The Real IRA has rejected a call to meet a priest for face-to-face peace talks.
Fr Michael Canny offered to meet the paramilitary group after it pledged to “execute” police officers irrespective of their religion, The Belfast telegraph reported yesterday.
In a statement issued yesterday, a source close to the dissident republican movement said it was rejecting Fr Canny’s overtures for unconditional talks.
He said: “While Fr Canny said he did not wish to engage in airwave diplomacy, we find that impossible to equate with Fr Canny’s media comments that the dissident republican movement has no room in which to manoeuvre and that the actions of dissident republicans were those of evil men.
“Because of these pre-conceived beliefs expressed by Fr Canny in the public domain, we do not feel there would be any merit in meeting with him.”
See also earlier report on this site.