Gerard Hodgins, who has called on the New IRA, Continuity IRA and Óghlaigh na hÉireann (ONH) to declare ceasefires, said dissident bomb attacks do the opposite to what hardline republicans intend – and deliver more votes for Sinn Féin.

In an interview with the Guardian, Hodgins, who is a former prison comrade of the fellow IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands, said the use of surveillance technology made conventional guerilla warfare „exceedingly difficult“.