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Sinn Fein offers 'British spy bug' for sale Wed May 25,10:31 AM ET BELFAST (Reuters) - The Irish Republican party Sinn Fein has put up for auction on the Internet what it says is a bugging device used by Britain to spy on one of its offices. Bidding has been brisk, it says, the price is now up to $1,900 and the money will be used to fund "the campaign for Irish unity and freedom." "This auction is for part of a British MI5 bugging device found hidden in the floorboards of a Sinn Fein office in Belfast in September...

...Irish officials are hoping that the Irish Republican Army will issue a statement on Thursday confirming leaked reports that it plans to give up its armed struggle for a united Ireland and agree to turn solely to political methods. The contents of the statement expected to be issued Thursday have been disclosed to The NYT by an Irish-American businessman who said he had been briefed on the statement. If the terms are fulfilled, the move would be a turning point in the violent history of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Martin McGuinness, one of the leaders of the IRA's political wing,...

On Easter Monday in Dublin, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, a secret organization of Irish nationalists led by Patrick Pearse, launches the so-called Easter Rebellion, an armed uprising against British rule. Assisted by militant Irish socialists under James Connolly, Pearse and his fellow Republicans rioted and attacked British provincial government headquarters across Dublin and seized the Irish capital's General Post Office. Following these successes, they proclaimed the independence of Ireland and by the next morning were in control of much of the city. Later that day, however, British authorities launched a counteroffensive, and by April 29 the uprising had been crushed....

Waterspout taps into an old spring of republicanism By Tom Peterkin, Ireland Correspondent (Filed: 29/10/2005) An apparently innocuous waterspout given to a small market town after it suffered from crop failure would appear to be an unlikely symbol of English colonial oppression. But plans to restore a 19th century limestone well in Nenagh, Co Tipperary, have re-ignited ancient Anglo-Irish animosities. A £27,000 proposal to refurbish the spout and reinstate a plaque commemorating the "unparalleled benevolence of the English nation to the poor of Ireland" has outraged republicans, still smarting from the treatment of Irish peasants during the Great Famine of...

IRA activists to be pardoned in Republic  By Tom Brady 10 November 2005 A handful of Provisional IRA activists are expected to be granted a presidential pardon in the Republic as part of the measures being introduced by the Irish and British governments for "on the run" terrorists. The Irish Government has opted for a straightforward pardon paramilitaries who qualify - in contrast to the complex legislation being used in Northern Ireland. It is estimated that less than 10 activists will qualify for the pardon. They are all wanted by the gardai in connection with terrorist crimes carried out...