Priceless holy relics are allegedly being stolen from churches across
the country by dissident republican group the New Real IRA (NRIRA).A number of known republicans are behind a spat of robberies that saw three priceless holy relics stolen from Irish churches, according to the Sunday World.
The Tyrone based republicans devised the plot in a bid to help one of their main financial backers who was recently found guilty of the possession of €1.9m worth of drugs, the Sunday World has claimed.
They allegedly employed a Dublin-based art thief to procure the priceless artefacts, which have no monetary value as it would be impossible to sell them.
The NRIRA supposedly believes they can negotiate the return of the relics for a reduction in demands from the Criminal Assets Bureau.
In March 2012, the dissident thieves allegedly stole the preserved heart of Dublin’s patron saint Laurence O’Toole from the city’s Christ Church Cathedral.
In August the same year, a relic containing a piece of what is thought to be the cross upon which Jesus Christ was crucified was taken from the Holy Cross Church in Killeshin in Portlaoise.
A third robbery took place in Galway in June, where six paintings of the Stations of the Cross by renowned artist Evie Hone were taken.