NORTHERN IRELAND:THE IRA used the Celtic Tiger boom to diversify into more sophisticated business enterprises by buying properties in London, Dublin and Spanish resorts, according to leaked US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks.
A senior Garda told the American embassy in Dublin that the IRA used the boom to move on from 1970s-style racketeering as it turned to “apparently respectable businessmen” to raise funds.
The IRA’s changing business practices are revealed in a cable by Jonathan Benton, the then deputy chief of mission at the American embassy in Dublin, which reported on meetings with senior gardaí and senior officials from the Department of Justice.
Mr Benton wrote that a senior garda, whose identity is being protected by the Guardian, "commented that IRA money was constantly moving, flowing from diversified sources into wide-ranging investments".
The cable added: “While the IRA had been proficient in smuggling, robbery, and racketeering since the 1970s, the Celtic Tiger economic boom of the 1990s had prompted the IRA to diversify into more sophisticated business enterprises . . . investments now included real estate ventures in Dublin, London, and Spanish resort areas, handled by apparently respectable businessmen.”
The cable indicated the new funds were being used to support Sinn Féin.
“Irish officials, more generally, remain concerned that IRA funds acquired through sophisticated investments are seeping into resources available for Sinn Féin’s political activities in the Republic of Ireland.”
Sinn Féin described the claims as “complete nonsense”.
“Sinn Féin is the only party [in the Irish Republic] to publish its accounts before legislation was passed requiring others to do that,” a spokesperson said.
James Kenny, the US ambassador to Ireland at the time, also reported that Washington was so impressed by the growth of the Irish economy that the then US treasury secretary, John Snow, visited Ireland.
A cable, sent on November 24th, 2004, may make painful reading on both sides of the Atlantic after the Irish Republic agreed an €85 billion bailout with the EU and the IMF last month.
“[A meeting of] policy-makers and businessmen . . . noted that while the concepts behind Ireland’s reforms had been simple, the political will to carry out the reforms had only come in the context of an economic meltdown in the mid-1980s.
“They said that good-faith relations with labour, investment in education, and a ‘dictatorial’ leadership that exposed industries to the full discipline of the market had been key to success.”