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Irish Liberation Army
- 1. Logan Robinson Indigenous Liberation Studies 2016 Bachelor of Applied Social Science year 3 Waikato Institute of Technology
- 12. Beckett, J.C. (1972). The Ulster Debate. London, England: Bodley Head. Bew, P., Hazelkorn, E., & Patterson, H. (1989). The Dynamics of Irish Politics. London, England: Lawrence & Wishart Ltd. Dixon, P. (2001). Northern Ireland: The politics of war and peace. Hampshire, England: Palgrave. Hanley, B., & Millar, S. (2010). The Lost Revolution: The story of the Official IRA and the Workers Party. Dublin, Ireland:Penguin Ireland. Hennessy, T. (1999). A History of Northern Ireland: 1920 – 1996. Hampshire, England: MacMillan Press. Kennedy-Pipe, C. (1997). The Origins of the Present Troubles in Northern Ireland. New York, N.Y: Addison Wesley Longman. Legislation.Gov.uk. (2016). Government of Ireland Act 1920. Retrieved MacDonncha, M. (2005). Sinn Féin: A Century of Struggle. Sinn Féin. Dublin. Irish, English. McConnel, J. (17 February 2011). "Irish Home Rule: An imagined future". BBC History. Retrieved 30 March, 2016. from http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1920/67/pdfs/ukpga_19200067_en.pdf Morrogh, M. (2000). The Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921. Retrieved from http://www.historytoday.com/michael-morrogh/anglo-irish-treaty-1921 The National Archives of Ireland. (2016). Treaty Exhibition; Timelines. Retrieved from http://treaty.nationalarchives.ie/timeline/ Ryan Hackney and Amy Blackwell Hackney. The Everything Irish History & Heritage Book. 2004 Stewart, A. (1979). The Ulster Crisis. London, United Kingdom: Faber and Faber Wichert, S. (1999). Northern Ireland since 1945. New York, N.Y: Addison Wesley Longman.
Editor's Notes
- The conflict was said to have began between the Irish as the indigenous people and the British as settlers with the Anglo-Norman invasion of 1169, which began Britians colonization of Ireland (Dixon, 2001, p. 2) The conflict occoured on two levels. On a meso level, it was between the nationalist Catholic Irish minority and the unionist Protestant majority (Rose, 2001, p. 94) regarding the relationship Northern Ireland held with the United Kingdom (Hackney & Hackney, 2004, p. 200). The argument was around the role of Ireland in the United Kingdom, with Nationalists and Republicans on one side of the argument, and Unionists on the other. Nationalists and Republicans argue that the colonization of Ireland and the imposition of Crown rule was brutal and unwelcome, and unionists argue that the British have a right to reside by virtue of legality. A growing nationalist consciousness resulted in political and military clashes between the unionist constituency in the north and the nationalists who sought independence from Westminster (Kennedy-Pipe, 1997, pp. 10-11). A feature present in the early days of the struggles was religious in nature, underpinned by the fear by the Protestant Unionist constituency that the Irish catholic nationalists would dominate politically if they gave any provision to self-determinism by the Irish people. Several societies on both sides formed to advance their position and achieve their desired outcomes. Some of these societies include the Gaelic League, the Defenders and the Ribbonmen on the Irish side and the Orange Lodges and the Peep O’Day boys who sought to retain control of pieces of land on the British Side (Kennedy-Pipe, 1997, p. 9). This led to a home rule campaign from the 1880s that was successfully passed on 1912 in its third reading (Kennedy-Pipe, 1997, p. 13).
- Home rule, for Ireland, was the dominant political question in the relationship between Ireland and United Kingdom in the late 19th and early 20th century (McConnel, 2011). The Government of Ireland Act 1914, known as the ‘Home Rule Act’ intended to separate the governance of Ireland from the British parliamentary system. This was only to apply to the South in an amendment bill which allowed for the exclusion of the Ulster region in the North (Stewart, 1979, p. 19). Home rule was passed by the Crown in 1912 to aim to quell the conflict between the Irish Nationalists and the Unionist settlers over the governance of Ireland. The Unionists actively resisted it and the Nationalist movement began to flourish, mainly with the creation and strengthening of the Irish Liberation Army from 1913, known as IRA (Kennedy-Pipe, 1997, pp. 13-14). This bill did not make it to the statue books until 1914, where it way dormant. This lack of action led to the Easter rising of 1916, where IRA led a surprise attack on British Troops (Kennedy-Pipe, 1997, pp. 14-15) by occupying a post office in Dublin and declaring an Irish Republic (Dixon, 2001, p. 4). These events led to the brief Anglo-Irish war, however the effects also included a shift in public opinion among the general Irish population towards favoring the Nationalist movement and the outcomes it sought. The liberation movement become increasingly more militant leading up to and during the Anglo-Irish war of 1914, where the remnant of British troops not fighting in World War One to rush to Ireland and impose martial law following the Easter rising (Kennedy-Pipe, 1997, p. 14). Although the uprising at this time was quickly suppressed, the resurgence of Sinn Fein, (meaning ‘Us Alone) as the political wing of the IRA took out a large majority of the seats in the subordinate government in the 1917 elections (Kennedy-Pipe, 1997, p. 15; Morrogh, 2000). The ’War of Independence’ occoured in 1919-1921. This was an especially concentrated effort by the IRA to remove the British state presence from Ireland by ambushing troops and raiding police barracks (Hennessy, 1997, p. 11). This led to a truce in 1921 between Crown forces and the IRA which was intended to allow negotiations between British Government representatives and Sinn Fein to take place.
- The Government of Ireland Act 1920 The ‘Government of Ireland Act 1920’ was the compromising settlement enforced upon Ireland (Wichert, 1999, p. 11). It originated out of the need to settle the conflict occurring in Ireland between the Unionist settlers who defended the right for Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom and the Nationalist movement which sought to resist and remove the imperial government from ruling Ireland. The conflict was between the Irish natives, who wished for an independent Irish republican, and the European settlers, who wished to maintain British rule in Ireland (Kennedy-Pipe, 1997, p. 8). This conflict had escalated to the point where both sides had to call a truce before negotiations could take place between the IRA (Irish Republican Army), through agency of their political wing Sinn Fein and the United Kingdom government representatives (Hennessy, 1997, p. 19). It was not until 1925 that it was acknowledged by the British government that the Irish government was intended to be subordinate, and it was acknowledged that the Northern Unionists had not asked for a devolved government separate in all forms but ceremonial. The intention of the act was to give up some of the governing ability of the British government to alleviate some of the tensions rising between the Irish native people, predominantly in the south, and the settlers in the north. This led to the development of a partition, splitting Ireland into North and South with the intent of having separate governments but a common council (Legislation.gov.uk, 2016). The Irish free state became a constitutional monarchy, with self-determinism but retaining a governor-general. The parliamentary body was bound by the Constitution of the Irish Free State. The Act eliminated immediate prospects of a united Ireland republic (Kennedy-Pipe, 1997, p. 19) by establishing separate governments for both sides of the partition, but was deemed necessary by the British government to maintain control amidst the conflict (Beckett, 1972, p. 11).
- The partition between Northern Ireland and the Free Republican of Ireland was ratified by the Anglo-Irish treaty of 1921, establishing the Free Republic of Ireland in the South, with the Northern districts remaining under British rule (National Archives of Ireland, 2016). This treaty came about due to the political environment that followed the establishment of ‘home rule’ legislation, which established a subordinate government in Ireland that answered to the Crown. The Act sanctioned the partition negotiated in the treaty into law and entrenched constituencies that were created by the British government before the act came into being (Hennessy, 1997, p. 110). The treaty essentially split the IRA into two camps, siding into factions based on either pro or anti treaty positions (Hennessey, 1997, p. 22). This led to a brief but bloody civil war as the Free State government imposed its power and was subsequently attacked by anti-treaty factions (Kennedy-Pipe, 1997, pp. 19 – 20). Written into the treaty, and sanctioned by the Government of Ireland Act, was the principle that any change to the boundaries between North and South Ireland would have to be consented by Northern Ireland (Kennedy-Pipe, 1997, p. 19; It appears that the Treaty contained the details of the independence of South Ireland from British domination and Crown rule, and the Government of Ireland Act entrenched these details, including the partition boundaries, into law. Worth noting is that although Ireland was a free state, it was still part of the commonwealth until 1949 when Ireland eventually became a full republic (Morrogh, 2000). The liberation continued as both Nationalists and Unionists resisted the Treaty, both for differing reasons. The Nationalists resisted a divided Ireland and the continued presence of Crown rule in the North, and the Unionists resisted the freedom of the South from Crown rule. It was recorded that the Unionists would only sign the Treaty and accept the freedom of the South if the area known as North Ireland remained under Crown rule (Hennessy, 1997, p. 5). The partition between Northern Ireland and the Free Republican of Ireland was ratified by the Anglo-Irish treaty of 1921, establishing the Free Republic of Ireland in the South, with the Northern districts remaining under British rule (National Archives of Ireland, 2016). From the Republican perspective, the partition of Ireland was an undemocratic imposition by Britain in act of dominance rather than a compromise of the conflict between the North and South. It was not created by the will of the people involved, but by imperial dominance by the crown in accordance with the unionist population in Ulster.
- The Irish Republican Army, known as the IRA, has taken many forms over the years due to splits, developments and the political context of the liberation struggle. The common thread that ties each form together is the belief that Ireland should be an independent republic and that political violence was necessary to achieve independence. The original IRA started in 1913 as a formation known as the ‘Irish Volunteers’ (Kennedy-Pipe, 1997, p. 14) and became a military force in the Anglo-Irish war of 1916 which started by the ’Easter Rising’. and lasted until 1922. It was at this point that the IRA split into two groups based on their position of the Anglo-Irish treaty. This led to a civil war within the Irish Free State with the Anti-Treaty cohort labelled rebels in the media under a government directive. The pro-treaty group split into the National Army of the Irish Free State from 1922 – 1924, then becoming the official Irish Free State defense forces. As part of legislating the pro-treaty faction as the national army, a governmental order was given for all factions of the IRA to affirm their allegiance to the newly formed Free State Government. The anti-treaty group continued to resist the treaty, including opposing the new Irish Free State government in the resistance. This faction organized themselves into two groups – The GHQ and the Army executive. The GHQ is the general headquarters of the IRA which was claimed by the anti-treaty group. The Army Executive declared themselves as the real government of Ireland, referring back to the Irish Republic declared back in the Easter Rising. The majority of members and supporters were guerilla soldiers that deemed the Irish Free State and the partition imperial creations. These two groups continued to engage in small skirmish battles until 1969, when the anti-treaty group split over the political and military direction and tactics employed by the leadership of the IRA (Sweetman, 1972). The two factions were known as the ‘Provisional IRA’ and the ‘Official IRA’. The provisional IRA (PIRA) quickly became the larger group with policies related to the intended collapse of the Northern Ireland government. A change in direction in the 1970s led to the declaration of a ceasefire and the development of political focus, putting more emphasis on defeating Britain through the political system, via Sinn Fein. This strategy is known as the ‘Long War’ by virtue of the focus from military warfare to propaganda and informative expressions of resistance (O’Brien, 1999, p. 128). The PIRA split twice through its life, the second split related to an indefinite ceasefire in 1997 which led to the end of military operations in 2005 by the voluntary decommission of all its weapons (Moloney, 2002, p. 474). The PIRA split in 1986 with a faction who called themselves the Continuity IRA (CIRA) on disagreement about involvement in the Irish Parliamentary system. It was thought that involvement in the parliamentary system meant accepting the partition (Patterson, 1997). The Real IRA (RIRA) spilt with the PIRA in 1997 over a disagreement regarding the ceasefire in 1997. The official IRA (OIRA) occasionally fought the British Army and had one military skirmish with the Provisional IRA in 1970. A ceasefire was declared in 1972 (Rekawek, 2011) although some military battles were engaged on perceived defensive grounds. In 1974, the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) split from the OIRA over the ceasefire policy (Wichert, 1999, p. 171). \
- Sinn Fein started as a political party in 1905 (Kennedy-Pipe, 1997, p. 15) to resist the British imperial governance over Ireland and aimed to achieve Irish self-governance (MacDonncha, 2005, p. 12). Although the party was not officially part of the Easter Rising, many members were also active in the IRA and took part in the Easter Rising. Officially, the party benefited from the atmosphere that followed the Anglo-Irish war. It was at this point, following the Easter Rising, that Sinn Fein reformed in greater partnership with the IRA and became the political wing of the IRA movement. Following British reluctance to actuate the Home Rule Act 1914, public sentiment allowed Sinn Fein to make significant victories in the elections of 1917 (Kennedy-Pipe, 1997, p. 15), eventually winning 73 of Irelands 105 seats. In 1919, Sinn Fein MPs gathered in Dublin and declared themselves Dàil Èireann, meaning the Parliament of Ireland (Kennedy-Pipe, 1997, p. 15) which meant that they were declaring Ireland an independent republic. Sinn Fein was the Irish representation in the Anglo-Irish treaty negotiations (Dixon, 2001, p. 4). After the Treaty was passed and Ireland was split by Westminster due to the withdraw of Ulster from the Irish Free State, Sinn Fein split alongside the IRA based on positioning regarding the Anglo-Irish Treaty. This completely undermined the electoral pact between the pro- and anti-treaty factions, who went into the Irish general election on 18 June 1922 as hostile parties, both calling themselves Sinn Fein. The Pro-Treaty members of Sinn Fein formed a new party, Cumann na nGaedheal, who was the governing party of the Irish Free State from 1923 – 1932 (Bew, Hazelkorn & Patterson, 1989, pp. 29-30). Anti-treaty members of Sinn Fein continued to oppose the new government and maintained a policy of absenteeism (Hanley & Millar, 2010) until the split in the IRA in 1969 which also split Sinn Fein. The respective names for the two IRA factions were also applied to the Sinn Fein factions, and the continuing splintering of factions from the IRA movements continued to splinter Sinn Fein as a political movement.
- Considered by some to be the most ruthless to terms of willingness to engage in military conflict (Wichert, 1999, p. 171), the INLA broke away from the OIRA in 1974 and engaged in military conflict with them in 1975. Engaged in many skirmish battles with the British army and the police force in Northern Ireland in attempts to disempower them. Some conflict took place with the Irish Free State government The INLA declared a ceasefire on 22 August 1998. When calling its ceasefire, the INLA acknowledged the "faults and grievous errors in our prosecution of the war". The INLA admitted that innocent people had been killed and injured "and at times our actions as a liberation army fell far short of what they should have been". The political wing of the INLA was the IRSP which followed classic Marxist political lines (Wichert, 1999, p. 171). This political line of thought included the need for conflict to overthrow the oppressing bodies and establish a socialist state. In this particular context, the British army and the Northern Ireland government were identified as the oppressive bodies that stood between the current context and a united Ireland. They believed that resistance to the imperialism of Britain would be achieved by 3 steps: The unity of the Irish working class The establishment of a united Ireland The establishment of an Irish socialist republic
- The ’shoot to kill’ policy was introduced in Northern Ireland in 1982 in response to increased violence from the Irish Liberation movement. It is alleged that a specially trained team in the Northern Ireland police force known as the ‘Headquarters mobile support unit’ were carrying out a ’shoot to kill’ policy against those promoting Irish liberation Supergrass refers to the use of arrested individuals related to Irish Liberation struggles to divulge information that led to arrests of comrades. Several arrests and convictions took place based on supergrass testimonies between 1981 and 1985, although many were later repealed and overturned.