Police search Ardoyne offices of republican prisoners group

Police at the Cogús office on Ardoyne Avenue on Monday morning. Picture by Cliff Donaldson

POLICE have carried out searches at the offices of a republican prisoners’ group.

The Cogús offices in Ardoyne Avenue were searched yesterday morning and a number of items removed.

The office is linked to Republican Network for Unity and assists Oglaigh na hEireann (ONH) prisoners currently held in Maghaberry jail.

ONH called a ceasefire in January 2018.

However, members have been linked to the gangland-style murder of Jim Donegan in December 2018.

Republican Network for Unity posted on its Facebook page: “Following a number of recent PSNI attacks against our party and our activists, masked PSNI militia are currently searching our office premises in Ardoyne”.

With many thanks to: The Irish News and Allison Morris for the original story 

REILLY BEGS EX-TOP COP FOR CASH FOR FORMER PRISONERS

EXCLUSIVE

DISSIDENT loner Carl Reilly turned to an ex-RUC man to help prop up his dissident POW organisation.

Carl Reilly

Ex-con Reilly set up Cogus POW in partnership with leading dissident Ta Cosgrove after he was booted out of community group Conflict Resolution Northern Ireland. The Sunday World can reveal he has gone cap in hand for funding to Co-Operation Ireland which is headed by former RUC Assistant Chief Constable Peter Sheridan, only to be turned down. An application was made for funding under Co-Operation Ireland’s Open Doors programme which seeks to engage with prisoners’ groups. The Sunday World understands Reilly and co were told they were not eligible for financial support.

Thomas ‘Ta’ Cosgrove

On Saturday night a spokesperson for Co-Operation Ireland confirmed: “As a peacebuilding charity Co-Operation Ireland exists to engage with groups that support the peace process and are committed to non violence. “These groups include ex-prisoner organisations and many other community and voluntary groups, however we are not a funding body and hold no funds for distribution.” The move has been greeted with disdain and ridicule by his former dissy pals who have turned their back on him in droves. Reilly has refused to sign up to the newly reorganised New IRA and continues to style himself as the leader of the near defunct Óglaigh na hÉireann (ONH).

Peter Sheridan Co-Operation Ireland

New IRA chief Thomas Ashe Mellon has been on a recruitment drive, hovering up OnH members and leaving Reilly isolated. The north Belfast man, who was jailed for directing the activities of the ineffectual OnH, has become a figure of ridicule. “He had to stop all the extortion because everybody refused to pay up,” said a well placed source. “What can he do about it, it’s not as if he can call on his men to dish out a beating, he doesn’t have any.” ONH under his leadership started to disintegrate last year, by spring of 2018 there had been a mass defection with members turning their back on the discredited terror boss and his political wing Republican Network for Unity (RNU). Reilly responded by issuing death threats to various senior members, the former national chairperson Gary McNally also received a threat, prompting further disgust at Reilly’s tactics. It has also emerged that former terror pal Seamus ‘Shay’ McGrane had turned his back on him. Sixty-four-year-old McGrane died in Portlaoise Prison in May where he was serving an 11-year sentence for directing terrorism. Best known as all-Ireland head of OnH, he had grown disillusioned at the direction Reilly was taking the dissident group. McGrane was buried after a low-key funeral devoid of all paramilitary trappings.

Booted out

Reilly set up ‘community organisation’ Cogus with the help of his cousin Sean O’Reilly and Cosgrove after he was booted out of Conflict Resolution Northern Ireland (CRNI) after his release from prison. He has now put out the begging bowl to Sheridan, CEO of Co-Operation Ireland.

STALKER:
Fernando Murphy was convicted for a campaign of harassment and intimidation against the daughter of his former partner

“Anyone who knows him knows he’d sell his own mother for a few pounds,” a source told us. “He’d do a deal with the Queen, really he should be hanging his head in shame instead of walking into that office in the Ardoyne as if he owns the place.” Reilly set up shop in offices formerly used by CRNI. The trio went on to employ convicted stalker Fernando Murphy (pictured above) as a youth worker despite knowing about his campaign of harassment against the daughter of a former partner. “How can someone like Fernando Murphy get a job as a youth worker considering what he has been accused and found guilty of?” Said the source. “It’s a disgrace but it goes to show that they think they can do what they want and so far they are getting away with it.”

He said there was disbelief in the area that someone who considers himself the leader of a terrorist organisation can apply for public funds. The application was for two posts for Carl Reilly and Ta Cosgrove – however O’Reilly was left out of the application. The funding is also for ‘project costs’. “Cogus is not a charity, so questions exist for the CEO of the company, ex-RUC and PSNI officer Peter Sheridan, how he could hand funding over to a group with no charity or business status and one which is a department within a dissident political party whose associates are on trial for directing terrorism,” said one source. He said that Reilly, Cosgrove and O’Reilly had betrayed their republican principles.

With many thanks to the: Sunday World and Paula Mackin for the original and exclusive story 

Derry Republicans welcome ‘de facto ceasefire’ from IRA grouping.

Cogus, ex Republican prisoners from Derry and supporters of the Republican Network for Unity today welcomed moves towards the possible end to the Oglaigh na hEireann’s (ONH) armed campaign.

A spokesperson said that on Sunday, a former IRA prisoner, Ta Cosgrove, read a statement from the RNU at a commemoration at Edentubber, County Louth, in which they said the organisation must ‘move forward together’ and engage in a process of ‘modernisation’.

The Derry source said that the ONH was effectively on a ‘de facto ceasefire’, while internal discussions take place and that Ta Cosgrove’s comments follow a statement at Easter which said the ONH were engaged in a ‘wide-ranging discussion about tactics, strategy and the future of the republican struggle’.

With many thanks to: Derry Now for the origional story

 

Republican Network for Unity, RNU to step up ‘process of modernisation’

A hardline republican party RNU which previously indicated a possible end to Óglaigh na hÉireann’s paramilitary campaign has said it is stepping up its “process of modernisation”.

Prominent north Belfast republican Ta Cosgrove made the comments at a Republican Network for Unity (RNU) commemoration last weekend.

The party is viewed as the political wing of Óglaigh na hÉireann (ONH), which earlier this year said it is engaged in a “wide ranging discussion about tactics, strategy and the future of the republican struggle”.
Sources close to the organisation said that while no announcement has been made, it is currently on a “de facto ceasefire” while internal discussions take place.

ONH emerged from a split within the Real IRA around a decade ago.
It is believed the last significant attack carried out by the group was in January when a roadside bomb left for the PSNI in Poleglass, on the outskirts of west Belfast, was defused by the British army.
The comments from ONH followed an earlier statement from RNU signalling a shift in strategy, which was read out at an Easter commemoration in north Belfast.
It is understood several people have resigned from the party since then.

Mr Cosgrove, who is a former republican prisoner, spoke at a commemoration to mark the 60th anniversary of five republicans killed in a premature explosion at Edentubber, Co Louth in 1957.
He said the “RNU family” has continued to debate “both internally and with our critical friends” and “the future of our movement has been the subject of intense activity”.
The movement, he said, has assessed its “strengths and weaknesses” and recognises “that we must move forward now – procrastinate any longer will only lead to division and uncertainty”.
“The coming weeks and months will see a gear change in our process of modernisation that was spoke of at Easter.
“Today we ask you here, and members and supporters unable to attend and to the wider republican base, to begin with us the debate around a republican movement that is credible, realistic and modern.
“In time those determined to advance the revolutionary republican position will attest to our reshaped movement and renewed direction.”

With many thanks to: Connla Young, The Irish News for the original story.