Dissidents a turn-off for Northern Ireland's young

BELFAST (Reuters) - Gazza, a skinny 16-year old from the Ardoyne area of North Belfast, can't see the point of joining a group to rid Northern Ireland of British control.

"We have our own organization," says the boy, grabbing his friends by the shoulder. "We are hoods."

During decades of sectarian conflict, Ardoyne was a traditional recruiting ground for the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in its guerrilla campaign against British rule.

The predominantly Catholic neighborhood still bears its allegiance in vivid murals, Irish tricolours and commemorative plaques to those killed before a 1998 deal ended a conflict that had killed more than 3,600 people since the late 1960s.

A recent burst of violence by IRA splinter groups, including the killing of a policeman earlier this month by the Continuity IRA, has stirred fears of a new recruitment drive.

But in Ardoyne, even though there is disdain in some quarters for the power-sharing option taken by the IRA's political ally Sinn Fein, teenagers aren't interested.

Young people have grown up with stories of the old days -- when the place was a no-go area for police and soldiers -- but their lives are very much in the present, their role models drawn from the ranks of global celebrity.

"My daughter is 19," said a mother of two, speaking like most people on condition of anonymity. "She was asked the other day who she aspired to be like and she said Beyonce. She has a grand life, a life I wouldn't have minded myself."

Most are too young to remember "The Troubles," the euphemistic moniker for violence between pro-Ireland groups and largely Protestant organizations seeking to keep Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom.

Small-scale violence does flare up in Ardoyne, a so-called "interface" area due to its close proximity to pro-British communities.

Last year, children from as young as eight to youths in their early 20s were regularly rioting; throwing rocks, paint and petrol bombs at the police.

Taunts from Protestant neighbors or a soccer match between Glasgow clubs Celtic, traditionally supported by Catholics, and Rangers, which has a largely Protestant following, were enough to trigger trouble.

"I would call it recreational violence, just something for them to do," said community worker Fernando Murphy. "They are rebelling against authority."

After rioting escalated last year, he set up a "midnight" youth club to get boys and girls off the streets.

FALSE PROMISE

This month's killing of two soldiers and a policeman by the Continuity IRA and the Real IRA was the worst violence in Northern Ireland in over a decade, but police chief Huge Orde has said the dissident groups only have around 300 members.

At its height in the mid 1970s, analysts estimated the IRA had 1,500.

Older pro-Irish republicans, who rejected the political route the IRA has opted to pursue for a united Ireland, are believed to play a significant role in the groups: their views are reflected by some young people.

Gazza and his friends dislike Sinn Fein, which shares power with former Protestant foes, as much as they do the Real IRA and the Continuity IRA.

"No one likes them anymore," said Lawlor, who like Gazza, declined to give his full name. "They are saying they want a united Ireland. How are you going to get a united Ireland if you are sharing government with snitches (parties wanting to keep the union with Britain)?"

If that sort of view gained ground, some in the community see a risk of young people being drawn toward new dissident groups. And recent disputes with Protestant partners over education and the Irish language have stirred resentment for dissidents to feed off.

"I would be worried particularly that young people get drawn into this false promise," said Harry Maguire, who was jailed in connection with the killing of two British army corporals in 1988 but let out under the 1998 peace deal.

He now works for Community Restorative Justice, a government-funded organization that tries to resolve community conflicts and prevent punishment beatings.

Pro-British leaders have said the risk of retaliation to the recent attacks is low, particularly after Sinn Fein -- the dominant nationalist party which treads a delicate line between staying in power and keeping traditional supporters happy -- slammed the groups as "traitors."

That forceful denunciation -- traitor is one of the worst insults in pro-Irish republican communities -- shocked hardliners.

In Ardoyne, teenagers say it would take extreme provocation for them to get involved in militant groups.

"If the Protestants come in and start shooting people in Ardoyne then people would start thinking about joining up," said Lawlor.

Of more immediate concern for Murphy is the fact that government funding for his "midnight club" is running out at the end of this month, putting a question mark over its future.

"If there is no midnight club they are going to be out on the corners smoking dope and getting up to all sorts of mischief," he said. "I am very worried about that."

(Editing by Sara Ledwith)