In recent days, the right-wing press have been circulating a story claiming that “the New Irish Republican Army” (New IRA) intend to launch a “campaign of violence” against migrants. As some of you may have seen on social media, the Canary even let this story through our editorial process, with a video from journalist Ani.Says being published.
There’s one small problem – zero actual evidence has been provided to support this suggestion.
The New IRA?
The rumour appears to have first emerged on August 3, when conspiracist influencer ‘Andrew Jaoc’ posted a video claiming that:
The old school [of the IRA] will give an ultimatum, not to politicians, but to the illegal migrants who are in the country [Ireland].
Jaoc doesn’t make it clear who this “the old school” IRA actually is. He uses the acronym without much specificity, indicating he doesn’t really know what he’s talking about. A multitude of groups have used the tag over the years. Mainstream media articles decided to run with “the New IRA” in their version of the story. This group are believed to be active, though with only a few hundred members.
Nonetheless, Jaoc continued:
This will be a major wake-up call for the authorities. These guys will show them how it’s done and give them 24 hours to leave.
Story came from fantasist reprimanded for accountancy scam
Jaoc’s real name is Andrew Sibley. Sibley appears to be a former carpet salesman, who now operates as a social media crank peddling largely anti-migrant fictions.
In the same video, Sibley launches into a tirade about alleged migrant crime and utters the immortal line:
…[the amount] of cooking of dogs has been exponential.
His videos typically contain such absurdities, with no evidence offered to support the outlandish claims. Sibley also attempted to operate as an accountant at one stage, but was disciplined by the Association of Accounting Technicians because:
He offered out and/or provided self-employed accountancy services to the public whilst not licensed or approved to provide such services whilst subject to an exemption.
For this, he was:
Reprimanded for a period of three years.
Deemed ineligible to hold fellow membership status for a period of three years.
Fined £4251.00.
Issued a warning regarding his future conduct.
Sibley went on to say in a further August 3 video that loyalist groups, the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), were preparing to enter into a “gentleman’s agreement” with the “IRA”. Sibley’s claim was that the previously sworn enemies were set to unite against a common foe – migrants.
Republican/loyalist alliance against migrants would “never happen”
This is a common tactic on the far-right in Ireland and Scotland – the attempt to sow the fiction that those from a Catholic/Nationalist/Republican (CNR) background are set to unite with Protestant/Unionist/Loyalists (PUL) against migrants. Yet polling still shows the CNR community is broadly sympathetic to new arrivals from abroad, while PUL people are generally hostile. There is no evidence of any meaningful unity to push a racist agenda against asylum seekers and refugees.
Those on both sides derided Sibley’s claims. Nationalist/Republican group Ireland Against Fascism said:
…that would never happen. Whilst the loyalists are more than happen to be violent bigots – republicans protect immigrants and will continue to do so.
This is the same tactic that loyalists used during the race riots in the North of Ireland earlier this year. They pumped out propaganda that the Real IRA were supportive of the riots to their US audience. In reality, republicans cocooned the immigrants and protected them. Sibley is lying again.
Meanwhile, on the opposing side, ex-UVF bank robber and racist influencer Freedom Dad dismissed Sibley’s claims as “absolute nonsense”.
None of this prevented the Daily Mailfrom running with Sibley’s story. They appear to have been the first mainstream media outlet to publish his claims, doing so on August 8. They printed lines from Sibley’s August 3 video, and in addition cited anonymous “intelligence officials” who said:
The New IRA have been very active this year in the North in attacks against the Police Service of Northern Ireland, at Lurgan police station and a car bomb at Dunmurry.
‘They have two aims: Irish independence and all migrants out. We believe it is part of a power struggle going on between factions within the group of the old IRA, the Real and the New IRA, with the new incarnations advocating a campaign of violent intimidation.
Daily Mailpeddles fictions from unnamed spooks about the New IRA
Unnamed sources should always be treated with extreme scepticism. Given we don’t know who made the above statement, there is no way to ask them follow up questions to determine the truth of their claims. Sources allegedly from the British security establishment should be viewed with yet more suspicion, given British agencies’ near limitless willingness to engage in deception and skulduggery.
The Mail’sstory has been picked up by almost exclusively right-leaning media outlets, such as GB News, the Express, and the American Spectator.
So what’s going on here? In the case of Sibley, it seems pretty straightforward. The fantasist has either invented this out of whole cloth, or has been gullible enough to swallow a fiction fed to him by someone with a similarly overactive imagination. In return he gets to push his racist agenda, and generate controversy for clicks.
In the Mail’scase, if they did genuinely speak to security services, the latter may have been willing to talk to confect a narrative harmful to dissident republicans. There have been signs of growing activity from the latter recently, and one way to diminish any potential sympathy from the CNR community would be to tar the dissidents as anti-migrant racists.
Alternatively, the Daily Mail may have simply invented the security service statements, or spoken to peripheral intelligence figures with an anti-republican and/or anti-migrant agenda. The reactionary rag has always pushed stories that attack immigration. It suits them to run with one that purports to show that even left-wing militants are now against it too.
Italy’s Agenzia Nova found another angle, riling up British fears by suggesting the fictional New IRA move:
…could trigger a new wave of immigration from Ireland to the United Kingdom…
We should know by now to treat the claims of social media click-bait merchants with total contempt. The Canary has duly apologised for our own part in this. We should have known far better than to fall for this obvious piece of far-right fiction.
Similar disdain should be reserved for right-wing rags like the *Daily Mail.*That mistrust should grow still when they blatantly seek to stoke racism, and wade blindly into the muddy waters of Irish politics.
Featured image via the Canary
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