IRA funds worth up to €200m put at risk in United States
Republicans in 'state of panic' as Wall Street woes hit investments
Monday, 13 October 2008
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The IRA may have lost a substantial amount of its fortune in the banking collapse in the United States, according to republican sources.
Sources say that in recent years the IRA's financial bosses moved large amounts of money through front companies into a number of Wall Street financial institutions that were offering high dividends, but which have been devastated by the sub-prime market collapse.
One source put the amount invested in the US institutions at €200m. They said most of this was made through the sale of commercial properties mainly in the Republic.
Advisors brought in by the IRA in the aftermath of the 1997 ceasefire directed that IRA money be invested in the then booming property market.
According to the sources, the same people advised to get out at the top of the property market and sink the money into high-dividend deposit accounts in Wall Street in the past few years.
The extent of the losses incurred in the crash over the past few weeks is not known. However, sources in Northern Ireland said that one senior IRA finance figure made four apparently frantic visits to New York as the markets began showing signs of impending disaster and then collapsed. According to the sources, well-known republican figures in Belfast were in a "state of panic".
Mr Adams and senior Sinn Fein figures enjoy an extraordinarily lavish lifestyle in the US, staying in suites in top hotels and dining in top restaurants. During his visit to New York for this year's St Patrick's Day celebrations, Mr Adams had lunch with top Wall Street financiers at Bobby Van's restaurant on 54th Street, a favourite haunt of Frank Sinatra and his Rat Pack in the Fifties and Sixties.
According to republican sources, however, large amounts were deposited with the very same high-yield financial institutions in Wall Street which were making extraordinary profits on the back of the sub-prime market in the US. The sources say that recent indications are that the IRA has lost heavily.
Another irony for republicans is that Sinn Fein's four TDs in the Republic voted to support the Irish government's bailout of the banking system 11 days ago, despite the party's stated claims of being "socialist".
There are also indications that despite the amount of money at its disposal for elections north and south in recent years, the party's coffers appear to be drying up. Up to last year Sinn Fein had more constituency offices and full-time staff than most of the political parties north and south put together.
However, since mid-2007 it has been hit by a series of resignations, mainly of full-time workers and councillors. According to one source one of the current sources of disillusionment among the remaining 50 or so councillors in the Republic has been the withdrawal of "political operating expenses" to top up their council salaries and expenses which rarely exceed €30,000 a year.
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Comments
23 Comments
"Luckily the IRA didn't have any of those."
"So the Republican Movement lost the "war""
That really says something for British military then. Especially when the British military, government, and intelligence agencies said that they were highly trained and the war was not winnable. You know that is why they put the "terrorists" in government, released the "terrorists" in jail, and then for the most part left.
"They're now a bunch of fuel smuggling gangs with a fondness for attacking their former "comrades"."
See now both sides have more in common than ever. Maybe in another 10 years they will be smuggling together.
"and has now lost its money"
Don't worry, Gordon Brown will probably come in with a bailout for them.
Posted by TD | 14.10.08, 23:17 GMT
"Let's face it, if they really were fighting a war, they lost!"
Wow, your sure right, they lost alright. The British really put it to them. They took those poor guys who had terrorist convictions and did not graduate high school and put them in government. I am sure they did this because they felt so bad that they had beat so bad that they figured they would at least give them something. They then released all of these terrorists from jail that they had beaten so bad just to be nice. They then did everything they could not to acknowledge large bank robbery's, punishment beatings, shootings and killings, that continued to happen, EVEN though they knew that they could just send the troops back in for another quick victory.
"The ROI has zero interest in unification"
The last poll I read said that 80% of the people in ROI wanted unification. Do you have reference for your poll which shows "zero"% of people want it?
Posted by TD | 14.10.08, 22:56 GMT
I don't expect you to print this.
However the question needs to be asked: "Where do the other terrorist groups keep their money, under their mattresses?"
A terrorist is a terrorist no matter what shade or belief.
Posted by Ed | 14.10.08, 15:56 GMT
Forgetting misplaced loyalty to lost causes, I find it illogical that anyone could still attempt to flatter Sinn Fein or the IRA with an ounce of credibility. Let's face it, if they really were fighting a war, they lost! With a few honourable and genuine exceptions, Republicans have been revealed as a motley crew of British agents, gangsters and businessmen. The statelet of Northern Ireland is, if anything, more British than ever. The ROI has zero interest in unification, why should people bother with all that nonsense in the North?. Incidentally, I am not a unionist.
Posted by Tony | 14.10.08, 14:56 GMT
"you can't just leave a bunch of trained fighters high and dry"
Luckily the IRA didn't have any of those. They're now a bunch of fuel smuggling gangs with a fondness for attacking their former "comrades".
So the Republican Movement lost the "war", lost the elections in the RoI and has now lost its money. Lucky Sinn Fein has those Stormont posts to fall back on...
Posted by Steve | 14.10.08, 14:23 GMT
Marc, the killers on the loyalist/British side got either got redundancy packages and/or pensions. They did the same type of things as the republican side did. They just did it wearing uniforms and with helicopters, armored cars, and prisons.
Marc, as an American you should know that you can't just leave a bunch of trained fighters high and dry. Haven't you seen what happened in Iraq when your incompetent government said "ok Army is disbanded, everybody go home to your hidden weapons and also any member of the Baath party(most of military) will not get a pension"
Lets think about the real reason why the surge worked. That's right, after 4 years your highly educated officials said "you know what, maybe we should pay those trained ex-military members we told to go home and that they would not receive pensions, to be on our side."
Posted by TD | 14.10.08, 12:58 GMT
If the IRA have lost a substantial amount of money here in the USA due to the banking collapse I am very happy as it could not have happened to a nicer bunch of people. Not everyone here in America supports the IRA. It's disgusting that senior members of Sinn Fein can enjoy a lavish lifestyle here when they visit America, but their ordinary supporters have to get on with the normal struggle through life. Were these people really involved in a struggle to bring about a united Ireland or a struggle to line their own pockets?
Posted by MARC | 13.10.08, 23:14 GMT
Best news i,ve heard in a long time. Am a bit surprised to learn,when the big wigs go to the USA,They stay in 5 star hotels,and eat where the stars dine. Wonder what the lads think, back in west Belfast.
Posted by UNIONCRUISER | 13.10.08, 20:58 GMT
It wouldn't surprise me if the Provo's and their Paymasters get a good deal with the American Bailout!
Posted by Philip | 13.10.08, 20:47 GMT
As the old adage says, "Every cloud has a silver lining" and boy. the lining here is sweet news.
Posted by CannuckCol | 13.10.08, 18:11 GMT
My heart bleeds for them, as they made other hearts bleed.
Posted by Brian | 13.10.08, 17:35 GMT
Absolutely sickening what the SF so-called leaders are up to. The only problem with the story is that most supporters of SF will not believe it because they know the media has always been against them. Now, had the media been even-handed instead of pro-unionists and pro-British, just think of the impact this excellent story would have had. Perhaps there is a lesson for the media here: balance and fairness always pays dividends in the end. Unlike most banks…
Posted by no longer fooled | 13.10.08, 17:21 GMT
at last a reason for the credit crunch! if they loose all their money and I so hope the scumbags do, it will all have been worth it!
Posted by ya | 13.10.08, 16:02 GMT
Aw sorry... can't write much... too busy laughing my head of!
Posted by johnh | 13.10.08, 15:53 GMT
The question that puzzles me is this. Where on earth did a terrorist organisation whose sole aim for nearly thirty years was to murder and maim innocent civillians get so much money from?
This is a good example of governments British, Irish and USA being soft on Irish republicans.
The fact that a terrorist organisation is allowed to operate as a legitamate business is no lesson to fighting this sort of evil and in effect is condoning the murders by the vile scum that is a cancer on the body of Ireland.
Posted by Bewildered Reader | 13.10.08, 15:34 GMT
Sadness, Liam? I'm delighted that the ill-gotten fortune these parasites stole and extorted from the rest of us has been lost.
Posted by neil | 13.10.08, 15:00 GMT
Well every cloud has a silver lining!
Posted by Elizabeth | 13.10.08, 14:36 GMT
This story was rubbish when Jim Cusack had it published in yesterdays Sunday Independent. His unnamed sources lost any credibility they had many years ago.
Posted by Jim Beam | 13.10.08, 14:32 GMT
Well every cloud has a silver lining!
Posted by Elizabeth | 13.10.08, 14:29 GMT
Well every cloud has a silver lining!
Posted by Elizabeth | 13.10.08, 14:29 GMT
23 Comments