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| - British intelligence believes any return to a "hard" border between Northern Ireland and Ireland post-Brexit would be a recruiting tool for paramilitary groups, MPs said on Monday. The UK parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee said in a new report that "Northern Ireland-related terrorism remains resilient", despite the work of police and domestic spy agency MI5. Dissident republicans opposed to UK control of the province continued to recruit new members, particularly among young people, and more work was required at local level as a deterrent, it added. The cross-party committee of MPs and peers called for counter-terrorism funding in Northern Ireland to be maintained and said levels of resources were "more important now than ever". "Any border infrastructure resulting from Brexit will be both a target and a recruiting badge for dissident republican groups" such as the new IRA and the Continuity IRA, they said. "This committee would not support the use of any hard border infrastructure, and recommends that this be taken into account in any final settlement in relation to the border with the Republic of Ireland." Some 3,500 people were killed during three decades of violence over British rule in Northern Ireland until the 1998 Good Friday Agreement peace deal. A key part of the accord was an open border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, removing the checkpoints and army watchtowers that were frequent targets during "The Troubles". But that has proved problematic for Britain as it leaves the European Union, as Northern Ireland will have the country's only land border with the bloc. London and Brussels agreed a divorce deal in which Northern Ireland will remain subject to some EU rules on goods, yet failed to quell fears about a return to customs and security checks. Senators in the United States, which was heavily involved in brokering peace, have said that any subsequent UK-EU trade deal that threatened the agreement would scupper hopes of a UK-US trade deal. The committee said MI5 had told them any border infrastructure "would immediately become a target for (dissident republican) attacks and would increase the risk of political violence in border areas". "Border infrastructure would be symbolic for (dissident republican) groups, and would inevitably be used as a recruiting tool," the spy agency said. "Brexit could also reignite the threat from (pro-British) Loyalist groups that have previously held a ceasefire," it said, adding it could be "reasonably confident" the threat level would increase. phz/ar/jj
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