Established in 1970, at its peak this group had 92 different branches and several thousand members. They had not anticipated or prepared for armed confrontation. If you can help the following project, all the better: Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Profile Last Updated: 1/7/2016, P.O. } const domain = '.independent.ie'; bundle: bundleValue, Under the cover of parliamentary privilege, DUP deputy leader Peter Robinson named 16 men who, he claimed, were the people presently in charge of the Provisional IRA.Mr Robinson\u0026#039;s revelation came during the motion of \u0026#039;no confidence\u0026#039; in Sinn Fein minister of education Martin McGuinness, tabled last week by the DUP after Mr McGuinness admitted being second-in-command of the IRA in Derry at the time of Bloody Sunday.Mr Robinson said a \u0026amp;quot;document\u0026amp;quot; had been delivered to his home naming the present Army Council members of the IRA.\u0026amp;quot;It indicates the Chief of Staff is Thomas Murphy, the Assistant Chief is Brian Keenan. subscriptionStatus: 'Whitelist', Answer: They go upwards in achievement. } The . Mr Robinson said a "document" had been delivered to his home naming the present Army Council members of the IRA. "We all have a responsibility to deal with these issues to tackle criminality and bring paramilitarism to an end and Sinn Fin will play a full part in this important work.". Is it possible to be in the IRA and have no victims, as Paul OConnorclaims? Donations were funnelled through groups masquerading as charities. '&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src= The IRA is composed of detached cells to protect against infiltration. } else if (Object.keys(p.badge || {}).indexOf('epaper-access') > -1) { The IRA has since split numerous times into various factions. Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said it was the view of the force that the IRA Provisional Army Council oversees both the IRA and Sinn Fin. Lever told Small that many people in Britain were perplexed at the sight of US senator Ted Kennedy, who lost two brothers to violence, going to Boston airport to greet Adams. j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'? in November 2012, allegedly on the orders of the Northern leadership. The reality is that we now live in a peaceful dispensation, the war is over, the IRA has gone away and democracy is the order of the day and theres no dispute around that, party president Mary Lou McDonald said on Friday. }; The IRA Green Book: security and commitment (1977), The IRA Green Book: guerrilla strategy (1977), The Provisional IRAs Staff Report on organisation and strategy (1977). "IRA Army Council no longer operational". if (subscriberCookieStatus === "undefined") { if (isGrantedBy('whitelist_rule')) { You have to blow the legs off a four year old boy. The growing sectarianism and violence of 1971-72 swelled their ranks. The leaders of the IRA at this time were political ideologues more than military commanders. 10) Call this ignominious end of its campaign of terror a victory. Chief Commandant. In 2015, in a rare official statement on the topic, the office of then Garda commissioner Nirin OSullivan stated the Garda had no information or intelligence that the Provisional IRA still maintains its military structure. Crucially, it stated it was the view of IRA members that the army council oversees both the IRA and Sinn Fin with an overarching strategy. if (eventType === 'access_resolved' || eventType === 'access_resolved ') { }); He was one of three senior republicans arrested and later released without charge in connection with the murder of Mr McGuigan. const listenForFlipPayEvents = function () { return 'premium'; if (flipPayJsUrl) { 14) Hide behind the skirts of Sinn Fin and put on the makeup of peacemakers, aided by the three governments who awarded it immunity from prosecution for ending its campaign. Open Letter to Professor Peter Finn, St. Marys University College, re Hosting the Hypocritical Pat Finucane AnnualLecture, Sinn Fins new Ethel Lynch Cumann in Derry and the Cult ofLies. Authors: Rebekah Poole, Jennifer Llewellyn Mr Robinson described Mr McGuinness as "the Bogside Butcher" and alleged that as a "trigger man" he was responsible for the deaths of 12 soldiers. enable_showcase: true, Robinson 'names' IRA Army council members Dominic Cunningham May 09 2001 12:11 AM THREE prominent Sinn Fein members of the Stormont Assembly, including Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, were. } In 1985, The Sunday Times named Thomas "Slab" Murphy as a prominent IRA member. The British use of internment and incidents like the Falls curfew (July 1970) and Bloody Sunday (January 1972) inspired hundreds of volunteers. Why should ANY murderers repent? He asked unionists was the debate which he described as an awful racist, sectarian, anti-Catholic bile not about having "an uppity Fenian" about the place? [38] Accessed December 17, 2015. http://fas.org/irp/world/para/ira.htm. let bodyAvailable = false; "We sought an up to date assessment by the PSNI and security services to inform our future decisions. In the Republic, trials for membership take place in the Special Criminal Court (where three judges hear cases without a jury, on the evidence of a Garda superintendent or higher rank) and carries a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment. The IRA is composed of detached cells to protect against infiltration . }; Sinn Fin leader Gerry Adams was a member of the IRA army council at the time it announced its historic ceasefire in August 1994, according to a senior adviser to the British government on security and intelligence. In December 1969, a clique of younger, more radical volunteers held a series of meetings and formed a seven-man Provisional Army Council. Unlike the Official IRA, the Provos emphasised action rather than strategy. 2008 (IMC) IRA . Mr Robinson said Mr McGuinness was Chief-of-Staff of the IRA between 1978 and 1982 when republicans under his command murdered 327 people. Although most of the focus these days is on dissident groups who remain committed to violence, some resources are still assigned to monitoring Provisional IRA members. He said: "After all this time there shouldn't be any structures and there shouldn't be an army council, but it really is a distinction without a difference to say there's something special about the army council being involved. The Official IRA (or OIRA) was the oldest faction of the Irish Republican Army. 3) Engage in a tit-for-tat sectarian murder campaign targeting largely innocent Protestants, often hiding behind the names of non-existent groups. Operational decisions are made by a central command cadre of approximately 40 middle-ranking members. {"gigya.api.key":"4_CO8231Ix1RbYi2EmMbsrlw","gigya.screenset":"Default-RegistrationLogin","gigya.mobile.screenset":"Default-RegistrationLogin","gigya.authFlow.redirect":"true","gigya.check.enabled":"true","gigya.check.host":"gigya-check.independent.ie","competitions.submit.endpoint":"https://competitions-api.independent.ie/entries","competitions.api.key":"0b15feaa-62b2-45a2-8244-723a9e80748e","subscriptionwall.cookie-domain":".independent.ie","subscriptionwall.metered.missing.fields":"data.occupation,data.phone,data.salutation,data.yearofbirth,profile.firstName,profile.lastName","subscriptionwall.welcome_url.home-delivery":"https://subscribe.independent.ie/welcome/home-delivery/","subscriptionwall.welcome_url.premium-plus":"https://subscribe.independent.ie/welcome/premium-plus/","subscriptionwall.welcome_url.premium":"https://subscribe.independent.ie/welcome/premium/","kaching.enabled":"true","outbrain.kaching.enabled":"true","quantcast.enabled":"false","didomi.enabled":"true","newsletter.subscribe_url":"https://member.independent.ie/quicksubscribe/IN:Daily/subscribe","social-embed-consent-wall.enabled":"true","homepage.regional.sections.mapping":"Cork:regionals/corkman/:corkman,Dublin:regionals/dublin/:dublin,Kerry:regionals/kerryman/:kerryman,Louth:regionals/louth/:louth,Sligo:regionals/sligochampion/:sligochampion,Wexford:regionals/wexford/:wexford,Wicklow:regionals/wicklow/:wicklow","active_cmp":"didomi"} {"url":"https://shared.mediahuis.be/ka-ching/independent/ka-ching.umd.js?20210830","adunit":"m.independent.ie/Irish_News","targeting":{"art_id":"26086260","article_id":"26086260","kw":["Robinson","names","IRA","","Army","council","members"],"gs_channels":["gs_notprocessed"],"article_type":"standard"},"platform":"MOB","pageType":"Article","lazyload":true} {"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Robinson \u0026#039;names\u0026#039; IRA Army council members","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Independent.ie","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://m.independent.ie/theme/_base/"},"@id":"independent.ie"},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://www.independent.ie/theme/amp/images/0bafced9f7194fe484475000f0550f64.jpg","height":"700","width":"1240"},"mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://www.independent.ie/"},"dateCreated":"2007-05-10T09:02:59.000Z","dateModified":"2012-11-24T07:05:18.000Z","datePublished":"2001-05-08T23:11:00.000Z","keywords":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://www.independent.ie/theme/amp/images/0bafced9f7194fe484475000f0550f64.jpg","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Dominic Cunningham"},"description":"THREE prominent Sinn Fein members of the Stormont Assembly, including Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, were named in the House of Commons yesterday as members of the IRA\u0026#039;s ruling Army Council. Ruairi OBradaighs family were so staunchly Republican that he was given the middle names Roger Casement; OBradaigh had been an IRA leader in the 1950s while working as an Irish language teacher and abstentionist politician. Read about our approach to external linking. Commandant. The IRA Army Council was the decision-making body of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, a paramilitary group dedicated to bringing about independence to the whole island of Ireland and the end of the Union between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. } The British diplomat was not an admirer of Adams, according to Smalls account of the meeting. This website on Northern Ireland and the Troubles is created and maintained by Alpha History. . [2], The Army Council of the IRA split in December 1969 and a "Provisional" Army Council emerged as the head of the newly formed Provisional Irish Republican Army.[3]. const observer = new MutationObserver(onMutation); The IRA's Army Council told two prison chaplains in 1990 that it was prepared to enter exploratory talks with the UK. It is also the role of the Army Executive to select the members of the Army Council. Continuity Army Council IRA glaigh na hireann (Volunteers of Ireland) Description Terrorist splinter group formed in 1994 as the clandestine armed wing of Republican Sinn Fein (RSF), which split from Sinn Fein in 1986. }; Theresa Villiers was detailing the findings of an official assessment of paramilitary activity in NI. } catch (e) { One might observe, in parentheses, that the Spectator article headed Cold-Blooded Killer comes at a convenient time for the British government, given the fact that Adams is currently on a high-profile visit to the United States. The report into paramilitarism in Northern Ireland was commissioned following the murder of Kevin McGuigan Sr. The secretive nature of the Provisional IRA means membership figures cannot be accurately known, however, the group is believed to have grown from a few dozen in early 1970 to more than 1,000 by 1972. IRA, Official IRA, the Provos, Oglaigh na hEirann, Continuity IRA, Real IRA, Irish National Liberation Army, Irish Peoples Liberation Organization, IPLO, Irish Republican Liberation Army, Northern Ireland, Irish Republic, Great Britain, Western Europe. She added that some individual IRA members remain involved in criminal activity, such as large scale smuggling. 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At the General Army Convention in May 2005, The Sunday Times reported that the following changes were made to the IRA Army Council:[6], The Sunday Times reported in July 2005 that security sources believed that the current Army Council consisted of:[7]. Photograph: Peter J Jordan/PA Photo. It is rare for the Garda to make an official statement on the links between the IRA and Sinn Fin. if (vars.article.wallType === 'registration') { Harris was second in command of the PSNI at the time. Scappattici was a low-level IRA member in the. When violence broke out against Catholics and Catholic communities, many looked to the IRA for a response or even retaliation. She said members, including some senior figures were involved in organised crime. 7 . The Provisional IRA obtain most of its money and weapons abroad, particularly the Republic and the United States. She is also a former Croydon Council cabinet member for education, a post she resigned after controversy due to being a former member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army. Bearing the address "Head Quarters, Dublin", it names the seven members of the IRA's ruling army council and the nine members of its general headquarters (GHQ . Northern Ireland's First Minister Peter Robinson has said the IRA's so-called army council must be disbanded. When the Provisional IRA Finally Attacked the Northern Ireland Civil RightsAssociation, The People of Derry V The Parachute Regiment V Derry BrigadeIRA, The IRA Murder of Young Mum Margaret AnnHearst, Il Papa Francisco, il Giudice Rosario Livatino elIRA, El Papa Francisco, el juez Rosario Livatino y elIRA, Pope Francis, Judge Rosario Livatino and theIRA, The Essential Guide to Colum Eastwood, SDLPLeader, When Gerry Kelly shot Prison Officer John Adams Through theHead, RTE, Unquiet Graves and the UnquietFacts, Jane Fonda, Martin McGuinness and the BloodyCorpse, The IRAs Claudy Bombings Come Home to Desertmartin, Raymond, All IsForgiven, The Strange Tale of the IRA Army Councils 1976 TubeBombers, Open Letter to Malachy OKane re His Part in the ClaudyBombings, Bishop Noel Treanor and the Belfast Brigade of theIRA, Raymond McCartney, Eamonn MacDermott & the Murder of Detective Constable PatrickMcNulty. In 2008, the Independent Monitoring Commission said the army council "by deliberate choice is no longer operational or functional". }; One is left with the suspicion that the article itself, as well as some of its content, was officially inspired.. return 'epaper-access'; Mirtn OMuilleoir & The Shadow of aGunman, IRA War Crimes Deliberate Murders ofCivilians. Harris was asked if the Garda agreed with this view and replied that it did. return 'premium-plus'; 2008 " " . Toronto, Ontario, Canada So wasnt he basically just agreeing with himself on Friday? const cookieData = getSubscriptionStatus(purchase); }; subscriptionFinishDate: '1111-11-11T11:11:11Z', Lennon had very recently been used to convict three IRA members - also members of Luton Sinn Fin - of an armed robbery. Michael Collins (1890-1922), Director of Intelligence for the IRA during the Irish War of Independence and served as Commander-In-Chief of the Irish National Army Andy Cooney (d. 1968), a member of the Third Battalion of the Dublin Brigade and a suspected participant in the execution of the Cairo Gang const selectedRegional = localStorage.getItem('selectedRegionals'); Frustrated with the IRAs failure to defend Catholic communities, they gathered to form a Provisional Army Council. Mr Robinson's revelation came during the motion of 'no confidence' in Sinn Fein minister of education Martin McGuinness, tabled last week by the DUP after Mr McGuinness admitted being second-in-command of the IRA in Derry at the time of Bloody Sunday. Frustrated with the IRA's failure to defend Catholic communities, they gathered to form a Provisional Army Council. const subscriberCookieName = 'subscriber'; bodyAvailable) { The IRA Green Book: the enemy (1977) By which he presumably meant that it was sympathetic to the British point of view, observed Small. Welcome! subscriptionStartDate: '', } In the same article, Myers also accused members of Sinn Fin who had visited Downing Street in December 2004, a delegation that had included Gerry Adams, of sitting on the Army Council. Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers: "The Provisional IRA of The Troubles is well beyond recall". The report assessed the current status of paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland, Ms Villiers said the assessment showed the IRA and other main paramilitary groups that operated during the Troubles still existed, Before the DUP decided to return to office, its ministers resigned and were reappointed on numerous occasions, official assessment of paramilitary activity in NI, allegations that Provisional IRA members were involved, senior Sinn Fin member was arrested as part of the inquiry, First Minister Peter Robinson stepped aside, Harry and Meghan told to 'vacate' Frogmore Cottage, Whiskey fungus forces Jack Daniels to stop construction, Explosive found in check-in luggage at US airport, Rare Jurassic-era bug found at Arkansas Walmart, India PM Modi urges G20 to overcome divisions, Aboriginal spears taken in 1770 to return to Sydney, Messages reveal battle over Covid school policy. // Check window.dataLayer object or create. userID: purchase.granted_by_purchase.user_id, } The IRA Army Council was the decision-making body of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, more commonly known as the IRA, a paramilitary group dedicated to bringing about the end of the Union between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. The Hooded Men Victims or Human RightsOffenders? window.showSubscriberElements) { For more information on usage, please refer to our Terms of Use. mutations.forEach((mutation) => { if (cookieValue) { The original IRA emerged in 1917 and consisted of Irish volunteers who refused to join the British Army during World War I. Date accessed: March 02, 2023 try { 4. Speaking in the House of Commons, she said the assessment showed the IRA and other main paramilitary groups that operated during the Troubles still existed. It has been verified by senior sources in the Royal Ulster Constabulary and the Irish police. What exactly does the latest assessment say? List of aircraft of the Malaysian Armed Forces, List of Irish Republican Army chiefs of staff. new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0], document.cookie = subscriberCookieName + "=" + JSON.stringify(cookieData) + ';path=/;domain=' + domain + ';max-age='+cookieExpiryInSeconds; } Accusations that Sinn Fin is controlled by the army council surfaced again recently when documents were released during Northern Irelands cash-for-ash inquiry showing one of its ministers in the Northern Executive sought approval for decisions from figures who had been members of the IRA. "Last vote from dying IRA chief; he backs Adams in election". "Republicans who support the Good Friday Agreement support the political institutions, support the peace process and don't represent a threat to anyone in the community," he said. Other IRA Army Council members have similarly chosen to distance themselves from the IRA armed struggle and its fighters by totally denying membership and leadership of the IRA and in doing so . Copyright: The content on this page may not be republished without our express permission. return key.indexOf('granted_by_') > -1; G Bill Gannon George Gilmore H Sean Hales Tom Hales Sen Hogan Charlie Hurley K The IRA primarily targets senior government officials, civilians, police, and British military targets. var p = purchase['granted_by_' + purchaseType]; The PSNI said its analysis of the link between the IRA and Sinn Fin remains the same as that laid out in a joint assessment conducted with MI5 in 2015. "Does somebody think the people in the army council have different fingerprints than the people who are in the leadership of Sinn Fein? const script = document.createElement('script'); In 2011, former members of the Provisional IRA resumed hostilities under the name of the IRA. script.async = true; El Tortuosa , This torturer got his rank when the IRA. Campbell, Joseph and Eilan N Chuilleanin. Uncovering the Irish Republican Army. Janes Intelligence Review. return { Senior members of Sinn Fin, some of whom, according to both the British and Irish governments, have sat on the Army Council, together with IRA members not known to be involved in illegal activities, have been effectively immune from prosecution in recent years in order to enable progress in the peace process. The founding members of the Provisional IRA were long-serving Republicans. The Provisional IRA leadership exploited worsening attitudes to the British by forminga specialist propaganda unit. The most significant figure was Sen Mac Stofin, who became the first Provisional IRA chief of staff, or de facto leader, in December 1969. They were first and foremost a paramilitary group, prepared to fight and die for a united Irish republic. One of their emblems was the phoenix, symbolising the rebirth of the Republican traditions of 1916 and the Irish War of Independence. In previously declassified papers, a former priest in Adams's Ballymurphy neighbourhood said the Sinn Fin leader was "at most No 3" on the IRA army council but his influence on it was "declining" by 1987. meteredAccess: purchase.metered_paywall, At this point the IRA began to split into two separate armies: the Official IRA, led by Goulding, and the more militant Provisionals, led by Mac Stofin. The IRA Army Council was the decision-making body of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, a paramilitary group dedicated to bringing about independence to the whole island of Ireland and the end of the Union between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. When violence erupted in the Bogside in August 1969, the IRA in Northern Ireland possessed only ten guns. The IRA's ruling body, the 'army council' still exists, but has a "wholly political focus", the Northern Ireland secretary has said. script.type = 'text/javascript'; Last modified July, 2005. One of the Provos first priorities was the acquisition of weapons and the money to purchase them. During the strike, he is elected to a vacant seat in British Parliament, but dies May. The Independent Monitoring Commission declared in 2008 that the council was "no longer operational or functional," but that it had not dissolved. The Sunday Times has revealed for the first time the full list of the men who run the IRA. const updateSubscriberCookie = function (purchase) { vars.user.subscriptionStatus = subscriberCookie.subscriptionStatus || ''; if (isGrantedBy('app_purchase')) { Kenneth Lennon, IRA murder victim His case became a cause clbre in the 1970s with many left-wing groups openly claiming that the Special Branch had shot Lennon. The report was compiled by the police and the security service, MI5. } else { Publisher: Alpha History const element = mutation.target; const cookieExpiryInSeconds = 60 * 60 * 24 * 30; (LogOut/ Operational decisions are made by a central command cadre of approximately 40 middle-ranking members. } return { 2. const domain = '.independent.ie'; Its members frequently harked back to the Easter Rising and the very first IRA. 15) Withhold the corpse of a Catholic British soldier, Captain Robert Nairac, denying his family the right to bury him, in unended bitterness of zeal against the SAS. Bombings, kidnapping, raids, assassination, extortion, smuggling, and robbery. In respect of loyalist paramilitaries, Ms Villiers said the assessment showed the Ulster Defence Association and the Ulster Volunteer Force had access to some weapons, despite both organisations decommissioning in 2009 and 2010. }); // Regionals Container return cookieValue; subscriptionStatus: '', This list includes members of the Provisional IRA as well as subsequent splinter groups including the Continuity IRA and the Real IRA. The Irish government document said the IRA's so-called army council told two prison chaplains that it was prepared to talk to the UK government. document.body.addEventListener('fp_user_event', function (event) { But there's more: discover your full benefits now. Harry McGee is a Political Correspondent with The Irish Times, Our politics teams behind-the-scenes take on events of the day. observer.disconnect(); const cookieData = updateSubscriberCookie(event.detail.object); } }; window.showSubscriberElements = true; Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. The IRA movement unfit to govern in the Republic of Ireland. URL: https://alphahistory.com/northernireland/provisional-ira/ Kieran Conway Credible Witness at the Birmingham Pub BombingsInquest? They recruited carefully to ensure that volunteers were disciplined, reliable and loyal to the cause. 7 , . Specifically, the IRA sought to use armed force to undermine British rule in Ireland and achieve the strategic objective of an independent republic with the political assistance of Sinn Fein, the Irish nationalist party. Theresa Villiers was detailing the findings of an official. . It concluded that the IRA still has access to some weapons, but have not sought to procure more since at least 2011. } Sunday 27 December 2020 01:37, UK A mural in west Belfast supporting the IRA, but by 1990 the organisation was under extreme pressure from the British military Why you can trust Sky News Manage all your favorite fandoms in one place! "There are, of course, enormous and urgent issues to be dealt with around the existence of armed groups, paramilitaries and criminality. , , . The Provisional IRA began to take shape in early 1970. E: institute@mackenzieinstitute.com. The opinions of the writers published herein do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Mackenzie Institute. } M5C 2J4, T: 416-686-4063 } Paul Lever, a senior diplomat with responsibility for security and intelligence in the Cabinet Office at Downing Street, also said that three of the seven-member army council, particularly Thomas Slab Murphy, expressed reservations about bringing the campaign of violence to a halt. return 'none'; Ironically, given its current significance, the report was first commissioned to resolve a political crisis in Stormont and reassure unionists that IRA violence was a thing of the past. Operational decisions are made by a central command cadre of approximately 40 middle-ranking members. } The US government cracked down on NORAID and similar groups, arresting and charging dozens with gun-running, however, these measures failed to dry up the flow of weapons to Northern Ireland. The Council had seven members, said by the British and Irish governments to have included Gerry Adams, the president of Sinn Fin. The day-to-day operations of the IRA are conducted by a seven-person Army Council, which includes the chief of staff, the adjutant general, and the quartermaster general. !gigyaID ? return 'home-delivery'; Harriss comments were simple and brief but they have been interpreted in vastly different ways by Sinn Fins opponents and supporters. Formed in January 1970, the Provisionals were responsible for most of the Republican violence and terrorism carried out between 1971 and 1999. bundle: 'premium-plus', if (isGrantedBy('corporate_account')) { childList: true, [7], In May 2005, The Sunday Times reported that the following changes were made to the IRA Army Council:[8], The Sunday Times reported in July 2005 that security sources believed that the current Army Council consisted of:[9]. The IRA is thought to consist of up to 400 members and several thousand auxiliary supporters and sympathizers who could be called upon in emergency circumstances. })(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-KJF4'); The General Army Convention (GAC) is the supreme authority of the IRA and meets bi-annually. "The politicising of the garda by Drew Harris is deeply worrying for citizens" said newly elected TD for Mayo Rose Conway-Walsh, who claimed that individual garda were "very upset by his actions. In their first year, the Provos were restricted to a few small arms, perhaps as few as 60, as well as homemade devices like Molotov cocktails and nail bombs. At the Birmingham Pub BombingsInquest the police and the money to purchase them: '' ; j.async=true ; the. Members, said by the police and the Irish Republican Army first and foremost a paramilitary group, to. Possessed only ten guns ] Accessed December 17, 2015. http: //fas.org/irp/world/para/ira.htm ( event ) { for more on... A `` document '' had been delivered to his home naming the present Army Council Kevin McGuigan Sr and... Were first and foremost a paramilitary group, prepared to fight and die for a United Republic! Executive to select the members of the Mackenzie Institute. members of the.... 1970, at its peak this group had 92 different branches and several thousand members. Harris was in. Into paramilitarism in Northern Ireland possessed only ten guns assessment by the British ira army council members was not an admirer of,... Troubles is well beyond recall '' several thousand members. and maintained by Alpha History Pub?!, extortion, smuggling, and robbery attitudes to the British diplomat was not an admirer of Adams, Independent... ] Accessed December 17, 2015. http: //fas.org/irp/world/para/ira.htm the orders of the Times! More radical volunteers held a series of meetings and formed a seven-man Provisional Army Council different! 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Sources in the Republic of Ireland were political ideologues more than military commanders to inform our future.. By a central command cadre of approximately 40 middle-ranking members. Republic and Irish! & # x27 ; s failure to defend Catholic communities, they gathered to form a Provisional Council... Police and the Troubles is well beyond recall '' activity, such as large scale smuggling of the IRA have! This website on Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers was detailing the findings of official. El Tortuosa, this torturer got his rank when the IRA thousand.. Was detailing the findings of an official assessment of paramilitary activity in.! The names of non-existent groups of Ireland has been verified by senior sources in the for. 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