This statement in its entirety details all aspects which arose as a consequence of the British State authorities recognising the existance of the quasi-fundamentalist Loyalist Volunteer Force as a separate entity from the mainstream Loyalist paramilitaries.

The truth of the existence of the LVF as an individual organisation without direction from either British intelligence or mainstream loyalism has yet to be established - only history will show the truth of this assertion.

The arrival of LVF prisoners into H Block 6 after they had been forced off the mainstream loyalist blocks impacted on several matters which were then either subject, or shortly to become the subject of concern to the leadership of the Irish National Liberation Army and the INLA camp staff within Long Kesh itself.

1. Immediately prior to the arrival of LVF prisoners into H block 6 during April 1997, INLA volunteers housed on C and D wings of this block were close to finalising plans to effect the escape from Long Kesh of selected INLA personnel.

Advanced plans in this regard had to be aborted as a direct consequence of the LVF arriving onto the Block. However although plans were aborted, a decision was taken by Long Kesh INLA internal security to restage the escape attempt at the earliest convenient opportunity, escapes from British prisons being in accordance with the duty of all republican POW's.

2. The formation of the Loyalist Volunteer Force as ostensibly a splinter from the Ulster Volunteer Force during the Drumcree crisis of 1996 served to add a more extreme fundamentalist sectarian dimension to the activities of the loyalist death squads. The LVF first came to public attention with the murder of MicheaI McGoldrick, a Catholic taxi driver outside Lurgan on the 8th of July 1996. This killing was quickly followed by the brutaI slaughter of Catholic youth James Morgan from outside Castlewellan and the dumping of his remains in a pit full of decomposing animaI carcasses in Clough.

There followed a series of internal squabbles between the LVF, UFF and UVF. This series of squabbles served to disrupt the workings of the LVF for the remainder of 1996, although loyalist murders of innocent Catholics were to continue on a 'No Claim, No Blame' basis.

During this campaign the parties involved in the Stormont talks ignored the loyalist campaign insisting that peace existed.

It did exist, for some, but not for the nationalist working class communities of the six-counties.

In May 1997 the LVF had re-emerged, claiming responsibility for the murder of 52-year-old GAA official Sean Browne in Randalstown, County Antrim.

Within a matter of weeks, on the 15th of July, the LVF had struck again, brutally murdering 18-year-old Catholic girl Bernadette Martin as she lay sleeping in her boyfriend's home in Aghalee, County Antrim.

What followed was a series of sectarian murders of Catholics on the "No Claim, No Blame" basis, culminating with the murder of 35-year-old GAA official Gerry Devlin in the grounds of St. Enda's GAA club in Glengormely.

The net effect of this sectarian campaign with a steady stream of prominant loyalists from the UVF and UFF "defecting" to the LVF with a view to forming an alliance that would continue to target the nationalist working class. This alliance finally forced the INLA to break its defence and retaliation mode that it had been observing since March 1996.

It was the view of the INLA that the LVF grouping was posing a serious threat to the nationalist community.

This statement, which has been released by the leadership of the Irish National Liberation Army, inclusive of accounts of the debriefings of the INLA active service unit involved in the operation to eliminate the LVF leader, amounts to all that has to be said as far as we are concerned on this matter.

Should the demise of Billy Wright in any way have served to help other groups and/or state authorities, this we regard as merely coincidental and not a matter for our concern.

Those who have alleged some form of collusion do so to forward their own narrow political agenda and ignore the facts and the reality for the nationalist working class community.

Those who allege that it was an attack on the peace process are suffering from the same political tunnel vision that claim that the Stormont talks and the Good Friday Agreement are going to bring peace.

The INLA execution of the Loyalist Volunteer Force leader Billy Wright, a recognised sectarian killer who often worked on the orders of MI5, far from being an attack on the peace process was a positive blow for peace in Ireland.