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Irish Republican Army

Paramilitary organisations in Ireland From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Irish Republican Army
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The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various resistance organizations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organizations by this name have been dominantly Catholic and dedicated to anti-imperialism through Irish republicanism, the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic free from British colonial rule.[1]

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Flying Column No. 2 of the 3rd Tipperary Brigade of the Old IRA, photographed during the early 1920s. All organisations calling themselves "Irish Republican Army" claim legitimate descent (sometimes compared to apostolic succession) from this IRA of 1919–22.

The original Irish Republican Army (1919–1922), often now referred to as the "old IRA", was raised in 1917 from members of the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army later reinforced by Irishmen formerly in the British Army in World War I, who returned to Ireland to fight against Britain in the Irish War of Independence. In Irish law,[2] this IRA was the army of the revolutionary Irish Republic as declared by its parliament, Dáil Éireann, in 1919.

In the century that followed, the original IRA was reorganised, changed and split on multiple occasions, to such a degree that many subsequent paramilitary organisations have been known by that title – most notably the Provisional Irish Republican Army, which was a key participant during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The contemporary IRA organisations each claim the sole right to the name, each insisting they are the original IRA's only legitimate descendant.

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Overview of the IRAs

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The playwright and former IRA member Brendan Behan once said that the first issue on any Irish organisation's agenda was "the split".[3] For the IRA, that has often been the case. The first split came after the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1921, with supporters of the Treaty forming the nucleus of the National Army of the newly created Irish Free State, while the anti-treaty forces continued to use the name Irish Republican Army. After the end of the Irish Civil War (1922–23), the IRA experienced varying relevancy and success. In 1969 the IRA split into the Official IRA and the Provisional IRA. The latter then had its own breakaways, namely the Real IRA and the Continuity IRA, each claiming to be the true successor of the Army of the Irish Republic.

  • The Irish Republican Army (1919–1922), known as the "Old IRA", in later years, was recognized by the First Dáil as the legitimate army of the Irish Republic in April 1921 due to the fact that it had fought in the Irish War of Independence. On ratification of the Anglo-Irish Treaty by the Dáil, it split into pro-Treaty forces, the National Army, also known as the "Government forces" or the "Regulars",[4] and anti-Treaty forces, "Republicans", "Irregulars" or "Executive forces" after the Treaty. These two forces went on to fight the Irish Civil War.
  • The Irish Republican Army (1922–1969), the anti-treaty IRA which fought and lost the civil war and thereafter refused to recognize either the Irish Free State or Northern Ireland, deeming both of them to be the creations of British imperialism.[citation needed] It existed in one form or another[definition needed] for over 40 years before it split in 1969.
  • The Official IRA (OIRA), the remainder of the IRA after the 1969 split from the Provisionals, was primarily Marxist in its political orientation. It is now inactive, while its political wing, Official Sinn Féin, became the Workers' Party (Ireland).
  • The Provisional IRA (PIRA) broke from the OIRA in 1969 due to abstentionism and differing views on how to deal with the increasing violence in Northern Ireland. Although it opposed the OIRA's Marxism, it came to develop a left-wing orientation and it also increased its political activity.
  • The Continuity IRA (CIRA) broke from the PIRA in 1986, because the latter ended its policy on abstentionism (thus recognizing the authority of the Republic of Ireland).
  • The Real IRA (RIRA), a 1997 breakaway from the PIRA consisting of members opposed to the Northern Ireland peace process.
  • In April 2011, former members of the Provisional IRA announced a resumption of hostilities, and that "they had now taken on the mantle of the mainstream IRA". They further claimed; "We continue to do so under the name of the Irish Republican Army. We are the IRA" and insisted that they "were entirely separate from the Real IRA, Óglaigh na hÉireann (ONH) and the Continuity IRA". They claimed responsibility for the April assassination of PSNI constable Ronan Kerr as well as responsibility for other attacks that had previously been claimed by the Real IRA and ONH.[5]
  • The New IRA, which was formed as a merger between the Real IRA and other republican groups in 2012 (see Real IRA).
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Genealogy of the IRA and its splits

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A chronology of the various groups to use the IRA name, as well as several affiliate organisations.

The IRA and its splinter groups include:

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See also

References

Bibliography

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