Christmas truce in Ireland?

Press, 21 December 1976, Page 9

Christmas truce in Ireland?

NZPA Belfast Security officials in Northern Ireland believe that the Irish Republican Army may call a Christmas cease-fire, ! informed sources have said. , Unconfirmed reports in I Belfast said that the ruling I army council of the I.R.A.’s militant Provisional wing met in secret in the Irish Republic at the week-end to decide on whether to stop the shooting over the holiday. The sources theorised that , the mainly Roman Catholic guerrillas will only do so from what they consider a position of strength.

That demonstration of force, the sources said, may have come last Monday, when the Provisionals bombed almost every major town in Northern Ireland and caused havoc. Hijacking, ambushes, and hoax bomb scares worsened the disjruption.

i “They showed us what I they can do and tried to protfe they are still a threat to be reckoned with,” one British Army informant, said.

! “They may now feel they can make a Christmas gesture without being seen to do so from a position of weakness.”

Sources close to the Provisionals declined to comment on the speculation. But the I.R.A. normally declares brief cease-fires at Christmas.

• However, experienced observers in Belfast commented • that the Provisionals may not hold a Christmas cease-fire [this year because of the success of the Peace People, a ; movement launched on | August 10 by Belfast house- | wives after three Roman Catholic children were killed by an I.R.A. getaway car.