This is convicted IRA man Brian Kenna – the leader of the New IRA’s political wing, Saoradh.
Kenna, 58, led the march and made speeches as Saoradh launched a sinister military parade through Dublin on Saturday - just 48 hours after the murder of journalist Lyra McKee.
It provoked a furious response across the country, leading Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to brand it “beneath contempt” and an insult to the Irish people.
Dubliner Kenna was jailed for his part in a heavily-armed IRA armed robbery of a bank in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, and was also caught ferrying an IRA communique into prison.
The Irish Mirror has learned he was:
- Jailed for 10 years in 1990 for the Enniscorthy bank robbery and was
- Sentenced to 16 months for membership of the IRA, having been found leaving Portlaoise Prison after a visit in possession of an IRA document
Pals of murdered journalist Lyra McKee deface Saoradh office in Derry with red handprints
Kenna’s most spectacular crime was the bank raid as part of an active service unit which exchanged fire with gardai.
The gang was armed with two sawn-off shotguns, three handguns and two replica weapons.
The terrorists climbed into the bank through an upstairs window after scaling scaffolding.
They tied up bank staff but a worker raised the alarm as they burst in.
Brave Gardai Thomas Millar, Thomas Dunphy, Michael McGinley and John Barron responded to the attack.
They arrived at the bank as the raiders were getting into their getaway van - and the IRA gang fired shots at the gardai.
The four officers returned fire, hitting the driver, Kenneth Bolger, in the head.
They surrendered and were, including Bolger who survived, subsequently jailed.
On April 15 of this year, Kenna was stopped and searched by PSNI officers as he left a Saoradh meeting in Derry.
Gardai from the Special Detective Unit are also believed to be monitoring the organisation and compiling details of who is at the meetings.
Another man who spoke at the event on Saturday outside Dublin’s GPO was Dee Fennell - a Northern Ireland based Saoradh leader.
He was acquitted of terrorist offences in a Belfast court last year arising out of a speech he gave in which he referenced the murder of Lord Mountbatten in Sligo in 1979.
Sources said that Kenna is an old Republican activist and now wishes to restart a campaign against the British.
A source explained: “There is a young cohort of disaffected young men being recruited by this group.
“But the core leadership is led by middle aged men who are working hard to radicalise the young men.
“Kenna is one of those people – he sees himself as a latter day Padraig Pearse.
“He spoke outside the GPO on Saturday and was the master of ceremonies - he is the leader of the organisation.”
The Irish Mirror attempted to contact Saoradh and could not reach them on multiple phone numbers.
Yesterday afternoon Kenna and Fennell spoke in front of more than 100 members and supporters of Saoradh paraded to the republican plot in Milltown cemetery in west Belfast.
They were led by a colour party of members wearing black trousers, white shirts, black berets and sunglasses, who were in turn led by a band - a change to the military garb in Dublin.
Kenna said at the event he did not believe that the New IRA intended to kill Ms McKee.
He said: “I would tend to believe that the IRA believed they were attempting to confront an incursion by crown forces.”
While that event was taking place, friends of murdered journalist Lyra McKee launched an emotional protest at the offices of Saoradh.
They covered the front wall with dozens of red handprints on the walls of its headquarters in Derry.
The group held the protest over the murder of the talented young journalist and published author.
A number of Miss McKee’s friends walked to Junior McDaid House in Derry, where they used a pot of red paint to place handprints on the side of the office walls.
Jason O'Toole comment: 'Lyra's killer is not a hero or an Irish patriot'
A group of some six men, understood to be supporters of Saoradh, stood outside the building during the intense protest.
The dissident republican New IRA is being blamed for shooting the young journalist in the head.
The gunman was aiming at police during disturbances in the Creggan when he hit the 29-year-old on Thursday.
Two teenagers arrested and questioned over the weekend were later released without charge.
