The Irish Republican Army

In August 1998 the IRA claimed responsibility for a car bomb which killed 28 and injured 220 in the Northern Irish Town of Omagh. The bombing was the worst terrorist activity in nearly three decades for Ireland. While claiming responsibility for the blast an IRA representative anonymously told an Irish newspaper “Despite media reports, it was not our intention at any time to kill any civilians. It was a commercial target, part of the ongoing war against the Brits. We offer our apologies to the civilians,”

The Protestants were suspicious of the Civil Rights Movement. They suspected the IRA may be involved. The Unionists got the RUC to stop one of their marches and this led to serious rioting. In the end the British troops were sent over to Northern Ireland to try and keep order.

The Real Irish Republican Army (RIRA) is a splinter group of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) that uses sabotage, subversion, and guerilla warfare to express its opposition to the terms of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. This agreement basically recognized that the majority of the people within Northern Ireland wished to remain a part of the United Kingdom. It also recognized that a large section of the people of Northern Ireland, and the majority of the people of the continent of Ireland wanted a united Ireland. For the most part, the Good Friday Agreement brought an end to the struggle between unionists and nationalists during the “Troubles” (an unconventional war spanning from 1968-1998 in Northern Ireland between British security forces, republican and loyalist paramilitaries, and civil rights groups). To understand how the RIRA came to be, you have to know a little about the history of the IRA. Specifically, on how the members regarded violence as a means to a unified Ireland without British involvement. “In December 1969, the IRA divided into “Official” and “Provisional” wings. Both factions were committed to a united Irish republic, but the Officials eschewed violence after 1972, whereas the Provisionals, or “Provos,” carried out various attacks and assassinations, attempting to compel the British Army to withdraw from Northern Ireland. In the wake of the Bloody Sunday shootings by the British military in January 1972, the Provos’ ranks

While it is true that the British colonies in North America did stem from England, it is incredulous to think that a mere island nation, no matter how powerful or far reaching their empire, could ever hope to govern a continent a vast ocean apart. Between the French and Indian War and the subsequent taxation that it resulted in, the period of Benign Neglect was beginning to take a darker and more restrictive route, which would only go to instill in the minds of the American colonists that they were only a “means to an end” for Britain. Thomas Paine would only help to stoke the flames of the coming movement for American independence through his work “Common Sense” where he brought the hypocrisies and sins of the British government to light along with arguing why the colonies would be better off on their own. Within the contents of “Common Sense”, Paine would go toe-to-toe with the arguments of colonists who opposed independence in areas such as whether or not England had the colonies’ best interest at heart, the true nature of balance between the British monarchy and Parliament, and whether or not the colonists could actually govern themselves.

The Easter Uprising of 1916 was an event that happened at the tail end of a long list of events that would forever change Ireland. The Uprising or Rising, as some call it, took place mostly in Dublin but was felt throughout Ireland. The point was to gain independence from Great Britain who had ruled Ireland for the past couple hundred years. At the turn of the 19th century England believed that Ireland had too much independence and made the Act of Union. “The result was the Act of Union of 1801: the Irish parliament voted itself out of existence and England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales were formally politically unified for the first time” (Hegarty 2). Around the time of the First World War, Ireland began

The start of the Irish’ peoples struggles began when the British came and destroyed their way of life. The Penal laws of 1691 stripped Irish Catholics of their freedoms by taking away their rights to become officers

Violence, terror, suffering and death. The conflict that has been burning in Northern Ireland seems to be an unstoppable battle and it has flooded over the land of Northern Ireland. The struggle for power and the persistence of greed have fueled the raging fires of the opposing groups. The conflict in Northern Ireland has been discussed continually over the past few decades. Ever since the beginning of the “Troubles,” organizations have been scavenging to find a plan that will cease the violence. Throughout my research for this project, the questions of what are the main sources of conflict in Northern Ireland and why have they continued today guided me to many fascinating pieces of evidence that

However, The British government itself was going through a hard time in trying to keep the people of England healthy. It wasn’t until 1916 when a call for reform was widely spread and would create the Irish Republican Army (IRA) that would begin to fight the British army in order to gain independence. The IRA use guerrilla warfare by organizing small attacks that would be widely spread out. Although, the British would see these attacks as terrorist attacks which continued for five years. With no end in sight the British offered on December 6, 1921 the Anglo-Irish treaty which would divide Ireland into two.

The CIRA’s main objective is to rid Northern Ireland of British influence. According to Pike, (2004) “Continuity refers to the groups belief that it is carrying on the original IRA goal of forcing the British out of Northern Ireland”. The reason they are able to commit attacks is because of the amount of support that they received from various places. The CIRA are known to get funding and weapons from supporters in the United States. They have also received weapons and materials from the real IRA operating out of the Balkans (Pike, 2004). The amount of members that an organization has does not disqualify it for being labeled as a terrorist organization by the United States. The CIRA were recognized as a terrorist group by the United States on July 13th 2004 by the Department of State (Pike, 2004).

The alleged origin of the Irish Republican Army could be traced back to the Easter Rising of 1916 (Alonso, 2001; Arena & Arrigo, 2004; Filardo-Llamas, 2013; Hart, 1997; Page & Smith, 2000). Radical nationalists, who were part of a group called the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), took the opportunity to take up arms against the British during the war in Europe (Filardo-Llamas, 2013). The Irish Republican Brotherhood was the precursor of the modern IRA. They were a secret society who was

The precursor to the IRA was a group called the Irish Volunteers who later transformed in the IRA around 1919. The goal from the start was to create the Independent Republic that was not controlled by Britain. The Sinn Fein was the government wing of the terrorist group, who shared the same exact goal but from a diplomatic standpoint. Not everyone who was a part of the IRA was also a part of the Sinn Fein and vice versa but the membership tended to overlap during the IRA’s inception period. The IRA first used terrorism during the war of Irish independence from 1919-1921 against Britain. At the end of the war, Britain had let go of 26 counties and this resulted in a new free Ireland. However, 6 counties remained under Britains control. The 6 six counties that remained were together named Northern Ireland and to this day, Northern Ireland is still a part of the United Kingdom. The first split of the IRA happened during this time between those who accepted 26 counties being set free (loyalist) and those who were upset that 6 remained under Britain control. Those who were not in favor of 6 counties apart of the United Kingdom were named the Irregulars. A civil war occurred between the irregulars and the new Irish government and the irregulars had lost. This did not stop them from recruiting and training, in hopes that their dream of a unified Ireland. The new Irish government made the organization illegal due to its continued

Ireland has many famous pieces of poetry that reflect the rich history of the country. Many of these classic poems were written during the period known as, “The Troubles” and during the events leading up to this period. Most notably, the several failed uprisings against the British and World War I. Ireland has a history of being divided about who should rule the country. The division can be divided into two groups, one group being the Unionists and, the other being the Nationalists. These two groups are extremely different in viewpoints regarding religion and most notably opposing views on government issues. In fact, the two groups views on government issues is what gives each group its name. The Unionists believe in having a union with Great Britain while, the Nationalists believe in one united Ireland without British interference. These two viewpoints have representation in classic Irish poetry as well as the events which brought this division amongst the people.

The group predominantly participates in bombings, especially car bombs; however, the U.S. Department of State says they have also been involved in robberies and assassinations. Their targets include the police in Northern Ireland, Protestant communities in Northern Ireland, the British military, and civilians, according to the State Department. There is a good deal of conflicting information regarding the number of attacks committed by the Real IRA. According to the MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base, the rIRA have participated in 29 total incidents, while the State Department says that there have been more than 80 attacks since 1999.

Having established the motives for the Diaspora aiding the nationalist, now it needs to be analyzed what the diaspora actually did to aid the nationalist movement. The aid can be broken down into three categories, financial, political and physical aid. The first and the biggest being financial aid and this type of aid was collected by members of the Irish Diaspora in the US then given to various different nationalist groups. Seldom was the money given to violent groups like the IRA but instead was given to other groups and in turn led to the purchasing of arms or goods and stuff like that which the IRA could use. One of the major organizations that did this was Noraid or Irish Northern Aid. The true purpose of Noraid dealt with arms smuggling and fund raising and thus were closely aligned and allied with the IRA(Brian Hanley 2004:1). The support for Noraid in terms of funding can be tracked in the same exact way that the general diasporatic support can be tracked. The hunger strikes of 1980-81, in which IRA prisoners staged a hunger strike to protest conditions in their prison in which a few of them died, was monumental in the history of Noraid because it led to not only an increase of donation which in turn were given to IRA and groups like it but it also changed the image of Noraid in the US. It led to an increase in membership and made the organization less radical which meant that it year by year would have generally more memberships and

against the Protestants. In 1829 Catholics were not suitable for schools throughout Ireland they were only suitable for Protestants. The Catholic peasantry were still called on to pay tithes, and they continued to be harassed by the exactions of tithe-proctors and others, who if the money was not forthcoming, seized the poor peoples cows, furniture, beds, blankets, kettles, or anything they could lay their hands on (History Of Nations 12 Ireland-Scotland p.224).The Catholics were a minority in Ireland much like in the history of Quebec where the English conquered the French, the French were considered lower forms of humans they weren’t up to English standards. As the years past the Catholics started to get back at the Protestants forming the I.R.A. I.R.A. and Protestant killings continued into the early 1900s, Britain began launching multi party- talks with the goal of forging a new assembly for northern Ireland and new relations between the north and Irish republic. By 1999, Protestant and Catholic negotiators had