Irish Republican Army

Several armed groups dedicated to ending British rule in Ireland. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a nationalist group committed to the integration of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland as a whole and independent nation. It has its roots in the early 1900s, with remnants of rebel units that were organized by Irish nationalist Michael Collins but that were dispersed after British troops put down Ireland's Easter Rebellion in 1916. Originally composed of the more militant members of Collins's Irish Volunteers, the IRA became the military wing of the Irish political party Sinn Fein.

With the establishment of the Irish Free State (now the Republic of Ireland) in 1922, the IRA became a source of determined opposition to the separation of British-controlled Northern Ireland from the rest of Ireland. Since the early years of the Free State, the IRA has been responsible for many bombings, raids, and street battles in the Republic of Ireland as well as [Page 383]in Northern Ireland. These activities led to condemnation by both Irish governments. In the mid-1950s, the IRA launched a series of bombing attacks in Belfast, in London, and at the Ulster border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State.

The bombings abated for a while until the late 1960s, when the terrorist arm of the IRA (known as the provisionals) began a systematic terrorist campaign in Northern Ireland. In 1974, these extremists exported their violence to England with the bombing of a pub in the city of Birmingham. Five years later, the IRA took credit for the assassination of the English noble Lord Louis Mountbatten, but it failed in its attempt to assassinate British prime minister Margaret Thatcher.

Hopes for peace finally emerged in 1994, when the IRA declared a cease-fire. Sinn Fein, the IRA's political arm, participated in negotiations with Great Britain the following year. However, Sinn Fein did not negotiate with the new Northern Irish government until 1999. Britain suspended the new government in 2000 and again in 2001 because of contention over IRA disarmament agreements. Since that time, a number of incidents have occurred that indicate the IRA has not completely abandoned paramilitary activity. However, in 2002 the IRA stunned sympathizers and enemies alike by offering “sincere apologies and condolences” to the families of its civilian victims. Today, the Irish Republican Army still considers itself an armed force opposing the illegal foreign occupation of Ireland, and various IRA splinter groups continue to engage in acts of terrorism.