping the IRA battle-ready and conducting its campaigns. It includes departments such as engineering (responsible for designing weapons and bombs), finance, intelligence, quartermaster general (responsible for maintaining the weapons supply), education (responsible for training recruits in terrorist techniques), operations and internal security (responsible for rooting out informers).

The executive appears to be winding up parts of the GHQ staff and appointing its members onto the army council to replace political figures. This may signal an intention to give up the option of force by ceasing to train members or develop weapons.

The GHQ staff has been without an operations officer since 2002 when Hughes, who held the post, was appointed to the army council, reputedly to replace Pat Doherty, a Sinn Fein MP. Doherty was named as an army council member under parliamentary privilege in 2001 but denied it.

Hughes, a hardliner, has been replaced by a Dublin man who is an important figure in the IRA’s engineering department.

“Anyone you care to name is more soft line than Hughes,” said one senior security source. Hughes is believed to have lost interest in serving on the council because the IRA had become inactive but his departure is not seen as a protest.

Keenan had not attended the army council for some time due to illness and Gerry Kelly, the Sinn Fein policing spokesman and a former bomber, had been acting as a substitute.

This double act has been replaced by Bernard Fox, a former hunger striker who was the GHQ director of engineering. McGuinness is likely to be replaced by Martin Lynch, the IRA adjutant-general, who is loyal to Adams.

Two possible replacements for Adams are Brian Arthurs, the commander of the IRA in Tyrone, and Sean “Spike” Murray, a bomber from Belfast.

LESS than a third of British voters want Northern Ireland to stay in the UK and fewer than one in eight believe the IRA campaign is over for good, according to a Sunday Times/YouGov poll. The online survey of 1,400 electors found 46% favoured a united Ireland, only 30% want to keep Northern Ireland — and 25% don’t care. The two biggest political parties are blamed for the peace stalemate, with 42% saying Sinn Fein and the IRA are the main ones at fault while 18% blame Ian Paisley’s DUP. The poll found a profound distrust of the IRA: 64% believe the IRA will resume violence while only 12% believe the ceasefire will hold.

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