Provisional Irish Republican Army

Provisional Irish Republican Army

The Irish Republican Army (IRA) was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation. It sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reunification and bring about an independent republic encompassing all of Ireland. The Provisional IRA emerged in December 1969, due to a split within the previous incarnation of the IRA and the broader Irish republican movement. The IRA declared a final ceasefire in July 1997, after which its political wing Sinn Féin was admitted into multi-party peace talks on the future of Northern Ireland. In 2005 the IRA formally ended its armed campaign and completed decommissioning its weapons under the supervision of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning.

About Provisional Irish Republican Army in brief

Summary Provisional Irish Republican ArmyThe Irish Republican Army (IRA) was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation. It sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reunification and bring about an independent republic encompassing all of Ireland. The Provisional IRA emerged in December 1969, due to a split within the previous incarnation of the IRA and the broader Irish republican movement. It was initially the minority faction in the split compared to the Official IRA, but became the dominant faction by 1972. The IRA declared a final ceasefire in July 1997, after which its political wing Sinn Féin was admitted into multi-party peace talks on the future of Northern Ireland. In 2005 the IRA formally ended its armed campaign and completed decommissioning its weapons under the supervision of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning. Several splinter groups have been formed as a result of splits within the IRA, including the Continuity IRA and the Real IRA, both of which are still active in the dissident Irish republican campaign. Over 1,700 people, including roughly 1,000 members of the British security forces, and 500–644 civilians were killed during the campaign. In addition 275–300 members of IRA were killed in attacks on military, political, and economic targets in England and Northern Ireland in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. In the mid-1960s tension between the Catholic and Protestant communities was increasing. In 1966 Ireland celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising, prompting fears of a renewed IRA campaign. Catholics were given preference in jobs and housing, and local government constituencies were gerrymandered in places such as Derry.

Following partition Northern Ireland became a de facto one-party state governed by the Ulster Unionist Party, in which Catholics viewed themselves as second-class citizens. The pro-Treaty IRA was absorbed into the National Army, which defeated the anti-Treating IRA in the Civil War. In January 1966 Protestants formed the Ulster Volunteer Force which killed three people in January 1966, two of them Catholic men. The following month a three-day riot began in the Bogside area of Derry following a Protestant march by the Apprentice Boys of Bogside. The Battle of Bog side led to violent clashes and clashes with loyalists, including Ian Paisley, who led the Protestant Volunteers. The Protestant Volunteers led to the Twelfth of July riots in July 1969, and violent clashes in Belfast, Belfast, Derry and elsewhere. The subsequent Anglo-Irish Treaty, which partitioned Ireland into the Irish Free State and Northern Irish, which remained part of the United Kingdom, caused a split in the IRA. The Irish Volunteers were formed in 1913 as the Irish Volunteers, at a time when all ofIreland was part of Britain. In 1916 they took part in the Easter rising against British rule, and the War of Independence that followed the Declaration of Independence by Dáil Éireann in 1919. Subsequently, the IRA focused on overthrowing the Northern Ireland state and the achievement of a united Ireland, carrying out a bombing campaign in England in 1939 and 1940.