Galliagh security alert: Regardless of who was responsible, frustration and disruption remains

Residents living in Galliagh have spoken of their frustrations at the security alert.

A number of children who live in the area missed school as a result, having to leave their homes with only handfuls of belongings on a freezing winter morning — children who have already lost out on so much of their education over the last two years due to the pandemic.

Bomb disposal experts found nothing untoward in the van and residents were allowed to return to their homes.

However, local reports of masked men being seen in the area the previous evening will have concerned residents who have enjoyed a lull in this type of activity in recent months.

The white Volkswagen Caddy work van had been hijacked in Bracken Park in the Shantallow area of the city at around 9pm on Tuesday and driven a short distance to Galliagh Park.

It remains unclear what the motivation for this was.

While the New IRA have maintained their one remaining stronghold in Derry, they do not have a big presence in the Galliagh area.

In recent months the organisation has all but disappeared from public sight.

Two Derry republicans, Paddy McDaid and Joe Barr, once members of Saoradh — the political wing of the New IRA — publicly disavowed violence during separate High Court bail hearings in December.

Only McDaid was released.

Barr remains in Maghaberry but is now housed with the main prison population, having been forced from the republican wing.

Tensions are high among the republican prisoners linked to Saoradh.

Both McDaid and Barr are charged along with eight other people in connection with two meetings of the alleged leadership of the New IRA.

The meetings were organised by MI5 agent Dennis McFadden who had infiltrated the organisation.

Earlier this month the Belfast Telegraph reported that the PSNI had recorded the lowest number of bomb incidents since the start of the Troubles in 1969.

There were just five, the lowest since records began.

So-called punishment attacks in Derry, which were prevalent for many years, have also stopped in recent months.

The New IRA’s leadership is disarray.

A New Year statement claiming they were “not defeated” and “capable of striking anywhere at any time” was mocked in republican circles.

The author of the statement was likened to ‘Comical Ali,’ the name given to the Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf — who continued to insist that Iraqi forces were crushing the invading Americans even as US tanks rolled into Bagdad.

The reason for the hijacking of the van remains unclear — was it a last-ditch attempt by the New IRA to launch an attack?

Or was it used as a distraction tactic while another operation was in the planning elsewhere?

Sources say that it was more than likely members of another republican group were behind the hijacking and have not ruled out a criminal element to the alert.

For the people living in the area, regardless of who was responsible, the disruption was the same either way.

There will be relief that no damage was caused to people or property.

But for those living in Derry it is difficult not to be nervous about any security alert, given the history of attacks in the city.