[1] Barr's old friends Tommy Lyttle and Harry Chicken both took up seats on the NUPRG whilst South Belfast Brigadier and Tyrie's deputy John McMichael was appointed secretary of the new body.
[1] After a few months McMichael wrote about the progress of the group in the UDA's Ulster magazine and stated that they had examined the case for direct rule from Westminster and found it to be wholly unsatisfactory.
[3] Their March 1979 report, Beyond the Religious Divide, argued the case for independence and even provided an outline of the workings of such a state, basing it largely on the US model of a Supreme Court, written constitution and bill of rights and the separation of the executive and judicial arms of government.
[citation needed] The UPRG came to wider prominence in 2003 after West Belfast brigadier Johnny Adair had been expelled from the movement and the UDA leadership decided to present a more civilian face.
On 22 February 2003 a new one-year ceasefire extension was announced at a hotel in east Belfast but this was presented as a UPRG event, with journalists' questions being answered by the likes of Frank McCoubrey, Sammy Duddy, Frankie Gallagher, Jim Wright and Tommy Kirkham, all of whom had emerged as the leading figures in the group.