Bomb terror group’s 1980s arms dumps

achieve anything in the past, it didn’t achieve anything right now.”

But a council motion condemning it won by just a single vote after Sinn Fein, traditionally the political wing of the Provisional IRA, and independent Republicans refused to back it.

Police believe the New IRA, who reject the peace process in favour of violence to try to unite Ireland, planted the bomb. It was reported last month that 1,000 police officers from Scotland and England are being trained for deployment along the border in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

The former Republican commander – who was involved in hundreds of attacks during the Troubles – said: “Nothing will alter the mindset of those committed to changing the status of the North by violence. Another betrayal over the backstop will reinforce their belief that Westminster can’t be trusted and the only way forward will be violence.

“There is major discontent within the Nationalist community at large, and that is even more prevalent within Sinn Fein itself because the peace process effectively stalled with the election of the Tories under David Cameron.

“Brexit has opened people’s eyes to the fact that the UK Government doesn’t care about us here in the North.

“The Brits ts seem to have conveniently forgotten that the

Good Friday Agreement is an international agreement with four signatories es – the US, the

EU, Dublin and nd the UK.

“If we abandon t he backstop, there here will be violence.” But t some say the

New IRA is not ot the threat that the Provisional sional IRA once was because use it lacks community support.

Terrorism e x p e r t Prof of Richard English, of Queen’s University Belfast, said: “The dissident Republicans at present have nowhere near the support base to allow them to challenge Sinn Fein within Republican communities.

“Brexit has deepened nationalist disaffection. It reintroduces the prospect of a harder border in Ireland and threatens to drag Irish nationalists out of the EU on the basis mainly of English votes.

“So many nationalists are now more sympathetic to pursuing a united Ireland than they were before Brexit.

“But most do not favour violence or believe that it will achiev achieve progress. Brexit is not going to restart the Troubles.”

Yesterday it was re reported MI5 has more than 700 sp spies in Belfast to counter the New I IRA threat.

A counterterrorism source said: “There is a reason MI5 M has about 20 per cent of its total strength in Be Belfast and last weekend w was a timely remind reminder of that

reas reason.”