Northern Ireland

Republican murders might have jeopardised Official IRA decommissioning

Gerard 'Jock' Davidson was shot dead in the Markets area of Belfast, a one-time Official IRA stronghold, in May 2015
Gerard 'Jock' Davidson was shot dead in the Markets area of Belfast, a one-time Official IRA stronghold, in May 2015 Gerard 'Jock' Davidson was shot dead in the Markets area of Belfast, a one-time Official IRA stronghold, in May 2015

A senior member of the Official IRA has said if the murders of Gerard 'Jock' Davison and Kevin McGuigan had happened at the time of decommissioning, it may have reconsidered handing over its weapons.

The republican organisation gave up its arms after engaging with General John de Chastelain's decommissioning process in 2009.

It announced that all its guns had been put beyond use in February 2010.

Despite having officially being on ceasefire for more than 40 years, many of the weapons dated to the mid and late-1980s.

A source said members continued to acquire weapons for "protection of their base", with the memory of bloody feuds with the INLA and Provisional IRA in the mid-1970s still fresh in their minds.

The weapons were said to have been retained in case hostilities were to resurface between old rivals.

By the time the group was approached to decommission it was aware the INLA had also agreed to engage with the process, while the Provisional movement was "part of the establishment" and in its opinion "posed no threat".

In 2015, former IRA commander Gerard 'Jock' Davison was murdered in the Markets area of south Belfast, followed months later in nearby Short Strand by former republican prisoner Kevin McGuigan.

Both areas would have been considered strongholds for the Official IRA during the Troubles.

"I suppose that showed that they (PIRA) could still be active if they wanted. I know it's all speculation now but if that had happened during our process it might have stalled or even changed minds completely," the senior Official IRA source said.

"As it was, we believed the time was right to decommission the weapons we had in our control."

The veteran republican also said that during the process of gathering weapons, they were warned that dissident republicans were watching members - in the belief they could try to intercept weapons in transit.

"We knew that there were a few boys watching and waiting, so that added to the secrecy around the process.

"There would have been a few boys would have loved to get their hands on those weapons before we got a chance to decommission them and obviously we wanted to ensure that didn't happen."