Irish Republican Army (IRA)

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Irish Republican Army (IRA)

OVERVIEW

The IRA was Ireland's preeminent nationalist paramilitary organization for more than a century, until its apparent disbandment and the destruction of its arms in 2005. Because of its ubiquity and because a number of splinter organizations have taken its name, confusion has sometimes existed over its exact role.

HISTORY

In its nine-decades-long history, the IRA assumed four main guises. These can roughly be characterized as the pre-revolutionary IRA (to 1921); post-revolutionary IRA (1921–1969); the IRA of the Troubles era (1969–1998); and the post-Good Friday Agreement IRA (1998–2005). In the course of this timeline, the IRA has also suffered a number of splits with other groups taking its name.

The initial origins of the IRA lie within the Anglo-Irish War (1916–21), which resulted in the creation of the Irish Free State in 1921. Irish nationalism had long been marked by its violence, and rebellions had previously broken out in 1798, 1803, and 1865. The 1916 uprising, which had occurred at the height of World War I, had been instigated primarily by the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and Irish Volunteers. Although many of the events of the 1916 rising remain steeped in the lore of Irish history—namely, the Proclamation of the Irish Republic and declaration of independence—it was largely a political and military failure and failed to rouse the support of those who lived in and around its epicenter of Dublin. Moreover, many of the IRB and Irish Volunteer leaders were either executed or interned following the revolt.

In October 1917, Sinn Fein, a small republican political party led by Eamon De Valera, set about reorganizing the defeated Irish Volunteers. Sinn Fein had been wrongly blamed for organizing the 1916 rising and, as a consequence, emerged with an enhanced reputation in nationalist circles. Moreover, it was a genuinely national organization with a presence not just in Dublin, but in the nationalist heartlands of the south and across Ireland's remote rural west.

This new paramilitary group—the Irish Republican Army (IRA)—was organized into hundreds of companies across Ireland. Following the end of World War I, Ireland exploded into full-scale insurrection, with a bloody war fought against the British authorities. This conflict was played out most viciously in Ireland's southern counties, where the British deployed a military police force known as the "Black and Tans," whose brutality saw large parts of the city of Cork burned, and even attracted the condemnation of King George V.

Indeed, it was partly due to the intervention of King George V that peace talks broke out in June 1921. These negotiations culminated in the Anglo-Irish Agreement of December 1921. Under the terms of this treaty, Ireland was partitioned between the twenty-six predominantly Catholic counties of the south, which became the Irish Free State and the six mostly Protestant counties of the north, which became Northern Ireland and remained part of the United Kingdom.

Yet, the treaty split the IRA. Those members who supported it, led by Michael Collins, became the regular Irish National Army; however, many IRA members regarded the relinquishment of Northern Ireland as a betrayal of their cause and refused to recognize the Irish Free State, much less incorporate with its army. This marked the onset of the second phase of the IRA's history and the refusal to recognize the settlement created by Anglo-Irish Treaty would be its binding cause.

Because of this schism, the Irish Free State quickly descended into civil war, between the Irish National Army (i.e., pro-treaty IRA) and the IRA. During its year-long course, the Irish Civil War would claim more lives than the Anglo-Irish War had done and ended in defeat for the IRA.

Nevertheless, this defeat was never total and the remnants of the IRA still stubbornly insisted that the Irish Free State, which had been created by an "illegitimate" treaty, held no authority, and the group refused to recognize it or its institutions. Instead, it claimed that the IRA Army Executive was the real government of the still-existing Irish Republic proclaimed in 1918. These would remain important principles for the IRA for a further sixty years.

For nearly fifty years, this incarnation of the IRA would be a semi-dormant organization, manned by the principled and obstinate, and serving as a hindrance rather than a serious threat to both Irish and British governments. Its main extremist activities were a loose collaboration with Nazi Germany, which largely amounted to the passing on of intelligence during World War II, and border raids and sabotage during the 1950s and early 1960s.

By the late 1960s, the IRA was gripped by ideological splits and infighting. The third incarnation of the IRA came following a formal split in 1969 between the Marxist Official IRA and the Provisional IRA.

Despite its moniker, the Official IRA was a minor organization and played virtually no part in Northern Ireland's incipient "Troubles." It claimed responsibility for the bombing of British Army barracks in Aldershot, which killed six people, including a Catholic priest, and up to fifty other killings. But from 1973, the group adopted and stuck to a ceasefire, from which point it became almost completely dormant. A number of its members are known to have subsequently joined the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA), or reunited with the Provisional IRA.

It was the Provisional IRA that carried on the traditions of the "old" IRA. It continued the longstanding tradition of claiming that the IRA Army Council was the provisional government of a thirty-two-county Irish Republic, and refused to recognize the legitimacy of either the British or Irish governments. As Northern Ireland descended into fully blown civil insurrection by the early 1970s, the IRA dramatically increased in size, influence, and prestige. Although it retained and increased large-scale support in parts of the Republic of Ireland, the focus of the IRA increasingly centered on Northern Ireland.

The modern IRA's most deadly period lies in the 1970s, a time when it became a highly sophisticated paramilitary organization, capable of attracting financial and military support from both the Irish Diaspora and sympathetic regimes, including Libya.

Its strategy was initially twofold during this time: to disrupt the civil and economic life of Northern Ireland and to attack British military installations and rival loyalist paramilitary organizations as a way of "defending" its people. A third strategy emerged from 1974 with a bombing campaign in mainland Britain. This was designed to sap political will to hold onto the province within Westminster and among the British population. It occasionally made attacks in the Republic of Ireland also.

From 1983, when Gerry Adams was elected President of the IRA's political wing, Sinn Fein, there was a definite shift toward the seeking of a political—rather than military—solution to the future of Ireland. In 1986, Adams brought an end to the longstanding principle of abstentionism, allowing Sinn Fein to sit in the Irish Dáil (although not Westminster). In effect, this was recognition not just of the Irish government, but also a renunciation of the outmoded idea that the IRA was the "provisional government" of Ireland. The abandonment of abstentionism paved the way for negotiations—initially covert and highly tentative—with both Dublin and Westminster, and would eventually culminate in the Good Friday Agreement of April 1998, which afforded a political solution for Northern Ireland.

Nevertheless, Northern Ireland's peace process was both protracted and marked by violence. Only in 1994 would the IRA call a ceasefire—which broke down after seventeen months—before ending violence with a second, more lasting ceasefire in 1997.

LEADERSHIP

GERRY ADAMS

Born in West Belfast in 1948, Gerry Adams is the individual most responsible for the evolution of the IRA over the last four decades, from a semi-dormant and ideologically split group, to hardened nationalist extremists, and then into a modern political organization. Despite its links to organized crime, Sinn Fein/IRA has, since 1998, carved out an important role in Irish politics on both sides of Ireland's north-south border.

Adams joined Sinn Fein at the age of sixteen, and despite repeated denials, was a member of the Provisional IRA from 1969. He was an important part of the IRA leadership throughout this third phase of the organization's history and was twice interned by the British authorities during the 1970s, eventually rising to Northern Ireland Commander in 1979. At the same time, he built up a political profile, rising to the rank of Sinn Fein Vice President (1978) and President (1983).

It was as President that he slowly switched the focus of the IRA from military to political struggle. The ending of abstentionism in 1986 was more than just an issue of principle: it paved the way for negotiations with the governments of Dublin and Belfast. Although the peace process was protracted and accompanied by continued violence, the culmination in the Good Friday Agreement of April 1998 marked a stunning breakthrough for Adams. Less than a decade earlier, the British media had not even been allowed to broadcast his voice by a government that regarded him a terrorist; now, he was regarded every bit a statesman as his fellow negotiators, which included Tony Blair and Bill Clinton.

The conviction that the Good Friday Agreement affords the necessary mechanisms to eventually bring a united Ireland, combined with Sinn Fein's role in the Northern Ireland Assembly, has seen the party grow as a mainstream political organization on both sides of the Irish border. The IRA's renunciation of violence in 2005 can surely only accentuate this progress.

The IRA's pursuit of a political process was also not universally welcomed by its members. Following the end of abstentionism in 1986, Adams' predecessor as Sinn Fein leader, Ruairi O'Bradaigh, a former president, and Daithi O'Conouill, a former chief of staff, led a breakaway organization, Republican Sinn Fein, which formed its own military wing, the Continuity IRA (CIRA). This group was based on the principles of the IRA (i.e., refusal to acknowledge British and Irish governments; that it was the "true" government of a united Ireland, etc.) and linked to several terrorist acts in the run up to the Good Friday Agreement in 1997–1998. In July 2004, the U.S. State Department designated the CIRA as a foreign terrorist organization. It also estimated that the CIRA had just fifty remaining activists, a reflection of the fact that it had barely been implicated in any extremist acts for nearly five years.

PRIMARY SOURCE
IRA 'Has Destroyed All Its Arms'

The IRA has put all of its weapons beyond use, the head of the arms decommissioning body has said.

General John de Chastelain made the announcement at a news conference accompanied by the two churchmen who witnessed the process.

"We are satisfied that the arms decommissioned represent the totality of the IRA's arsenal."

Welcoming the move, Prime Minister Tony Blair said IRA decommissioning had been "finally accomplished."

The general said: "We have observed and verified events to put beyond use very large quantities of arms which we believe include all the arms in the IRA's possession."

He said they had handled every gun and made an inventory of the weapons.

The arms included a full range of ammunition, rifles, machine guns, mortars, missiles, handguns, explosives, explosive substances and other arms including all the categories described in the estimates provided by the U.K. and Irish security services, he said.

"Our new inventory is consistent with these estimates. We are satisfied that the arms decommissioning represents the totality of the IRA's arsenal."

The IRA announced an end to its armed campaign in July.

The republican organisation said it would follow a democratic path ending more than 30 years of violence.

General de Chastelain's report confirming that IRA decommissioning had been completed was given to the British and Irish governments earlier on Monday.

He described IRA decommissioning as "an important milestone towards the completion of its task to achieve decommissioning by all paramilitary groups."

The churchmen who witnessed the process were Catholic priest Father Alec Reid and ex-Methodist president Rev Harold Good.

Their statement said: "The experience of seeing this with our own eyes, on a minute-to-minute basis, provided us with evidence so clear and of its nature so incontrovertible that at the end of the process it demonstrated to us—and would have demonstrated to anyone who might have been with us—that beyond any shadow of doubt, the arms of the IRA have now been decommissioned."

The churchmen said they regarded IRA decommissioning as an "accomplished act."

General de Chastelain, Andrew Sens and Tauno Nieminen—the commissioners of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning—have been in Ireland overseeing the latest round of decommissioning since the beginning of September.

Prime Minister Tony Blair said the completion of decommissioning was "an important step in the transition from conflict to peace in Northern Ireland."

"The true importance of today is that these weapons can never again be used to inflict suffering and create more victims," he added.

Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said that it was a "landmark development" and appealed to unionists not to "underestimate the importance" of the move.

"The weapons of the IRA are gone, and are gone in a manner which has been verified and witnessed," he said.

Secretary of State Peter Hain said the announcement was the first step on the road to devolution being restored in Northern Ireland.

"After all the bitter agony of the victims who have suffered, deaths and families torn apart, people will want to be certain, not just for a few weeks but for some months that actually this is being delivered," he said.

"So far so good, today's statement was a landmark one which deals with the IRA's arsenal in a very credible way witnessed by independent people—but we have a long time to go to see whether we can actually get self government back on the road."

Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams admitted the announcement would be "difficult for many republicans" but it was a "very brave and bold leap."

Mr. Adams said the British and Irish governments must now implement the Good Friday Agreement, with progress needed on outstanding issues including equality, policing, human rights, victims and on-the-run prisoners.

However, unionists are unhappy there has been no photographic evidence of decommissioning and reacted with skepticism to the report.

Democratic Unionist leader Ian Paisley said there had been no transparent verification of IRA decommissioning in the announcement.

He said the church witnesses had been agreed by the IRA and as such could not be considered "independent."

Without a photographic proof, an inventory and details on how the weapons were destroyed questions remained, said Mr. Paisley.

"This afternoon the people of Northern Ireland watched a programme which illustrates more than ever the duplicity and dishonesty of the two governments and the IRA."

However, his deputy, east Belfast MP Peter Robinson said they accepted a significant amount of IRA weapons had been "put beyond use."

Mr. Robinson said they accepted it had been "a more substantial event than the previous events put together."

In a statement the Ulster Unionist Party said it regretted that the move had "failed to maximise public confidence."

"It is imperative that the movement's criminal empire be dismantled as well," it said.

Source: BBC News, 2005

The CIRA had, however, long been outdone for notoriety by the Real IRA (RIRA). This was formed in late 1997 by several leading members of the Provisional IRA, and it adopted similar principles to those of the CIRA. Its aim to disrupt the emergent peace process reached an early and horrific denouement in the town of Omagh in August 1998, when a massive car bomb killed twenty-nine people. The carnage created outrage and dissipated much of what little support it may have held among most Irish people and led to a huge crackdown by the British and Irish governments, leaving it an almost totally marginalized and ineffective organization.

Since the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, the IRA has assumed its fourth incarnation, acting as an organization that straddles the worlds of both politics and organized crime. Sinn Fein has taken up an important role within Northern Ireland's political institutions and it has also emerged as a mid-sized political force within the Irish Republic, where it had previously been a marginal political party. However, the IRA has continued to be linked to criminality, and former paramilitaries have divvied up Northern Ireland for control of drug-dealing, prostitution, and extortion rackets. It has also been strongly implicated in bank robberies. The proceeds of a £25 million raid on Belfast's Northern Bank in December 2004 was believed to be for an IRA "retirement" fund.

There has also been a palpable sense that its members can still act with impunity. This manifested itself most notoriously in early 2005, when a Catholic man, Robert McCartney, was murdered by former paramilitaries in a Belfast bar, and the IRA both covered up the crime and obstructed the police investigation.

Nevertheless, overt sectarian violence has declined inexorably since the IRA assumed its fourth incarnation. Its willingness to engage in politics saw it officially renounce violence in July 2005. Two months later, the head of Northern Ireland's arms decommissioning body announced himself satisfied that the IRA had put its entire arsenal beyond use, an act that seemingly brought an end to the group's long history as an armed organization.

PHILOSOPHY AND TACTICS

The IRA was a paramilitary organization committed to the creation of a united Ireland. For most of its history it existed on the premise that it was the legitimate government of a united Ireland and as such refused to recognize either the British or Irish governments. As such, it believed it would achieve its aims through armed struggle. Under the leadership of Gerry Adams (since 1983) it adopted a more political approach, resulting in a ceasefire (1994–96; and 1997–) and the Good Friday Agreement. This evolution into a political organization culminated in a renunciation of violence and the complete decommissioning of its weaponry in 2005.

KEY EVENTS

1917:: Formation of the IRA out of the remnants of the Irish Volunteers.
1921:: Anglo-Irish Agreement gives way to a split between the pro-treaty IRA (that became the regular Irish Army) and the anti-treaty IRA.
1969:: Split between the Marxist Official IRA and the Provisional IRA. The latter group continue the IRA tradition, while the former quickly fade.
1986:: The creation of Republican Sinn Fein, a splinter of the main political party, leads to the formation of the Continuity IRA.
1997:: Split in IRA leadership over the peace process leads to the creation of the Real IRA, another splinter group.
1998:: The Good Friday Agreement accentuates the evolution of Sinn Fein/IRA into a mainstream political organization, although the IRA continues to be dogged by claims of underworld involvement.
2005:: IRA renounces violence and calls for its members to give up its arms.
2005:: Northern Ireland's arms decommissioning body announces itself satisfied that the IRA has destroyed its arms.

OTHER PERSPECTIVES

The IRA's call for its members to lay down arms in July 2005 had been welcomed, but treated with skepticism by many commentators. The decommissioning of its weapons two months later was regarded as a welcome surprise, although most newspapers added a hint of caution. The Guardian wrote: "Not so long ago on the streets of the Bogside in Derry nationalist graffiti warned that the IRA would surrender 'not an ounce, not a bullet.' The slogan has been proved wrong and the optimists who believed the peace process meant something have been proved right. The IRA has delivered, if not peace—the Northern Bank raid, the killing of Robert McCartney and the harassment of his family and friends show peace has not arrived—then at least a sense that it may again be possible … Talks, and powersharing, must follow. But for all the monumental importance of yesterday's announcement, getting there will still require patience."

The right-wing Daily Telegraph, normallythe most skeptical of Britain's national newspapers, declared the decommissioning of weapons a "welcome change in the nature of the IRA," but added its own slant on events. "No longer is it a revolutionary force, needing bombs and missiles to terrorise the British state into conceding a United Ireland," the newspaper declared. "Instead, it has become what most of its members always were a criminal gang of racketeers, for whose purposes light arms are enough."

SUMMARY

The IRA's decommissioning of arms in September 2005 apparently marked the last act in its violent, frequently sectarian armed struggle for a united Ireland, and the "throwing in" of its lot with the political process. Its supporters add that this marks the maturing of the terrorist organization, a realization that the ballot box is a more potent weapon than the barrel of a gun.

However, if nothing else, the IRA is an organization that has historically shown an appetite for change: first, an anti-imperial revolutionary organization; next, a small group of fanatical but disorganized republicans; thirdly, an insidious and potent terrorist organization; and finally, a mainstream political organization (albeit one with links to organized crime). Taking that view, skeptics might have good reason to fear that it could one day return to violence if its foray into politics fails to work out. Moreover, its failure to disavow its criminal links merely adds to the aura of suspicion that lingers over the organization. Only time will tell if the IRA's "doves" pervade over its more hawkish elements.