Menace without mandate? Is there any sympathy for 'dissident' Irish Republicanism in Northern Ireland?

Dissident Irish Republicans have increased their violent activities in recent years.These ‘‘spoilers’’ reject the 1998 Good Friday Agreement power-sharing dealbetween Unionist and Nationalist traditions in Northern Ireland. Instead dissidentIRAs vow to maintain an armed campaign against Britain’s sovereign claim toNorthern Ireland and have killed British soldiers, police officers, and civilians inrecent years. These groups have small political organisations with which they areassociated. The assumption across the political spectrum is that, whereas Sinn Feinenjoyed significant electoral backing when linked to the now vanished ProvisionalIRA, contemporary violent Republican ultras and their political associates areutterly bereft of sympathy. Drawing upon new data from the Economic and SocialResearch Council 2010 Northern Ireland election survey, the first academic study toask the electorate its views of dissident Republicans, this article examines whetherthere are any clusters of sympathy for these irreconcilables and their modus operandi.The piece assesses whether there are any demographic, structural, ideological,religious, or party trends indicating Republican dissident sympathies. It also assessesthe extent to which dissidents are seen as a threat and examines whether this perceptionis shared evenly across Northern Ireland’s two main communities