Dissident Republican Groupings, and a Chronology of Dissident Republican Activity, 1994-2011

The following is a DRAFT page containing information on

• Dissident Republican Paramilitary Groupings
• Dissident Republican Political Groupings
• A chronology of Dissident Republican Activity
• Sources

Dissident Republican Paramilitary Groupings

One of the features of the violence carried out by Dissident Republicans in Northern Ireland, noted by the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) and others, has been its fragmentary nature. As a consequence the IMC has reported on variety of groupings which have emerged to claim responsibility for certain actions. There are a number of explanations put forward for such a development such as cooperation across various dissident groupings in different areas to the use of ‘names of convenience’ to claim responsibility for certain operations. Whilst some of these have disappeared from view others have maintained a high level of activity. Thus the IMC in its reports have listed a number of the more prominent miscellaneous dissident republican groupings.

Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA)
synonyms: Irish Continuity Army Council (ICAC); Continuity Army Council (CAC)
A Republican paramilitary group which came to prominence in 1996 when it claimed responsibility for a number of attacks and attempted attacks in Northern Ireland. It is widely believed that the CIRA is made up of people who were previously members of other republican groups (particularly the IRA) but who became disaffected with the peace process and the IRA ceasefire. The CIRA has supporters in the Republic of Ireland, Belfast, Fermanagh / south Donegal area, and Derry / north Donegal area. There have been claims that the CIRA is, in effect, the military wing of Republican Sinn Féin (RSF) but this has been denied by RSF leaders. The CIRA has not declared a ceasefire and is opposed to the Good Friday Agreement.

Concerned Families Against Drugs (CFAD)
A vigilante organisation which operates in Republican areas of Belfast and which targets those it alleges are involved in “anti-social behaviour”, particularly those suspected of dealing in drugs. Its activities were noted by the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) particularly in its 22nd report.

Republican Action Against Drugs (RAAD)
A vigilante organisation which operates in Republican areas in Derry City but has also carried out attacks in the Strabane and Newry areas. It largely targets those people it alleges are drug dealers by means of pipe bombs or arson attacks on their property, threatening or banishing alleged dealers and paramilitary 'punishment attacks' where alleged dealers are shot in the legs. It is believed that the group formed in 2008. Its activities have been noted by the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) since its 22nd report. RAAD admitted to the killing of Andrew Allen on 9 February 2012.

Saoirse na hÉireann (SNH)
A short-lived Dissident Republican grouping first mentioned by the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) in its eighth report published in February 2006 and again in its tenth report in April 2006. It was thought to have operated largely in republican areas of Belfast and have been responsible for number of bomb hoaxes.

Republican Defence Army (RDA)
A short-lived Dissident Republican grouping referred to by the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) in its seventeenth report published in November 2007. It was alleged to have carried an assault in Strabane.

Irish Republican Liberation Army (IRLA)
In its eighteenth report published in May 2008 the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) reported that a new Dissident Republican grouping had emerged in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast, and which had given itself the name Irish Republican Liberation Army (IRLA). Although it was judged not to be a serious threat the IMC raised concerns it was involved in criminal activity. This belief was repeated in the IMC’s twentieth report in which it stated that the IRLA was little more than a group of criminals attempting to justify their actions by claiming they were carried out in the pursuit of republican objectives.

Saor Uladh (SU)
In its 21st report the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) noted the emergence in Belfast of Saor Uladh (SU), consisting largely of former members of the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA). Although the IMC concluded that SU had not yet conducted any paramilitary operation, it would be kept under review.

Óglaigh na hÉireann (ONH)
(Óglaigh na hÉireann is an Irish term for 'Volunteers of Ireland', or 'Irish Volunteers'.)
synonyms: Irish Republican Army (IRA); Dissident Republicans
The term Óglaigh na hÉireann - while the Irish term for the (official/legal) Irish Army - has been used down through the years by many republican paramilitary groupings including the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA). With regards to dissident activity it was first adopted by a small group in the Strabane area which had split from the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) some time in 2006. In February 2008 ONH were blamed for the killing of Andrew Burns. However it is thought that this grouping went out of existence and along with others, the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) by 2009 was to use the term ONH specifically to describe a new dissident faction which had emerged out of the ‘real’ Irish Republican Army (rIRA).

'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA)
synonyms: Óglaigh na hÉireann; 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA)
This Republican Paramilitary group was formed in November 1997 from dissident members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA). These former members of the IRA were opposed to the 'peace process' and the political leadership of Sinn Féin. The rIRA was believed to include a former 'quartermaster-general' of the IRA and a former 'head of engineering'. There was speculation over the following months that many members of the 'engineering' section of the IRA left to join the rIRA. Membership of the organisation was initially put at between 100 and 200 people. Most of the support for the rIRA was initially in the Dundalk and Newry area with some support in Dublin. It is believed to have political links with the Thirty-Two County Sovereignty Committee. The rIRA is also believed to have close links with the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA).

Dissident Republican Political Groupings

Thirty-Two County Sovereignty Movement
synonyms: 32CSM
The Thirty-Two County Sovereignty Movement (formerly known as The Thirty County Sovereignty Committee) is a Republican political grouping which is opposed to all aspects of the 'peace process' in Ireland. The group was formed on 7 December 1997 at a meeting of 'dissident' Republicans in Dublin. One of the founding members of the groups was Ms Bernadette Sands McKevitt, the sister of Bobby Sands who died on hunger strike on 5 May 1981. Some commentators believe that the group has political links with the 'real' Irish Republican Army (formed by disaffected PIRA members in November 1997) but this has been denied by both organisations. The 32 CSM launched its own political initiative. “Irish Democracy: A Framework for Unity” in November 2005.
Web Site:  http://www.32csm.info/

Republican Sinn Féin (RSF)
A breakaway group from Sinn Féin (SF) which was formed in 1986. At the 1986 SF Ard Fheis, SF decided to end its traditional abstention policy from the Dáil but those who opposed the move walked out to form RSF. The group was lead by Ruairí Ó Braídaigh, former President of SF, and Dáithí Ó Conaill, former Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army (IRA). At the 1988 RSF Ard Fheis the party reaffirmed its support for the 'armed struggle'. RSF rejected the 1993 Downing Street Declaration and was also against the peace process. There have been claims that the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) was, in effect, the military wing of RSF but this has been denied by RSF leaders. The CIRA has not declared a ceasefire and is opposed to the Good Friday Agreement.
Web Site:  http://www.rsf.ie/

Republican Network for Unity (RNU)
The Republican Network for Unity (RNU) was formed in 2007. It was formerly known as ‘Ex-POW's and Concerned Republicans against RUC/PSNI'. The grouping represents republicans who were opposed to the direction taken by Sinn Féin (SF) in accepting the Good Friday Agreement and in particular the decision taken by SF on 28 January 2007 to support the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and to support the criminal justice system in the region. The RNU was formed out of a pressure group known as 'Ex-POW's and Concerned Republicans against RUC/PSNI'.

éirígí
éirígí was first established as a political pressure group by activists in Dublin in 2006. However in 2007 it took steps to organise itself into a fully pledged political party and later registered with the authorities in the Republic of Ireland to contest local government elections. It campaigns for the withdrawal of the British government from Northern Ireland and the establishment of a democratic socialist thirty-two county Irish republic. Within the context of Northern Ireland éirígí’s presence was first noted in late 2006 and early 2007 by the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) in its reports. In subsequent reports the IMC was to describe éirígí as a grouping “with a focus on aggressive protest activities” and although not directly involved in paramilitary activity the IMC voiced concerns over its “ambiguous attitude towards the use of physical force”.
Web Site:  http://www.eirigi.org/

Chronology of Dissident Republican Activity , 1994-2011

1986

Sunday 2 November 1986
During the second day of the Sinn Féin (SF) Ard Fheis in Dublin, a majority of delegates voted to end the party's policy of abstentionism - that of refusing to take seats in Dáil Éireann. The change in policy led to a split in SF and Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, a former President of SF, Dáithí Ó Conaill, a former vice-President of SF, and approximately 100 people staged a walk-out.
[ Ó Brádaigh and Ó Conaill went on to establish a new organisation called Republican Sinn Féin (RSF).]
[ Later there are claims that this new republican faction has its own military wing – the Continuity Army Council (CAC) which later evolves into the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA).]

1994

Wednesday 31 August 1994
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) issued a statement which announced a complete cessation of military activities: "Recognising the potential of the current situation and in order to enhance the democratic process and underlying our definitive commitment to its success, the leadership of the IRA have decided that as of midnight, August 31, there will be a complete cessation of military operations. All our units have been instructed accordingly."

Thursday 14 October 1994
The Combined Loyalist Military Command (CLMC), speaking on behalf of all Loyalist paramilitary organisations, announced in a statement a ceasefire as from midnight: "... the CLMC will universally cease all operational hostilities as from 12 midnight on Thursday the 13th October 1994. The permanence of our cease-fire will be completely dependent upon the continued cessation of all nationalist/republican violence; ..." Thus the Loyalist ceasefire was made conditional on no return to violence by the Irish Republican Army (IRA). The press conference was led by Mr Gusty Spence a veteran member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). The CLMC offered "abject and true remorse" to "innocent" victims of Loyalist violence.

1996

Friday 9 February 1996
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) exploded a large bomb at South Quay in the Docklands area of London. The lorry bomb killed two people, injured many more, caused millions of pounds worth of damage, and marked the end of the IRA ceasefire after 17 months and 9 days. A statement had been issued by the IRA one hour before the explosion occurred at 7.01pm.

Saturday 13 July 1996
A car bomb exploded outside the Kilyhelvin Hotel, Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, causing substantial damage. The bomb was estimated to have contained 1,200 pounds of home-made explosive and the large blast injured 17 people as they were being evacuated from the hotel. The Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) later claimed responsibility for the bomb.

Sunday 29 September 1996
A 250 pound car bomb made of home-made explosives was abandoned in Belfast. Security forces used a controlled explosion to make the bomb safe. The Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) later claimed responsibility for the bomb.

Thursday 21 November 1996
The Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) left a bomb, which failed to explode, in Derry.

1997

Saturday 19 July 1997
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) issued a statement which announced that there would be a renewal of its 1994 ceasefire as of 12.00pm on 20 July 1997.

Thursday 31 July 1997
A bomb, estimated at between 500 and 1,000 pounds, was left by the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) in the grounds of Carrybridge Hotel, near Lisballaw, County Fermanagh. The British Army defused the bomb.

Saturday 9 August 1997
The Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) planted a hoax van bomb on Craigavon Bridge in Derry, prior to the start of the Apprentice Boys' parade through the city.

Tuesday 9 September 1997
Representatives of Sinn Féin (SF) entered Stormont, Belfast, to sign a pledge that the party would agreed to abide by the Mitchell Principles.

Thursday 11 September 1997
An Phoblacht published an interview with an Irish Republican Army (IRA) spokesperson who said that "the IRA would have problems with sections of the Mitchell Principles". However, the person said that what Sinn Féin (SF) decided to do "was a matter for them". [SF signed up to the Mitchell Principles on 9 September 1997.]

Monday 15 September 1997
Sinn Féin (SF) entered Stormont, Belfast, to take part in the multi-party talks.

Tuesday 16 September 1997
A bomb estimated at 400 pounds exploded in Markethill, County Armagh, and caused extensive damage to buildings. The Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) later claimed responsibility for the bombing.

Thursday 16 October 1997
A bomb was delivered by post to the constituency office of David Trimble, then leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). The device was defused by the British Army. [A group called the Revolutionary Republican Strike Force (RRSF) later claimed responsibility for the bomb and a number of previous similar devices.]

Thursday 30 October 1997
The Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) said that it was responsible for the attempted bombing of government offices in Derry.

Thursday 6 November 1997
In Dundalk in the Republic of Ireland around 12 members of Sinn Féin (SF) resigned from the party in protest at SF's acceptance of the Mitchell Principles. [There were also media reports that a number of members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) had left the paramilitary group. A number of commentators considered this to be the most significant split in Republican ranks since 2 November 1986.]

Saturday 8 November 1997
Republican Sinn Féin (RSF) held its annual conference in Dublin. During the speeches Sinn Féin (SF) was criticised for agreeing to take part in the multi-party talks at Stormont.

Sunday 16 November 1997
Colin Duffy, then a prominent Republican based in Lurgan, was charged with assault following a fracas involving Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers in the town. [There were riots in Lurgan and Armagh on 18 November 1997 following his arrest.]

Tuesday 18 November 1997
There were riots in Lurgan and Armagh following the arrest of Colin Duffy, then a prominent Republican based in Lurgan. [Duffy had been charged with assault following a fracas involving Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers in the town.]

Thursday 20 November 1997
The Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) left a small bomb behind Belfast City Hall. The Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) claimed that the device was aimed at their ground floor office.

Monday 8 December 1997
In Dublin a group of Republicans launched a new organisation called the 32 County Sovereignty Committee. One of the most prominent members was Bernadette Sands McKevitt, a sister of Bobby Sands who died on hunger strike on 5 May 1981. The new Committee opposed the stance of Gerry Adams on the peace process. [Later a number of commentators were to associate the Committee with dissident Irish Republican Army (IRA) members who formed the 'real' IRA.

Thursday 11 December 1997
Francie Mackey, then a SF councillor based in Omagh, County Tyrone, called on SF to renounce the Mitchell Principles. Mackey also announced that he would join the 32 County Sovereignty Committee.

Saturday 27 December 1997
Members of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) shot and killed Billy Wright (37), then leader of the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF), within the Maze Prison.

1998

Tuesday 6 January 1998
A large car bomb was defused in the centre of Banbridge, County Down. [The bomb, estimated at 500 pounds, was planted by the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA).]

Thursday 8 January 1998
Bernadette Sands McKevitt, then vice-chairperson of the Thirty-Two County Sovereignty Committee and sister of Bobby Sands, criticised the peace process. She said that her brother and other Republicans did not die for cross-border bodies with executive powers.

Saturday 24 January 1998
A car bomb exploded outside an entertainment club, the 'River Club' on Factory Road in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh. Warnings about the bomb were received at 7.30pm and the bomb exploded at around 9.30pm. The building was extensively damaged but there were no injuries.[The ‘Continuity’ Irish Republican Army (CIRA) was thought to be responsible.]
There was also a hoax bomb alert at Newtownbutler, County Fermanagh.

Friday 20 February 1998
The Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) exploded a large car bomb, estimated at 500 pounds, outside the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) station in the centre of Moria, County Down. The bomb caused extensive damage to a number of commercial and private premises in the centre of the village. Eleven people, mostly RUC officers, received slight injuries in the explosion.

Monday 23 February 1998
A Republican paramilitary group exploded a large car bomb, estimated at 300 pounds, in the centre of Portadown, County Armagh. Many business premises in the centre of the town were severely damaged by the explosion and two buildings were completely demolished by the blast. There were no injuries in the explosion. [It was thought that the bomb had been planted by the ‘Continuity’ Irish Republican Army (CIRA).]

Tuesday 24 February 1998
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) uncovered a 250 pound bomb in County Cavan which was being prepared for transportation to a target in Northern Ireland. [It was believed that the bomb was the work of the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA).]

Tuesday 3 March 1998
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) discovered a car bomb, estimated at 600 pounds, in County Louth, which was believed to be in preparation for an attack by the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) in Armagh.

Tuesday 10 March 1998
Republican paramilitaries carried out a mortar attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) base on the Newry Road in Armagh. A British Army patrol spotted the mortars and raised the alarm. People were evacuated from the surrounding area and there were no injuries. [It was believed that the attack was carried out by the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA).]

Friday 20 March 1998
The centre of Derry was cleared for four hours while the British Army defused a bomb. [It was claimed that a Republican challenged two Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) members as they planted the bomb in the Northern Bank in Guildhall Square, Derry. It was also claimed that one of the CIRA men pulled out a gun to stop anyone interfering with them.]

Sunday 22 March 1998
Garda Síochána (the Irish police) discovered a large bomb, estimated at 1,300 pounds, in Dundalk, Republic of Ireland, which was about to be transported to a target in Northern Ireland. Two men were arrested at the scene of the discovery. [It was initially believed that the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) was responsible for the bomb.]

Tuesday 24 March 1998
Dissident Republicans carried out a mortar attack on a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) station in south Armagh. It was thought that four mortar bombs had been fired at the police barracks in the village of Forkhill. One was believed to have exploded in the grounds of the base, and another to have landed there without exploding. No one was injured in the attack.

Wednesday 25 March 1998
The RUC confirmed that two mortars were fired at a British Army observation post at Glassdrummond, County Armagh. [Dissident Republicans were believed to be responsible for the attack.]

Thursday 2 April 1998
A car bomb, estimated at 1,000 pounds, was intercepted by the Garda Síochána (the Irish police) Emergency Response Unit at Dun Laoghaire ferry port close to Dublin. [It was thought that the bomb might have been destined for the Aintree Grand National horse race in England. It was believed that Dissident Republicans were behind the attempted bombing.]

Friday 10 April 1998
Good Friday Agreement
After almost 30 years of violence and two years of intensive talks the Northern Ireland Peace Process reached a climax at 5.36pm when George Mitchell, then Chairman of the multi-party talks at Stormont, finally made the historic statement: "I am pleased to announce that the two governments and the political parties in Northern Ireland have reached agreement".
The Agreement exceeded Mitchell’s deadline by almost 18 hours, and it was clear that there were elements of the Agreement which did not suit each of the signatories. The main points of the Agreement were: a Northern Ireland Assembly with 108 seats, elected by proportional representation; a 12 member Executive committee of ministers to be elected by the Assembly; the setting up of a North-South Ministerial Council within one year by the Assembly; the council being accountable to Assembly and Daíl; amendments to Articles 2 and 3 of the Irish Constitution, to establish the principle of consent, and the repeal of the (British) Government of Ireland Act; a Council of the Isles with members drawn from assemblies in England, Scotland, Wales, Belfast and Dublin.

Thursday 30 April 1998
Dissident Republican paramilitaries were blamed for planting a car bomb (estimated at 600 pounds) in the centre of Lisburn, County Antrim. The British Army defused the device after a series of telephone warnings were received.

Friday 1 May 1998
Ronan MacLochlainn (28), a dissident Irish Republican Army (IRA) member, was shot dead when the Garda Síochána (the Irish police) foiled a raid by six armed men on a security van near Ashford, County Wicklow, Republic of Ireland. [The raid was thought to have been carried out by a new Dissident Republican paramilitary group which was trying to raise funds to purchase arms. A group known as the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) emerged on 7 May 1998.]

Monday 4 May 1998
A Republican paramilitary group carried out a mortar bomb attack on Grosvenor Road Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) Station in Belfast. One of the home-made mortars did not reach its target and the other exploded in its launch tube. There were no reported injuries. The attack caused a delay and a re-routing of the Belfast marathon. [The attack was believed to have been carried out by the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA).]

Thursday 7 May 1998
It was confirmed that a new Republican paramilitary group had emerged. The group was mainly formed from dissident members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA). [The media reported the name of the group as the 'real' IRA (rIRA); the group was believed to refer to itself as Óglaigh na hÉireann. It was thought that the group had formed in November 1997.]

Friday 8 May 1998
The 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) issued a statement saying that the organisation's ceasefire was over and military attacks would resume. In particular the group said that it had declared war on the British Cabinet.

Saturday 9 May 1998
A Dissident Republican paramilitary group carried out a mortar bomb attack (at 11.50pm) on the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) station in Belleek, County Fermanagh. The mortars fell short of their target and one exploded as the RUC were clearing the area. There were no injuries. [It was unclear whether the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) or the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) had carried out the attack.]

Sunday 10 May 1998
At the party’s Ard Fheis in Dublin, Sinn Fein (SF) members voted to change their constitution to allow candidates to take their places in the proposed new Northern Ireland Assembly. Out of the 350 delegates present and eligible to vote, 331 voted in favour of a motion drafted by the Ard Comhairle (the ruling executive of SF) which would allow successful SF candidates to take up their seats in the new Northern Ireland Assembly. The party was addressed by Gerry Adams, then President of SF. [The removal of the policy of ‘abstentionism’ was a historical move which ended 77 years of refusing to participate in institutions of government in Northern Ireland.] A number of Irish Republican Army (IRA) prisoners were released from jails in the Republic of Ireland to attend the Ard Fheis. However, the scene of celebration that greeted the appearance of members of the 'Balcombe Street Siege gang' resulted in controversy and criticism from a wide circle of opinion.
It was reported in the Sunday Tribune (a Republic of Ireland newspaper) that the membership of the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) had grown to around 150 members. It was also claimed that the dissident group was being led by the former Quartermaster General of the IRA.

Saturday 16 May 1998
Security forces defused a car bomb, estimated at 500 pounds, which had been left outside the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) station in Armagh. The bomb was discovered at 11.15pm and the area cleared before a warning was received at 11.30pm. [The RUC were unable to say which Dissident Republican paramilitary group was responsible.]

Friday 22 May 1998
There was a huge turnout throughout the island of Ireland as people in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland voted on the Good Friday Agreement (in the Republic there was a further vote on the Ratification of the Amsterdam Treaty). This was the first all-Ireland poll since the general election of 1918. It was clear from the number of people going to polling stations across Northern Ireland that there had been a high turnout (the figure was 81.10%). [When all the votes were counted the results were as follows: Northern Ireland - Yes 71.12%, No 28.88% (turnout 81.10%); Republic of Ireland - Yes 94.39%, No 5.61% (turnout 56.26%); Ireland overall - Yes 85.46%, No 14.54%.

Saturday 23 May 1998
Garda Síochána (the Irish police) arrested two men when they discovered bomb-making material in two cars near Dundalk.

Tuesday 23 June 1998
The 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) was thought to be responsible for an explosion at 2.30am which damaged a road near Forkhill in County Armagh. No one was hurt in the explosion which may have been targeted at the security forces.

Wednesday 24 June 1998
A Republican paramilitary group exploded a car bomb, estimated at 200 pounds, in the centre of Newtownhamilton, County Armagh. A 50 minute warning about the bomb had been received but people were still being cleared when it exploded and six people, including a 15 year old boy, were injured. The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) claimed responsibility for the bomb. [Security sources believed that the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) was involved in supplying the INLA with Semtex commercial explosive which was thought to have been used as a component in the bomb.]

Friday 10 July 1998
Garda Síochána (the Irish police) in Dublin and Dundalk and anti-terrorist police in England arrested nine people in a series of raids. The police claimed that those arrested were about to launch a fire-bombing campaign in London. It was alleged that those arrested were aligned with the 32 County Sovereignty Committee.

Sunday 19 July 1998
There was a mortar attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) base in Newry, County Armagh. The 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) claimed responsibility for the attack.

Monday 27 July 1998
Bernadete Sands-McKevitt, sister of Bobby Sands and member of the 32 County Sovereignty Committee, said that the use of physical force by Republicans would not end until British rule in Ireland ended.

Thursday 30 July 1998
There was a series of fire-bomb attacks on shops in Portadown, County Armagh. Dissident Republicans were believed to have been responsible.

Saturday 1 August 1998
Thirty-three civilians and two members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) were injured when a car bomb, estimated at 500 pounds, exploded in Banbridge, County Down. Extensive damage was also caused in the explosion that was later claimed by the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA).

Tuesday 4 August 1998
Dissident Republicans carried out an attack on a police patrol outside an Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) station in Lurgan, County Armagh.

Saturday 15 August 1998
Twenty-nine people died as a result of an explosion at 3.10 pm in Omagh, County Tyrone. The bomb had been planted by the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA). The death toll represented the single worst incident within Northern Ireland since the beginning of the conflict. [33 people were killed in bombs in Dublin and Monaghan on 17 May 1974.] Among the dead were family members, one family lost members from three generations, and close friends, and a number of tourists from the Republic of Ireland and Spain. One woman who died was pregnant with twins. There were hundreds of people injured some of whom lost limbs or their sight. [28 people died on the day and an injured man died three weeks later. Another man was killed when the car he was driving was involved in a collision with an ambulance that was transporting injured people to a hospital in Belfast.]

Sunday 16 August 1998
The 32-County Sovereignty Committee issued a statement denying that the organisation was associated with those responsible for the Omagh bombing.

Monday 17 August 1998
The Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) issued a statement calling upon the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) to announce a ceasefire. The IRSP said that it felt, in the light of the Omagh bombing, that the ‘armed struggle’ could no longer be justified. The IRSP also felt that the INLA would call a ceasefire in the near future.

Tuesday 18 August 1998
The 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) announced that "all military operations have been suspended". The announcement came in a telephone call to the Irish News, a Northern Ireland newspaper, at 11.35 pm and the ‘suspension’ took effect from midnight. Earlier in the day the rIRA had contacted the Dublin office of the Irish News and stated that the organisation was responsible for the Omagh bombing but denied that it had deliberately set out to kill people. During the day people all over Ireland were still coming to terms with the death toll in the Omagh bomb as the first of the funerals took place. Funerals continued for the rest of the week.

Wednesday 19 August 1998
Bertie Ahern, then Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister), announced his governments intention to introduce tough anti-terrorist measures. The proposals would include seizure of land or other property which has been used for storing weapons or making bombs. In addition it was announced that a suspect’s right to silence would be withdrawn. Ahern admitted that the measures could be described as "draconian".

Saturday 22 August 1998
The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) announced that it was to go on ceasefire as from midday. [In terms of size the INLA was the second largest of the Republican paramilitary organisations. There were calls for the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) to also announce a ceasefire.]

Tuesday 25 August 1998
It was confirmed that both the Daíl and the House of Commons were to be recalled the following week to enact emergency legislation to deal with those paramilitary organisations which continued with violence.

Wednesday 26 August 1998
Tony Blair, then British Prime Minister, paid a visit to the site of the bomb in Omagh, County Tyrone. Blair promised draconian legislation to deal with any paramilitary groups that refused to call a ceasefire. Sinn Féin (SF) said the new measures would amount to "internment in another guise".

Friday 28 August 1998
The 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) stated that it believed that a continuation of its campaign was futile "in the circumstances of Omagh and the Mitchell agreement". The rIRA indicated that a ceasefire would be called. [The rIRA announced a ceasefire on 7 September 1998.]
Elaine Moore from Dublin, who had been arrested on conspiracy charges in London, was freed on bail from Holloway Prison.

Sunday 30 August 1998
An Irish Republican Army (IRA) spokesman is reported as saying that the 'real' IRA "should disband and they should do so sooner rather than later".

Monday 31 August 1998
The government in the Republic of Ireland published the Offences Against The State (Amendment) Bill providing for curtailment of the right to silence, longer detention periods and five new offences, including "direction of terrorism".

Tuesday 1 September 1998
Gerry Adams, then President of Sinn Féin (SF), announced in a statement that: "Sinn Féin believe the violence we have seen must be for all of us now a thing of the past, over, done with and gone."

Wednesday 2 September 1998
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) was reported as having issued a warning to the 'real' IRA (rIRA) that it should disband "sooner rather than later". The IRA also threatened action against members of the 32 County Sovereignty Committee.

Thursday 3 September 1998
At the House of Commons the Criminal Justice (Terrorism and Conspiracy) Bill, was passed despite grave reservations by some Members of Parliament (MPs) that the measures were being rushed through without adequate debate. In the Republic of Ireland the Offences Against The State (Amendment) Bill passed into law after it was signed by the Presidential Commission. Although civil liberties groups warned that it was a bad law the bill met little opposition in the Dáil or the Seanad. The Irish government did however agree to an annual review of the legislation.

Monday 7 September 1998
The 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) announced a "complete cessation" of its campaign of violence. [The announcement came after weeks of intense pressure on the group in the wake of the Omagh bombing. The only remaining Republican grouping that had not called a ceasefire was the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA).] Bertie Ahern, then Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister), called on the CIRA to state its position or face the full rigours of the law.

Monday 21 September 1998
Members of the Garda Síochána (the Irish police) and the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) detained 12 men as part of their investigation into the Omagh bombing. Six were arrested in south Armagh, six in north Louth, Republic of Ireland.

Monday 7 December 1998
There were reports that members of the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA), which was on ceasefire, were offering assistance to the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) the only Republican paramilitary group not on ceasefire.

Wednesday 9 December 1998
Garda Síochána (the Irish police) warned that dissident members of the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) and the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) were joining the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA).

1999

Thursday 14 January 1999
Shots were fired at an Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) station in west Belfast. Four men were arrested in a follow-up operation. The attack was believed to have been carried out by the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA).

Wednesday 27 January 1999
Eamon Collins, a former member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), was found dead near his home on the outskirts of Newry, County Down. [Due to his injuries it was initially thought that he had been the victim of a traffic accident, however it was later confirmed that he had been beaten and stabbed to death. Collins had acted as an informer on behalf of the security forces. He was also the author of a book entitled 'Killing Rage' that described his involvement with the IRA. No group admitted responsibility for the killing although Republican paramilitaries were thought to have been involved.]

Sunday 31 January 1999
Paddy Fox, a former Irish Republican Army (IRA) prisoner and a critic of the Sinn Féin leadership's involvement in the Good Friday Agreement, was abducted early on Sunday morning from outside a hotel in Monaghan, Republic of Ireland. Fox was beaten before being released later the same day.

Sunday 21 February 1999
Seven people were arrested in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in connection with the Omagh bombing. [One man was later charged on 24 February with offences related to the bombing but most of those arrested were released without charge by 25 February 1999.]

Wednesday 24 February 1999
Colm Murphy (48), from County Armagh, was charged at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin in connection with the Omagh bombing on 15 August 1998. He was also charged with membership of an unlawful organisation.

Saturday 27 February 1999
The man that Garda Síochána (the Irish police) believed had directed the Omagh bombing on 15 August 1998 was reported to have disappeared from his home in the Border area and to have fled the country. Three other people were arrested in the Republic of Ireland in connection with the bombing.

Tuesday 4 May 1999
Nine shots were fired at Lisnaskea Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) station in County Fermanagh. [The Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) was thought to have been responsible for the attack.]

Friday 21 May 1999
Three men, who had been arrested in July 1998 and later found guilty of conspiracy to cause explosions, were sentenced at the Old Bailey in London. Anthony Hyland (26) was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment, and Darren Mulholland (20) and Liam Grogan (22) each received a sentence of 22 years. The three had been accused of being part of a Real Irish Republican Army (rIRA) unit.

Saturday 19 June 1999
Ten men were arrested on both sides of the Border in connection with the bombing of Omagh on 15 August 1998. A further two men were arrested on 21 June 1999.

Thursday 24 June 1999
Officers in the Traffic Branch of the Garda Síochána (the Irish police) intercepted 300lb of explosives in a car outside Letterkenny in the Republic of Ireland.

Sunday 15 August 1999
Thousands gathered in Omagh and Buncrana to mark the first anniversary of the Omagh bombing. Silent vigils were kept at 3.10pm throughout the country to commemorate the 29 people killed and 300 injured in the attack which caused the biggest loss of life of any incident in the North.

Sunday 12 September 1999
Ronnie Flanagan, then Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), speaking on 'Sunday With Adam Boulton' on Sky News, said the threat from Dissident Republicans was growing. Groups such as the ‘real IRA’ were regrouping and posed a threat, especially in border areas, he said.

Wednesday 15 September 1999
There was an arson attack on an Orange hall in Donaghmore, near Newry, County Down. The hall was damaged in the attack and "real IRA" graffiti was painted on the walls.

Saturday 18 September 1999
The Dissident Republican group, the 32-County Sovereignty Movement, opened a branch in Derry saying it plans to build "the strongest Republican opposition ever to British rule".

Wednesday 20 October 1999
Garda Síochána (the Irish police) arrested 10 men in Herbertstown, County Meath. The men were accused of being at a 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) training camp.

Monday 25 October 1999
A cache of weapons believed to belong to the Dissident republican group the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) was uncovered near Stamullen in County Meath, close to the spot where an underground firing range was discovered on 20 October 1999. Garda Síochána (the Irish police) said the new cache contained a type of rocket launcher - an RPG 18 - never before seen in arms finds on either side of the Border.

Wednesday 15 December 1999
Marion Price, a former Irish Republican Army (IRA) prisoner who had been convicted of causing explosions in London on 8 March 1973, was refused a visa to enter the USA. Price had been due to speak at a fundraising event in New York that had been organised by the Irish Freedom Committee.

Monday 27 December 1999
A bomb alert disrupted a horse racing meeting at Kempton Park in Surrey. Approximately 20,000 people were evacuated from the course. The Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) were blamed for the incident.

2000

Monday 6 February 2000
The Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) carried out a bomb attack on a hotel in Irvinestown, County Fermanagh.

Friday 11 February 2000
Peter Mandelson, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, suspended the 72 day-old power-sharing Executive and restored Direct Rule of Northern Ireland from Westminster as of midnight. The move followed reports from the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning (IICD) that it had "received no information from the IRA as to when decommissioning will start."

Friday 25 February 2000
The Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) claimed responsibility for a bomb attack at Shackleton Army barracks at Ballykelly, County Derry.

Tuesday 29 February 2000
Security forces recovered a fully armed rocket launcher and warhead in a hedge near an army base in Dungannon, County Tyrone. It was thought that the weapon belonged to Dissident republicans.

Wednesday 15 March 2000
The police discovered 500lbs of explosives after they stopped two cars near Hillsborough, County Down. It is believed that the explosives were being transported by the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA).

Thursday 6 April 2000
A bomb exploded on the perimeter of Ebrington Army Barracks in Derry. The attack was later attributed to Dissident republicans.

Thursday 13 April 2000
A security alert began in Roslea, County Fermanagh after a mortar bomb was discovered close to the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) station.

Wednesday 24 May 2000
There was an attempted mortar-bomb attack on a British Army observation post in South Armagh. [It was believed that Dissident Republicans were responsible].

Thursday 25 May 2000
Garda Síochána (the Irish police) seized bomb making equipment after a raid on premises at Ballyfermot in Dublin. It was believed that the find belonged to the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA).

Tuesday 30 May 2000
The British government restored devolution to the Northern Ireland Assembly and the power-sharing Executive.

Thursday 1 June 2000
There was an explosion in the early hours of the morning at Hammersmith Bridge in London. The explosion caused some damage to the bridge but no injuries. [It was believed that the bomb attack was carried out by Dissident Republicans.]

Monday 19 June 2000
A small explosive device exploded in the grounds of Hillsborough Castle, the official residence of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

Friday 30 June 2000
A bomb explosion in south Armagh damaged the Belfast-Dublin railway line. [The 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) was thought to have been responsible.]

Sunday 9 July 2000
A car bomb exploded outside the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) station in Stewartstown, County Tyrone. [The attack was later attributed to the real Irish Republican Army (RIRA).]

Wednesday 19 July 2000
In London police dealt with a bomb near Ealing Broadway tube station. [It was believed that Dissident Republicans were responsible for the attack.]

Thursday 10 August 2000
During a security incident in Derry the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) seized a van containing explosives which they were to used in attack on the city during an Apprentice Boys’ march scheduled for Saturday 12 August.

Monday 11 September 2000
The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) blamed Dissident Republicans for a series of incendiary bomb attacks on shops across over Northern Ireland the previous weekend.

Tuesday 12 September 2000
Dissident Republicans were thought to be responsible for two bombs, one of which had exploded, at a British Army training base at Magilligan, County Derry.

Wednesday 13 September 2000
A mortar bomb exploded within the grounds of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) station on the Newry Road in Armagh city. [The 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) was thought to have been responsible.]

Friday 20 September 2000
Dissident Republican paramilitaries fired an 'anti-tank rocket' at the headquarters of MI6, the British intelligence agency, in London. The attack caused damage to the building but no injuries. [The 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) was thought to have been responsible.]

Monday 25 September 2000
After a security alert lasting two days army bomb experts defused a 50lb device which had been left on the railway line in the Dunmurray area of Belfast. [The 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) was thought to have been responsible.]

Monday 9 October 2000
The British Broadcasting Company (BBC) Panorama programme named four men living in the Republic of Ireland which it claimed were responsible for the Omagh bombing on 15 August 1998 in which 29 people died.

Friday 13 October 2000
Joseph O'Connor (26), believed to have been a member of the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA), was shot dead in Ballymurphy, west Belfast. [Most commentators blamed the Provisional Irish Republican Army for the killing and speculated on the possibility of a Republican paramilitary feud.]

Thursday 26 October 2000
During a search in the Hannahstown area of west Belfast the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) uncovered a partially made 600lb bomb. [It was later claimed that the device was to be transported to London to be used in an attack on the city in the run up to Christmas].

Saturday 11 November 2000
The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) station intercepted a van carrying a 200lb mortar bomb near Derrylin, County Fermanagh. [The 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) was thought to have been responsible.]

Tuesday 5 December 2000
Trevor Kell (35), a Protestant civilian who worked as a taxi driver, was shot dead shortly after being lured by bogus call to a house in Hesketh Road, off Crumlin Road, north Belfast. [It is not known which paramilitary organisation was responsible for his killing.]

2001

Sunday 14 January 2001
Dissident Republicans were thought to be responsible for a bomb attack on a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) car in Cookstown, County Tyrone. [It was initially believed that the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) was responsible for the bomb.]

Tuesday 16 January 2001
Army bomb experts defused a 1,000lb bomb which had been found on the Monaghan Road just outside Armagh. [It was initially believed that the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) was responsible for the bomb.]

Wednesday 17 January 2001
Army bomb experts dealt with a suspect device left in a van which had been abandoned outside a police station in Claudy, Co Derry.

Sunday 21 January 2001
Army bomb experts defused a 100lb booby trap bomb which had been left outside a police station in Claudy, Co Derry. The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) believed that the incident was linked to an earlier bomb scare in Claudy. [It was initially believed that the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) was responsible for the bomb.]

Tuesday 23 January 2001
A mortar device was launched at an accommodation block in the grounds of Ebrington Army base in Derry but it failed to explode. [It was initially believed that the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) was responsible for the bomb.]

Monday 12 February 2001
Garda Síochána (the Irish police) discovered a mortar bomb close to Newtowncunningham, County Donegal.

Wednesday 21 February 2001
A 14-year-old cadet was injured when an explosive device exploded at a Territorial Army base in west London. [It was initially believed that the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) was responsible for the bomb.]

Sunday 4 March 2001
A car-bomb exploded outside British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Television Centre in west London at 12.30am (00.30GMT). A warning had been received at 11.20pm (23.20GMT) on Saturday evening. The bomb (thought to have contained 20 kilograms of home-made explosives) exploded as bomb squad officers tried to carry out a controlled explosion on a taxi left near Television Centre. One man was injured in the explosion and there was some damage to surrounding buildings. [The bomb was thought to have been planted by the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA). There was speculation that the bomb was in retaliation for last year's Panorama programme which named four men allegedly responsible for the Omagh bombing.]

Friday 30 March 2001
Michael McKevitt appeared before the Special Criminal in Dublin, Republic of Ireland to face charges of belonging to an illegal organisation - the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) - and of directing terrorism. [After a lengthy trial McKevitt was found guilty in August 2003 and given a 20-year prison sentence].

Thursday 12 April 2001
Security forces made safe a "barrack buster" bomb which had been discovered at Altmore Forest, Galbally, County Tyrone. [The bomb was believed to have been manufactured by the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA).]

Friday 13 April 2001
The 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) issued a statement to mark the 85th anniversary of the Easter Rising in Dublin. The statement read: "Partition has failed and those who attempt to uphold it will fail. As for republicans, we will continue to attack the problem at its root and make no apology for undertaking this necessary task."

Saturday 14 April 2001
There was a bomb explosion at a Post Office delivery depot at Hendon in north London. There had been no warning of the bomb but no one was injured in the explosion which caused "minor" damage to the building at The Hyde in Hendon. [The 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) was thought to have been responsible for the attack.]

Friday 4 May 2001
A blast bomb was thrown at the Andersonstown Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) station in west Belfast.

Sunday 6 May 2001
There was a bomb explosion at a Post Office delivery depot at Hendon in north London at 1.53am (0153BST). The explosion happened at the same building where another bomb had exploded on 14 April 2001. Again there was no warning of the bomb and one man was injured in the explosion. [The 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) was thought to have been responsible for the attack.]

Wednesday 16 May 2001
The 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) and the 32 County Sovereignty Movement were both designated as foreign terrorist organisations by the US State Department.

Thursday 7 June 2001
Two members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) on duty at a polling station in Draperstown, County Derry were injured in a gun attack.

Thursday 5 July 2001
Three Dissident Republicans from the Republic of Ireland were arrested in Slovakia on suspicion of attempting to secure weapons for the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA). [The three men Fintan Paul O'Farrell (39), Declan John Rafferty (42), and Michael Christopher McDonald were extradited to Britain in August 2001 where they faced charges of planning to cause an explosion and of buying weapons. Later in May 2002 after a trial all three were found guilty and sentenced to 30-years in prison.

Tuesday 31 July 2001
At the Special Criminal Court in Dublin four men faced charges of belonging to an illegal organisation. [It was thought that this was the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA).

Wednesday 1 August 2001
Army bomb officers defused a car-bomb that had been left in the main car park at Belfast International Airport. There had been an initial warning at 5.00am but security forces were unable to locate the bomb. Following a second warning the vehicle was found close to the main terminal building. The car park was closed but flights in and out of the airport were not affected. [The 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) was thought to have been responsible for the attack.]

Thursday 2 August 2001
Republican paramilitaries carried out a car bomb attack in the Ealing area of London. The explosion occurred just before midnight and caused six injuries and some damage to property. A telephone warning was received at 11.33pm  but the area was still being cleared when the explosion happened. [The bomb (estimated at 40 kilograms of home-made explosives) was thought to have been planted by the 'real' Irish Republican Army.]

Friday 10 August 2001
Some of the relatives of those killed by the Omagh Bomb (15 August 1998) announced that they were beginning a civil action against the 'real' Irish Republican Army. [The legal action would involve the families suing five men (alleged to be members of the rIRA) for compensation. This action was thought to be the first of its kind.]

Wednesday 15 August 2001
A remembrance service was held in Omagh, County Tyrone, to mark the third anniversary of the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) bomb attack on the town that left 29 people, and two unborn children, dead (15 August 1998). The service took place at the Garden of Remembrance near the site of the bombing. The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and the Garda Síochána (the Irish police) held a joint press conference to appeal to members of the public for more information on the bombing. A relative of one of those killed interrupted the conference to criticise both the RUC and the Garda for their lack of progress in the investigation of the bombing.

Friday 17 August 2001
Nuala O'Loan, then Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman, announced that her office would investigate claims that security sources had prior warning about the Omagh bomb (15 August 1998). The claim was made by former British Army informant who uses the pseudonym Kevin Fulton. Ronnie Flanagan, then Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), welcomed the investigation but said the claim was "preposterous".

Wednesday 22 August 2001
The Foyle Bridge in Derry had to be closed after a claim that a bomb had been left nearby. The train line under the bridge was also closed disrupting services between Derry and Belfast. Later in the day the Craigavon Bridge was also closed during the evening rush hour. This brought traffic in the centre of the city to a standstill and effectively cut off the Cityside from the Waterside. People were faced with a 30 mile detour via the next bridge at Strabane, County Tyrone. [Both alerts were thought to have been caused by warnings from the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA).]

Thursday 23 August 2001
The security alert on the railway line by the Foyle Bridge in Derry continued for a second day causing disruption to traffic in the city. Later in the afternoon British Army technical officers defused a bomb at the site. The bomb, estimated at 60 kilograms, was based on 'home-made' explosives and was planted by the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA).

Friday 24 August 2001
Two men who were being treated in hospital for gunshot wounds were arrested by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). The men had been shot and injured in separate Republican paramilitary 'punishment' attacks on 23 August 2001. The men were believed to have been questioned by police about the killing of man in the Shankill area of Belfast on 16 August 2001.

Friday 7 September 2001
During the evening two men were found in the Nationalist New Lodge area of Belfast with gunshot wounds following a Republican paramilitary 'punishment' attack. One had been shot in both ankles, the other had been shot in both wrists and both ankles. The men, one aged 18 years and the other aged 19 years, had been abducted by a gang of up to 15 men on Thursday evening.

Wednesday 12 September 2001
There was a bomb attack at 12.30am (0030BST) on a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) patrol in Derry. Three RUC officers were investigating a burning car at a building site when a bomb exploded at the side of the road. The officers were treated for shock. [The attack was thought to have been carried out by Dissident Republicans.]

Sunday 23 September 2001
It was reported that members of the 32 County Sovereignty Committee met in Dundalk, Republic of Ireland, to discuss the political situation in Ireland following the attacks in America on 11 September 2001. [Some commentators believe that the Committee has political links with the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) but this has been denied by both organisations. There was media speculation that the rIRA may be considering a ceasefire following the attacks in America.]

Friday 12 October 2001
The trial of Colm Murphy, charged in connection with the Omagh bombing, began in the Special Criminal Court in Dublin. Murphy was accused of conspiring with another person to cause an explosion. Murphy, originally from County Armagh, had an address at Ravensdale, County Louth, Republic of Ireland. He was also charged with membership of an illegal organisation.

Saturday 13 October 2001
Republican Sinn Féin (RSF) held its Ard Fheis (annual conference) in Dublin. RSF called on Nationalists not to support the new Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

Tuesday 16 October 2001
A home-made bomb, estimated at 130 pounds, was discovered by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) near Sixmilebridge, County Tyrone. The device was made safe by the British Army. A man and woman were arrested in connection with the device. [Dissident Republicans were believed to be responsible for the incident.

Tuesday 23 October 2001
At around 4.00pm (1600BST) the Irish Republican Army (IRA) issued a statement that announced that the organisation had begun to decommission its weapons. The IRA statement included the sentence: "Therefore, in order to save the peace process we have implemented the scheme agreed with the IICD [Independent International Commission on Decommissioning] in August [2001]".
Liam Campbell was found guilty at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin of being a member of an illegal organisation – the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) and sentenced to five years in prison.

Wednesday 24 October 2001
Two men were arrested when Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers stopped a car near Moira, County Down, and discovered a sub-machine gun. The car was on the Moira interchange at the M1 motorway. [The two men were believed to be members of a Dissident Republican paramilitary group.

Monday 29 October 2001
Charles Folliard (30), a Protestant civilian, was shot and fatally injured in Strabane, County Tyrone. The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) initially said that they believed that Dissident Republicans were responsible for the killing and said that: "a sectarian motive is one of the avenues we are looking at." The man was shot as he was leaving the home of his 16 year old Catholic girlfriend. [Folliard had been involved with Loyalist paramilitaries and was jailed for 14 years in 1991 for conspiracy to murder a Catholic colleague at the quarry where he then worked and also for possessing firearms. Folliard was released in 1997. On 8 November 2001 detectives said that they believed that the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) was responsible for the killing.]
Two men planted a small bomb (estimated at 5kg of explosives) on a bus and ordered the driver to take the bus to Woodburn Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) station, Stewartstown Road, west Belfast. The men claimed to be from the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA). British Army technical officers were in the process of dealing with the device when it exploded resulting in damage to the bus but causing no injuries.

Saturday 3 November 2001
A small device left in a car explodes in Birmingham, England. [The 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) were later blamed for the attack].

Sunday 4 November 2001
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) came into being with a change to the name of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC).

Wednesday 7 November 2001
Jane Kennedy, then Northern Ireland Office (NIO) Security Minister, said that there had been over 840 paramilitary attacks since 1 January 2001. Of this total 620 had been carried out by Loyalist paramilitaries and 223 were carried out by Republican paramilitaries.

Thursday 15 November 2001
Six people were arrested in London and Liverpool, England, under the Terrorism Act. The arrests were believed to be in connection with recent bomb attacks in England by the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA). [Following the arrests police began a search of a disused farm in Tingley village, West Ardsley, near Leeds. A seventh person was arrested on Sunday 18 November 2001.

Monday 19 November 2001
A number of weapons and some bomb-making material were discovered during a planned search of some houses in the Kilwilkee Estate, Lurgan, County Armagh. A number of people were also arrested. [The cache was believed to have belonged to Dissident Republicans.]

Tuesday 20 November 2001
Officers from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) together with British Army soldiers stopped a car in County Armagh and found a bomb estimated to contain 200 pounds of home-made explosives. The driver of the car was arrested. [Dissident Republican paramilitaries were believed to be responsible for the bomb].

Wednesday 21 November 2001
An incendiary device partially ignited in a shop in Hill Street, Newry, County Down. The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said that the device was probably planted by Dissident Republicans

Thursday 22 November 2001
Two men who had been arrested on 15 November 2001 were charged with offences related to bomb attacks on London and Birmingham.

Thursday 29 November 2001
The main road and rail link between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland was closed following a series of bomb warnings received by police on both sides of the border. The first warnings were received just after 7.00pm (1900GMT) and the railway line at Killen Bridge between Newry, County Down, and Dundalk in the Republic of Ireland was closed. Around the same time a group of armed men hijacked a lorry and then set fire to blocking the main A1 road between Newry and Dundalk.

Sunday 2 December 2001
Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers arrested four men who were travelling by car across the Foyle Bridge in Derry. The police said that several "items" were recovered. The bridge was closed for a while.

Tuesday 4 December 2001
The British Army defused a bomb (estimated at 35 kilograms of home-made explosives) which was found under a railway line at Killeen Bridge near Newry, County Down, close to the border with the Republic of Ireland. The operation brought a six-day security alert in the area to an end. The track between Newry and Dundalk, County Louth, Republic of Ireland, had been closed since Thursday 29 November 2001 after police had received a number of telephoned bomb warnings.

Wednesday 5 December 2001
There was a hoax bomb alert at Belfast International Airport, County Antrim, which caused major disruption to the travel plans of hundreds of people arriving at, or departing from, the airport. Two warnings were received which stated that several bombs had been left in the car park by the terminal building. No bombs were found but the alert lasted for three hours.

Thursday 6 December 2001
Colin Powell, then Secretary of State in the USA, designated as 'terrorist' three groups based in Northern Ireland by listing them in the Terrorist Exclusion List. The groups were: the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA), the Orange Volunteers (OV), and the Red Hand Defenders (RHD). This designation has the effect of excluding members or supporters from the USA and will also prevent them from collecting funds in the country.

Tuesday 11 December 2001
At the Special Criminal Court in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, twin brothers were sentenced to jail for being involved in a 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) bomb-making 'factory'. Alan Patterson was jailed for nine years and his brother Kenneth Patterson received a sentence of seven years.
Four men were arrested in the Republic of Ireland after police and customs officers seized a consignment of up to 80 million smuggled cigarettes. The haul, valued at IR£13 million, was thought to be the biggest haul of contraband tobacco in the Irish Republic. [It was not clear at the time if there were any paramilitary connections with the smuggling.]

Sunday 16 December 2001
A bomb destroys a customs and excise office on the Killyhevlin Industrial Estate, County Fermanagh. [The Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) later claimed responsibility.]

2002

Thursday 3 January 2002
A pipe-bomb was defused outside the house of a Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officer in Annalong, County Down. The house had also been attacked on 27 April 2001.

Saturday 5 January 2002
Garda Síochána (the Irish police) arrested seven suspected Dissident Republicans in County Louth, Republic of Ireland, at approximately 9.00pm (2100GMT).  The men were arrested following the search of a house in Dundalk during which a number of weapons were discovered.  The men, aged between 20 and 50, were being questioned under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.  [It was believed that two of the men were members of the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA).  On Tuesday 8 January 2002 six of the men appeared before the Special Criminal Court in Dublin charged with membership of an illegal paramilitary organisation.]

Tuesday 22 January 2002
Colm Murphy (49) was found guilty at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, of conspiracy to cause an explosion.  He was the first person to be convicted in relation to the Omagh Bombing on 15 August 1998.  Murphy was originally from south Armagh but had a home in County Louth, Republic of Ireland.  [Murphy was sentenced on Friday 25 January 2002 to 14 years in prison.]

Thursday 24 January 2002
Ronnie Flanagan, then Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), travelled to Omagh, County Tyrone, to present his response to the earlier report by Nuala O'Loan, then Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland (PONI), on the investigation into the Omagh Bombing (15 August 1998).  [The summary of O'Loan's report was published on 12 December 2001 and it was critical of some aspects of the investigation into the bombing.]  In his (unpublished) report Flanagan stated that he dealt with each of the points raised by O'Loan.  With regard to O'Loan's recommendations, some were accepted but a key one was changed.  This was the recommendation by O'Loan that a police officer from outside Northern Ireland should be appointed to takeover the Omagh investigation.  Flanagan announced that a senior detective from Merseyside would be appointed to advise the investigation.  Flanagan met the relatives of the victims of the bombing and later gave a press conference.  Some of the relatives said they were not satisfied with the outcome of the meeting.  Some relatives revealed that they were close to withdrawing support for the police investigation.

Monday 28 January 2002
The Northern Ireland Policing Board (NIPB) held a meeting with relatives of the victims of the Omagh Bombing (15 August 1998).  The meeting followed the report (12 December 2001) of Nuala O'Loan, then Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland (PONI), into the police handling of the investigation and the response (24 January 2002) by Ronnie Flanagan, then Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).  [The NIPB was expected to have private meetings with Flanagan and O'Loan on 5 February 2002.]

Tuesday 5 February 2002
The Northern Ireland Policing Board (NIPB) held separate private meetings with Ronnie Flanagan, then Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), and Nuala O'Loan, then Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland (PONI).  The meetings were to allow the NIPB to hear reports on the investigation of the Omagh bombing (15 August 1998) and also to see if it could come to a decision on the public disagreement between O'Loan and Flanagan.  [However it was clear that the NIPB was deeply divided on the issue with one Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) member calling, prior to the meeting, for the resignation of O'Loan.]

Wednesday 6 February 2002
Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers arrested a man (33) under the Terrorism Act.  He was arrested at the request of Metropolitan Police and was taken to a central London police station.  It was believed that he was questioned about bombs in Birmingham, Ealing, and west London, during 2001.
The Northern Ireland Policing Board (NIPB) appointed a four man committee to continue the work began on Tuesday 5 February 2002 on the reports of the investigation into the Omagh bombing (15 August 1998).
Some of the relatives of those killed in the Omagh bomb called for an outside police officer to take charge of a fresh investigation.  [This was one recommendation of Nuala O'Loan, then Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland (PONI), but was opposed by the Chief Constable.]

Thursday 7 February 2002
The full Northern Ireland Policing Board (NIPB) met for the second time in three days to continue discussions on the investigation of the Omagh bomb (15 August 1998).  The NIPB had met with Nuala O'Loan, then Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland (PONI), and Ronnie Flanagan, then Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), on Tuesday 5 February 2002.  The NIPB decided to appoint a senior police officer from England to oversee the investigation.  It was planned that this new officer would have equal status to the current senior investigating officer.  [This was seen as a compromise between the recommendation of O'Loan and the position adopted by Flanaghan.]

Friday 8 February 2002
A man employed as a civilian worker by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) was seriously injured in an explosion at approximately at a British Army training ground near Magilligan Prison, County Londonderry.  [It was thought that he had disturbed a booby-trap bomb near the perimeter fence of the training centre.  Dissident Republican paramilitaries were thought to be responsible for planting the device.]
Representatives of the Police Association said that they intended to apply to the High Court for a judicial review of the recent report by Nuala O'Loan, then Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland (PONI).  The report was into the investigation of the Omagh bombing (15 August 1998).  The Police Association claimed that the report was inaccurate and unfair.

Saturday 9 February 2002
A gun was found close to Coronation Park, Aughnacloy, County Tyrone.  The main Aughnacloy to Monaghan road was closed for a while on both sides of the Northern Ireland border while the security alert was on-going.

Wednesday 13 February 2002
Two men were charged in London with bombing offences during 2001. The Metropolitan Police charged one man (33) with causing explosions outside the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on 3 March 2001, in Ealing on 3 August 2001, and in Birmingham on 3 November 2001, and with a number of other offences. The second man (24) was charged with conspiracy to cause an explosion on or before 14 November 2001. [The two men had been arrested separately in Northern Ireland on 6 and 9 February 2002. The men appeared at Belmarsh Magistrate's Court on Thursday 14 February 2002.]

Thursday 14 February 2002
The Police Association, which represents all the members of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), launched a legal action in the High Court in Belfast to attempt to quash the report by the Police Ombudsman on the Omagh bomb investigation. The Ombudsman report was critical of the handling of the investigation by the Chief Constable. The Omagh Victims' Group said they welcomed the possibility that Ronnie Flanagan, then Chief Constable of the PSNI, may retire at the end of February 2002.

Sunday 17 February 2002
Security forces discovered a grenade launcher and war head during an operation in Coalisland, County Tyrone. Four men were arrested at the scene. Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers said that they had foiled "an imminent terrorist attack" and blamed Dissident Republicans. During the eight hour security operation a crowd attacked police with stones and bottles.

Wednesday 20 February 2002
Four men arrested on Sunday 17 February 2002 appeared at East Tyrone Magistrate's Court in Cookstown on charges of conspiracy to murder members of the security forces and also possession of a grenade launcher and warhead. About 50 people, mainly friends and relations of the four men, were involved in scuffles with the police when the men were brought to the court. The men all denied the charges. The men were remanded in custody until 19 March 2002.
Groups representing those killed in the Omagh bomb (15 August 1998) met in London to launch a fund-raising campaign to obtain the £2 million required to bring a civil action against those believed to be responsible for the bomb attack. The meeting was attended by Bob Geldof, musician and Live Aid founder, Barry McGuigan, a former world boxing champion, and Peter Mandelson, former Secretary of State of Northern Ireland. [The appeal was launched in August 2000 and had raised £800,000. The deadline for raising the funding was August 2002.]
Relatives of those killed in the Omagh bomb wrote a letter to Ronnie Flanagan, then Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), asking for "an independent senior investigation officer" to lead the police investigation. Flanagan later stated that he had no intention of removing the current investigating officer.

Thursday 21 February 2002
Two Irishmen appeared at the Old Bailey in London charged in relation to 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) bomb attacks in London and Birmingham during 2001. [The men were remanded in custody to reappear in court on May 20th. Two other men are in custody charged in connection with the bombs.]

Saturday 2 March 2002
Two 16 year old boys were slightly injured when an explosive device, hidden in a police traffic cone, detonated as they moved it. The device had been left at the Farmacaffley point-to-point races in south Armagh and the boys had moved the traffic cone to allow a car to pass. [Dissident Republicans were thought to have been responsible for the attack and it was believed that the intended target was the security forces.]

Saturday 23 March 2002
A Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station on the border between County Fermanagh and County Donegal came under gun attack on Saturday night.  Police investigating reports of gunfire in Belleek found a number of strike marks on a private house beside the village's police station on Sunday morning.  They also found two bullet strike marks on the station itself. No one was injured.

Friday 29 March 2002
In Sion Mills, County Tyrone a booby trap bomb was found under the car of a former member of the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR).

Monday 8 April 2002
The Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) issued a statement to say that the organisation had carried out a second initiative on the decommissioning of its illegally held weapons.
The Omagh Victims Group accused the British government of dragging its heels over compensation payments to those who were bereaved or injured. The group claimed that families that had lost relatives were still waiting despite the British government having said that it would fast-track payments.  However, the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) blamed solicitors acting for the claimants for the delays.

Tuesday 9 April 2002
The 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) issued a statement in which it said that it posed no threat to any witnesses giving evidence to the Bloody Sunday Inquiry. The rIRA went on to state that it believed suggestions by security force witnesses that they are under threat from Republicans was a smokescreen aimed at hiding the truth.

Friday 12 April 2002
Two Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) stations in County Down – in Downpatrick and Ardglass – were slightly damaged in bomb attacks.

Tuesday 16 April 2002
There was a bomb attack on the Garnerville police training college in east Belfast. [The Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) later claimed responsibility.]

Friday 26 April 2002
A van containing a large firebomb was abandoned in Belfast city centre.

Sunday 28 April 2002
Dissident republicans were being blamed for a bomb attack on Maghaberry Prison, County Antrim. Prison staff were moved to safety following an explosion at the main gate of the prison. A device had been left in a white vehicle which pulled up outside the perimeter gate.  Two prison officers who were in buildings nearby, but no-one was hurt.

Monday 29 April 2002
The railway line between Belfast and Dublin was closed following a bomb alert at Lurgan, County Armagh.  The line was reopened during the evening.  [This was the 17th security alert on the railways since the start of the year.]

Tuesday 7 May 2002
Three men from the Republic of Ireland were each sentenced to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to planning to cause an explosion and buying weapons.  The three Dissident Republicans from County Louth also admitted trying to obtain detonators, rocket-propelled grenades, handguns, sniper rifles and a wire guided missile.  Fintan Paul O'Farrell, 39, Declan John Rafferty, 42, and Michael Christopher McDonald, 44, were arrested in the small spa town of Piest'any in Slovakia on 5 July last year.  They were sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court in London to 30 years each for conspiracy to cause explosions, and 12 years each for charges under the Terrorism Act, to run concurrently.  [After their arrest, the men were extradited to Britain and had been due to stand trial at Woolwich Crown Court.  But they gave guilty pleas to the charges, which included conspiring "unlawfully and maliciously" to cause an explosion in the UK or Republic of Ireland between 18 February and 6 July last year.  The three gave their pleas in front of a packed public gallery and amid heightened security at the court last Thursday.  The Dissident republicans were caught after an elaborate sting operation by MI5 agents.]

Thursday 9 May 2002
The relatives of Omagh bomb victims have told Home Secretary David Blunkett they feel let down by assurances that the British and Irish governments are working together to catch the killers.  Victor Barker, who lost his 12-year-old son James in the atrocity, said he believed so-called co-operation between the two governments and the police to bring the Real IRA suspects to justice "was a lie".  The families spent half an hour outlining their grievances.  They centre on claims that the Irish Special Branch failed to pass on intelligence to relevant authorities in Northern Ireland which could have prevented the Omagh attack.  But Irish police have described the suggestion as "ludicrous" and in a statement on Thursday, the Garda Siochana said the allegations were unfounded.

Friday 7 June 2002
A Catholic recruit to the new Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) escaped injury in a car bomb attack in Ballymena, County Antrim.  The incident happened in the Dunclug Park area of the town. An under-car booby trap device exploded as the young officer was getting into his car. It was thought that only the detonator exploded. 

Tuesday 16 July 2002
Families of the Omagh bomb victims have had a meeting with the senior Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officer in charge of investigating events surrounding the Real IRA atrocity.   Detective Superintendent Norman Baxter, along with Assistant Chief Constable Sam Kincaid, met relatives on Tuesday evening, nearly four years on since the bombing, which killed 29 people in August 1998.   It was the relatives' first meeting with the new investigating team.   The two-hour meeting included a presentation on the lines of investigation the police are following, given by the new head of the inquiry, DCS Baxter.

Wednesday 17 July 2002
Dissident Republicans were blamed for the attempted killing of two police officers in County Down. The officers escaped injury when their car was struck by an explosive device on the Killough Road near Downpatrick.

Wednesday 24 July 2002
There was a security alert on the County Fermanagh state of Lord Brookeborough, then a Unionist peer and member of the Northern Ireland Policing Board. [The Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) later claimed responsibility.]

Friday 26 July 2002
Solicitors acting for members of the Omagh Victims Legal Trust served writs on three men in the Republic of Ireland. The proceedings were the first stage in a civil case being taken by some of the relatives of those killed in the Omagh bomb in August 1998 against those alleged to have been involved in the attack.

Tuesday 30 July 2002
There was traffic disruption in Belfast city centre after a number of security alerts.

Thursday 1 August 2002
David Caldwell, a civilian construction worker, was killed by an explosive device placed in a lunchbox at a Territorial Army base on the outskirts of Derry. [The 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) later claimed responsibility for the killing.]

Friday 2 August 2002
Five people were questioned about the killing of David Caldwell in Derry yesterday in a bomb explosion.

Monday 19 August 2002
There was a major security alert in Derry as a number of suspect devices are found on the Craigavon Bridge.

Tuesday 20 August 2002
In Derry a number of houses were evacuated after a suspicious object was found close to the scene of the incident where David Caldwell was killed earlier in the month.

Thursday 5 September 2002
Irwin Montgomery, then Chairman of the Northern Ireland Police Federation, warned of the growing threat posed by paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland.

Wednesday 18 September 2002
During a security operation Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers stopped a vehicle outside Newry, County Down and discovered two under-car booby trap bombs.

Saturday 21 September 2002
A meeting of the the Ulster Unionist Council (UUC), the policy-making body of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), was held in Belfast. The decision was made that the party’s ministers would withdraw from the Northern Ireland Executive by 18 January 2003 unless the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) proved it had completely abandoned violence.

Monday 23 September 2002
At a court appearance in Banbridge, County Down two men appeared to face charges relating to the discovery of two bombs outside Newry, County Down the previous week. One of the men was also charged with alleged membership of the real" Irish Republican Army (rIRA).

Wednesday 25 September 2002
It was announced that some student officers in the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) had been issued with personal protection weapons to guard themselves against the threat from paramilitaries.
In its first annual report the Northern Ireland Policing Board (NIPB) revealed that there had been a significant rise in the number of gun and bomb attacks over the previous year.

Tuesday 1 October 2002
It was reported that Liam Campbell, then a leading Republican Dissident, had been moved to a protection wing at Portlaoise Prison in the Republic of Ireland, after he had received death threats from his former colleagues in the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA).

Friday 4 October 2002
The future of devolved government was called into question following police raids at Sinn Fein (SF) offices at Stormont. Allegations are made that the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) were operating a spy ring at Stormont.

Tuesday 8 October 2002
At the Special Criminal Court in Dublin Michael McKevitt appeared at a preliminary hearing to face charges of belonging to an illegal organisation - the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) – and of directing terrorism. During the hearing allegations were made that the Omagh bombing in August 1998 was a joint operation between the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) and the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA).

Monday 14 October 2002
Devolved government in Northern Ireland was suspended in Northern Ireland and direct rule from Westminster was re-introduced.

Wednesday 16 October 2002
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) arrested five men in Limerick on suspicion of being members of the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA).

Sunday 20 October 2002
There were indications of a split within the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA). In a statement released to a Dublin-based paper 36 of the 39 rIRA prisoners currently in Portlaoise jail in the Republic of Ireland as well as five prisoners in English jails, stated that the current leadership had "forfeited all moral authority" to lead the organisation. They concluded that the only step open to it was to resign.

Friday 25 October 2002
There was major traffic disruption in Belfast city centre following a number of security alerts. The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) later blamed the for one of the incidents.

Tuesday 5 November 2002
Bertie Ahern, then Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister), responded to claims in a Channel 4 programme on the Omagh bomb and in a Dublin-based newspaper, of alleged contact between the Irish government and the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA). Ahern denied claims that the Irish government had sought to persuade the rIRA to call a ceasefire in the wake of the Omagh bombing in August 1998. He did however admit that his adviser had been in contact with the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, which was believed to have links with the rIRA.

Wednesday 6 November 2002
A report compiled by Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary for the Northern Ireland Policing Board recommended that a new intelligence branch within the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) should be established. The report was commissioned following severe criticism by the Police Ombudsman into the investigation into the Omagh bombing in August 1998.
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) raided a house in the Garrowen area of Limerick and discovered arms and ammunition. In the same raid they also arrested a man suspected of being a prominent member of the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA).

Monday 11 November 2002
At the Special Court in Dublin four men from Northern Ireland were charged with membership of an illegal organisation - the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA). The four men had been arrested by the Garda Síochána (the Irish police) during a raid in County Monaghan on Friday 8 November.

Monday 16 December 20002
In England Scotland Yard’s Anti-Terrorist Branch issued a warning for the general public to be on their guard against the threat of Dissident republicans in the run up to Christmas.

2003

Thursday 9 January 2003
In Keady, County Armagh army bomb experts defused a firebomb left at a local waterworks. The Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) claimed to have left the device.

Monday 13 January 2003
Army bomb experts defused a firebomb which had been left outside a supermarket in Dungannon, County Tyrone. The Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) claimed to have left the device.

Wednesday 22 January 2003
In London the trial begins of five men charged in connection with a series of bomb attacks by the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) in London and Birmingham during 2009.
Documents are released which indicate that five leading republicans, Michael McKevitt, Liam Campbell, Colm Murphy, Seamus McKenna and Seamus Daly, are to be sued for £10 million in a civil case brought against them by some of the families of those killed in the Omagh bomb in August 1998

Thursday 23 January 2003
The Police Association, which represents all ranks within the Police Service of Northern Ireland, withdrew an application seeking a judicial review to quash a report by Nuala O’Loan, then the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland. The report in question had been highly critical of the police investigation into the Omagh bomb in August 1998 which had been carried out by the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA). However both sides reached an agreement before the case was due to start at the High Court in Dublin.
A package containing an explosive device was defused after being discovered at the headquarters of the Northern Ireland Prison Service in Belfast. It was later reported that the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) had claimed responsibility and linked the attack to the ongoing campaign by Dissident Republican prisoners held in Maghaberry Prison to secure segregation.

Sunday 2 February 2003
A bomb exploded at a Territorial Army base in South Belfast damaging a perimeter fence

Wednesday 5 February 2003
During a court appearance in Dungannon, County Tyrone a 24-year-old man faced charges relating to a bomb attack on the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station in Stewartstown, County Tyrone. In addition he was also charged with being a member of the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA).

Friday 7 February 2003
There were a number of security alerts across Belfast and during one of these army bomb experts carried out a controlled explosion on a suspicious vehicle.

Sunday 9 February 2003
A coffee jar bomb was thrown at the perimeter wall of the police station in Stewartstown, County Tyrone.

Monday 10 February 2003
In Enniskillen, County Fermanagh six Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers were injured in a bomb attack for which the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) claimed responsibility for.
An unexploded pipe bomb was discovered outside the walls of Mountpottinger Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station in east Belfast.

Tuesday 11 February 2003
Five republicans including Gerry Adams, then President of Sinn Fein, were issued with subpoenas to appear in court in relation to a civil case brought by some of the families of those killed in the Omagh bomb in August 1998 against a number of men alleged to have been involved.

Thursday 13 February 2003
In west Belfast a blast bomb was defused by army bomb experts after it was thrown at Woodbourne Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station.

Tuesday 18 February 2003
Two nail bombs, one of which exploded, were thrown over the perimeter fence of Antrim Road Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station in north Belfast. [The Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) later claimed responsibility for the attack.]
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) arrested a man in the Inniskeen area of County Monaghgan in connection with their ongoing investigation into the Omagh bomb in August 1998.

Wednesday 19 February 2003
An unexploded pipe bomb was discovered in the grounds of Woodbourne Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station in west Belfast.

Thursday 20 February 2003
During a search operation by the security forces guns and ammunition were discovered near Donagh, County Fermanagh.

Tuesday 4 March 2003
At the Special Criminal Court in Dublin a 32-year-old-man from Castleblayney faced charges of belonging to an illegal organisation – believed to be 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA).

Wednesday 12 March 2003
Army bomb experts defused a firebomb which had been left in a van outside the Laganside Courts in Belfast. [The 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) later claimed responsibility for the attack.]
Three men were shot in an incident near Cullaville, South Armagh. One of the men was Keith Rodgers a member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA). Security forces investigating his death refused to rule out the possibility that it had been carried out by republican paramilitaries.

Tuesday 25 March 2003
In Strabane, County Tyrone a car belonging to the daughter of a Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) councillor and member of the local District Policing Partnership (DPP) was destroyed in an arson attack. The SDLP blamed Dissident Republicans.

Thursday 3 April 2003
Deputy Chief Constable of Merseyside, Mike Tonge, and his colleague Phil Jones, delivered a report to the Northern Ireland Policing Board on the ongoing investigation of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) into the Omagh bomb in August 1998.

Monday 7 April 2003
There were a series of bomb alerts across Belfast which caused major traffic disruption.

Wednesday 9 April 2003
In London five men were found guilty and sentenced to between 16 and 22 years for their involvement in a Dissident Republican bombing campaign in England during 2001.

Friday 11 April 2003
There were a series of bomb alerts across Belfast which caused major traffic disruption.

Wednesday 16 April 2003
Army bomb experts defused a 100lb bomb which had been placed the office of Nigel Dodds, then the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) MP for North Belfast. [The Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) later claimed responsibility for the attack.]

Thursday 24 April 2003
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) detained two suspected leading members of the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) in Limerick. During the incident a car was stopped and a package containing arms were found.

Monday 5 May 2003
A fire bomb was defused by army bomb experts outside a government building in Belfast city centre.

Tuesday 6 May 2003
A pipe bomb was defused in Dublin close to the Dail (the Irish parliament).

Monday 12 May 2003
A letter bomb partially exploded inside the headquarters of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) in east Belfast.

Friday 16 May 2003
Talks took place between relatives of the Omagh bomb victims of August 1998 and senior members of the Garda Síochána (the Irish police).

Monday 19 May 2003
A parcel bomb was defused after being delivered to the offices of Republican Sinn Fein (RSF)on the Falls Road area of west Belfast.

Wednesday 11 June 2003
Police investigating Dissident Republican activity in the Castlewellan and Kilcoo areas of South Down recovered a rifle and a shotgun.

Friday 13 June 2003
In an operation against Dissident Republicans Garda Síochána (the Irish police) discovered a van packed with 500lbs of explosives on a farm near Inniskeen, County Monaghan.
During a separate search in County Louth close to the Northern Ireland border a further quanity of explosives were found.

Sunday 15 June 2003
In Derry Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers stopped a van on the Foyle Bridge and found it was carrying a 1200lb bomb.

Tuesday 17 June 2003
Sir Hugh Orde, then Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), warned that the discovery of two bombs in the past week was proof of the continuing threat from Dissident Republicans.

Wednesday 18 June 2003
The trial of Michael McKevitt, the alleged leader of the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA), began at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin. He was charged with directing terrorism and being a member of an illegal organisation. The main witness against McKevitt, was expected to be David Rupert, a former MI5 (British intelligence) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent.

Friday 20 June 2003
At Belfast Crown Court three men were given jail sentences totaling 21 years. The men were found guilty of involvement in an incident in March 2000 when 500lbs of home-made explosives had been discovered in two cars close to the official residence of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in Hillsborough, County Down.
At a separate court hearing in Belfast a man was sentenced to eight years imprisonment for possession of a weapon and ammunition with intent to endanger life as well as having a document likely to be of use to terrorists. The charges dated back to an incident in October 2001 when police had stopped a car on the M1 motorway near Moira, County Down.

Monday 23 June 2003
At the trial of Michael McKevitt, the alleged leader of the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA), at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin, evidence against him was given by the main prosecution witness David Rupert, a former MI5 (British intelligence) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent.

Tuesday 24 June 2003
At the trial of Michael McKevitt, the alleged leader of the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA), at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin, evidence against him was given by the main prosecution witness David Rupert, a former MI5 (British intelligence) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent. Amongst other things Rupert claimed McKevitt was extremely upset after the Omagh bomb in August 1998 and that it had been a joint operation with the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA).

Wednesday 25 June 2003
At the trial of Michael McKevitt, the alleged leader of the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA), at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin, evidence against him was given by the main prosecution witness David Rupert, a former MI5 (British intelligence) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent. Amongst other things Rupert claimed McKevitt had told him of a plot to kill Tony Blair, then British Prime Minister and of plans to establish a new republican paramilitary organisation encompassing members of the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA), the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA), Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) as well as former members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA).

Thursday 26 June 2003
At the trial of Michael McKevitt, the alleged leader of the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA),  at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin, evidence against him was given by the main prosecution witness David Rupert, a former MI5 (British intelligence) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent. Amongst other things Rupert claimed McKevitt had told him of was of efforts to forge links with Iraqi and Sri Lankan separatist groups. In addition he alleged that McKevitt had spoken of his disappointment that the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) did not have suicide bombers capable of attacking a British military ship in Carlingford Lough.

Saturday 28 June 2003
At the high security prison at Maghaberry, County Antrim a roof-top protest over spell space came to an end. The protest had begun on Friday evening and included republican, loyalist and non-paramilitary inmates.

Monday 30 June 2003
A crude explosive device was defused by army bomb experts close to a petrol station on the outskirts of Strabane, County Tyrone.

Thursday 3 July 2003
A man appeared at Belfast Magistrates Court to face charges relating to the collection of information likely to be of use to terrorists. The case was linked to Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) claims that they had uncovered a 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) unit at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast involved in gathering intelligence.
There was a bomb alert in the Castle Street area of Belfast city centre after the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) claimed to have left a device in a car park.

Friday 4 July 2003
At the Special Criminal Court in Dublin three men faced charges in relation to an explosive find linked to Dissident Republicans at Iniskeen, County Louth last month.
Sir Hugh Orde, then Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), confirmed that up to 300 people had been warned about their personal security. This follows recent claims that the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) had been engaged in gathering intelligence at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast.

Saturday 5 July 2003
A man appeared in court in Belfast to face a number of terrorist related charges including membership of the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA), possession of explosives, intent to endanger life and conspiracy to commit an explosion. The offences related to an incident in Belfast city centre in November 2002 when police found an incendiary device in a car parked outside a tax office.
In a radio interview Martin McGuiness, then Vice-President of Sinn Fein and MP for Mid-Ulster, stated that efforts by Dissident Republicans to wreck the peace process in Northern Ireland are doomed to failure.

Tuesday 8 July 2003
Another man appeared at Belfast Magistrates Court in connection an incident in Belfast city centre in November 2002 when police found an incendiary device in a car parked outside a tax office. It was claimed that his arrest was made in connection with an ongoing police investigation into an allegations that a 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) unit had been engaged in gathering intelligence at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast.

Wednesday 9 July 2003
Jane Kennedy, then Minister of State at the Northern Ireland Office (NIO), denied allegations that Dissident Republican prisoners had been mistreated at Maghaberry Jail, County Antrim. The prisoners were involved in a dirty protest as part of an ongoing campaign over cell space.

Tuesday 15 July 2003
At the trial of Michael McKevitt, the alleged leader of the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA), at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin, it emerged that the main prosecution witness David Rupert, a former MI5 (British intelligence) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent, wanted $2 million to testify. In evidence Rupert also claimed that his decision to testify against McKevitt came in the wake of watching a television programme on the Omagh bomb in August as well events on 9/11.

Wednesday 16 July 2003
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) arrested a number of men as a result of an ongoing operation investigation into cigarette smuggling by the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA). The operation also included the Irish custom service as well as the police in Holland.

Saturday 19 July 2003
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) blamed Dissident Republicans for an incident in west Belfast when two masked armed with guns placed an incendiary device on a bus and ordered the driver to park the vehicle outside Woodbourne police station. Army bomb experts later defused the device before it exploded.
Up to 100 people attended a rally in west Belfast to support calls for the segregation of republican and loyalist inmates at Maghaberry jail, County Antrim.

Thursday 24 July 2003
A 32-year old man was attacked and shot in the right leg in an alleyway close to the Oldpark Road in north Belfast. The victim claims he was the victim of a punishment attack by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) because he was a Dissident Republican.
At the trial of Michael McKevitt, the alleged leader of the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA), in the Special Criminal Court in Dublin, the defendant dismissed his legal team. His decision to do so followed a ruling from the judges to dismiss a defence application to stop the trial on the grounds of non-disclosure of important surveillance documents.

Friday 25 July 2003
At the trial of Michael McKevitt, the alleged leader of the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA), in the Special Criminal Court in Dublin, the defendant refused to leave his cell to attend the proceedings. His decision came in the wake of a ruling the day before dismiss a defence application to stop the trial on the grounds of non-disclosure of important surveillance documents.
The girlfriend of a Dissident Republican who had accused the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) of trying to kill him, decided to leave her home in north Belfast. She alleged that neighbours had picketed her house carrying placards telling her to get out of her house in the Glen Park Court area of north Belfast. The events had occurred shortly after the attack on her boyfriend on the previous evening.

Monday 28 July 2003
The trial of Michael McKevitt, the alleged leader of the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA), in the Special Criminal Court in Dublin, came to an end.

Wednesday 30 July 2003
A series of bomb alerts across Belfast caused major traffic disruption.

Thursday 31 July 2003
Sir Hugh Orde, then Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), claimed that the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) was behind the disappearance of a man from County Armagh. Gareth O’Connor, from Armagh city, had not been seen since 11 May 2003 when he had failed to report to Dundalk police station as part of his bail conditions. It was alleged that the police had warned Gareth O’Connor’s family that he may be targeted by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) because he had links with Dissident republicans. [The Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) had already denied any involvement.]

Friday 1 August 2003
Police officers investigating the killing of a building worker, David Caldwell, at a Territorial Army base in Derry a year ago set up road blocks close to the scene in an attempt to find more witnesses. The police also confirmed that they believed the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) was responsible for David Caldwell’s death.

Sunday 3 August 2003
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) arrested 10 men after they discovered a suspected training camp in County Tipperary. Those arrested are thought to be linked with the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA).
Gerry Adams, the President of Sinn Fein, confirmed he had received a warning from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) of a threat to his life from Dissident Republicans.

Tuesday 5 August 2003
At the Special Criminal Court in Dublin eight men faced charges relating to the recent discovery of an alleged Dissident Republican training camp by the Garda Síochána (the Irish police).

Wednesday 6 August 2003
At the Special Criminal Court in Dublin Michael McKevitt, the alleged leader of the Dissident republican group, the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA), was found guilty of directing terrorism and membership of an illegal organisation. He was given a 20 year prison sentence.

Sunday 10 August 2003
Police in England arrested three men at Morecombe, Lancashire after a number of weapons were seized. It was believed the events are linked to an ongoing investigation into the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA).

Monday 11 August 2003
Denis Bradley, then deputy chairman of the Northern Ireland’s Policing Board, received bullets in the post to his home in Derry. The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) believed that Dissident Republicans were responsible for that and a similar incident where bullets were sent to Marion Quinn, then a member of the District Policing Partnership, in Derry.

Wednesday 13 August 2003
There were a number of bomb alerts in Belfast city centre.
In Omagh relatives of the Omagh bomb victims of August 1998 met with British government ministers to discuss an offer to help fund their civil action against five 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) suspects alleged to have been involved in the bombing.

Friday 15 August 2003
A memorial service was held in Omagh to mark the fifth anniversary of the bomb which killed twenty-nine people, including two unborn children, in the town.

Saturday 16 August 2003
At a court in London three men are charged under the Terrorism Act with having weapons and money which were likely to be used in relation to terrorist activities. The charges related to arrests made by police in Morecome, Lancashire as part of an ongoing investigation into Dissident Republican activity.

Sunday 17 August 2003
In west Belfast Dissident Republicans were blamed for the shooting dead of Daniel McGurk.

Monday 25 August 2003
Inside Maghaberry Prison, County Antrim two Dissident Republican prisoners were attacked by a group of loyalist prisoners. [In recent times loyalist and republican prisoners had campaigned for segregation to be introduced into the jail.]

Friday 29 August 2003
Army bomb experts defused a bomb which had been placed alongside a road outside Newcastle, County Down. The security forces later claimed that the device was similar to others that had been planted by 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA).

Tuesday 2 September 2003
A man and a woman from the Jonesborough area of south Armagh are arrested and questioned about the Omagh bombing in August 1998. [Both were later released without charge.]
In Dublin lawyers representing families of the victims of the Omagh bombing met Michael McDowell, then the Irish Minister of Justice. The purpose of the meeting was to ask the Irish government to allow Garda Síochána (the Irish police) experts to testify in a civil action being taken by some of the relatives against five men they alleged were involved in the bombing.

Thursday 4 September 2003
A four-man Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) was to be established by the British and Irish governments. The remit of the new body was to to examine and report on the state of the various paramilitary ceasefires as well as the British government’s demilitarization programme and political tactics which threatened the stability of the devolved institutions.

Monday 8 September 2003
A review of safety at Maghaberry prison, County Antrim which houses paramilitary prisoners recommended that loyalist and republican prisoners should be separated.

Thursday 11 September 2003
An independent member of Fermanagh District Policing Partnership resigned after receiving a death threat from the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA).

Friday 12 September 2003
Claims are made that members of Cookstown District Policing Partnership have been threatened by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA). The claims were dismissed by Sinn Fein (SF).

Sunday 14 September 2003
At Maghaberry Prison, County Antrim up to 20 Dissident Republicans were moved to separate accommodation.
A Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) councilor member of Strabane District Council and member of the local District Policing Partnership (DPP) discovered a hoax device outside his house at Plumbridege, County Tyrone.

Monday 15 September 2003
Sir Hugh Orde, then Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), claimed that recent attempts to intimidate individual nationalist members of various district policing partnerships were the work of both mainstream and Dissident Republicans.
At the Special Criminal Court in Dublin two men faced charges relating to the possession of guns and ammunition as well as membership of an illegal organisation – thought to be the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA). Both men, from Newry, County Down in Northern Ireland, had been arrested by the Garda Síochána (the Irish police) on the outskirts on Dublin the previous Saturday.

Wednesday 17 September 2003
In Derry Denis Bradly, then vice-chairman of the Northern Ireland Policing Board, stated that he had received a death threat from the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA).
The incident followed an earlier incident in the city when the car of a member of the local District Policing Partnership was destroyed in an arson attack. Earlier the same person had been informed by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) that it had received a warning from the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) that any Catholic member of a local District Policing Partnership in Northern Ireland was now seen as a legitimate target for attack by the organisation.

Saturday 20 September 2003
At Omagh Magistrates Court a 17-year-old-youth was charged with membership of the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) and of having material which could be of use to a terrorist organisation.

Wednesday 24 September 2003
In Strabane, County Tyrone the first meeting of the local district policing partnership was adjourned twice after it was interrupted by Dissident Republican protestors.

Friday 26 September 2003
In Strabane, County Tyrone there was a hoax bomb alert at the home of Mrs Ann Bell, then a Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) councilor, and member of the local district policing partnership. She also states that members of Strabane District Policing Partnership have been warned by police of a threat to them from Dissident Republicans.

Tuesday 30 September 2003
A survey conducted for the Northern Ireland Policing Board suggests that an increasing number of Catholics are reluctant to join the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) because of the threat of attack from Dissident Republicans.

Sunday 5 October 2003
For the second time in a couple of weeks the home of a member of the Strabane District Policing Partnership was attacked. On this occasion an attempt was made to burn a car belonging to the son of Mary McCrea.
Victor Barker, the father of a schoolboy killed in the Omagh bomb in August 1998, revealed he had met the 32 County Sovereignty Committee, a group widely seen as being the political wing of the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA).

Wednesday 8 October 2003
Some of the relatives of those killed in the Omagh bomb in August 1998 addressed a fringe meeting at the Conservative Party conference in England.

Saturday 11 October 2003
Army bomb experts defused a car bomb containing 130lbs of home-made explosives which had left outside the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station in Roslea, County Fermanagh.

Tuesday 14 October 2003
Alleagations are made on a BBC Radio 4 programme that a Dissident Republican group, thought to be the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA), had been supplying guns to organized crime gangs in Britain.
The Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) claimed responsibility for having left a blast incendiary device outside a Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station in north Belfast.
Bertie Ahern, then Taioseach (Irish Prime Minister) confirmed that his special adviser had met Michael McKevitt, then the leader of the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA), some four months after the Omagh bomb. According to Ahern the meeting was held in order to tell the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) not only to maintain its ceasefire called in the wake of the bomb but that the organisation should disband.

Thursday 6 November 2003
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) arrested a man suspected of being a member of the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA). The arrest was linked to an incident on Tuesday 4 November when French police discovered a cache of weapons and ammunition near Dieppe.

Tuesday 11 November 2003
In Derry Dissident Republicans were blamed for a hoax bomb alert at the home of the city’s Mayor Shaun Gallagher, then a Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) councilor. It was suggested the incident was in response to Shaun Gallagher’s participation in Derry’s Remembrance Day ceremony.

Sunday 16 November 2003
It was reported that police in Derry were investigating an attempted attack on the home of the city’s Mayor Shaun Gallagher, then a Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) councilor.

Monday 17 November 2003
Victor Barker, the father of a schoolboy killed in the Omagh bomb in August 1998, called for a new independent inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the attack should be held in the Republic of Ireland.

Tuesday 18 November 2003
A hoax bomb alert outside Newcastle, County Down was thought to have been an attempt to lure security forces into the area after a real device was discovered. The 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) was thought to have been responsible for the incident.
Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers investigating the killing of Danny McGurk in west Belfast in August 2003 stated that they had grounds to believe that the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) were responsible.

Thursday 20 November 2003
A senior officer in the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) warned of the continued terrorist threat from Dissident Republicans and their ongoing efforts to kill members of the security forces.

Monday 24 November 2003
The Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) claimed responsibility for a bomb which partially exploded outside a British Army base in Dungannon, County Tyrone injuring two Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers.
In a separate incident there was a gun attack on a Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station in Armagh city.

Wednesday 26 November 2003
Polling takes place for an election to the Northern Ireland. In Derry some 50 petrol bombs are thrown at police as they collect ballot boxes at five locations in the city.

Friday 28 November 2003
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) seized several million smuggled cigarettes in County Louth. There was speculation that the haul belonged to the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA).

Monday 15 December 2003
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) investigating Dissident Republican activity arrested seven men in Cork and Limerick.

Wednesday 17 December 2003
At the Special Criminal Court in Dublin four of the men recently arrested by the Garda Síochána (the Irish police) investigating dissident Republican are charged with belonging to a paramilitary organisation – thought to be the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA).

2004

Monday 5 January 2004
There was a hoax bomb alert in Strabane outside the home of a member of the local district policing partnership.

Wednesday 14 January 2004
In Tandragee, County Armagh a car belonging to a member of the local district policing partnership was destroyed in an arson attack.

Monday 19 January 2004
In Cookstown, County Tyrone a pipe bomb exploded outside the house of a member of the local district policing partnership.

Wednesday 4 February 2004
Dissident Republicans were blamed for an attempted bomb attack at Shackleton Army Barracks in Ballykelly, County Derry. During the incident a controlled explosion was carried out a small device which had been attached close to the married quarters at the barracks.

Tuesday 10 February 2004
In Derry a hoax device was thrown at the house of Pat Ramsey, then Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) leader on Derry City Council. He later blamed Dissident Republicans for the attack.

Thursday 12 February 2004
In Derry petrol bombs were thrown at the home of Denis Bradley, then vice-chairman of the Northern Ireland Policing Board.

Friday 13 February 2004
In Limerick Garda Síochána (the Irish police) investigating Dissident Republican activity recovered a substantial quantity of explosives and detonators after stopping a van in the city.

Friday 20 February 2004
In Belfast city centre there was a security incident after Bobby Tohill, then a prominent Dissident Republican, was abducted and assaulted by up to four men. In the ensuing security operation police officers released Mr Storey when they stopped a van being driven from the scene.

Saturday 21 February 2004
Sir Hugh Orde, then Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), accused the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) of being behind the attempt to abduct Bobby Tohill, then a prominent Dissident Republican.

Monday 23 February 2004
At Belfast Magistrates Court four men faced charges in connection with the alleged abduction of Bobby Tohill, then a prominent Dissident Republican.

Tuesday 24 February 2004
Paul Murphy, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, asked the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) to investigate the alleged abduction of Bobby Tohill, then a prominent Dissident Republican.

Wednesday 25 February 2004
An article in the republican newspaper, An Phoblacht, stated that it had been informed by a source close to the leadership of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) that it had not authorized any action against Bobby Tohill, then a prominent Dissident Republican.

Thursday 4 March 2004
Sean Hoey from Jonesboro in south Armagh was charged with conspiracy to cause an explosion in Banbridge, County Down in August 1998.In addition he also faced charges relating to attacks at Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) stations in Blackwatertown, County Armagh in July 1998 and on the Newry Road in Armagh city in May 1998.

Monday 8 March 2004
A letter bomb was sent to the home of Tom McBride, then a Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) councilor and member of Strabane District Policing Partnership. [In September 2003 a hoax bomb had been left outside his house.]

Thursday 11 March 2004
It was believed that Dissident Republicans were responsible for a death threat made to a member of Craigavon District Policing Partnership. [The recent incident was part of a series of threats and attacks on Catholic members of Craigavon District Policing Partnership.]

Wednesday 24 March 2004
Garda Síochána (the Irish police) arrested four men suspected of Dissident Republican activity after an attempt was made to burn down a house on the outskirts of Cork City. It was alleged that the four men had links with 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA).

Wednesday 31 March 2004
During a security operation against Dissident Republicans three people were arrested by police after there were reports of suspicious activity near Ebrington Army Barracks on the outskirts of Derry.

Wednesday 7 April 2004
A suspicious device was found outside the home of Pat Ramsey, then Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) leader on Derry City Council. Mr Ramsey claims that it was the second attack on his house in the past week.

Monday 19 April 2004
Letter bombs were sent to Peter Robinson, then deputy leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), and Alex Attwood, then a Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) MLA.

Tuesday 20 April 2004
The first report of the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) was published. Within the report the conclusion was reached that the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) were responsible for the alleged abduction of Bobby Tohill, then a prominent Dissident Republican, in Belfast in February 2004.

Wednesday 21 April 2004
During a security operation by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) aimed at Dissident Republicans police recovered a sniper’s rifle outside Camlough in south Armagh. The weapon was seized after a vehicle was stopped at a checkpoint.

Friday 23 April 2004
At the High Court in Belfast the civil action by some of the families of the Omagh bomb victims of August 1998 against five men got underway. The five men being sued for £10 million were Seamus Daly, Seamus McKenna, Michael McKevitt, Liam Campbell and Colm Murphy.

Thursday 29 April 2004
In Strabane, County Tyrone police raided a flat in the town and discovered what they believe had been a bomb-making base being used by Dissident Republicans.

Monday 3 May 2004
At Belfast Magistrates’ Court a leading Dissident Republican, Bobby Tohill, was charged with offences connected to threats to kill a man in west Belfast. [Bobby Tohill had himself been the alleged abduction by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) in February 2004.]

Tuesday 4 May 2004
Bullets in the post were sent to the constituency office of PJ Bradley, then a Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) MLA.

Friday 7 May 2004
At the High Court in Belfast it was claimed that the alleged kidnapping of a leading Dissident Republican, Bobby Tohill, was a domestic incident and not related to any terrorist organisation.

Sunday 9 May 2004
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) renewed their appeal for information about the disappearance of Gareth O’Connor. Mr O’Connor was facing charges of belonging to the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) and had not been seen since 11 May 2003.

Monday 24 May 2004
At the Special Criminal Court in Dublin Liam Campbell was found guilty of being a member of an illegal organisation – the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) – and given an eight year prison sentence.

Thursday 27 May 2004
Victor Barker, whose son was killed in the Omagh Bomb in August 1998, criticized a decision by a judge at Belfast Crown Court who had dismissed charges against four men who had been accused of being members of the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA). The judge had concluded that under current legislation an organisation was proscribed only if it was listed or operated under the same name as a listed organisation. [A short time Paul Murphy, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, stated the British government would close such a legal loophole if necessary.]

Tuesday 8 June 2004
In Belfast the trial of four men accused of conspiracy to murder and of possession of a rocket launcher in Coalisland, County Tyrone in February 2002 reached a conclusion. During the trial defence lawyers argued that a missing man from Armagh, Gareth O’Connor, had organized a bogus robbery to set the men up. [In addition the men had already been acquitted of being members of the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) after a judged ruled it was not an illegal organisation under current legislation.]

Friday 11 June 2004
At the preliminary hearings of a civil action by some of the families of the Omagh bomb victims of August 1998 against five men accused of being involved in the attack arguments were made as to whether the main prosecution witness, David Rupert, should be allowed to give evidence via video link. [Mr Rupert, a former MI5 (British intelligence) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent, had already testified against one of the defendants, Michael McKevitt, at an earlier trial.]

Monday 14 June 2004
Dissident Republicans were blamed for a bomb attack which damaged a golf club in Lurgan, County Armagh.

Tuesday 15 June 2004
Relatives of those killed by the Omagh bomb in August 1998 met Paul Murphy, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, to renew their calls for a cross-border inquiry into the attack.

Tuesday 29 June 2004
At Belfast Crown Court four men accused of conspiracy to murder and of possession of a rocket launcher in Coalisland, County Tyrone in February 2002 were acquitted. In addition the men had already been acquitted of being members of the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) after a judged ruled it was not an illegal organisation under current legislation. [During the trial defence lawyers argued that a missing man from Armagh, Gareth O’Connor, had organized a bogus robbery to set the men up].

Wednesday 30 June 2004
At the Court of Appeal in Belfast a judgement confirmed that the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) was an illegal organisation under section 3 of the Terroism Act. [The judgement overturned an earlier decision in a lower case when a judge had cleared four men of being members of  'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) on the grounds that under current legislation, an organisation was proscribed only if it was listed or operated under the same name as a listed organisation.

Thursday 1 July 2004
The 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) claimed responsibility for a series of bomb hoaxes across Belfast which caused major traffic disruption.

Tuesday 13 July 2004
The United Sates government designated Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) as a foreign terrorist organisation along with groups associated with it such as Continuity Army Council and Republican Sinn Fein (RSF).

Thursday 5 August 2004
Three Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) councillors and members of Down District Policing Partnership received bullets through the post.

Monday 9 August 2004
Relatives of the Omagh bomb victims of August 1998 called upon the Northern Ireland Human Right Commission to support their calls for a public inquiry into the attack.

Friday 20 August 2004
Charges relating to threats to kill a man in west Belfast against a prominent Dissident Republican, Bobby Tohill, are dropped. [In February 2004 Tohill had allegedly been kidnapped by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA).

Wednesday 8 September 2004
Around 30 shots were fired at Strand Road Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station in Derry.

Tuesday 14 September 2004
A number of petrol bombs were thrown at a house in Derry. The house belonged to Pat Ramsey, then a Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) MLA and the party’s leader on Derry City Council.

Wednesday 15 September 2004
In Belfast there was a security alert after the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) claimed to have left a bomb outside a Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station.

Friday 17 September 2004
In west Belfast three men were arrested after police seized a quantity of explosives and ammunition following a search in the area.

Thursday 7 October 2004
It was reported that police in Ballymena, County Antrim have stepped under security in the area after receiving that Dissident Republicans were planning to launch an attack on them.

Wednesday 13 October 2004
At a court in Belfast a man was sentenced to six years for collecting information likely to be of use to terrorists. The charges related to an alleged 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) spy ring being operated at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast.

Wednesday 17 November 2004
Army bomb experts defused a fire bomb which had been left in a shop in Belfast city centre.
In separate incidents there were security alerts at two retail parks in Belfast.

Friday 19 November 2004
Two incendiary devices were discovered at shops in Belfast.

Saturday 20 November 2004
An incendiary device was discovered at a shop in Belfast.

Wednesday 24 November 2004
An incendiary device was discovered at a shop in Belfast.
At a meeting between Sir Hugh Orde, then Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), and Noel Conroy, then Commissioner of the Garda Síochána (the Irish police), it was stated that there remained a continuing threat from Dissident Republicans. They also stated that both groups were heavily involved in criminality on both sides of the border.

Sunday 5 December 2004
Garda Síochána (the Irish police) arrested a number of men after discovering bomb making components in County Lonford.

Thursday 9 December 2004
Lawyers acting for the men involved in a civil action brought by some of the families of the victims of the Omagh bomb in August 1998 withdrew from the case. It followed a decision not to grant the defendants legal aid.

Monday 20 December 2004
At the Special Criminal Court in Dublin a man from County Armagh was given a three year prison sentenced for possessing an explosive substance. The charge related to a raid by the Garda Síochána (the Irish police) on a farm in County Louth in June 2003.
An armed gang stole in the region of £26 million from the Northern Bank in Belfast city centre.

Tuesday 21 December 2004
Dissident Republicans were blamed by police for a number of fire bomb attacks on retail premises across Northern Ireland.

Thursday 23 December 2004
A partially exploded incendiary device was found at a shop in Ballymena, County Antrim – police stated it was the seventh such attack in Northern Ireland over the past five days.

Monday 27 December 2004
A fire bomb was discovered at s shop in Newry, County Down - police stated it was the fourteenth such attack in Northern Ireland in December.

2005

Saturday 1 January 2005
An incendiary device was defused by army bomb experts after it was left outside a Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station in west Belfast. During the incident a taxi driver had been forced at gunpoint to carry the deliver the device. The Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) later claimed responsibility for the attack.

Friday 7 January 2005
During a meeting with the Northern Ireland Policing Board Sir Hugh Orde, then Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), said he believed that the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) was responsible for the Northern Bank robbery in December 2004.

Monday 10 January 2005
A blast bomb exploded within the grounds of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station in Lurgan, County Armagh.

Friday 21 January 2005
At the Court of Criminal Appeal in Dublin the only man to date found guilty of involvement in the Omagh bomb in August was granted a retrial after his appeal against the conviction was successful. The case centred on alleged serious misconduct by two detectives from the Garda Síochána (the Irish police) relating to their interview notes with the accused man. [In 2002 Colm Murphy from Dundalk, County Louth was found guilty on charges of conspiring to cause the bombing and sentenced to 14 years in prison.]

Saturday 22 January 2005
In Strabane, County Tyrone premises belonging to an agricultural and hardware business were destroyed by an incendiary device. [The 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) was later blamed for the attack.]

Wednesday 26 January 2005
Police warned retailers that Dissident Republicans were planning a new wave of fire-bomb attacks across Northern Ireland.

Thursday 27 January 2005
In Newry, County Down army bomb experts defused an incendiary device found in a shop in the town.

Sunday 30 January 2005
In Strabane, County Tyrone army bomb experts defused an incendiary device found in a shop in the town.
Robert McCartney died from stab wounds following an incident outside a bar in Belfast city centre. [Members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) were blamed for taking part in the incident and in the aftermath his sisters and partner launched a campaign to bring his killers to justice.]

Saturday 5 February 2005
During police searches in Ballymena, County Antrim three viable viable incendiary devices were discovered.

Monday 7 February 2005
Police investigating the Omagh bombing in August 1998 arrested a man in Newry, County Down for questioning.

Tuesday 8 February 2005
Five people appeared at a court in Antrim town in connection with the discovery of three viable incendiary devices the previous weekend. They were charged with membership of the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) and of possessing explosives with the intent to endanger life or damage property.

Wednesday 9 February 2005
At Enniskillen Magistrates Court a 34-year-old man from Dundalk, County Louth appeared in court to face charges relating to the Omagh bomb in August 1998. These related to providing the car used by the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) when planting the bomb.

Tuesday 15 February 2005
At the High Court in Belfast Michael McKevitt started a legal challenge against the British government’s decision to provide some £750,000 to help support a civil action by some of the families of the Omagh bomb victims. Earlier McKevitt and four other men had been refused legal aid in order to assist their defence against the action.

Thursday 17 February 2005
In Warrenpoint, County Down a letter bomb was sent to a Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) councillor and member of the local District Political Partnership.

Thursday 24 March 2005
As part of an ongoing investigation into Dissident Republican activity the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) arrested two men in west Belfast after a cache of weapons were uncovered. It was believed the operation was aimed at the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA).
At a court sitting in Craigavon, County Armagh a 51-year-old man was charged with membership of the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) as well as involvement in explosions at a golf club in Lurgan, County Armagh in 2004 and at the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station in Roslea, County Fermanagh in 2003.

Saturday 26 March 2005
An incendiary device destroyed a clothes shop at the Forestside shopping centre in south Belfast.

Sunday 27 March 2005
At an Easter Rising commemoration event in Derry Ruairi Og O Bradaigh, then a senior member of Republican Sinn Fein (RSF), accused the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) of employing bullying tactics in order to stop them holding fundraising events.

Monday 28 March 2005
Dissident Republicans were blamed for placing a number of incendiary devices at Forestside shopping centre in south Belfast and at the Ards centre in Newtownards, County Down.

Wednesday 30 March 2005
Another incendiary device was discovered at the Ards shopping centre in Newtownards, County Down

Wednesday 6 April 2005
In London a memo entitled "Dissident Threat to the UK Mainland" was made public. It contained a warning that the threat from Dissident Republicans was “substantial”.

Thursday 14 April 2005
Dissident Republicans were blamed for leaving a car bomb outside the Civic Centre in Lisburn, County Antrim.

Monday 18 April 2005
In London a panel of law lords will be asked to decide whether the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) was an illegal organisation. [The matter was before the House of Lords in response to a decision at a trial in Belfast in May 2004 when the presiding judge declared that it was not an illegal organisation under the Terrorism Act. Although the judgement had been overturned at the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal leave was taken to allow the House of Lords to make the final ruling.]

Thursday 21 April 2005
At the Court of Appeal in London a man who had been jailed for 20 years over a series of 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) bomb attacks in London failed to have his conviction overturned. Aiden Hulme had been originally convicted for his involvement in a number of bomb attacks in London and Birmingham in 2001.

Wednesday 4 May 2005
As a result of an ongoing police investigation murder charges are expected to be brought against a 34-year-old man from Jonesborough, County Armagh in connection with the Omagh bomb in August 1998.

Thursday 19 May 2005
At a court sitting in Craigavon, County Armagh Sean Hoey faced 61 terrorist charges, including 29 counts of murder relating to the Omagh bomb in August 1998.

Thursday 26 May 2005
At Craigavon Magistrates Court Sean Hoey became the first person to be formally charged with the murders of 29 people in the Omagh bomb in August 1998.

Monday 13 June 2005
At the Special Criminal Court in Dublin five men were convicted of being members of an illegal organisation – the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA).

Wednesday 15 June 2005
DNA tests were carried out on the body of a man which had been pulled out of the canal in Newry, County Down on the previous Saturday. They confirmed that it was Gareth O’Connor a 24-year-old man from Armagh who had been missing since May 2003. [Police had always claimed that the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) had abducted and killed him. This was something however that the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) had always denied. In addition at the time Gareth O’Connor had gone missing he had been facing charges relating to the membership of the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA).

Tuesday 28 June 2005
Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers investigating serious crime linked to Dissident Republican activity arrested a man in Dungiven, County Derry after thousands of suspect counterfeit cigarettes were seized.

Wednesday 29 June 2005
A man who had been charged in connection with the car used to carry the Omagh bomb in August 1998 was released after the charge against him was dropped.

Friday 1 July 2005
At Belfast Crown Court two men, Terence McCafferty and Paul Donnelly, were jailed for a total of 17 years for attempting to blow up a city centre tax office in Belfast city centre in November 2002.

Tuesday 5 July 2005
In Keady, County Armagh army bomb experts carried out a controlled explosion on a suspicious object found in the town. The incident followed a claim from the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) that it had thrown a bomb at a police vehicle the previous day.

Saturday 9 July 2005
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) warned shopkeepers in Cookstown and Dungannon, County Tyrone to check their premises after they had received warnings that unexploded incendiary devices had been left in both towns.
A controlled explosion was carried out after a pipe bomb was found within the grounds of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station in Coalisland, County Tyrone.

Tuesday 12 July 2005
Serious rioting broke out in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast after an Orange Order parade had passed. The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) subsequently accused Dissident republicans of attempting to kill some of its officers during the disturbances.

Wednesday 13 July 2005
Army bomb officers defused a device which had been left on a road outside Millford, County Armagh.
Following a coded bomb warning there were security alerts at fifteen locations across Northern Ireland.

Friday 15 July 2005
At the Court of Appeal in London three members of the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) succeeded in having their jail sentences reduced from 30 to 28 years. [The three - Fintan O'Farrell, 41, Declan Rafferty, 44, and Michael McDonald – had originally been jailed in May 2002 after they had been arrested in Slovakia in an operation mounted by MI5 whilst attempting to obtain weapons for  'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA).

Thursday 28 July 2005
In a statement the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) announced that it had formally ended its armed campaign and that in the future it would pursue its objectives by exclusively peaceful means.

Saturday 30 July 2005
In the wake of the statement made recently by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA), the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) stated that it remained committed to maintaining its 'armed struggle'.

Monday 1 August 2005
In the wake of the recent statement by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) ending its armed campaign the British government announced its response. This included de-militarisation measures such as the closure of military bases, de-fortification of police stations, the reduction of the number of British troops and the repeal of counter-terrorist legislation particular to Northern Ireland.

Tuesday 9 August 2005
In Lurgan, County Armagh Dissident Republicans were blamed for an attempted bomb attack on the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station in the town. As army technical officers attempted to make the device safe they were attacked by a crowd throwing stones, bottles and petrol bombs.

Friday 12 August 2005
At a hearing before Belfast Magistrates Court a defence lawyer claimed that the case against Sean Hoey who had been accused of the Omagh bomb murders in August 1998 was on the verge of collapse due to a lack of evidence.

Sunday 14 August 2005
A ceremony was held in Omagh to mark the seventh anniversary of the bomb attack in the town in August 1998.

Tuesday 16 August 2005
In Lurgan, County Armagh a security alert closed a stretch of the railway line after a suspicious object was found. Dolores Kelly, then a Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) MLA, stated that Dissident Republicans were training young people to leave suspect devices.

Wednesday 31 August 2005
The second day took place of a preliminary hearing to decide if there was enough evidence to send Sean Hoey for trial to face over 60 terrorist charges including the murder of 29 people killed in the Omagh bomb in August 1998.

Friday 2 September 2005
A court in Belfast decided that there was enough evidence to send Sean Hoey for trial to face over 60 terrorist charges including the murder of 29 people killed in the Omagh bomb in August 1998.

Friday 9 September 2005
At the High Court in Belfast a government decision to give an award of £700,000 to help fund a civil action by some of the families of those killed in the Omagh bomb in August 1998 against five men accused of being involved, was ruled unlawful.

Tuesday 20 September 2005
In Derry Denis Bradley, then deputy chairman of the Northern Ireland’s Policing Board (NIPB), sustained a head injury after being attacked with a baseball bat as he watched a football match in a bar. Dissident republicans were later blamed for the attack.

Wednesday 21 September 2005
During a security operation in Derry police discovered mortar tubes and other component parts on the Letterkenny Road.

Monday 26 September 2005
In a statement the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) announced that it had completed decommissioning all its weapons in an act verified by two independent witnesses Father Alec Reid and the Reverend Harold Good. General John de Chastelain, then head of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning (IICD) confirmed that the decommissioning represented "the totality of the IRA's arsenal".

Tuesday 27 September 2005
Four men were arrested by police investigating Dissident Republican activity near Strabane, County Tyrone.

Monday 24 October 2005
After a meeting between Dermot Ahern, then Irish Foreign Minister, and members of the Omagh Bomb Victims Group, it was confirmed that the Irish government would not support calls for a cross-border inquiry into the Omagh bomb in August 1998 until all criminal proceedings had been completed.

Thursday 27 October 2005
Police investigating Dissident Republican activity raided a number of homes and business premises in Belfast as well as Castlederg and Strabane, County Tyrone.

Wednesday 2 November 2005
At the Waterfront Hall in Belfast city centre 2,000 people attending a retail conference were forced to relocate to another venue following a security alert.

Saturday 5 November 2005
Thousands of people were evacuated from Down Royal racecourse, County Down after a suspect device was found following several telephoned bomb warnings. [The Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) was later blamed for the incident.]

Monday 7 November 2005
A man’s body with gunshot wounds was found just outside Keady, County Armagh. Police later confirmed that the man who had been killed was Martin Conlon from Armagh city. He had been recently released from a prison in the Republic of Ireland after serving a four sentence following his arrest at a 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) training camp. The police stated that one line of inquiry being followed was that he may have been killed by Dissident Republicans.

Tuesday 8 November 2005
Michael McKevitt, then serving 20 years for directing terrorism and membership of the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA), began an appeal against his sentence in Dublin.

Thursday 17 November 2005
Three men were arrested after police investigating serious crime linked to Dissident Republicans seized millions of cigarettes in Armagh.

Friday 25 November 2005
At the Court of an Appeal in Belfast an attempt to halt a civil case taken by some of the families of the victims of the Omagh bomb in August 1998 against five men was rejected. Two of the men – Colm Murphy and Seamus Daly had sought to have the case dismissed on the grounds of alleged irregularities by solicitors acting for the families.

Tuesday 29 November 2005
Relatives of those killed in the Omagh bomb in August 1998 met Tony Blair, then British Prime Minister, in London and pressed their calls for a cross-border judicial inquiry into the bombing. Tony Blair told them that any such inquiry would have follow criminal and civil cases.

Thursday 8 December 2005
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) arrested two men after they stopped a car carrying a bomb on the outskirts of Dublin. It was believed that the bomb had been made by the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA).

Tuesday 13 December 2005
At Belfast Crown Court four men - Gerard McCrory, Harry Fitzsimmons, Liam Rainey and Thomas Tolan – pleaded guilty to the abduction of Bobby Tohill, then a prominent Dissident Republican – from a bar in Belfast city centre in February 2004.

Friday 16 December 2005
Denis Donaldson, then a senior Sinn Fein figure, admitted to have being an agent for British intelligence for two decades. [Denis Donaldson had been one of three men arrested over an alleged Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) spy ring at Stormont in October 2002.]

Monday 26 December 2005
A race meeting at Down Royal racecourse, County Down was abandoned following a security alert.  [It was the second such incident at the racecourse in recent months – racing had also been called off in November 2005.]

2006

Wednesday 11 January 2006
Police questioned three men after a car bomb was left in the grounds of a hotel in Armagh city. The device was defused by army bomb officers.

Wednesday 1 February 2006
The Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) published its eighth report. It referred to an emergence of a splinter group within the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) around Strabane, County Tyrone calling itself Oglaigh na hEireann (ONH). The report also mentioned the appearance of another Dissident Republican splinter group in Belfast calling itself Saoirse na hÉireann (SNH).

Tuesday 8 February 2006
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) investigated claims that a pipe bomb which exploded outside a house on at Kilbarrack in north Dublin was linked to Dissident Republicans.

Thursday 9 February 2006
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) investigated claims that a pipe bomb which exploded outside a house on at Coolock in north Dublin was linked to Dissident Republicans.

Saturday 25 February 2006
A 'Love Ulster' rally organized for Dublin city centre to commemorate those affected by republican violence in Northern Ireland was abandoned after serious rioting broke out. A counter-protest by Republican Sinn Fein (RSF) was organized but it denied it was responsible for starting the trouble.

Thursday 2 March 2006
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) arrested three men after discovering a pipe bomb in Ballycogley, County Wexford. It was thought the device belonged to the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA).

Wednesday 8 March 2006
In its ninth report the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) declared that Dissident Republicans were “prepared to resort to extreme violence” but that their ability to sustain a concerted campaign was limited.

Tuesday 21 March 2006
Army bomb experts defused a suspicious device outside the home of Pat Ramsey, then a Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) MLA and councillor, in Derry. [It was the twelfth such attack on the house.]

Tuesday 4 April 2006
Denis Donaldson was found shot dead at a cottage he had been living in near Glenties, County Donegal. [Denis Donaldson had been a senior official in Sinn Fein (SF) who had been expelled from the party early in 2006 after he had admitted being an informer for the British security services for some twenty years. The 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) later claimed responsibility for his death.]

Wednesday 5 April 2006
Seven men were arrested after bomb making equipment was found during a police raid on a house in west Belfast. The find was linked to Dissident Republicans.

Thursday 13 April 2006
In Derry army technical officers defused a blast incendiary device which had been left in a hijacked van. The van driver had been ordered to leave the device outside Strand Road Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station in the city but he abandoned the vehicle before reaching the intended target and raised the alarm.

Wednesday 19 April 2006
In Lurgan, County Armagh four men were arrested after the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) discovered parts for a 250lb car bomb. It was believed that the device was being prepared by Dissident Republicans and that they had halted an imminent attack. During the operation a crowd of youths attacked police lines with petrol bombs, bottles, stones and paint bombs.

Friday 5 May 2006
Four men failed to appear at a court in Belfast for sentencing after they had been found guilty of kidnapping of Bobby Tohill, then a prominent Dissident Republican, from a public bar in the centre of Belfast in February 2004.

Sunday 7 May 2006
In Spain police arrested two men suspected of trying to smuggle £500,000 of cigarettes from Spain to Britain. Both men were believed to have had links with the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA).

Thursday 1 June 2006
At a court in Banbridge, County Down two men were charged with smuggling £1 million of cigarettes as well as membership of the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA).

Friday 2 June 2006
At the High Court in Belfast a date in September 2006 was set for the trial of Sean Hoey to begin. [Sean Hoey had been charged with being involved in the Omagh bombing in August 1998 which killed 29 people.]

Monday 19 June 2006
Police in Northern Ireland arrested a number of men after raids in counties Armagh and Fermanangh as part of an investigation into an alleged attempt to purchase weapons for Dissident Republicans. It was later confirmed that the operation had been carried out with the assistance of MI5 in Britain and the police in France.

Friday 23 June 2006
At Belfast Magistrates Court two people were charged in connection with Dissident Republican activity in Northern Ireland. The offences related to police raids in counties Armagh and Fermanangh earlier that week.

Tuesday 27 June 2006
Two men placed a hoax device on a bus in north Belfast and the driver was forced to take it to an Orange arch in Glengormley. [The 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) later claimed responsibility.]

Sunday 2 July 2006
Army technical officers defused a nail bomb which was found in Bellaghy, County Derry.

Thursday 13 July 2006
Army technical officers defused a suspicious device outside the home of Pat Ramsey, then a Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) MLA and councillor, in Derry. [It was the fourteenth such attack on the house.]

Monday 17 July 2006
Michael McKevitt, the alleged leader of the Dissident Republican group the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA), won the right to challenge his 20 year prison sentence for directing terrorism and membership of an illegal organisation to the Republic of Ireland’s Supreme Court. [He had been found guilty and sentenced in August 2003.]

Wednesday 26 July 2006
A ruling from the Parades Commission placed a number of restrictions on a proposed Dissident Republican parade scheduled for August 2006 in Ballymena, County Antrim.

Wednesday 2 August 2006
Police investigating criminal activity linked to Dissident Republicans in Northern Ireland arrested three men in connection with the seizure of a large number of cigarettes in Armagh in November 2005.

Wednesday 9 August 2006
Dissident Republicans were blamed for a series of incendiary bomb attacks which destroyed a number of retail premises in Newry, County Down. [The 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) later claimed responsibility.]

Monday 14 August 2006
The cross-border railway south of Newry as well as the city’s bypass were reopened after they had been closed over the previous weekend due to a security alert. A small explosive device had exploded and caused close to the railway line. During the security operation up to 30 petrol bombs had been thrown at police officers.

Tuesday 15 August 2006
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) stated that they believed Dissident republicans were responsible for a bomb found close to the home of the then Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) peer Lord Ballyedmond (Eddie Haughey). [Eddie Haughey, a former Senator in the Republic of Ireland and Chairman of Norbrook Laboratories in Newry, County Down, became an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) peer in May 2004.]

Wednesday 16 August 2006
In Dungannon, County Tyrone two tyre stores were destroyed in arson attacks.

Wednesday 30 August 2006
In Newtonqabbey, County Antrim a meeting of a local District Policing Partnership was abandoned after a crude explosive device was found at the proposed venue.

Thursday 7 September 2006
In Downpatrick, County Down a meeting of a local District Policing Partnership was abandoned after a telephone warning that a bomb had been left at the proposed venue.

Friday 8 September 2006
At Belfast Coroner’s Court the inquest into the death of Danny McGurk, who was killed in a gun attack in west Belfast in August 2003 was held. During the proceedings it was claimed that the victim had been killed after he had became involved in a dispute with members of the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA).

Saturday 23 September 2006
In Castlederg, County Tyrone an unexploded pipe bomb was found within the grounds of the local Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station.
A petrol bomb was thrown at the home of Pat Ramsey, then a Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) MLA and councillor, in Derry. [It was the fifteenth at the house.]

Monday 25 September 2006
At the High Court in Belfast a date in September 2006 the trial of Sean Hoey began in earnest. [Sean Hoey had been charged with a series of terrorist offences including his alleged involvement in the Omagh bombing in August 1998 which killed 29 people.]

Tuesday 26 September 2006
At the trial of Sean Hoey, who faced charges relating a series of terrorist offences including his alleged involvement in the Omagh bombing in August 1998 which killed 29 people, the focus was on the forensic evidence against him.

Wednesday 27 September 2006
At the trial of Sean Hoey, who faced charges relating a series of terrorist offences including his alleged involvement in the Omagh bombing in August 1998 which killed 29 people, the focus was on the forensic evidence against him. Claims were made that there were similarities between a car bomb in Lisburn in April 1998 and the Omagh bomb.

Monday 2 October 2006
At the trial of Sean Hoey, who faced a range of terrorist charges including some relating to the Omagh bombing in August 1998 which killed 29 people, a senior police officer was forced to apologise for allowing potential evidence to be destroyed due to a lack of storage space. In this instance however the items related to an attack on a police station for which Hoey had not been charged. [The prosecution was attempting to link Hoey with a series of bomb attacks throughout 1998 including the one in Omagh. This included a mortar bomb attack on the police station in Bellek, County Fermanagh ]

Tuesday 3 October 2006
At the trial of Sean Hoey, who faced a range of terrorist charges including some relating to the Omagh bombing in August 1998 which killed 29 people, a scenes of crime officer stated that a label on forensic evidence had appeared to have been altered. The item in question related to a car bomb attack on Armagh police station in May 1998. [The prosecution was attempting to link Hoey with a series of bomb attacks throughout 1998 including the one in Omagh.]

Wednesday 4 October 2006
In its twelfth report the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) declared that the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) posed a serious threat whilst other groups such as the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) and Oglaigh na hEireann (ONH).
At the trial of Sean Hoey, who faced a range of terrorist charges including some relating to the Omagh bombing in August 1998 which killed 29 people, a scenes of crime officer told the court that a police store where evidence was kept was a "complete mess". The officer in question had been responsible for gathering evidence of a mortar bomb attack on a police station in Newry, County Down a few weeks before the Omagh bomb. [The prosecution was attempting to link Hoey with a series of bomb attacks throughout 1998 including the one in Omagh.]

Thursday 5 October 2006
At the trial of Sean Hoey, who faced a range of terrorist charges including some relating to the Omagh bombing in August 1998 which killed 29 people, police officers and other witnesses recounted the scene in the immediate aftermath of the bombing. [The prosecution was attempting to link Hoey with a series of bomb attacks throughout 1998 including the one in Omagh.]

Saturday 7 October 2006
In Coleraine, County Derry an incendiary device caused considerable damage to a DIY outlet. [The Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) later claimed responsibility along for the attack on the B&Q retail store as well as a number of others on B&Q stores in south Belfast, Newtonabbey, County Antrim and Newry, County Down on the grounds that the company provided supplies to the British Army.]

Monday 9 October 2006
In Strabane, County Tyrone Dissident Republicans were blamed for a robbery at a sub-post office in the town.

Wednesday 11 October 2006
At the trial of Sean Hoey, who faced a range of terrorist charges including some relating to the Omagh bombing in August 1998 which killed 29 people, a senior Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officer confessed that a witness statement had been “beefed up” following a request from a member of the Omagh bomb inquiry team. [The prosecution was attempting to link Hoey with a series of bomb attacks throughout 1998 including the one in Omagh.]

Friday 13 October 2006
At the trial of Sean Hoey, who faced a range of terrorist charges including some relating to the Omagh bombing in August 1998 which killed 29 people, a police exhibits officer admitted that records of evidence relating to a car bomb in Lisburn in April 1998 were “lacking”. [The prosecution was attempting to link Hoey with a series of bomb attacks throughout 1998 including the one in Omagh.]
Following lengthy negotiations at St Andrews in Scotland between the British and Irish governments as well as the main political parties in Northern Ireland, a plan was unveiled to restore devolved power by 26 March 2007.

Saturday 14 October 2006
In Newtonabbey, County Antrim an incendiary device caused considerable damage to a DIY outlet. [The Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) later claimed responsibility along for the attack on the B&Q retail store as well as a number of others on B&Q stores in south Belfast, Coleraine County Derry and Newry, County Down on the grounds that the company provided supplies to the British Army.]

Monday 16 October 2006
At the trial of Sean Hoey, who faced a range of terrorist charges including some relating to the Omagh bombing in August 1998 which killed 29 people, the prosecution accepted that evidence from two of their witnesses would have to be “treated with caution”. During the previous week doubts had been raised about the credibility of statements from a scenes of crime officer and a senior policeman.
In south Belfast an incendiary device was discovered at a DIY outlet. [The Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) later claimed responsibility along for the attack on the B&Q retail store as well as a number of others on B&Q stores in Newtonabbey, County Antrim, Coleraine, County Derry and Newry, County Down on the grounds that the company provided supplies to the British Army.]

Wednesday 18 October 2006
At the trial of Sean Hoey, who faced a range of terrorist charges including some relating to the Omagh bombing in August 1998 which killed 29 people, the court was told that a detonator being used in evidence had been found some five years after it was thought to have been destroyed. The detonator relating to a car bomb attack in Armagh in 1998 had only been discovered in 2003. [The prosecution was attempting to link Hoey with a series of bomb attacks throughout 1998 including the one in Omagh.]

Monday 23 October 2006
At a court in Dublin a judge directed that not guilty verdicts be found in the trail of two members of the Garda Síochána (the Irish police). They had been charged with perjury following the trial of Colm Murphy on bomb conspiracy charges relating to the Omagh bomb in August 1998. [In 2005 the conviction against Colm Murphy had been overturned after evidence that the evidence of the two policemen was unreliable and a new trial ordered.]

Tuesday 24 October 2006
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police).discovered a small quantity of home made explosives near Dundalk, County Louth.

Thursday 26 October 2006
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) in Northern Ireland warned that Dissident Republicans are planning a major terrorist attack in an attempt to disrupt ongoing political talks aimed at restoring devolution.

Saturday 28 October 2006
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police).discovered a large amount of explosives in County Carlow.

Wednesday 1 November 2006
Dissident Republicans were blamed for a series of bomb attacks on retail premises in the greater Belfast area.

Thursday 9 November 2006
In Keady, County Armagh shots were fired at the local Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station. [The Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) later claimed that the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) was responsible.]
The Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) claimed that they had left an unexploded land mine near Roslea, County Fermanagh.

Friday 10 November 2006
Peter Hain, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, stated that attacks by Dissident Republicans on retail premises over the past seven months had cost over £25million in compensation.

Wednesday 15 November 2006
Sir Hugh Orde, then Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), said that his force were taking seriously claims from senior members of Sinn Fein (SF) of the threats against them from Dissident Republicans.

Thursday 16 November 2006
At the trial of Sean Hoey, who faced a range of terrorist charges including some relating to the Omagh bombing in August 1998 which killed 29 people, a second forensic scientist raised doubts over the use of DNA evidence against him

Monday 20 November 2006
At the trial of Sean Hoey, who faced a range of terrorist charges including some relating to the Omagh bombing in August 1998 which killed 29 people, the court heard further evidence against the accused. This included claims that fibres taken from Hoey’s home had matched those found on part of a car bomb which had been defused in Lisburn in May 1998. Later however the same witness confessed that no fibres had been found linking Hoey to the Omagh bomb or any other devices he was alleged to have built. [The prosecution was attempting to link Hoey with a series of bomb attacks throughout 1998 including the one in Omagh.]

Thursday 23 November 2006
At the trial of Sean Hoey, who faced a range of terrorist charges including some relating to the Omagh bombing in August 1998 which killed 29 people, the trial judge, Mr Justice Weir, called for an immediate investigation to begin to find out why some statements had been altered and the originals lost.

Monday 27 November 2006
At the trial of Sean Hoey, who faced a range of terrorist charges including some relating to the Omagh bombing in August 1998 which killed 29 people, the court heard further evidence against the defendant. This included confirmation that he had first been arrested for questioning about the attack just after the explosion. Later the court was told by the prosecution that it was no longer going to call voice analyis evidence that linked Hoey with an explosion in Banbridge, County Down two weeks before the attack in Omagh. [The prosecution was attempting to link Hoey with a series of bomb attacks throughout 1998 including the one in Omagh.]

Thursday 30 November 2006
At the trial of Sean Hoey, who faced a range of terrorist charges including some relating to the Omagh bombing in August 1998 which killed 29 people, the trial judge, Mr Justice Weir, rejected an appeal from defence lawyers that he should dismiss some of the other offences the defendant was facing. [These related to the discovery of a found on the outskirts of Dungannon in April 2001.]

Monday 4 December 2006
There was an attempted mortar bomb attack on the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station in Craigavon, County Armagh.
In two separate incidents the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) deatl with security alerts in Newtonstewart and Strabane in County Tryone.

Thursday 7 December 2006
In Strabane, County Tyrone there was a security alert after a suspect pipe bomb was discovered.
In Lurgan, County Armagh there was a security alert after reports that there unexploded devices outside the town’s Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station.

Monday 11 December 2006
Gerry Adams, then President of Sinn Fein (SF), stated that he had been told by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) that Dissident Republicans had planned to kill him but abandoned the attack due to his personal security arrangements.
At the trial of Sean Hoey, who faced a range of terrorist charges including some relating to the Omagh bombing in August 1998 which killed 29 people, the court heard that a review of the work of the Northern Ireland Forensic Service had found mistakes in over a third of cases. Earlier further doubts were raised over the use of DNA evidence against the defendant.

Tuesday 12 December 2006
At the trial of Sean Hoey, who faced a range of terrorist charges including some relating t in the Omagh bombing in August 1998 which killed 29 people, the court heard further evidence. It emerged that an investigation had only recently begun into the disappearance of a number of bomb timers linked to the Omagh trial. These timers had been used in a number of bomb attacks in 1998 but had been missing since 1998. [The prosecution was attempting to link Hoey with a series of bomb attacks throughout 1998 including the one in Omagh.] Further criticism of the Northern Ireland Forensic Service also surfaced as details were given that its accreditation had been suspended in the recent past due to administrative errors and equipment not being checked. Finally extracts from Hoey’s police interviews were read out in court and in these he alleged that police were attempting to frame him.

Thursday 14 December 2006
At the trial of Sean Hoey, who faced a range of terrorist charges including some relating to the Omagh bombing in August 1998 which killed 29 people, the court heard further evidence. Once again further doubts were cast on the reliability of forensic evidence in the case including a suggestion that 80% of swabs used to test DNA may have been contaminated. In their submission Sean Hoey’s lawyers called for the case against him to be dismissed given the unreliability of DNA evidence.

Tuesday 19 December 2006
At the trial of Sean Hoey, who faced a range of terrorist charges including some relating to the Omagh bombing in August 1998 which killed 29 people, the prosecution decided to drop the case against him in relation to a bomb attack in Banbridge, County Down a few weeks before the attack in Omagh. [The prosecution was attempting to link Hoey with a series of bomb attacks throughout 1998 including the one in Omagh.]

Thursday 21 December 2006
At the trial of Sean Hoey, who faced a range of terrorist charges including some relating to the Omagh bombing in August 1998 which killed 29 people, the presiding judge Mr Justice Weir, rejected an appeal by defence lawyers to have the case dismissed.

2007

Tuesday 9 January 2007
At the trial of Sean Hoey, who faced a range of terrorist charges including some relating to the Omagh bombing in August 1998 which killed 29 people, his defence team began to put their case. They began by questioning the reliability of the forensic evidence presented by the prosecution and confirmed Hoey would not be going into the witness stand.

Wednesday 10 January 2007
At the trial of Sean Hoey, who faced a range of terrorist charges including some relating to the Omagh bombing in August 1998 which killed 29 people, it was confirmed that the Police Ombudsman had begun an investigation into the conduct of two key prosecution witnesses.

Saturday 13 January 2007
Custom officials in the Republic of Ireland seized more than 6 million smuggled cigarettes during an operation in County Louth.

Monday 15 January 2007
Pat Ramsey, then a Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) MLA, was forced to leave his home in the Bogside arera of Derry after a long series of attacks on it for which Dissident Republicans had been blamed. [In total there had been some 15 incidents.]
At the trial of Sean Hoey, who faced a range of terrorist charges including some relating to the Omagh bombing in August 1998 which killed 29 people, the court heard from David Rupert a former MI5 (British intelligence) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent who had infiltrated Dissident Republican groups. It was revealed that Rupert had named over 100 members and associates of such organisations but that Hoey had not been one of them. Later in his written evidence he claimed that he had been told that the Omagh bomb had been a joint operation between the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) and the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA).

Tuesday 16 January 2007
At the trial of Sean Hoey, who faced a range of terrorist charges including some relating to the Omagh bombing in August 1998 which killed 29 people, the court heard closing arguments from the prosecution and defence.

Wednesday 17 January 2007
The trial of Sean Hoey, who faced a range of terrorist charges including some relating to the Omagh bombing in August 1998 which killed 29 people, came to an end.
Sinn Fein blamed disaffected former members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) for an apparent threat to its elected representatives in the constituency of West Tyrone. Packages containing bullets and photographs were found in two local cemeteries in County Tyrone at Newtonstewart and Killyclogher.

Saturday 20 January 2007
In Derry a teenager was shot in the leg during an apparent paramilitary punishment attack.

Monday 22 January 2007
Two men who had been on the run since admitting the kidnapping of Bobby Tohill, then a prominent Dissident Republican from a bar in Belfast city centre in February 2004, were arrested on the outskirts of Belfast.

Friday 26 January 2007
Martin McGuinness, then Vice-President of Sinn Fein, said that he had received a warning from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) of a threat to his life from Dissident Republicans.
Ruairi O'Bradaigh, then President of Republican Sinn Fein (RSF) said that the party was considering putting forward prisoner candidates in the Northern Ireland Assembly elections in March 2007.
In a statement the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) denied it was involved in recent death threats made against senior member of Sinn Fein. It also rejected an invitation to meet Gerry Adams, then President of Sinn Fein.

Sunday 28 January 2007
At a special party conference in Dublin Sinn Fein voted to give its support and backing to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

Tuesday 13 February 2007
The Electoral Commission in Northern Ireland made clear that Republican Sinn Fein (RSF) would not be recognised as a political party for the forthcoming Assembly election as it had not registered with the Commission. As a result its candidates would be treated as independents on the ballot paper.

Monday 12 March 2007
Two men are fond dead at separate locations in north and west Belfast. The body of Edward Burns was found with gunshot wounds in a car park in the Falls Road area of west Belfast whilst Joe Jones was found with head injuries in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast. [It was later reported that both men had been former members of the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) and that they had been killed as a result of an internal feud within that organisation.]

Saturday 24 March 2007
In Crossmaglen, County Armagh up to twenty petrol bombs were thrown at the town’s Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station.

Sunday 25 March 2007
There were reports that a number of members of Republican Sinn Fein (RSF) had received death threats from the Irish Republican Liberation Army (IRLA) – a group which had split from the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) in the wake of the recent killing of Edward Burns and Joe Jones.

Monday 26 March 2007
At a joint press conference Ian Paisley, then leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Gerry Adams, then President of Sinn Fein, announced that devolved power would be restored to Northern Ireland on 8 May 2007. The announcement followed lengthy negotiations which resulted in an agreement that both parties would fully participate in a power-sharing executive.

Thursday 29 March 2007
In Lurgan, County Armagh four men were arrested following an incident when undercover policemen stopped a car in the town. It was thought the operation was aimed at Dissident Republicans.

Monday 9 April 2007
A group calling itself Oglaigh na hEireann (ONH) claimed responsibility for leaving a number of devices in Sion Mills, County Tyrone outside the home of Mary McCrea, a former member of Strabane District Policing Partnership.
In the Creggan area of Derry disturbances broke out following an Easter parade organized by the 32 County Sovereignty Movement during which bricks and petrol bombs were thrown at Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers.

Thursday 12 April 2007
An explosive device was left outside the home of Arthur McGarrigle, then a member of Strabane District Policing Partnership.
In Strabane, County Tyrone a hoax device was left outside the home of Ivan Barr, then a Sinn Fein member of Strabane District Council.

Tuesday 17 April 2007
At a court in Craigavon, County Armagh two men were charged in connection with the discovery of a mortar bomb in Lurgan, County Armagh on 5 April 2007.

Wednesday 18 April 2007
At a court in Craigavon, County Armagh a man was charged in connection with the discovery of a mortar bomb in Lurgan, County Armagh on 5 April 2007.

Tuesday 8 May 2007
Devolved power was restored to Northern Ireland as Ian Paisley, then leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) became First Minister and Martin McGuinness, then vice-President of Sinn Fein became Deputy First Minister.

Thursday 17 May 2007
Marvin Canning a brother-in-law of Martin McGuinness, then Deputy First Minister, was refused bail at the High Court in Belfast. He faced charges relating to an incident during which a couple were kidnapped in Mullingar, County Westmeath in the Republic of Ireland and brought to Derry where one of them a man was shot in both ankles.

Tuesday 22 May 2007
At the High Court in Dublin a judicial review got under which sought seeking to halt the retrial of Colm Murphy, the only man to have been jailed in connection with the Omagh bomb in August 1998.

Wednesday 23 May 2007
At the High Court in Dublin a judicial review decided to accept medical reports that Colm Murphy, the only man to have been jailed in connection with the Omagh bomb in August 1998, had suffered brain damage could be used as evidence in his efforts to halt his retrial.

Thursday 31 May 2007
Three members of Sinn Fein took their seats on the Northern Ireland Policing Board.

Thursday 12 July 2007
In Strabane, County Tyrone a pipe bomb exploded behind the town’s Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station. Although no one was injured a number of homes in the immediate area were damaged.

Wednesday 18 July 2007
The police in Newry, County Down believed Dissident Republicans were responsible for a security alert which had lasted since the previous Sunday. During the incident army bomb experts defused two explosive devices at different locations.

Monday 30 July 2007
It was announced that Garda Síochána (the Irish police) officers would not testify during a forthcoming civil case brought by some of the families of the victims of Omagh bomb against five alleged to have been involved in the attack.

Tuesday 7 August 2007
In Craigavon, County Armagh a bomb containing 400lbs of home-made explosives was discovered during a security operation. During the incident Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers were attacked by a crowd throwing petrol bombs and other missiles.

Thursday 23 August 2007
In Derry shots were fired at the home of Liam Bradley, a former deputy mayor of the city. There had been a number of attacks at the house in recent times. [It was believed that the reason behind the attacks was that one of Mr Bradley’s sons was a member of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).]

Thursday 27 September 2007
In Armagh city Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers investigating Dissident Republican activity discovered a number of guns whilst carrying searches on a number of houses.
In the Creggan area of Derry a number of petrol bombs were thrown at a Sinn Fein office.

Wednesday 10 October 2007
At the inquest into the death of Brendan Fegan in a bar in Newry in May 1999 it was claimed that the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) had killed him because they alleged he was a drugs dealer.

Thursday 11 October 2007
In Craigavon, County Armagh Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers investigating Dissident Republican activity arrested nine men after a gun and ammunition was recovered during a number of searches in the area.

Saturday 20 October 2007
Paul Quinn, a 21-year-old man from Cullyhanna, County Armagh was found beaten to death at farm buildings close to Oram, County Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland. [Whilst his family believed that the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) was behind his death this was denied by senior republicans.]

Thursday 8 November 2007
In Derry a Catholic officer in the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) was shot and injured after he had left his child to school. The attack was strongly condemned by Martin McGuinness, then Deputy First Minister who stated that Dissident republicans “have no popular support and have no strategy to achieve a united Ireland". [The 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) later claimed responsibility for the attack.]

Sunday 11 November 2007
The 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) said it was responsible for leaving an explosive device in a coffee jar which caused a security alert during a Remembrance Day ceremony in Newry, County Down.

Monday 12 November 2007
In Dungannon, County Tyrone a Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officer was shot and injured in a gun attack. [The 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) later claimed responsibility for the attack.]

Tuesday 27 November 2007
In a statement the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) promised that it would launch more attacks against the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

Thursday 6 December 2007
Police arrested a number of men in Derry as part of an ongoing investigation into an incident on 8 November when an off-duty Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officer was shot and injured. It was later confirmed that one of those arrested was Gary Donnelly, then a prominent Dissident Republican in the city, who had stood as an independent republican in the last local elections for a seat on Derry City Council.

Saturday 15 December 2007
In Strabane, County Tyrone an unexploded pipe bomb was found outside the gate of the town’s police station.

Tuesday 18 December 2007
In west Belfast Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers carried out a number of raids as part of an ongoing investigation into Dissident Republican activity.

Thursday 20 December 2007
At Belfast Crown Court Sean Hoey was found not guilty of some 56 terrorist charges including the murders of the 29 people killed in the Omagh bomb in August 1998. The trial judge Mr Justice Weir declared his unease of some of the police evidence given during the trial and said that two officers were guilty of a “deliberate and calculated deception”.

Friday 21 December 2007
Following the acquittal of Sean Hoey the previous day Sir Hugh Orde, then Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), stated that it was “highly unlikely” that anyone will ever be convicted of the Omagh bomb in August 1998.

2008

Saturday 5 January 2008
The Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) fired a volley of shots over the grave of the veteran Irish republican and patron of Republican Sinn Fein (RSF) Dan Keating. [Keating was the last surviving veteran of the Irish War of Independence in the 1920s.]

Wednesday 23 January 2008
In Lithuania two people from the Republic of Ireland were arrested on suspicion of trying to buy arms for and explosives for the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA). [One of those arrested was Michael Campbell, a brother of the leading Dissident Republican Liam Campbell].

Wednesday 30 January 2008
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) warned business owners across Northern Ireland that Dissident Republicans may be planning to launch a new wave of firebomb attacks.

Sunday 3 February 2008
In an interview with the Sunday Tribune, a Dublin based newspaper, a member of the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) stated that the organisation was about to launch a renewed campaign of attacks in Northern Ireland.

Tuesday 13 February 2008
The body of a man, Andrew Burns, was found with gun shot wounds near a church in Castlefin, County Donegal. [The Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) later reported that Andrew Burns had been a member of the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) and that he was killed by a group calling itself Oglaigh na hEireann (ONH), a small Dissident republican faction based around Strabane, County Tyrone, which had in turn split from the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA)].

Friday 22 February 2008
Police arrested three men in the Strabane area of County Tyrone for questioning in relation to the killing of Andrew Burns the previous week. [All three were later released without charge.]
Five men appeared at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin to face charges relating to a Garda Síochána (the Irish police) operation into Dissident Republican activity in Cork city the previous weekend. During this weapons and other items were seized as part of an investigation into an alleged kidnapping.

Friday 14 March 2008
Michael McKeviit, then awaiting judgement in his appeal in the Republic of Ireland against a conviction for directing terrorism, succeeded in winning full legal aid to defend a civil case brought by some of the families of those killed in the Omagh bomb in August 1998. [McKevitt and four other men – Seamus Daly, Liam Campbell, Colm Murphy, Seamus McKenna – were being sued for damages on the grounds that they had allegedly been involved in the incident.]

Saturday 15 March 2008
In an operation in County Donegal the Garda Síochána (the Irish police) operation rammed a vehicle after it failed to stop. It was later reported that the vehicle contained a number of journalists from the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) who were investigating Dissident Republican activity. A number of other men in the vehicle were arrested but later released without charge.

Tuesday 18 March 2008
At the Special Criminal Court in Dublin four men faced charges relating to Dissident Republican activity. All four men, originally from Derry, were charged with membership of an illegal organisation after a Garda Síochána (the Irish police) operation.

Tuesday 1 April 2008
A motion was passed in the Northern Ireland Assembly calling for a cross-border public inquiry into the Omagh bomb in August 1998.

Wednesday 2 April 2008
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) arrested three men as part of an investigation into Dissident Republican activity near Raphoe, County Donegal and also questioned them about the killing of Andrew Burns in February 2011.

Monday 7 April 2008
At Belfast High Court a civil action brought by some of the families of those killed in the Omagh bomb in August 1998 got underway. The families were seeking damages from five men – Michael McKevitt, Seamus Daly, Liam Campbell, Colm Murphy and Seamus McKenna – who they claimed were responsible for the bombing.

Tuesday 15 April 2008
Police investigating Dissident Republican activity in the greater Belfast area arrested six people.

Thursday 1 May 2008
In its eighteenth report the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) noted the emergence of a new faction within the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) calling itself Oglaigh na hEireann (ONH).

Friday 2 May 2008
The family of Andrew Burns who had been killed in February 2008 denied claims made in the latest report by the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) denied that he was the member of any Dissident Republican grouping.

Thursday 8 May 2008
Dissident Republicans were blamed for a security alert on the Belfast-Dublin railway line during which a partially exploded device was found.

Friday 9 May 2008
An incendiary device partially exploded in a toy store in Cookstown, County Tyrone. It followed a telephone warning that devices had been left at two businesses in the town.

Monday 12 May 2008
A Catholic officer in the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), Constable Ryan Crozier, sustained serious leg injuries after a booby-trap bomb explodes under his car near Castlederg, County Tyrone.
A civil action currently being brought by some of the families of those killed in the Omagh bomb in August 1998 against five men they claimed were responsible moved from a court in Belfast to Dublin. The move was taken to allow a number of members of the Garda Síochána (the Irish police) to give evidence.

Tuesday 13 May 2008
In the Gobnascale area of Derry a 27-year-old man was badly beaten by a gang of masked men in a paramilitary-style punishment attack.

Wednesday 21 May 2008
Two incendiary devices – one of which had partially exploded – were found at a McDonald’s restaurant in Cookstown, County Tyrone.

Monday 26 May 2008
In Armagh city a 23-year-old man received gunshot wounds to his legs after being shot in a paramilitary-style punishment attack.
Two incendiary devices – one of which had partially exploded – were found at a shop in Belfast city centre.

Thursday 5 June 2008
In the Creggan area of Derry a 25-year-old man received a leg wound following a paramilitary-style punishment attack.

Saturday 14 June 2008
There was a security alert near Roslea, County Fermanagh after a suspicious object was found. [The Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) later claimed it had tried to detonate a landmine as a patrol  from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) passed by.]

Tuesday 17 June 2008
At a press conference Sir Hugh Orde, then Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), stated that whilst Dissident republicans could not launch a sustained campaign they did pose a continuing threat.

Thursday 19 June 2008
A dispute between the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Fein over the devolution of policing and justice powers to the Northern Ireland comes to a head and as a stalemate develops the Executive meets formally for the last time until November 2008.

Friday 20 June 2008
Police have confirmed that over the past six months in Derry between 15 and 20 people have received death threats from Dissident Republicans.

Tuesday 24 June 2008
A 22-year-old man, Emmet Shiels, was shot dead in the Creggan. [It was claimed that he had been shot after he had intervened in a feud between a local man and Dissident Republicans.]

Wednesday 25 June 2008
At the action currently being brought by some of the families of those killed in the Omagh bomb in August 1998 against five men they claimed were responsible, a statement from David Rupert, a former MI5 (British intelligence) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent was read out. Amongst the claims made was that Dissident Republicans had thought about trying to poison the water supply in London.

Friday 27 June 2008
In Lurgan, County Armagh police investigating Dissident Republicans arrested a number of men for questioning after house searches in the area.

Sunday 29 June 2008
Martin McGuinness, then Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland and Vice-President of Sinn Fein (SF), in a television interview claimed that Dissident Republicans had little or no support from within their own communities.

Saturday 19 July 2008
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) arrested two men and a woman in Dundalk, County Louth as part of an investigation into Dissident Republican activity. During the incident a firearm and a quantity of ammunition was recovered. It was believed that the arrests were linked to an ongoing effort to tackle allege gun running involving Dissident republicans.

Monday 21 July 2008
Colm Murphy and Seamus Daly, then being sued by some of the families of the Omagh bomb over their alleged involvement in the attack, lost an appeal against a decision to award legal aid to victims’ relatives in order to allow them to proceed with the case.

Monday 4 August 2008
There was widespread condemnation of a threat against traffic wardens operating in west Belfast by Dissident Republicans.

Tuesday 12 August 2008
Following a security alert in north Belfast three incendiary devices were defused by army bomb experts.

Wednesday 13 August 2008
A security assessment of Dissident Republicans was made public by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). It reported that they had 80-100 active members but many of those involved lacked ‘operational experience’. Up top of this there were 250-300 people willing to offer such groups active assistance. They were also actively seeking to recruit disenchanted members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA). There was largely no central command structure with small groups acting independently within their own immediate areas. There was some evidence that they were particularly active in areas such as Derry, Tyrone, Fermanagh and north Armagh. It was also thought that the police forces in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland had successfully infiltrated such groups and placed informants within their ranks

Friday 15 August 2008
Events were staged to mark the 10th anniversary of the Omagh bomb in the town. Some of the families of those killed however boycotted the official ceremony following a row over the form of words used on the official memorial.

Saturday 16 August 2008
In Lisnaskea, County Fermanagh an attempt was made to fire a rocket-propelled grenade at a Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) foot patrol in the village. [It was later revealed that for the first time in a Dissident Republican attack semtex had been used in the construction of the device.]

Friday 22 August 2008
In Derry a local woman was warned that her life was under threat from Dissident Republicans who believed she was a member of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI)

Tuesday 26 August 2008
In Craigavon, County Armagh a number of shots was fired at Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers. During a follow up search police patrols were attacked with petrol bombs and stones.
In Derry allegations were made that Dissident Republicans had paid young people to carry out attacks in the city.

Tuesday 9 September 2008
In Lisburn, County Antrim a 50-year old woman escaped uninjured after an explosive device fell off the bottom of her car. It was later reported that the incident had been a case of mistaken identity and that Dissident Republicans had been targeting a Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officer in the area.
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) investigating Dissident Republican activity in the Dublin area arrested a man from Belfast.  This development followed a search in the Park West area of the city when equipment that thought to have been used for making pipebombs was discovered. It was believed that the equipment was linked to the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA).

Saturday 13 September 2008
There was a security alert in Jonesborough, County Armagh after a 100lb bomb found was found and then defused.

Tuesday 16 September 2008
In the Poleglass area of west Belfast Dissident Republicans were blamed for an attack on a house during which a number of shots were fired.

Thursday 18 September 2008
There was a security alert in Dungannon, County Tyrone after a member of the public brought a pipe bomb they had found to the local Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station.

Thursday 25 September 2008
A man was shot and seriously wounded in a gun attack near St Johnston, County Donegal. It was later reported that the man had been shot as he was an alleged drugs dealer. [The attack was later claimed by the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA).]

Saturday 4 October 2008
In Newtownbutler, County Fermanagh there was a security alert following telephone warnings to police that a suspicious device had been left in the area. [Later army bomb experts defused a viable explosive device.]

Monday 6 October 2008
There were claims that Dissident republicans in County Fermanagh were now getting help from “mainstream republicanism”.

Tuesday 7 October 2008
Army bomb experts defused a viable explosive device which had been found near Newtownbutler, County Fermanagh.

Wednesday 22 October 2008
In Craigavon, County Armagh there were disturbances during which a bus was hijacked and Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers were attacked with stones and petrol bombs.

Monday 27 October 2008
In the Creggan area of Derry a pipe bomb attached to a drum of petrol partially exploded outside a house. [The property belonged to a man injured in a shooting near St Johnston, County Donegal in September 2008.]

Wednesday 29 October 2008
In Derry a man was shot in both legs in a paramilitary punishment attack.

Friday 31 October 2008
In Crossmaglen, County Armagh police officers came under attack from fireworks and petrol bombs.

Wednesday 5 November 2008
At a cross-border conference on organized crime Sir Hugh Orde, then Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), stated that efforts by the Garda Síochána (the Irish police) against Dissident Republicans had undoubtedly saved the lives of his officers. He also warned of the continuing threat from such groups and of their determination to kill a member of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

Monday 10 November 2008
In its twentieth report the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) stated that Dissident Republicans were now more active than at any time over the past four-and-a- half years.

Tuesday 18 November 2008
Sinn Fein (SF) and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) reached an agreement to devolve policing and justice matters to the Northern Ireland Executive. [The political stalemate had prevented the Executive from meeting since June 2008.]

Wednesday 19 November 2008
There was a security alert in west Belfast after an explosive device was found close to New Barnsley Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Station.
At a court in Belfast a man was given a 10 year prison sentence after having been found guilty of the possession of ammunition and explosives back in September 2004. [It was believed that the ammunition and explosives were linked to Dissident Republicans.]

Sunday 23 November 2008
During a hoax bomb alert in Lurgan, County Armagh police were attacked by a crowd throwing fireworks, stones and petrol bombs.

Friday 28 November 2008
At the Special Criminal Court in Dublin Gerard Mackin, who was originally from west Belfast, was found guilty of the murder of Edward Burns and the attempted murder of Damien O’Neill, in March 2007. [It was believed that the killing of Edward Burns was the result of an internal Dissident republican dispute. Mackin had fled Belfast after the killing and was later arrested in the Republic of Ireland. He then opted to be tried under the Criminal Law Jurisdiction Act, which allowed people to be charged in the Republic of Ireland with crimes committed in Northern Ireland.]

Sunday 30 November 2008
Sir Hugh Orde, then Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), admitted that it was now taking longer for his officers to respond to emergency calls because of the threat of attack from Dissident Republicans.

Wednesday 10 December 2008
In the Creggan area of Derry a pipe bomb was thrown at a house causing minor damage. In the same incident a number of shots were fired at a car.

Friday 19 December 2008
At the Special Criminal Court in Dublin the trial of four men originally from Derry on charges relating to Dissident Republican activity collapsed. The four men were arrested by Garda Síochána (the Irish police) in Donegal in March 2008 after reports that a paramilitary group was planning to put on a show of strength for the media.

Sunday 21 December 2008
There was a security alert in Newtonbutler, County Fermanagh after reports that an explosive device had been thrown at Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers over the past48 hours but had failed to explode.

2009

Saturday 31 January 2009
In Castlewellan, County Down, a 300lb car bomb was discovered after a telephone warning. There was speculation that it was destined for the army base in Ballykinler, a short distance way.

Thursday 5 March 2009
A man was shot and injured during a paramilitary-style punishment attack in West Belfast.

Friday 6 March 2009
Sir Hugh Orde, then Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), declared that the threat from Dissident Republicans was now at its highest level since he had become Chief Constable in 2002. As a consequence he made public a request for members of the Special Reconnaissance Regiment to be deployed in Fermanagh.

Saturday 7 March 2009
The 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) carried out a gun attack at Masserene Barracks in County Antrim which killed Sapper Mark Quinsey and Patrick Azimcar, injured two other soldiers and two pizza delivery men.

Monday 9 March 2009
The Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) killed Stephen Carroll, a Catholic officer in the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), in a gun attack in Craigavon, County Armagh.

Tuesday 10 March 2009
Martin McGuinness, then Deputy First Minister and Vice-President of Sinn Fein (SF), issued a strong condemnation of the recent killings by Dissident Republicans and described them as ‘traitors to the island of Ireland’. He made these comments in a joint media appearance with Peter Robinson, then First Minister, and Hugh Orde, then Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

Saturday 14 March 2009
A former prominent Republican, Colin Duffy was arrested in connection with the fatal attack at Masserene Barracks. [He was later charged with the killing of Sappers Mark Quinsey and Patrick Azimcar.]

Monday 30 March 2009
A series of bomb hoaxes close to various Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) stations and main roads in Belfast caused major traffic disruption.
A man was shot and injured during a paramilitary-style punishment attack in Derry.

Wednesday 1 April 2009
Two men were injured after being shot during paramilitary-style punishment attacks in Belfast and Derry.

Friday 3 April 2009
There was a hoax bomb alert near Rosslea, County Fermanagh.

Monday 6 April 2009
The home of Sinn Fein (SF) MLA in Derry, Mitchell McLaughlin was attacked.

Thursday 9 April 2009
A man was shot and injured during a paramilitary-style punishment attack in Belfast.

Sunday 12 April 2009
In an interview on Easter Sunday in the Sunday Tribune, a Dublin based newspaper, the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) claimed responsibility for the killing in 2006 of Denis Donaldson, an alleged British agent. The rIRA also warned of further attacks across Northern Ireland and Britain.
An office in a shopping centre in Derry used by Sinn Fein was damaged after an arson attack.

Friday 24 April 2009
There are press reports that Martin McGuinness, then Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland and Vice-President of Sinn Fein (SF), had been given a warning by police of a threat to his life by Dissident Republicans.
In a separate development there were reports that a number of staff at Belfast City Council had received death threats and bullets through the post from a Dissident Republican group calling itself the ‘North Belfast Republican Brigade’.

Monday 27 April 2009
In Rasharkin, County Antrim a house belonging to Daithi McKay, then a Sinn Fein (SF) MLA and member of the policing board was attacked.

Thursday 7 May 2009
In its latest report the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) stated that although Dissident Republicans are not yet able ‘to mount a consistent and substantial campaign’ they still remained ‘highly dangerous’.

Sunday 24 May 2009
In Rasharkin, County Antrim an Orange Order hall was attacked for the second time in a week.

Tuesday 2 June 2009
A man was shot and injured during a paramilitary-style punishment attack in west Belfast. The 'real' Irish Republican Army (RIRA) (RIRA) / Oglaigh na hEireann (ONH) later claimed responsibility.

Thursday 4 June 2009
In South Armagh two cars were destroyed outside a house belonging to Connor Murphy, then a Sinn Fein (SF) Minister in the Northern Ireland Executive.
A man was shot and injured during a paramilitary-style punishment attack in west Belfast.

Monday 8 June 2009
At the High Court in Belfast four leading republicans, Michael McKevitt, Liam Campbell, Colm Murphy and Seamus Daly, were found guilty in a civil action of being responsible for the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) bomb in Omagh in August 1998 which killed 29 people and two unborn babies. The civil action had been taken by some of the relatives of those killed and 12 of them are awarded £1.6million in damages.

Monday 15 June 2009
A bomb was left outside the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station on Strand Road in Derry. A claim of responsibility was later made by a group calling itself Oglaigh na hEireann (ONH).
A meeting of a District Policing Partnership (DPP) in east Belfast was disrupted by Dissident Republican protestors.

Sunday 28 June 2009
A man was shot and injured during a paramilitary-style punishment attack in the Rosemount area of Derry. Republican Action Against Drugs (RAAD) later claimed responsibility.

Friday 3 July 2009
Claims were made by Dissident Republicans that an explosive device had been left in Newtonbutler, County Fermanagh.

Friday 10 July 2009
In Belfast and Derry major traffic disruption was caused by a series of bomb hoaxes.

Monday 13 July 2009
There were a series of disturbances across Northern Ireland. In the most serious of these Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers in the Ardoyne area of North Belfast came under gun and blast bomb attack.

Tuesday 14 July 2009
A number of Orange Halls across Northern Ireland were attacked – this included a hall in Dunloy, County Antrim which had been damaged on a number of previous occasions.

Wednesday 15 July 2009
Gerry Kelly, then a prominent member of Sinn Fein (SF) and a Junior Minister in the Northern Ireland Executive, was told by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) of a threat on his life from Dissident Republicans.

Tuesday 21 July 2009
In Dublin five men were found guilty at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin on charges relating to activities by the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA).

Thursday 23 July 2009
A former member of the Republican pressure group éirígí, Brian Shivers, was arrested and charged with involvement in the fatal attack at Masserene Barracks.

Friday 31 July 2009
A meeting of a District Policing Partnership (DPP) board in Derry was abandoned following protests by members of the Thirty-Two County Sovereignty Movement (32CSM).

Wednesday 19 August 2009
A man was shot and injured during a paramilitary-style punishment attack in Derry.

Friday 21 August 2009
In the small rural village of Meigh in South Armagh armed and masked men set up a road block. They also distribute leaflets warning people not to associate or cooperate with Sinn Féin (SF) or members of the security forces. During the incident a Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) patrol came across the roadblock but withdrew instead of taking any action.

Tuesday 8 September 2009
Near Forkhill in South Armagh a 600lb roadside bomb was found following a warning with a command wire running across the border. The device was thought to be the work of the 'real' Irish Republican Army (RIRA)/ Oglaigh na hEireann (ONH).

Friday 11 September 2009
A pipe bomb was left at the home of relatives of a Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officer in the Shantallow area of Derry. The 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) later claimed responsibility.

Wednesday 16 September 2009
Serious rioting broke out in the Kilwilkie Estate, Lurgan. The disturbances followed the sentencing of three men from Lurgan, linked to the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA), for an attempted mortar bomb attack on the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers in 2009.

Friday 18 September 2009
In Belfast the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) launched a major security operation in order to try to prevent Dissident Republicans from launching an attack to mark the arrival of Matt Baggott as the new Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

Saturday 19 September 2009
Orange Order Halls in Ballymoney and Rasharkin, County Antrim were attacked.

Tuesday 22 September 2009
A bomb was defused outside an Orange Order Hall in Armoy, County Antrim

Wednesday 23 September 2009
Another meeting of the Derry District Policing Partnership (DPP) was disrupted following protests organized by the Thirty-Two County Sovereignty Movement (32CSM) and Republican Network for Unity (RNU).

Tuesday 29 September 2009
A man was shot and injured during a paramilitary-style punishment attack in west Belfast.

Thursday 8 October 2009
Masked men fired shots over the coffin of John Brady, a former member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) but who was now suspected of involvement with Dissident republicans. [He had died recently whilst being held in police custody.]
A man was shot and injured during a paramilitary-style punishment attack in Derry. Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers investigating the incident were attacked by a crowd throwing stones and other missiles.

Friday 16 October 2009
In East Belfast a woman was injured by a bomb which exploded under her car. It was thought the intended target was her partner, a dog handler in the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). [The 'real' Irish Republican Army (RIRA) / Oglaigh na hEireann (ONH) later claimed responsibility for the attack.]

Saturday 17 October 2009
A man was shot and injured during a paramilitary-style punishment attack in Derry. Republican Action Against Drugs (RAAD) claimed responsibility.

Thursday 22 October 2009
The 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) claimed responsibility for a bomb attack on a Territorial Army base in North Belfast.

Saturday 31 October 2009
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station in Crossmaglen, County Armagh was attacked by petrol bombs and paint containers.

Tuesday 3 November 2009
A man was shot and injured during a paramilitary-style punishment attack in Derry. Republican Action Against Drugs (RAAD) later claimed responsibility.

Monday 9 November 2009
Due to the increased threat from Dissident Republicans there were media reports that a number of judges have had their 24-hour security restored.

Wednesday 18 November 2009
In Armagh an explosive device was defused. It was believed that Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers were the intended target.

Friday 20 November 2009
A man was shot and injured during a paramilitary-style punishment attack in west Belfast. [The Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) later claimed responsibility.]

Saturday 21 November 2009
Outside the offices of the Policing Board in Belfast a 400lb car bomb partially exploded.
At Garrison, County Fermanagh an attack on Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers was foiled and a number of men were arrested following a surveillance operation.

Monday 30 November 2009
A pipe bomb was thrown at the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station in Strabane, County Tyrone but failed to explode.

Sunday 6 December 2009
The Republican Action Against Drugs (RAAD) claimed responsibility for a series of pipe bomb attacks in the city.

Monday 7 December 2009
There were a number of security alerts in south Belfast after hoax devices were left outside banks.

Friday 11 December 2009
Two men were shot and injured during a paramilitary-style punishment attack in Derry. [Republican Action Against Drugs (RAAD) later claimed responsibility.]

Thursday 17 December 2009
A man was shot and injured during a paramilitary-style punishment attack in west Belfast.

Wednesday 30 December 2009
Shots were fired at the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station in Crossmaglen, County Armagh.

2010

Thursday 7 January 2010
A man was shot and injured during a paramilitary-style punishment attack in Armagh.

Friday 8 January 2010
A car bomb attack near Randalstown, County Antrim seriously injured Peadar Heffron, a Catholic officer in the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). The officer also happened to be captain of the PSNI’s gaelic football team as well as an Irish language specialist for the PSNI.

Saturday 12 January 2010
A man was shot and injured during a paramilitary-style punishment attack in Belfast

Wednesday 20 January 2010
In Cork an alleged drug dealer, Gerard ‘Topper was shot dead. Later the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) released a statement through the 32County Sovereignty Movement (32 CSM) which claimed responsibility and issued a threat against other drug dealers.
A man was shot and injured during a paramilitary-style punishment attack in Lurgan, County Armagh.

Sunday 24 January 2010
In Crossmaglen, County Armagh shots are fired at the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station.

Wednesday 27 January 2010
A man was shot and injured during a paramilitary-style punishment attack in Derry. [Republican Action Against Drugs RAAD later claimed responsibility.]

Friday 29 January 2010
At a court in Dublin two members of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) were found guilty on explosive charges and sentenced to prison for nine years

Sunday 31 January 2010
The 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) claimed responsibility for launch a gun attack on the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station in Bessbrook, County Armagh.

Wednesday 3 February 2010
In north Belfast there was a pipe bomb attack by the 'real' Irish Republican Army (RIRA) on Oldpark Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station.
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) believed they had foiled an attack by Dissident republicans after stopping a car near the border at Stranorlar, County Donegal.

Monday 8 February 2010
The (IICD) released a statement announcing that the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) had decommissioned all of its weaponry. [This statement also confirmed that a number of loyalist paramilitary groups had also completed the process of decommissioning all their weaponry.]

Friday 19 February 2010
A vehicle with a mortar bomb was found outside the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI)station in Keady, County Armagh.

Monday 22 February 2010
In Newry, County Down a 250lb car bomb exploded outside the city’s court house.

Tuesday 23 February 2010
A man was shot and injured during a paramilitary-style punishment attack in Derry. [Republican Action Against Drugs (RAAD) later claimed responsibility.]

Wednesday 24 February 2010
The 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) claimed responsibility for killing one of its own members, Kieran Doherty in Derry. They accused him of being a drugs dealer.

Friday 26 February 2010
The family of Kieran Doherty who was shot by the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) in Derry on Wednesday 24 February released a statement in which they accused the British secret security service, MI5, of harassing him in order to try to recruit him as an informer.

Saturday 27 February 2010
Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers in Craigavon, County Armagh were called to deal with a hoax device. In a separate incident a suspected explosive device was then fired at Brownlow Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station in the town. These incidents were followed by serious rioting in the Drumbeg and Meadowbrook housing estates in the town.

Monday 1 March 2010
In Derry hundreds of mourners attended the funeral of Kieran Doherty, who was killed by the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) in the city on Wednesday 24 February.

Tuesday 2 March 2010
In Derry several people attended a rally to protest at the killing by the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) of Kieran Doherty.

Friday 19 March 2010
Security alerts in Belfast and Derry caused major disruption. In Derry the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) issued a warning that four devices have been left in different locations across the city including Strand Road Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station and Bishop Street Courthouse.
Whilst in Belfast rush-hour traffic was disrupted by a number of hoaxes leading to road closures and interruptions to rail services.

Saturday 20 March 2010
In Magherafelt, County Derry a controlled explosion was carried out on an explosive device.
Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers came under gun attack after they were called to investigate a suspicious device left on the railway line just outside Newry, County Down.

Sunday 28 March 2010
In Derry a number of men claiming to be from the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA), hijacked a van on the Coshquin Road and later abandoned it near Bridgend, causing a security alert.

Monday 29 March 2010
A shop in Letterkenny, County Donegal, selling ‘legal highs’ was forced to close after a pipe bomb left by Republican Action Against Drugs (RAAD) was found outside the premises.
.
Friday 2 April 2010
A man was injured during a paramilitary-style punishment attack in north Belfast.

Saturday 3 April 2010
In Crossmaglen, County Armagh a car bomb was abandoned outside the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station in the town.

Monday 5 April 2010
There was major traffic disruption after the M1 motorway was closed between Lurgan, County Armagh and Moira, County Down due to a bomb hoax. The town centre of Lurgan was also closed due to a security alert.

Sunday 11 April 2010
A car bomb exploded outside the regional headquarters of MI5 at Palace Barrack in Hollywood, County Down. The 'real' Irish Republican Army (RIRA) / Oglaigh na hEireann (ONH) claimed responsibility for the attack which was timed to coincide with the devolution of policing and justice powers from Westminster to the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Tuesday 13 April 2010
Some 60 families were forced to abandon their homes in Newtonhamilton, County Armagh after a car bomb was left outside the local Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station.
A man was shot and injured during a paramilitary-style punishment attack in Derry. [Republican Action Against Drugs (RAAD) later claimed responsibility.]

Wednesday 14 April 2010
A car belonging to a Catholic Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officer was burnt out in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh.
There was traffic disruption in Derry city centre after a security alert.

Monday 19 April 2010
In Derry Republican Action Against Drugs (RAAD) claimed responsibility for two pipe bomb attacks on separate houses in the city.

Tuesday 20 April
Republican Action Against Drugs (RAAD) shot a man in a paramilitary-style attack in Strabane, County Tyrone. RAAD were also thought to be responsible for a pipe bomb attack on a house in Derry.

Wednesday 21 April 2010
In Limavady, County Derry a hose was attacked with a pipe bomb.

Thursday 22 April 2010
Two people were slightly injured when a car bomb exploded outside the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station in Newtonhamilton, County Armagh. It was the second time that the station had been attacked in ten days.

Wednesday 28 April 2010
Army bomb experts defused two pipe bombs found in the Kilwilkie area of Lurgan, County Armagh.

Thursday 29 April 2010
A hoax bomb alert caused major traffic disruption in the centre of Derry.

Tuesday 4 May 2010
A small explosive device exploded outside the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station in Lurgan, County Armagh.
In Newry, County Down a house belonging to the father of a Catholic Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officer was targeted with a pipe bomb.

Thursday 6 May 2010
In Derry a viable explosive device was left outside the Templemore Sports Complex where votes were being counted in the Westminster General Election.

Monday 17 May 2010
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) was called to deal with a suspect device on the railway line close to the Kilwilkie area of Lurgan, County Armagh. They then came under attack from a crowd throwing petrol bombs and improvised grenades.

Thursday 20 May 2010
Shots were fired into the house of a former member of the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) located near Markethill in South Armagh.

Friday 21 May 2010
A man was shot and injured during a paramilitary-style punishment attack in Newry, County Down.

Saturday 22 May 2010
Following a raid on buildings outside Dundalk, County Louth the Garda Síochána (the Irish police) claimed to have foiled an attack in Northern Ireland.

Thursday 27 May 2010
Republican Action Against Drugs (RAAD) claimed responsibility for a pipe bomb attack on a house in Strabane, County Tyrone.

Friday 28 May 2010
The Republican Action Against Drugs (RAAD) claimed responsibility for leaving a pipe bomb outside a public bar in the Bogside area of Derry.

Saturday 29 May 2010
Oglaigh na hEireann (ONH) claimed responsibility for a failed mortar bomb attack on Strand Road Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station in Derry.

Sunday 30 May 2010
In Dungannon, County Tyrone a pipe bomb was thrown at a house.

Monday 1 June 2010
A man was shot and injured during a paramilitary-style punishment attack in west Belfast.

Tuesday 2 June 2010
In Ballymena, County Antrim an explosive device was left under a car.
In Derry the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) was criticized after they were slow to respond to claims that a house in the Shantallow area of the city was being attacked. They claimed this was due to fears that an attack was being planned on them.

Friday 4 June 2010
Pictures of Kieran Doherty, who was shot dead by the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) in February 2010, which had been placed on Free Derry Wall were destroyed in a fire.

Tuesday 8 June 2010
Shots were fired into the air as Republican Action Against Drugs (RAAD) staged a ‘show of strength’ in the Creggan area of Derry.
A man was shot and injured during a paramilitary-style punishment attack in west Belfast.

Thursday 10 June 2010
A viable explosive device was found in Dowpatrick, County Down.

Friday 11 June 2010
A viable explosive device was found in Sion Mills, County Tyrone.

Tuesday 15 June 2010
A man was shot and injured during a paramilitary-style punishment attack in west Belfast.

Thursday 17 June 2010
In Aughnacloy, County Tyrone a 300lb car bomb was left outside the local Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station.

Friday 18 June 2010
A pipe bomb, which fails to explode, was thrown at the Brownlow Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station in Craigavon, County Armagh.

Tuesday 22 June 2010
Following a coded warning an explosive device was found in Keady, County Armagh.

Friday 25 June 2010
In Derry a pipe bomb was thrown at a house in the Hazelbank area of the city.

Wednesday 30 June 2010
Two members of the 'real' Irish Republican Army (RIRA), Paul McCaugherty, 45, from Lurgan, County Armagh and Dermot Gregory, Crossmaglen, County Armagh were found guilty of involvement in a plot to obtain weapons and explosives for the organisation.

Friday 2 July 2010
A number of shots were fired at the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station in Crossmaglen, County Armagh.

Saturday 3 July 2010
In west Belfast a number of Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers were injured as rioting breaks out following an Orange Order parade. Gerry Adams, then President of Sinn Fein (SF), accused Dissident republicans of encouraging the trouble.

Wednesday 7 July 2010
In Limavady, County Derry an office used by Sinn Fein (SF) was damaged.

Saturday 10 July 2010
There was an explosion along the road between Belleek and Newtonhamilton, County Armagh.

Sunday 11 July 2010
Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) dealing with outbreaks of rioting in nationalist areas of north and west Belfast came under gun attack.
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) detained a number of men in connection with Dissident Republican activity in the border area.

Monday 12 and Tuesday 13 July 2010
There was further serious rioting in a number of nationalist areas across Northern Ireland during which shots, petrol bombs and blast bombs are thrown at Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers.

Thursday 15 July 2010
An Orange Hall near Omagh was attacked for the fifth time in just over two weeks.

Saturday 17 July 2010
A man was shot and injured during a paramilitary-style punishment attack in Strabane, County Tyrone.

Wednesday 21 July 2010
In West Belfast a pipe bomb was thrown at Woodbourne Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station.

Thursday 22 July 2010
Following a Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) operation in West Belfast a number of men were arrested after guns are found in a car.

Wednesday 28 July 2010
A man was shot and injured during a paramilitary-style punishment attack in west Belfast.

Tuesday 3 August 2010
A taxi driver was forced, at gunpoint, to drive a 200lb car bomb to Strand Road Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station in Derry where it exploded outside the building causing considerable damage. The 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA)/ Oglaigh na hEireann (ONH) later claimed responsibility for the attack.

Wednesday 4 August 2010
In Bangor, County Down a booby trap car bomb was discovered when it fell off a vehicle belonging to an army officer.

Saturday 7 August 2010
A booby trap car bomb was discovered under the car of a female Catholic Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officer in Kilkeel, County Down. The intended target was a niece of the local Independent Republican Councillor, Martin Connolly, who had resigned from Sinn Fein following the party’s decision to support the PSNI. He refused to condemn the attack.

Tuesday 10 August 2010
In Cookstown, County Tyrone a booby trap car bomb was discovered under the car of a former police officer, who was then working as a civilian security worker with the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

Thursday 12 August 2010
An Orange Order Hall in Pomeroy, County Tyrone was destroyed in an arson attack.
 
Saturday 14 August 2010
In Newry, County Down a car belonging to a member of a local District Police Partnership (DPP) was destroyed in a petrol bomb.
Three children in Lurgan, County Armagh were injured when a bomb left in a wheelie bin exploded near a local school. In a separate incident in Lurgan the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) came under gun attack when they were called to investigate a security alert in the Kilwilkie area.

Saturday 21 August 2010
An unexploded pipe bomb was found inside the grounds of Woodbourne Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station in West Belfast.

Tuesday 31 August 2010
Republican Action Against Drugs (RAAD) carried out a gun attack on a house in the Bogside area of Derry and when the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) investigated the incident they were attacked by a crowd throwing petrol bombs.

Thursday 2 September 2010
A security alert on the Craigavon Bridge in Derry caused traffic chaos in the city.

Tuesday 7 September 2010
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) carried out an operation in County Donegal against Dissident Republicans ammunition with bomb parts being uncovered.

Wednesday 8 September 2010
In Crumlin, County Antrim an explosive device was found outside an unmanned police station.

Friday 10 September 2010
Two men were shot and injured during a paramilitary-style punishment attack in north Belfast.
In Derry Republican Action Against Drugs (RAAD) abducted a man they claimed was a drugs dealer and ordered him to leave the city or be shot.

Tuesday 14 September 2010
A man was shot and injured during a paramilitary-style punishment attack in north Belfast.
The Guardian newspaper reported that the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) had warned that it plans to target banks and bankers in Northern Ireland as well as London.

Tuesday 21 September 2010
Oglaigh na hEireann (ONH) claimed responsibility for an incident in Derry in which there was an attempt to abduct a man from his home. They also warned the man involved to leave the city.

Friday 24 September 2010
Oglaigh na hEireann (ONH) issued a threat in Derry against those it claims were acting as informers or agents of the security forces.

Saturday 25 September 2010
In the Ardoyne area of north Belfast an unexploded blast bomb was found.

Tuesday 28 September 2010
Owen Patterson, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, met the family of Kieran Doherty, who had been killed by the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) in Derry in February 2010. The family used the opportunity to raise their concerns that Kieran Doherty had been harassed by MI5 prior to his death.

Monday 4 October 2010
At a cross-border meeting in Belfast between the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and the Garda Síochána (the Irish police) concerns were voiced over the growing threat posed by Dissident Republicans.

Tuesday 5 October 2010
The 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) claimed responsibility for a 200lb car bomb which caused serious damage to a bank and shopping complex in Derry.

Friday 8 and Saturday 9 October 2010
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) launched a security operation against Dissident Republicans. During searches across Counties Louth, Wexford and Waterford they uncovered a bomb making factory belonging to the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA).

Monday 11 October 2010
In security raids on both sides of the border against Dissident Republicans police uncovered weapons and bomb making equipment in Counties Louth and Tyrone.

Wednesday 27 October 2010
It was announced that Lord Alex Carlisle, then the British government’s independent adviser on the activities of the security services, was to investigate allegations that MI5 might have been involved in the circumstances surrounding the killing of Kieran Doherty by the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) in February 2010.

Monday 1 November 2010
Lord Alex Carlisle, then the British government’s independent adviser on the activities of the security services, met the family of Kieran Doherty. Lord Carlisle has been asked to examine allegations that MI5 might have been involved in the circumstances surrounding the killing of Kieran Doherty by the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) in February 2010.

Thursday 4 November 2010
The publication of the 25th Report from the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) was accompanied by an announcement that it was to be wound up after producing one more report.

Friday 5 November 2010
Three Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers were injured when an explosive device was thrown at them as they investigated reports of an armed robbery in west Belfast.

Monday 8 November 2010
Two men were arrested by the Garda Síochána (the Irish police) in County Waterford after a suspected explosive device was found in the car they were driving.

Thursday 18 November 2010
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) in Derry discovered a partially-exploded bomb in the Lecky Road area of the Bogside.
A 25-year-old-man was shot in both legs in a paramilitary style attack in the Falls Road area of west Belfast.

Sunday 21 November 2010
Up to thirty families were evacuated from their homes in the Cromore Gardens area of Derry after the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) discovered a viable pipe bomb in a parked car.

Monday 22 November 2010
The windows of two houses in Coalisland were broken in an explosion caused by a pipe bomb.
Two men are arrested by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) investigating Dissident Republican activity in the Derry area.
At a court hearing in Derry, a judge refused to lift curfew restrictions against a man in the wake of claims that he was a senior member of Republican Action Against Drugs (RAAD) in the city.
In the Ardoyne area of north Belfast a man was seriously wounded following a paramilitary-style punishment attack.

Tuesday 23 November 2010
Garry Meenan was sentenced to 8 years for the manslaughter of a pizza delivery man, Emmet Shiels, in Derry in June 2008.
In the Iveagh Parade area of West Belfast a 48-year-old-man was shot in both knees during a paramilitary-style attack.

Wednesday 24 November 2010
A local District Policing Partnership (DPP) meeting in Derry was abandoned following disruptions by Dissident Republican protesters.

Friday 26 November 2010
Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers investigating Dissident Republican activity in north and west Belfast arrested two men in connection with a paramilitary punishment attack on a man in the Ardoyne area on 15 November. The two men were later released without charge.

Wednesday 30 November 2010
Four men were arrested by the Garda Síochána (the Irish police) after a primed mortar bomb was found in a car near Dundalk, County Louth. It was believed that the device was being transported for an attack in Northern Ireland by Oglaigh na hEireann (ONH).

Thursday 2 December 2010
A suspected member of Oglaigh na hEireann (ONH) was refused bail following a court appearance where he faced charges concerning a failed paramilitary punishment attack on a teenager in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast in July 2010

Friday 3 December 2010
Following the discovery of a mortar bomb in the Republic of Ireland near Dundalk, County Louth four men appeared before a court in Dublin.

Wednesday 15 December 2010
At the Special Criminal Court in Dublin three men from Northern Ireland were found guilty of involvement in Dissident Republican activity. The three were Gerard McGarrigle from Strabane, County Tyrone, Desmond Donnelly and Jim Murphy from County Fermanagh. They had been arrested by the Garda Síochána (the Irish police) near Letterkenny, County Donegal in February 2010 on suspicion of their involvement in a “tiger kidnapping or robbery”.

Friday 17 December 2010
At a court in Dungannon a 22-year-old man faced charges relating to the Dissident Republican bomb attack on Strand Road Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station in Derry back in August 2010.

Tuesday 21 December 2010
A terrorism charge made against Dissident Republican Gary Donnelly was withdrawn.
The 40-year-old, from Rathkeele Way in Londonderry, was accused of possessing a mobile phone for use in terrorism in September 2009.
In Derry it was announced that bollards would be erected outside Strand Road Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station in order to try to protect the building from attack by Dissident republicans.

Wednesday 23 December 2010
In Maguiresbridge, County Fermanagh an unexploded grenade was found outside the house of a Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officer.

Friday 31 December 2010
In Derry Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers seized equipment in the Hollyhall Road area of the city which they believed was about to be used to build pipe bombs.

2011

Monday 3 January 2011
A joint statement from the four main political parties in Derry, the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), Sinn Fein (SF), Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Ulster Unionist Party (UUP, called for Dissident republicans to end their ongoing campaign.

Thursday 6 January 2011
There was major traffic disruption in Belfast following a security alert on part of the M1.
Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers investigating Dissident Republican activity arrested a man in Maghers, County Derry.

Monday 10 January 2011
Four leading Dissident Republicans, Michael McKevitt, Liam Campbell, Seamus Daly and Colm Murphy, began an appeal against an earlier court ruling that they were liable for the 'real' Irish Republican Army (RIRA) bombing of Omagh in August 1998. [In June 2009 the four had been successfully sued by 12 of the victims’ relatives and costs of £1.6million had been awarded against them.] In a separate development some of the relatives launched an appeal against the level of compensation, £1.6million, awarded to them.
Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) offocers arrested two men in the Hannahstown area of west Belfast after army experts were called in to examine the discovery of a firearm and explosives.

Wednesday 12 January 2011
In Derry a man appeared in court and was charged with a series of offences relating to the bomb attack on Strand Road Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station in August 2010.
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) discovered a bomb factory being operated by members of Oglaigh na hEireann (ONH) on a farm in Quinnsborough, County Kildare. Five men were detained at the scene.

Friday 14 January 2011
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) confirmed that up to nine mortar bombs along with other bomb making components had been found in premises on a farm Quinnsborough, County Kildare.
Following searches by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) in Lurgan, County Armagh three men were arrested and questioned in connection with Dissident Republican activity.

Sunday 16 January 2011
In Antrim a suspect device was found outside a house in the Rathenraw estate.

Monday 17 January 2011
In Belfast an abandoned vehicle on the Westlink caused a security alert.
In the centre of Derry a small bomb exploded outside the UK City of Culture 2013 offices causing minor damage.

Tuesday 18 January 2011
In a court in Dublin a 30-year-old man, David Murphy, from Dundalk, County Louth was sentenced to 11 years imprisonment for his involvement in a car bomb attack on the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station in Crossmaglen, County Armagh in April 2010.

Thursday 20 January 2011
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) arrested a number of men in Cork in connection with the killing by Dissident republicans of Gerard Staunton in January 2010.
Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers investigating Dissident Republican activity carried out raids in Keady, County Armagh and one man was later detained.

Friday 21 January 2011
An explosive device was found close to a building used by the Queen’s University Officer Training Corp in the Malone Road area of South Belfast.

Saturday 22 January 2011
Enda Kenny, then leader of Fine Gael, declared that if his party formed the next government it would do everything in its power to tackle the threat posed by Dissident Republicans.

Tuesday 25 January 2011
David Ford, then Minister of Justice in the Northern Ireland Executive, warned of the potential danger if the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) were not given £200million extra funding from the British government to match the growing threat from Dissident Republicans.
In Derry two people were arrested and questioned in connection with the killing of Kieran Doherty by the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) in the city in February 2010.
In Dungiven, County Derry shots were fired at two houses in the town

Wednesday 26 January 2011
In Strabane, County Tyrone Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers investigating Dissident Republican man detained a man.
Following a Dissident Republican bomb attack on the main electoral count centre in Derry last year it was announced that in the future all election counts would be held at Lisneal College in the Waterside area of the city.
It was confirmed that one of the people then being questioned about the killing of Kieran Doherty in Derry by the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) was an aunt of the victim.

Thursday 27 January 2011
In north Belfast the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) finally opened a stretch of the Antrim Road which had been closed for almost 48 hours due to a security alert caused by a warning from Oglaigh na hEireann (ONH) that it had left a bomb in the area. The incident had begun on Tuesday 25 January 2011 had caused major traffic disruption across the city and had resulted in 40-50 families being moved from their homes. The PSNI later confirmed that two separate bombs were found.
In the Republic of Ireland police investigating Dissident Republican activity discovered guns and explosives in County Galway.

Friday 28 January 2011
Priscilla Doherty, an aunt of Kieran Doherty who had been shot dead by the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) in February 2010 in Derry, was released by police investigating the killing. She strenuously denied any involvement and claims that the police gave no valid reasons for questioning her.
There was a security alert in north Belfast after a suspicious device was found

Saturday 29 January 2011
Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers were attacked with paint bombs, fireworks and petrol bombs as they investigated a bomb hoax in Lurgan, County Armagh.
In the New Lodge area of north Belfast a 17-year-old teenager was shot in the thigh during a paramilitary-style attack.
 
Sunday 30 January 2011
At a court sitting in Dublin two men were charged in connection with the discovery of a quantity of guns and explosives in County Galway on Thursday 29 January 2011. The arms cache had been found during a Garda Síochána (the Irish police) operation against Dissident Republicans.

Monday 31 January 2011
In west Belfast a 45-year-old man was shot in the legs during a paramilitary-style attack.

Tuesday 1 February 2011
At the Court of Appeal in Belfast judgment was reserved in the appeal by Michael McKevitt, Liam Campbell, Seamus Daly and Colm Murphy against the settlement imposed on them after they had been sued by some of the families of those killed in the Omagh bomb in August 1998.

Wednesday 2 February 2011
A man was shot in both ankles in a paramilitary-style attack in west Belfast.

Thursday 3 February 2011
In the New Lodge area of north Belfast a security alert was caused after a viable explosive device was found.

Tuesday 8 February 2011
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) confirmed that one of the bombs found during a major security alert on the Antrim Road in north Belfast last month had been connected to a child’s bike.
A survey conducted by criminologists from the University of Ulster suggested that inaction by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) in loyalist and republican areas was creating a vacuum which was allowing paramilitary groups to flourish.

Wednesday 9 February 2011
In north Belfast Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers investigating activity by Dissident Republicans discovered a firearm after stopping a van. Two men were arrested at the scene
In Strabane, County Tyrone shots were fired when three men try to abduct a man in the Meville Court area of the town.

Thursday 10 February 2011
There were two separate security alerts in Belfast. In the first of these a bomb was found at the Royal Mail office in Tomb Street and in south Belfast the Ormeau Road was closed after a suspect device was uncovered.

Friday 11 February 2011
The two men arrested by police following a security operation in north Belfast on Wednesday 9 February were released without charge.
Police investigating a paramilitary-style shooting in west Belfast on 2 February arrested a man.

Tuesday 15 February 2011
In west Belfast there was a security alert after a suspicious device was found.

Wednesday 16 February 2011
Security alerts in east Belfast and in Magherafelt, County Derry after suspicious devices were found.

Friday 18 February 2011
Oglaigh na hEireann (ONH) were accused by Sinn Fein of making threats against the well known community worker in Belfast Seamus Finucane, the brother of the lawyer Pat Finucane, who had been killed by loyalists in 1989.

Thursday 24 February 2011
In Derry up to 100 people attended a vigil to commemorate the killing of Kieran Doherty by the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) in the city a year ago.

Saturday 26 February 2011
In Strabane, County Tyrone shots were fired into a house in the Ballycolman estate in the town.
 
Monday 28 February 2011
In west Belfast a 36-year-old man sufferred gun shot wounds to his legs following a paramilitary-style attack.

Tuesday 1 March 2011
Two men appeared at a court in Belfast to face charges relating to an incident in west Belfast in November 2009 when Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers found a handgun and ammunition after stopping a car.

Wednesday 2 March 2011
In the Glen Road of Derry Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers investigating reports of an abandoned car came under gun attack.

Thursday 3 March 2011
In west Belfast there was a security alert.

Friday 4 March 2011
The 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) claimed responsibility for a gun attack Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers in Derry on Wednesday 2 March 2011.

Monday 7 March 2011
In west Belfast the discovery of a suspect device caused a security alert.
A number of shots were fired at a house in Claudy, County Derry.
A house in Muff, County Donegal came under gun attack.

Tuesday 8 March 2011
A man in Derry arrested in connection with a gun attack on Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers on Wednesday 2 March 2011 was released without charge.

Wednesday 9 March 2011
In the Ardoyne area of north Belfast a number of homes were evacuated after Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers dealt with a suspect device.

Monday 14 March 2011
In Strabane a man was shot in the legs in a paramilitary-style attack.

Tuesday 15 March 2011
A number of homes in the Wellington Park area of south Belfast are evacuated after a suspect device was found.

Friday 18 March 2011
Two men were shot in a paramilitary-style attack in West Belfast.

Saturday 19 March 2011
In north Belfast Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers dealt with a viable pipe bomb found in the Shanlieve Park area.

Monday 21 March 2011
A number of homes are evacuated in the Foyle Springs area of Derry after a suspect device was found.
In west Belfast Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers were called to investigate a suspect device found in the Fort Street area.

Sunday 27 March 2011
In an incident in the Blancharstown area of Dublin three men were injured in a shooting. The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) stated that Dissident Republicans may have been responsible.
After a telephone warning Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers in Derry found a viable explosive device in the city centre. During the operation a number of elderly people were moved out of a nearby fold.

Monday 28 March 2011
A number of homes and occupants of a Fold housing complex were evacuated after the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) received a warning that an explosive device has been left in west Belfast.

Tuesday 29 March 2011
In the Republic of Ireland army experts dealt with an improvised grenade launcher found in Ballinamore, County Leitrim.
A bomb exploded under a parked car in the Ballyfermot area of Dublin.
In the Oldpark area of north Belfast the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) investigated reports of shots having been fired.
At Maghaberry prison a member of staff was suspended after allegations were made that a note threatening the then governor, Steve Rodford, had been planted in the cell of a Dissident Republican prisoner.

Tuesday 30 March 2011
A number of homes were evacuated in the Antrim Road area of north Belfast after a suspect device was discovered.

Thursday 31 March 2011
Lord Carlisle, then the independent government adviser on the activities of the security services, reported that after an investigation he had found no evidence to suggest that MI5 were involved in the killing of Kieran Doherty by the 'real' Irish Republican Army (RIRA) in Derry in February 2010.
The family of Kieran Doherty disputed Lord Carlisle’s findings and called on the police to examine their allegations that MI5 were involved in his death.
A man was charged in Belfast magistrate court with membership of the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) and of being responsible for a hoax bomb alert in north Belfast earlier in the week.
The Independent International Commission on Decommissioning (IICD) and the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC)were officially wound up.
There was a security alert in Roslea, County Fermanagh after a suspicious device was found.

Friday 1 April 2011
Colin Duffy, who was facing charges relating to the killing of two British soldiers in Antrim in March 2009, launched a legal challenge against the length of time he had already spent in custody.
A hoax bomb was found in Derry city centre close to the area in which a bomb had been found earlier in the week.
A stolen van caused a security alert in west Belfast.

Saturday 2 April 2011
Ronan Kerr, a Catholic Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officer, was killed when a bomb explodes under his car in Omagh, County Tyrone. The attack was later claimed by Oglaigh na hEireann (ONH).

Monday 4 April 2011
There were security alerts in Craigavon and Lurgan, County Armagh. In one of the incidents in Lurgan the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) came under petrol bomb attack.
A man from Armagh was arrested and questioned by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) investigating the activities of Dissident Republican paramilitaries.
In north Belfast a suspicious device was found under a car close to Tennent Street Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station.
Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers in Omagh, County Tyrone investigating the killing of the police officer Ronan Kerr made public further details about the attack. The bomb was inside a plastic box and attached to underneath his car and was detonated by a tilt switch. It wasbelieved the bomb was planted some time between Thursday evening and Saturday afternoon when it exploded. Ronan Kerr had been serving as a police officer since May 2010.
A suspect device attached to a van in Toome, County Antrim was declared a hoax.

Tuesday 5 April 2011
Graffiti referring to the death of Constable Ronan Kerr was painted on a wall in the Bogside area of Derry. It praised the attack and also gives a general warning to other Catholic Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers.

Wednesday 6 April 2011
A suspect device was dealt with by army bomb experts in Belfast.
In Dungannon, County Tyrone a man appeared before a court to face terrorist related charges to a weapon find the previous Sunday in the town.
The funeral of Constable Ronan Kerr took place in the village of Beragh, County Tyrone. During the service his police colleagues and members of his Gaelic Athletic Association club, the Beragh Red Knights, formed a guard of honour and help to carry the coffin.

Thursday 7 April 2011
A man arrested in Scotland the previous day was questioned by the police in connection with the killing of Constable Ronan Kerr. The police also confirmed that the man’s arrest was linked to the discovery of weapons in Coalisland, County Tyrone on Tuesday 5 April 2011. Amongst the items found were rifles, ammunition, detonators, incendiary devices, explosives and parts for rocket launchers.
In further developments relating to the killing of Constable Ronan Kerr two further men were arrested in County Tyrone. Whilst in Dublin, following a request from the police in Northern Ireland the Garda Síochána (the Irish police) carried out a search of a house on the north side of Dublin.
A bomb alert began on the main Belfast to Dublin road near Newry, County Down. Two telephone warnings were given that a bomb has been left in an abandoned van

Friday 8 April 2011
There were reports that motorists have either ignored warnings or moved traffic cones to drive past a suspect device in a van on the main Belfast to Dublin road. The railway line between Dundalk and Newry was also closed as a result of the incident.
In Lurgan, County Armagh Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) dealt with two bomb hoaxes.
At a court in Derry a 24-year-old woman was charged with causing a number of bomb hoaxes in the city.

Saturday 9 April 2011
The security alert on the main Belfast to Dublin road outside Newry came to an end. Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers confirmed that a 500lb bomb found in an abandoned van had been defused and they also state that they believed the device was destined for a town centre somewhere in Northern Ireland.
Gerry Adams, then President of Sinn Fein (SF), repeated his call for Dissident Republicans to meet members of SF in order to persuade them to halt their ongoing terrorist campaign.

Sunday 10 April 2011
In Omagh, County Tyrone several thousand people attended a rally to commemorate the killing of Constable Ronan Kerr in the town just over a week ago.
During a television interview Martin McGuinness, then Vice-President of Sinn Fein (SF) and Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, called for people on both sides of the border to help support the police in their efforts to tackle Dissident Republican violence.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) was granted a five-day extension to allow them to detain and question a man from the Dungannon area of County Tyrone in connection with the killing of Constable Ronan Kerr.

Monday 11 April 2011
The wife of one of the men being questioned by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) in connection with the killing of Constable Ronan Kerr began a legal challenge about being denied access to the family home.
In north Belfast a petrol bomb was thrown at the Boys’ Model School.

Tuesday 12 April 2011
There was a bomb alert in Belfast city centre after Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers  were called to investigate a suspicious device.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) announced they are to carry out a review of their handling of the recent bomb alert on the main Belfast-Dublin road outside Newry, County Down. It followed claims that a police cordon at the scene had been repeatedly breached by motorists.

Wednesday 13 April 2011
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) confirmed they had arrested two men from County Donegal in connection with the killing of Denis Donaldson in April 2006. [Denis Donaldson had been a senior official in Sinn Fein (SF) who had been expelled from the party early in 2006 after he had admitted being an informer for the British security services for some twenty years.]
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) was granted a further six days to question two men currently in custody over the killing of Constable Ronan Kerr in Omagh on 2 April 2011.
A suspicious device was found outside the gates of a school in Lurgan, County Armagh. It was later declared to have been a hoax.

Thursday 14 April 2011
In Larne, County Antrim a suspect device was uncovered.
A man from Rostrevor, County Down was arrested and questioned in connection with the discovery of a 500lb bomb in Newry, County Down on 8 April 2011. In addition Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers carrying out an investigation into the same incident carried out a number of searches in Rostrevor, Newry and Belfast.
In Derry a 24-year-old man was shot in the leg during in a paramilitary style punishment attack.

Friday 15 April 2011
Under a Freedom of Information request by Faircop, a website based in Northern Ireland, it was revealed that only 4% of paramilitary style punishment attacks ended up with arrests being made and charges brought.
In Derry two men were arrested in connection with graffiti relating to the killing of Constable Ronan Kerr which had appeared on a wall in the Bogside area of the city.
Two men from Donegal who had been arrested and questioned in connection with the killing of Denis Donaldson, a republican informer in April 2006, were released without charge.
There was a security alert in Antrim town after a number of viable pipe bombs were uncovered.
In Newtownabbey, County Antrim Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers were called to deal with a suspicious device.
In Lurgan, County Armagh Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers uncovered arms and ammunition whilst investigating Dissident republican activity in the town.
Dolores Kelly, then an Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) candidate in the Northern Ireland Assembly elections was attacked after her car was vandalized whilst campaigning in a nationalist area of Lurgan.
In a separate incident a car belonging to an SDLP election worker was attacked with a petrol bomb near Coagh, County Tyrone.
A man questioned in connection with the discovery of a 500lb bomb in Newry on 8 April 2011 was released.

Monday 18 April 2011
In Newry, County Down there was a security alert following a telephone warning that a bomb had been left in the city.
It was announced that following a recent attempted bomb attack on the courthouse in Derry increased security measures were to be installed in attempt to protect the building.

Tuesday 19 April 2011
Two men who had been arrested and questioned by police in connection with the killing of Constable Ronan Kerr were released without charge.
In South Belfast army bomb officers defused a bomb thought to have been aimed at police officers.

Wednesday 20 April 2011
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) searched a house in Scotstown, County Monaghan in connection with the killing of Constable Ronan Kerr.
A section of the M12 motorway near Portadown, County Armagh was closed following a security alert.
At the High Court in Belfast a man facing charges in relation to an arms find in County Tyrone in October 2010 was refused bail. In the incident police investigating Dissident Republican activity discovered guns and ammunition.
In the Carnhill area of Derry a pipe bomb was recovered following a security alert.
Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers came under attack when a blast bomb was thrown at them in the Meadowbrook area of Craigavon, County Armagh.

Friday 22 April 2011
In Sion Mills, County Tyrone there was a security alert after a suspect device was found.

Saturday 23 April 2011
At a court in Dungannon, County Tyrone a man was charged in connection with the killing of Ronan Kerr. The defendant, Gavin Coyle, faced a series of charges after guns and explosives were uncovered after a police raid in premises in Coalisland, County Tyrone.

Sunday 24 April 2011
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) issued a warning that attacks are expected from Dissident republicans over the Easter weekend. The warning comes after they seize guns, ammunition and bomb making in separate raids in South Armagh over the previous couple of days.

Monday 25 April 2011
At a court in Newry, County Down three men faced arms charges relating to police raids in South Armagh on the previous Friday and Saturday.
At a rally in Derry organized by the 32 County Sovereignty Movement a masked man read from a prepared statement. He warned that there would be further attacks on Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers in Northern Ireland "regardless of their religion, cultural background or motivation". In addition in connection with the forthcoming Queen Elizabeth II to the Republic of Ireland he went onto state "The Queen of England is wanted for war crimes in Ireland and is not wanted on Irish soil."

Tuesday 26 April 2011
In Derry in the wake of the rally organized by 32 County Sovereignty Movement the previous day Fr Michael Canny, a local Catholic priest, offered to meet the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) in order to persuade them to abandon their use of violence.

Wednesday 27 April 2011
In Derry Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers were attacked in the Dunluce Court area of the city after they are called to deal with a bomb alert.
Army bomb officers were called to deal with a suspicious device found on the grounds of Our Lady of Bethlehem Abbey in Portglenone, County Antrim.

Thursday 28 April 2011
The 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) rejects the offer the recent offer from Fr Michael Canny, a Catholic priest in Derry. Fr Canny had proposed a meeting to try to persuade the organisation to give up violence.
A number of people are moved out of their houses in the Falls Road area of west Belfast after two suspect devices are found.

Friday 29 April 2011
A suspect device was found close to parked van in Maghera, County Derry.

Saturday 30 April 2011
A man from north Belfast appeared in court on charges relating to Dissident Republican activities.
There was a security alert outside the offices of the Andersonstown News in west Belfast after a suspect device was found.

Tuesday 3 May 2011
A hoax bomb was discovered outside a house in the Creggan area of Derry. The house belongs to a Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) candidate in the local government elections.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) released details of arms and explosives seized in searches over the Easter weekend aimed at thwarting Dissident republican activity. Amongst the items found in locations in South Armagh and East Tyrone 25 kilos of home made explosives, an automatic weapon, a silencer, ammunition, three timer power units, booster tubes and a detonator.
During an official visit to the Netherlands Mary McAleese, then President of the Republic Ireland, issued a strong denunciation of the activities of Dissident Republicans.

Wednesday 4 May 2011
In a statement the family of Constable Ronan Kerr urged people to "support the peace process" by voting in the forthcoming elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly.
A government minister in the Republic of Ireland confirmed that stringent security measures would be in place for the forthcoming visits of Queen Elizabeth II and Barack Obama, then President of the United States of America.

Thursday 5 May 2011
A gun was found in the Braehead Road area of Derry. It was found close to the spot where the body of Kieran Doherty, who had been killed by the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) in February 2010, had been discovered.
In Derry Gary Donnelly, then a prominent Dissident Republican, in the city refused to shake hands with Martin McGuinness, then Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, outside a polling station.

Friday 6 May 2011
At a court in Belfast two men found guilty of possessing a gun in suspicious circumstances in November 2009 are jailed for a total of nine years.

Sunday 8 May 2011
There were security alerts in Ballymena, County Antrim and in North Belfast.

Monday 9 May 2011
There was a security alert in the Falls Road area of west Belfast.
A grenade was thrown at Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers investigating a bomb alert in the Southway area of Derry.

Tuesday 10 May 2011
A woman was arrested in Pomeroy, County Tyrone by Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers investigating the killing of Constable Ronan Kerr.
There were security alerts on the Andersonstown Road in west Belfast and in Foyle Street in Derry.
A man went on trial in Belfast on charges relating to the possession of a gun and ammunition in Newry, County Down in January 2009.

Thursday 12 May 2011
In the Republic of Ireland Garda Síochána (the Irish police) arrested three men in Dublin suspected of being involved in Dissident Republican activity.
Figures released by the police show that there were 99 bombing incidents in Northern Ireland in 2010/11 and this marks an increase of almost 50 over the previous year.

Friday 13 May 2011
The veteran republican Marian Price was arrested by police investigating Dissident Republican activity. Ms Price, then secretary of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, also served a prison sentence in the 1970s for her involvement in the Provisional Irish Republican Army’s (PIRA) bombing of the Old Bailey in London.
 
Saturday 14 May 2011
A man and woman from County Armagh were arrested and charged with offences relating to Dissident republican activity.
There was a security alert in north Belfast after children find a pipe bomb whilst playing in the area around Hartwell Place.

Sunday 15 May 2011
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) dealt with viable explosive devices found in Dublin and Limerick.
Marian Price, then secretary of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, was charged with encouraging support for an illegal organisation following a Dissident republican rally in Derry on Easter Monday.

Monday 16 May 2011
Following a telephone warning about a bomb part of London was evacuated. It was thought that the threat originated from Dissident Republicans.
At a court appearance in Derry Marion Price, then secretary of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, was formally charged with offences relating to a Dissident Republican rally in the city on Easter Monday. In a separate development Owen Paterson, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, revoked her release from prison under licence.
In Derry three masked men, including one with a gun, hijacked a bus and then set it alight in the Glengalliagh Road area of the city.
On the eve of the visit by Queen Elizabeth II to the Republic of Ireland the Garda Síochána (the Irish police) dealt with a bomb aboard a bus in Maynooth, County Kildare.

Tuesday 17 May 2011
In Dublin ahead of the visit by Queen Elizabeth II the Garda Síochána (the Irish police) dealt with a security alert in Dublin after a suspect device.
There were minor scuffles in Dublin between the Garda Síochána (the Irish police) and demonstrators during two separate protests against the visit by Queen Elizabeth II.
During a court appearance two men were charged with the murder of Constable Stephen Carroll in Craigavon, County Armagh in 2009. One of the accused was a former Sinn Fein councilor.
Two men appeared in court charged with the murder of Constable Stephen Carroll in 2009.
Former Sinn Fein councillor Brendan McConville, 39, and John Paul Wootton, 19, denied the charge.
In Strabane, County Tyrone a man and woman were attacked by up to five masked men.
In the Brandywell area of Derry a car belonging to the father of a serving Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officer was destroyed by a petrol bomb. Elsewhere in the city two men hijacedk and set fire to a car in the Creggan area.

Wednesday 18 May 2011
There was a security alert in the Creggan area of Derry close to where a hand grenade was thrown at Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers the previous week.
A bus in Craigavon, County Armagh was hijacked and burnt out.

Thursday 19 May 2011
Police dealt with security alerts in Glynn, County Antrim and on the Donegall Road area of West Belfast.

Saturday 21 May 2011
A bomb, placed in a holdall, was thrown into a bank in the centre of Derry and caused extensive damage to the premises.

Sunday 22 May 2011
In Muff, County Donegal an explosive device explodes outside a house.

Tuesday 24 May 2011
In Dungiven, County Derry, shots are fired at a van and car.

Wednesday 25 May 2011
There were security alerts in Bangor and in west Belfast.
Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers investigating the killing of Constable Ronan Kerr in Omagh, County Tyrone in April 2011 appealed for further assistance from the public. In particular they were keen to hear from anyone who had taken photos or video of a half marathon that had passed close to the spot where Constable Kerr had been killed a few hours previously.
Michael Campbell from Dundalk, County Louth appeared before a court in Lithuania to face arms smuggling charges. He denied being a member of the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA).

Thursday 26 May 2011
A new Criminal Inspection Report concluded that too much bureaucracy and the growing threat posed by Dissident Republicans was stopping the police in Northern Ireland from providing a good service to the public.
Liam Rainey, originally from west Belfast, appeared at a court in Belfast to face charges relating to the kidnapping of Bobby Tohill, then a prominent Dissident Republican, from a public bar in the centre of Belfast in February 2004. Rainey had just been extradited from the Republic of Ireland in connection with the case. [Three other men had already been found guilty and sentenced for their part in the incident].
Four men and a woman from the greater Belfast area are arrested and questioned by Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers investigating Dissident Republican activity.

Friday 27 May 2011
People were evacuated from their homes in the university area of south Belfast after a viable explosive device was found in an alleyway.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) in Derry dealt with a bomb alert in the Strand Road area of the city.
There was traffic chaos across Belfast as Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers dealt with 14 separate bomb alerts across the city.
Two men were shot and injured in separate paramilitary punishment attacks in north Belfast and in Sion Mills, County Tyrone.

Monday 30 May 2011
Two men appeared faced charges at a court in Belfast in connection with an incident the previous week during which an explosive device was found in the university area of south Belfast.

Tuesday 31 May 2011
During a security alert Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers discovered a number of suspect devices at Belfast City Cemetery in the west of the city.
In Derry Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers investigating Dissident Republican activity arrested a man for questioning.
Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers were attacked by a petrol bomb and a number of explosive devices in the Meadowbrook area of Craigavon.

Wednesday 1 June 2011
In the Republic of Ireland lawyers for a prominent Dissident Republican from County Louth, Thomas “Slab” Murphy, announced they were to challenge the constitutionally of a prosecution against for alleged income tax irregularities.
A man was shot and wounded in the leg and stomach during a gun attack in Glengormley, just north of Belfast.

Thursday 2 June 2011
A man was charged at a court in Derry with having guns at his flat in the city.
Twenty homes were evacuated in the Ringsfort Road area of Derry after a bomb alert.
In south Belfast Dissident Republicans were blamed after a pipe bomb was thrown at offices belonging to the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI).
An explosive device exploded in the Brandywell area of Derry damaging a number of houses.

Friday 3 June 2011
At Belfast Crown Court a man from Derry was remanded in custody on a number of weapons charges.
A taxi driver with alleged links to Dissident Republicans was charged with offences linked a pipe bomb attack on offices belonging to the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI) the previous day.

Monday 6 June
A pipe bomb was found at retail premises in Newtonabbey, just outside Belfast.

Wednesday 8 June 2011
A number of viable pipe bombs were found during security alerts in County Armagh, west Belfast and Newtonabbey, just outside Belfast.
At a case before the Court of Appeal in Belfast it was decided that YouTube clips allegedly showing a Tyrone man at a Dissident Republican could be used against him at a criminal trial.  The video clips showed events during a Dissident republican Easter commemoration at Edendork, County Tyrone during which masked men from the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) read from a statement and then fired a number of shots.

Thursday 9 June 2011
A brother-in-law of Martin McGuinness, then Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland and Vice-President of Sinn Fein, appeared at a court in Derry. He faced terrorist charges relating to a Dissident Republican rally on Easter Monday organized by the 32 County Sovereignty Movement.
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) stated that they were investigating whether the killing of a man in the Clondalkin area of Dublin was the result of a feud between Dissident Republicans. The victim who was shot dead at his home was Liam Kenny, a former member of Republican Sinn Fein (RSF) who had recently left the group to have joined a ‘splinte group’ based in Limerick.

Wednesday 15 June 2011
A man appeared at a court in Derry to face terrorist charges relating to a Dissident Republican rally on Easter Monday organized by the 32 County Sovereignty Movement.
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) stated that they were investigating whether there was a link with Dissident Republicans and a quantity of ammunition found at a disused house in County Louth on Tuesday.

Thursday 16 June 2011
In Strabane, County Tyrone a man was told he would be shot if he did not leave the town within 24 hours.
At a court in Derry a man faced terrorist charges relating to a mortar bomb attack on the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) station on the Strand Road in the city in May 2010.  The 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) had been blamed for the attack.

Friday 17 June 2011
Lawyers acting for two men, Colin Duffy and Brian Shivers, accused of killing two British soldiers in Antrim in March 2009 failed to have the case against their clients stopped.

Saturday 18 June 2011
There was a security alert in Newry, County Down.

Sunday 19 June 2011
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) investigating Dissident Republican activity arrested three men after a stolen lorry containing alcohol was stopped on the M1 Belfast to Dublin road

Monday 20 June 2011
Up to 500 people were involved in serious rioting at a sectarian interface on the lower Newtownards Road and Mountpottinger Road. The police alleged that the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) were heavily involved in organising the initial trouble. During the trouble a number of shots were fired and the police believed that Dissident Republicans were one of the groups behind this.

Tuesday 21 June 2011
An explosive device was thrown at a Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) landrover in west Belfast but no one was injured in the incident.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) blamed Dissident Republicans for shooting a photographer during a second night of serious rioting at a sectarian interface on the lower Newtownards Road and Mountpottinger Road.

Thursday 23 June 2011
A man from west Belfast was questioned by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) investigating Dissident Republican activity in the city. It was thought the arrest was connected to shots having being fired at police during disturbances at a sectarian interface on the lower Newtownards Road and Mountpottinger Road.

Friday 24 June 2011
Two men, Colin Duffy and Brian Shivers, accused of killing two British soldiers in Antrim in March 2009 pleaded not guilty to the charges during a court hearing.
At a court hearing in Belfast a man from Belfast pleaded not guilty to providing a vehicle which was subsequently used by Dissident Republicans to attack Newry courthouse in February 2010. The accused was a brother of Mairead Farrell, a member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) killed by the Special Air Service (SAS) in Gibraltar in 1989.

Saturday 25 June 2011
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) investigating Dissident Republican activity arrested two men after the discovery what was believed to be bomb-making material at a house near Hackballcross, County Louth.

Monday 27 June 2011
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) stated that bomb components they had found recently at a house near Hackballcross, County Louth was going to be used on a target in Northern Ireland
A man was injured in a shotgun attack at a house in the Poleglass area of west Belfast.

Wednesday 29 June 2011
It was confirmed that talks were taking place between prison authorities and Dissident Republican prisoners in a bid to resolve the issue strip-searching in Maghaberry jail, County Antrim.

Thursday 30 June 2011
In the Creggan esate in Derry several hundred people took part in a protest about the recent attack on a community worker’s car in the area.
At Belfast Magistrates Court a man from Dungannon, County Tyrone was sentenced to four and half years in prison for possessing a Dissident Republican arms cache.

Friday 1 July 2011
In Strabane, County Tyrone an unexploded pipe bomb was discovered close to a play park after a telephone warning had been given that a device had been thrown at the town’s police station.
In the Ardoyne area of north Belfast a 39-year-old man was shot in the legs in a paramilitary style punishment attack.

Monday 4 July 2011
In the Glengormley area of north Belfast army technical officers defused an unexploded pipe bomb.

Wednesday 6 July 2011
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) arrested a man near Gwedore, County Donegal after a gun and ammunition was discovered.

Thursday 7 July 2011
In the Creggan area of Derry graffiti appeared targeting a local community worker and describing him as an “RUC cheerleader”.
In Newry, County Doiwn army technical officers dealt with an unexploded pipe bomb.
In Lurgan, County Armagh there are disturbances during which a car and a van were hijacked by masked men and the set alight.
Two leading members of Republican Sinn Fein (RSF), Des Dalton and Fergal Moore, were arrested and charged with organising an illegal parade in Lurgan, County Armagh in January 2011.
At the Court of Appeal in Belfast judgment was given in the appeal by four men who had been earlier found guilty in a civil case of being responsible for the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) bomb in Omagh in August 1998 which killed 29 people and two unborn babies. The guilty verdicts against Michael McKevitt and Liam Campbell were upheld whilst Colm Campbell was granted a civil retrial and Seamus Daly’s appeal was upheld. [In a landmark ruling in 2009 a court had ruled that the four men had been liable for the Omagh bomb and had granted damages of £1.6million to twelve relatives of those killed who had taken the case.]
In the Poleglass area of west Belfast a 34-year-old man was shot in the leg by three masked men.
In the Lecky Road area of Derry a 36-year-old man was shot in the legs by a gang of masked men.

Friday 8 July 2011
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) arrested two men in connection with alleged Dissident Republican activity after a number of weapons and ammunition were found in a property in central Dublin.
At a court in Derry a judge was told that a man who had been due to be sentenced on theft charges had been forced to leave the city following threats from a paramilitary organisation.
Sinn Fein blamed Dissident Republicans for organising recent disturbances in Lurgan and Craigavon and accused them of “trying to cause fear and intimidation”.

Monday 11 July 2011
In Derry six men have been forced to leave the city after receiving death threats from Dissident Republicans.

Friday 14 July 2011
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) arrested two men in the greater Dublin area as part of an ongoing investigation into Dissident Republican activity.

Tuesday 19 July 2011
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) arrested five men in Cork city as part of an ongoing investigation into Dissident Republican activity.

Wednesday 20 July 2011
During a court hearing in Belfast it emerged that a gun which had been stolen during a robbery was subsequently used by Dissident Republicans in a punishment attack in May 2011 on a man in the Twinbrook area of west Belfast.

Thursday 21 July 2011
Police investigating Dissident Republican activity arrested a man in north Belfast following searches of a number of buildings.
An unexploded pipe bomb was uncovered during a police operation in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast.

Friday 22 July 2011
Marian Price, then secretary of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, appeared at a court in Belfast to face charges relating to the killing of two British soldiers, Azimkar and Mark Quinsey, in March 2009. She was charged with providing property for the purposes of terrorism.

Saturday 23 July 2011
A man appeared in court to face charges relating to the discovery of a pipe bomb in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast.

Monday 25 July 2011
At a court sitting in Derry, Gary Donnelly, then a leading Dissident Republican in the city, had public order charges against him dropped.
An explosive device was thrown at a house in the Glenbank Road area of Derry and caused extensive damage.
Two Dissident Republican prisoners serving sentences at Maghaberry Jail, County Antrim won a case in the High Court to challenge a ruling denying them legal and family visits.

Tuesday 26 July 2011
Five men were arrested by police investigating the killing of the Catholic Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officer, Ronan Kerr, in Omagh in April 2011. The arrests followed a major search operation across three counties – in Coalisland, County Tyrone, Toomebridge, County Antrim as well as Bellaghy and Ballyronan, County Tyrone.
A second man was arrested and questioned by police investigating the discovery of a bomb in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast last week.
Dissident Republicans were blamed for an incident at a park in west Belfast when gunmen approached a group of youths looking for a number of individuals. When they could not be found they fired a number of shots in the air.

Wednesday 27 July 2011
A sixth person was arrested by police investigating the killing of the catholic Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officer, Ronan Kerr, in Omagh in April 2011.

Thursday 28 July 2011
Martin McGuinness, then Deputy First Minister, criticized certain aspects of a police investigation operation over the past couple of days into the killing of the Catholic Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officer, Ronan Kerr, in Omagh in April 2011. In particular he raised the arrest of a 22-year-old in Coalisland, County Tyrone. In response Matt Baggott, then Chief Constable of the PSNI, defended the operation.
In a separate development the police released a woman they had arrested during the operation in Omagh, County Tyrone

Friday 29 July 2011
Army bomb officers dealt with a suspicious object which had caused a security alert in the New Lodge area of north Belfast.

Sunday 31 July 2011
Army bomb officers dealt with a pipe bomb which was discovered near Annacloy, County Down.

Tuesday 2 August 2011
In Derry three men and a teenager Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers were arrested as part of an operation against Dissident Republican activity. During the incident a rifle and a suspect object was discovered.

Wednesday 3 August 2011
During a series of raids by Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers in Craigavon and Portadown, County Armagh thirteen rifles and around 400 rounds of ammunition were found.

Thursday 4 August 2011
A republican Facebook site, Crown Forces Watch, which called for people to put up pictures of Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers and details of security operations across Northern Ireland was forced to close down.
In Derry it was revealed at the city’s Magistrates’ Court that a man had been forced to flee the city after he had received a death threat.
At a court in Belfast a 68-year-old man from west Belfast faced terrorist related charges relating to the possession of handguns and ammunition as well as a coffee jar grenade and component parts for three others. He was also charged in connection with the discovery of a “firearms factory” in Newry, County Down in September 2010.

Friday 5 August 2011
Marion Price, then secretary of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, who was facing charges relating to the killing of two British soldiers in March 2009, took steps to use a pardon she got 30 years. [Marion Price served a prison sentence in the 1970s for her involvement in the Provisional Irish Republican Army’s (PIRA) bombing of the Old Bailey in London.]
A number of shots were fired at a house in the Gobnascale area of Derry.
Two men appeared at a court in Derry to face charges relating to an incident earlier in the week in the city during which a rifle was recovered. One of those facing charges was Tony Taylor, a former republican prisoner and currently a prominent member of Republican Network for Unity (RNU), a Dissident Republican pressure group.

Saturday 6 August 2011
Army bomb experts dealt with a suspicious object in the Stranmillis area of south Belfast.

Monday 8 August 2011
In the Poleglass area of west Belfast a man was shot in the ankle.
There was a bomb alert in the Patrick Street area of Derry.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) was called to investigate claims of gunfire at a bonfire site in the Divis area of west Belfast. In addition there were reports that a number of petrol bombs were thrown at PSNI officers in the area.

Tuesday 9 August 2011
A man was shot three times in the leg and once in the arm during an attack in the Bishop Street area of Derry.

Wednesday 10 August 2011
There was a security alert in Armagh city after a suspicious object was discovered.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) arrested a man for questioning about Dissident Republican activity in Craigavon, County Armagh.
A man from Derry who was injured in a shooting incident in Derry on Tuesday confirmed that he had also received a warning to leave the city within 24 hours.

Thursday 11 August 2011
In south Belfast members Republican Network for Unity (RNU), a dissident Republican pressure group, staged a protest outside the headquarters of the Alliance Party for Northern Ireland (APNI). The event was organized to protest at claims that David Ford, then leader of the APNI and Minister of Justice, had gone back on a decision to end the controlled movement and strip searching of paramilitary prisoners in Maghaberry Jail, County Antrim.

Saturday 13 August 2011
A man appeared in court to face charges relating to a Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) operation against dissident republicans in Craigavon, County Armagh the previous Wednesday. During a police search of a house an assault rifle, a pistol, a quantity of ammunition and a mechanism for an improvised grenade launcher was found.
In Derry there were serious disturbances following the city’s Annual Apprentice Boys parade, which commemorates the lifting of the siege back in August 1689. Up to three vehicles were hijacked and petrol bombs were thrown at Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers. As well during the day dissident republicans staged a series of protests against the parade.

Sunday 14 August 2011
A number of shots were fired at a house in the Beechmount area of west Belfast.

Monday 15 August 2011
At a court in Belfast a man from the Ardoyne area of the city faced up to seven charges relating to two separate arms find by Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers. One related to a bomb find in Ardoyne the previous month and the other to a gun found in January 2010 which had used by Oglaigh na hEireann (ONH) in gun attacks in April and May 2009.
In Derry two men appeared at a court to face public order offences relating to the disturbances which had followed an Apprentice Boys parade in the city on Saturday the previous Saturday.

Wednesday 17 August 2011
In Derry two petrol bombs were thrown at a house in the Clooney Mews area of the city.

Thursday 18 August 2011
In Derry Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers arrested two teenagers for questioning about Dissident Republican activity. [They were both later released without any charges.]

Friday 19 August 2011
At the High Court in Belfast who was facing charges relating to the killing of two British soldiers in Antrim in March 2009, was refused bail. During the hearing evidence was given concerning soil samples which allegedly linked Duffy and his co-accused Brian Shiver to the killings.

Monday 22 August 2011
A man from Newry, County Down who had been arrested on suspicion of dissident republican activity the previous week was released without charge.
There was a security alert in Newry, County Down after a suspicious device was thrown into a bank in the city centre.

Tuesday 23 August 2011
In the Ardoyne area of north Belfast a man was shot in the leg.
There was a security alert in Newry, County Down after a suspicious device was found – it was the second such incident in the city in two days.
Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers investigating an incident back in April 2011 when a 500lb bomb had been left under a main road outside Newry, County Down arrested two men for questioning.

Wednesday 24 August 2011
Raymond McCartney, then a Sinn Fein (SF) MLA, criticized the arrest by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) of two teenagers from Derry under anti-terrorism legislation the previous week. [Both were questioned about Dissident Republican activity but released a day later unconditionally.]
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) investigated a bomb attack on a house in Navan, County Meath. The house was owned by Paddy Nixon, who in the past had given the Garda Síochána information about stolen vehicles used by the 'real' Irish Republican Army (rIRA) to transport bombs. Paddy Nixon suffered minor injuries in the attack.

Sources

The above Chronology has been complied from a number of sources:

A Chronology of the Conflict – 1968 to the Present

Notes taken from the BBC News – Northern Ireland
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/northern_ireland/

Frampton, Martyn. (2010). The Return of the Militants: Violent Dissident Republicanism, (12 November 2010), [PDF; 524KB]. London: ICSR.

Frampton, Martyn. (2011). Legion of the Rearguard: Dissident Irish Republicanism. Dublin: Irish Academic Press.

Various Newspapers