[FuckingRotter]

I am aware that Ardoyne is a nationalist area. I am also aware that "real" and "continuity" IRA activities have been focussed on targeting Catholics, particularly those serving as police or prison officers. These are probably remnants of the gangsterish fundraising arm of the IRA, who would benefit most from a lawless community.

Yes, I accept that these people are not representative of any desire for a united Ireland. Still, I refuse to accept that any incarnation of the provisional Irish republican army was representative of any thing but their own military and political goals.

I'd be open to seeing any evidence that even in the most staunchly republican areas of Ulster that the IRA ruled by any thing but fear, or that there was any support in the Irish Republic for bringing the Six Counties in to the Republics fold.

The Provisional IRA were only ever gangsters and terrorists, with funding from some of the worlds most despicable sources (American Irish Catholics, Ghaddafi, Soviet Union, need I go on?) They survived mostly because they were able to terrorise the communities in which they operated, much like the Taliban in Afghanistan, or the department of revenues and customs in the United Kingdom.