> Belfast Telegraph > 30 Sept 2000 > > IRSP man says party drugs-free > By Martin Breen > > As the IRSP's first annual conference intwo years was taking place today, > one party member and former INLA prisoner speaks to Martin Breen about his > battle against gangsterism in the organisation. > > Eddie McGarrigle was just 17 years old when he was shot and paralysed by a > criminal linked to the INLA in 1984. > > Rather than feel bitter at the organisation which he supported, he says he > and others have battled "successfully" to rid the Irish republican > socialist movement of "gangsterism". > > The Irish Republican Socialist Party activist is angry at constant reports > in the Dublin media that the INLA is heavily involved in drugs and > racketeering. > > The Strabane man was himself a victim of a criminal connected with a member > of the INLA's Derry Brigade in 1984. > > Six months after being shot in the back and left paralysed from the waist > down, he received a public apology from the INLA. > > He said: "At the time a lot of the leadership was in prison and > self-serving people who could not find a place in other organisations > connected themselves with the organisation and used it for their own ends," > he said > > "People were expelled from 1984 to 1988 for criminal activities. I played a > role in that. > > "Current reports about drugs and crime focus on Dublin and Dundalk but > investigation after investigation which has been carried out by the > movement has found no substance to them. > > "The Irish Republican Socialist movement is not involved in drugs and > criminal activities. I challenge anyone to prove otherwise. > > "I met Bertie Ahern and he agreed that this is the case. He said that to my > face. Thousands of people have come through paramilitary organisations and > we cannot be held accountable for the actions of those who may have once > been a member when they leave." > > As he continued to support efforts by the leadership to rebuild the > organisation, he was arrested and charged in a controversial incident > during which the SAS killed an INLA man in Strabane. > > The wheelchair-bound ex-prisoners worker spent five years in prison after > being convicted in 1990 with conspiracy to murder a UDR soldier in > Strabane. > > He was arrested shortly after an SAS operation in the town when INLA man > Alex Patterson was shot dead during a gun battle outside the home of a > soldier. > > While, like the Irish Republican Socialist Party as a whole, he rejects the > Good Friday Agreement, describing it as "a sectarian head count", he is > adamant the INLA ceasefire is intact and will remain so. > > But neither he nor the IRSP and INLA will even court the notion of > decommissioning, rejecting it out of hand just as they ignore the Patten > Report. > > The 34-year-old father of one also rubbished media reports that some INLA > members are active in dissident republican groups such as the Real IRA and > Continuity IRA. > > "The IRSP don't want to see more violence. I would urge the dissidents to > sit back and take a good hard look at where they are going," he added. > > In fact, he has been instrumental in the party's Non-Aggression Charter, > aimed at ending conflict between the two communities. > > It was offered through contacts to the UDA and UVF but neither group has > openly endorsed it. > > He maintains that the IRSP is stronger than ever and claims that an entire > branch of Sinn Fein in Dublin has defected to the party recently. > > However, he is critical of mainstream political parties whom he accuses of > ignoring them and offering no-one from the party a place on the Civic > Forum. > >
