DEADLY LEGACY OF FEAR
DEADLY LEGACY OF FEAR
By JOHN BRESLIN
AN IRA summit meeting held in Donegal last October ended in acrimony. Dissident members of the organisation, fiercely opposed to its involvement in the "peace process", walked out. One member of the army council, the seven man ruling body, was forced to resign.
The purists, who claim an unbroken line back to the 1916 Easter Rising, had long-standing reservations over the direction the IRA and Sinn Fein were going. Splits in the republican movement are nothing new. They date back to Michael Collins' time in the 1920s
Following the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1921, the anti-treaty forces, led by Eamon De Valera, fought a bitter civil war with the new Free State government. De Valera, in 1927, finally entered the Dail, a move which angered republican purists who would not recognise the Dail.
In 1970, the Provisionals broke from the main body over claims that the Official IRA left Catholics 'undefended' at the outset of the troubles.
There was also divisions between the Marxist-leaning Dublin-based Officials and the more radical young Turks, including Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, in Belfast and Derry. Out of that split, came further split as the INLA was formed from disenchanted Officials.
It also attracted a collection of individuals, from fringe players to outright psychopaths. A political party, the IRSP, followed.
The politicised Official IRA eventually turned into the Workers Party, which itself split in the eighties as the Democratic Left was formed.
A rupture in the Provisionals was avoided until 1986, when former IRA chief of staff, Ruairi O'Bradaigh led a walk-out at that year's Sinn Fein Ard Fheis. They were against the party's abandonment of the principle of abstention from the Dail. Inevitably, a paramilitary grouping, the Continuity IRA, was formed. In October 1997 - following the meeting in Gweedore, Co Donegal - the dissidents drew up plans for a new organisation. The 32-County Sovereignty Committee was the political wing, the newly named Real IRA was allegedly the so-called military arm.
By JOHN BRESLIN
AN IRA summit meeting held in Donegal last October ended in acrimony. Dissident members of the organisation, fiercely opposed to its involvement in the "peace process", walked out. One member of the army council, the seven man ruling body, was forced to resign.
The purists, who claim an unbroken line back to the 1916 Easter Rising, had long-standing reservations over the direction the IRA and Sinn Fein were going. Splits in the republican movement are nothing new. They date back to Michael Collins' time in the 1920s
Following the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1921, the anti-treaty forces, led by Eamon De Valera, fought a bitter civil war with the new Free State government. De Valera, in 1927, finally entered the Dail, a move which angered republican purists who would not recognise the Dail.
In 1970, the Provisionals broke from the main body over claims that the Official IRA left Catholics 'undefended' at the outset of the troubles.
There was also divisions between the Marxist-leaning Dublin-based Officials and the more radical young Turks, including Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, in Belfast and Derry. Out of that split, came further split as the INLA was formed from disenchanted Officials.
It also attracted a collection of individuals, from fringe players to outright psychopaths. A political party, the IRSP, followed.
The politicised Official IRA eventually turned into the Workers Party, which itself split in the eighties as the Democratic Left was formed.
A rupture in the Provisionals was avoided until 1986, when former IRA chief of staff, Ruairi O'Bradaigh led a walk-out at that year's Sinn Fein Ard Fheis. They were against the party's abandonment of the principle of abstention from the Dail. Inevitably, a paramilitary grouping, the Continuity IRA, was formed. In October 1997 - following the meeting in Gweedore, Co Donegal - the dissidents drew up plans for a new organisation. The 32-County Sovereignty Committee was the political wing, the newly named Real IRA was allegedly the so-called military arm.
Further Information
Publisher: SUNDAY LIFE
Ref: SL/049
Published Date: 23-Aug-98
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