Continuity Irish Republican Army

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The Continuity Irish Republican Army (Eng .: 'Persistent Irish Republican Army'; Irish : officially Óglaigh na hÉireann , unofficially An tIRA Leanúnach ) ( CIRA ; also known as Contos ) is an Irish Republican paramilitary organization that emerged in 1986 from a split originated in the Provisional IRA . Her supporters see her as the national army of a 32-county Irish Republic . It is an illegal organization in the Republic of Ireland and is run as a terrorist organization in the UK , EU and United States . Like the IRA, it aims to reunite Ireland as a socialist republic.

Like all other organizations that refer to themselves as the IRA, the continuities identify themselves in public notices and internally as Óglaigh na hÉireann ("Ireland's Volunteers"), but this Irish title is also used by the Irish Defense Forces (the Irish Army).

origin

IRA General Army Convention 1986

The CIRA has its origin in a split in the Provisional IRA . In September 1986, the Provisional IRA held a meeting of its General Army Convention (GAC). This body is the supreme authority of the organization. It was the first GAC in 16 years. The meeting, secret like all such meetings, was called to discuss a number of resolutions. It was mainly about the Provisional IRA statutes, which dealt with abstentionism, i.e. taking seats in the Dáil Éireann won by renouncing . The GAC approved steps (by the necessary 2/3 majority) to allow members of the Provisional IRA to debate taking parliamentary seats as well as the removal of the ban on members of the organization from supporting any successful Republican candidate, his Seat in Dáil Éireann.

The GAC delegates, who opposed a change in the statutes, claimed that the gathering had been tampered with "through the creation of new IRA organizational structures for the meeting, such as the merger of Sligo-Roscommon-Longford and Wicklow-Wexford-Waterford." . The only IRA body that agreed with this view was the outgoing IRA Executive. The members of the Executive who were against change banded together. They met with no advocates of change and formed a new executive. They contacted Tom Maguire, who legitimized the Provisionals in 1969, and asked his assistance. Maguire was also visited by supporters of Gerry Adams , then and now the President of Sinn Féin , who was the driving force behind a paradigm shift within the Provisional IRA. However, Maguire turned down Adams's supporters as he supported the members of the IRA Executive who opposed the change. He made her the Continuity Army Council. In a 1986 statement, he rejected the legitimacy of the IRA's Army Council because of its support for Sinn Féin, who recognized the partition of Ireland when it moved into Leinster House. In 1987 Maguire referred to the "Continuity Executive" as the "lawful executive of the Irish Republican Army".

Right to legitimacy

Just like the Provisional IRA after it split from the Official IRA in 1969, the Continuity IRA claims that it is the legitimate continuation of the Irish Republican Army, or Óglaigh na hÉireann. This claim is based on the view that the then surviving anti-treaty members of the Second Dáil delegated their authority to the IRA Army Council in 1938. Another reason is that Tom Maguire, one of the anti-contract members of the Second Dáil, legitimized the Continuity IRA in a statement, just as he did with the Provisionals in 1969. J. Bowyer Bell, in his 1986 book The Irish Troubles, describes Maguire's position as follows: “Abstentionism was and is a principle of republicanism, a moral question of principle. Abstentionism gave the movement legitimacy, the right to wage war for a republic ... ”. Maguire declared the movement under Adams' leadership to be an illegal group according to the classical Republican reading. So Adams tried to win Maguire over, but was turned away.

Relationship with other organizations

These changes within the military wing of the republican movement have been accompanied by changes within the political wing. In 1986, at the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis (party congress), which followed the IRA Convention, the party clause of abstentionism, which forbade Sinn Féin to take seats in the Oireachtas , the parliament of the Republic of Ireland , also repealed. On November 2, the 628 delegates voted 429 to 161 in favor. The traditionalists, who have now lost at both meetings, left the room in the Mansion House and founded their own party, Republican Sinn Féin (RSF) , in the West County Hotel in north Dublin .

According to a report in the Cork Examiner, Dáithí Ó Conaill became the first chief of staff of the Continuity IRA, as well as the first chairman of the RSF from 1986 to 1987. The Continuity IRA and RSF, in their own view, constitute a “true” republican movement .

However, assumptions about a connection or cooperation between the Republican Sinn Féin party and the Continuity IRA are repeatedly rejected by the party. It was only in March 2009 that RSF spokesman Richard Walsh from Derry stated that Republican Sinn Féin had no military wing, nor was the party the political wing of any other organization.

Structure and status

The continuity IRA leadership is believed to be in the Munster and Ulster areas . The chief of staff, as well as a number of other important members, are said to be men from Limerick . He is said to have been in this position since 1991 after the death of Dáithí Ó Conaill. According to estimates by the US government in 2004, the hard core of CIRA consists of fewer than 50 activists . In 2005, then Irish Justice Minister Michael McDowell told the Dáil Éireann that the organization had a maximum of 150 members.

The CIRA is an illegal organization under UK (Section 11 (1) Terrorism Act of 2000) and Irish law due to the use of the 'IRA' in the group name. The same goes for the Real Irish Republican Army (RIRA). Membership in the organization can be punished with ten years in prison under UK law. On July 13, 2004, the US added the CIRA to the list of foreign terrorist groups. This makes it illegal for Americans to materially support the CIRA. This also means that the US authorities can freeze accounts of the group and deny alleged members of the CIRA visas for the USA. The EU also classifies the group as terrorist .

Foreign help and armament

The US government suspects that the Continuity IRA received funds and weapons from supporters in the United States. Security sources in the Republic of Ireland have raised suspicions that, in collaboration with the RIRA, the Continuity IRA may have acquired weapons and materials from the Balkans . They also suspect that the Continuity IRA arsenal contains some weapons taken from Provisional IRA armories. This includes a few dozen rifles, machine guns, pistols, a small amount of the Semtex explosive, and a few dozen detonators.

activity

For a long time the existence of the Continuity IRA was kept secret. It did not issue press releases or carry out paramilitary actions. Even so, the Garda Síochána had suspicions that the organization existed, but they were unsure of what it was called. That is why they were simply called the Irish National Republican Army. On January 21, 1994, the 75th anniversary of the first Dáil Éireann, Continuity IRA volunteers performed a "final salute" for Tom Maguire. They fired over his grave and the CIRA published an official notice with a photo in the Saoirse newspaper .

The Continuity IRA became active shortly after the Provisional IRA declared a ceasefire in 1994, announcing its intention to continue the campaign against "British rule". The CIRA was against the Good Friday Agreement , and unlike the Provisional IRA (and the Real IRA 1998-2000), the CIRA has not announced a ceasefire or given its approval for disarmament to date - nor is there any evidence that it will do so in the near future will do. A statement by CIRA prisoners published at Easter 2012 stated that the members of the organization "will not turn away from the fight as true Republicans".

Internal tension

CIRA graffiti

In 2005, several members of the Continuity IRA left to serve their sentences for paramilitary activities at Portlaoise Prison. Some have been transferred to the Irish National Liberation Army prison wing, but the majority of those who left are now independent and in the E4 wing. The remaining continuity IRA prisoners have been moved to the E3 wing, which is actually the wing of the real IRA prisoners. Supporters of the Continuity IRA leadership claim that this resulted from an internal disagreement which, although resolved, has resulted in some withdrawals from the organization. Supporters of the breakaway members formed the Concerned Group for Republican Prisoners to help them.

In February 2006, the Independent Monitoring Commission alleged in a report on paramilitary activity that two groups calling themselves Saoirse na hÉireann and Óglaigh na hÉireann came into being after a split in the Continuity IRA.

Attacks and other incidents

The CIRA has appeared with bombings and shootings. These were directed against the British military and the police ( Police Service of Northern Ireland ; PSNI) as well as against paramilitary groups of Northern Irish loyalists . It is believed that the CIRA has been able to carry out an attack in England since 2005 . The CIRA is charged with a bomb that was defused in Dublin in December 2005. In February 2006, the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) accused CIRA of planting four bombs in Northern Ireland during the last quarter of 2005, as well as carrying out several false bomb warnings. The IMC also condemned CIRA for the murders of two former CIRA members in Belfast who formed a rival group. The Continuity IRA took responsibility for a June 2008 bomb attack that injured two PSNI officers.

On January 29, 2008, the Irish News reported a CIRA salute at the grave of Republican Dan Keating to mark his 106th birthday. Furthermore, a statement was cited in which the CIRA vows to continue the armed struggle against the British army. The West Belfast Andersonstown News headlined its front page on November 25, 2008: We have dug a drug stash, CIRA explains . Alongside a picture of an armed CIRA member, the newspaper wrote that CIRA had declared it had closed a drug factory in West Belfast on November 15th before police arrived and claimed the same thing. A statement from the CIRA's Belfast Brigade was quoted as saying that the closure of the drug stash was just the beginning and that crackdowns against drug dealers in the area would increase in the future.

The commander-in-chief of the CIRA prisoners in Maghaberry published a statement on January 29, 2009 in which he called on "those who describe themselves as Republicans and at the same time engage in criminal activities such as" tiger kidnapping "for the sole purpose of [individual] financial enrichment, are entangled "are supposed to leave the republican wing of the prison. The prisoner concerned, Sean Hughes, was then transferred.

On March 10, 2009, the organization claimed responsibility for the fatal attack on an officer from the Police Service of Northern Ireland . This attack marked the violent death of a member of the Northern Irish Police for the first time since their reform.

After the March attacks, there was increased activity by armed republican organizations that oppose the Good Friday Agreement . The Irish News published an article on July 28, 2009 in which it wrote that there were 79 bomb threats in March 2009 alone. This also includes the alleged creation of so-called no-go areas in County Fermanagh . A video and picture of an armed and masked member of the Continuity IRA patrolling the Northern Irish city of Armagh City on July 13, 2009 was posted online .

On Good Friday 2014 (April 18), a former CIRA executive was murdered on an industrial site in west Belfast. The 44-year-old is said to have been threatened with death from within his own ranks.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ J Bowyer Bell, The Secret Army: The IRA, Poolbeg, Third Edition, Dublin, 1997, ISBN 1-85371-813-0
  2. ^ A Chronology of the Conflict - 1986. CAIN, accessed May 17, 2007 .
  3. ↑ "Essentially since the spring of 1972, the crucial player in the armed struggle has been the Provisional IRA — now the IRA . (Authors Italics) J. Bowyer Bell, IRA: Tactics & Targets, Poolbeg, First Published 1990, Reprinted 1993, This Edition 1997, Dublin, ISBN 1-85371-603-0 .
  4. ^ Robert White, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, The Life and Politics of an Irish Revolutionary, 2006, p. 309.
  5. ^ Robert White, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, the Life and Politics of an Irish Revolutionary. 2006. Indiana University Press. P. 310
  6. ↑ Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, Dilseacht, The story of Comdt. General Tom Maguire and the Second (All-Ireland) Dáil, 1997, pp. 65–66.
  7. ^ J. Bowyer Bell: The Secret Army, The IRA . Third edition. Poolbeg, Dublin 1997, ISBN 1-85371-813-0 , p. 575.
  8. ^ Robert W. White: Ruairí Ó Brádaigh. The Life and Politics of an Irish Revolutionary . 2006, p. 310.
  9. ^ J Bowyer Bell, The Secret Army, The IRA, Poolbeg, revised third edition, Dublin, 1997, ISBN 1-85371-813-0
  10. ↑ a b CIRA bomb adds to growing crisis in the peace process. Irish Examiner, July 2, 2000, archived from the original on May 9, 2007 .;
  11. ↑ See the text of Ruairí Ó Brádaigh's 2005 Bodenstown address ( memento of November 18, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  12. ^ Wrong representation of RSF in British newspaper Independent. Republican Sinn Féin Vienna , March 16, 2009, accessed July 29, 2009 .
  13. ^ Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA). Federation of American Scientists , July 13, 2004, accessed May 18, 2007 .
  14. ^ Parliamentary Debates (Official Report - Unrevised). Dáil Éireann, June 23, 2005, accessed May 18, 2007 .
  15. ^ Statutory Rules and Orders, 1939, No. 162. Unlawful Organization (Suppression) Order, 1939. Irish Statute Book Database, archived from the original on October 25, 2007 .;
  16. ↑ Kate O'Hanlon: Membership of Real IRA was a terrorism open. The Independent , May 25, 2005, accessed May 3, 2007 .
  17. ^ House of Commons Hansard Debates for 30 Oct 2002 (pt 8). House of Commons, October 30, 2002, accessed March 17, 2007 .
  18. ↑ US Department of State, Office of Counterterrorism Fact sheet 2005 ( Memento of March 24, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
  19. ↑ CIRA added to the US terror list. BBC News , July 13, 2004, accessed May 18, 2007 .
  20. ↑ Common Position 2009/468 / CFSP of the Council of 15 June 2009 updating Common Position 2001/931 / CFSP on the application of specific measures to combat terrorism and repealing Common Position 2009/67 / CFSP
  21. ^ Decommissioning - how big a task? BBC News , July 5, 1999, accessed May 18, 2007 .
  22. ^ David Kerr: The Continuity IRA. Ulster Nation , 1997, accessed March 16, 2007 .
  23. ↑ Final Salute to Comdt-General Tom Maguire. In: Saoirse. Feabhra-February, 1994, p. 2; see also: Robert White, Ruairi O Bradaigh: The Life and Politics of an Irish Revolutionary. Indiana University Press, 2006, pp. 323-24.
  24. ↑ Easter opinion of CIRA prisoners in Maghaberry. Republican Sinn Féin International Departement , April 11, 2012, accessed April 13, 2012 .
  25. ^ Eighth Report of the Independent Monitoring Commission, February 1, 2006
  26. ^ Martin Bright and Henry McDonald: Irish terror groups 'to hit London'. The Observer , March 20, 2005, accessed May 18, 2007 .
  27. ^ Continuity IRA link suspected in M50 alert. RTÉ , December 9, 2005, accessed March 16, 2007 .
  28. ^ Eighth report of the Independent Monitoring Commission . (PDF) In: The Stationery Office (Ed.): Independent Monitoring Commission . February 1, 2006, pp. 13-14. Retrieved May 6, 2007.
  29. ^ Seventeenth report of the Independent Monitoring Commission . (PDF) In: The Stationery Office (Ed.): Independent Monitoring Commission . November 7, 2007, pp. 9-10. Retrieved February 10, 2008.
  30. ↑ http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/06/16/europe/EU-GEN-NIreland-IRA-Dissidents.php
  31. ↑ Salute delivered over the grave of Dan Keating. Republican Sinn Féin Vienna , January 30, 2008, accessed October 1, 2008 .
  32. ^ We shut down drugs den: C-IRA. Republican Sinn Féin Vienna , November 25, 2008, accessed December 9, 2008 .
  33. ^ Statement by the Republican prisoners in Maghaberry. Republican Sinn Féin Vienna , February 9, 2009, accessed February 9, 2009 .
  34. ↑ Allison Morris: Remand prisoner moved from IRA wing. Irish News, February 4, 2009, archived from the original on February 8, 2009 .;
  35. ^ Continuity IRA 'behind shooting . BBC. March 10, 2009. Retrieved March 10, 2009.
  36. ^ Suzanne McGonagle: Dissidents behind 400 real security alerts in two years. (No longer available online.) Irish News, July 28, 2009, formerly original ; Retrieved July 29, 2009 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.irishnews.com
  37. ↑ Republicans control territories. Republican Sinn Féin Vienna , July 28, 2009, accessed July 29, 2009 .
  38. ↑ FAZ.net: Former IRA rebel leader shot