IRA Quartermaster General
The IRA Quartermaster General (QMC) (dt. Quartermaster ) was a key position and a high military rank in the Irish Republican Army . The Quartermaster General gave the means and weapons for certain actions and then withdrew them again, so he had a significant part in the planning and execution of the attacks.
Before the reform of the IRA structures, each unit, battalion, and brigade had its own quartermaster. This system was abandoned with the formation of the Active Service Units, so from 1977 there was only one quartermaster. He is responsible for purchasing, maintaining and hiding their weapons. This became particularly important after 1977. Due to the strategy of the Long War, the IRA and its quartermasters invested a lot of energy in building a network that was supposed to ensure the supply of war material. In the 1980s he received special help from Irish exiles from the USA ( NORAID ), the PLO and Libya in the form of arms deliveries (including several tons of Semtex ). To support him in these operations, a subdivision of the Irish Republican Army was under him.
In the Provisional IRA , the QMG Department is the largest and most important. It takes up around 20 percent of all volunteers. It works closely with the IRA Engineering Department, which has developed a large number of home-made missiles and mortars. The chief quartermaster as chairman of this department was one of the highest and most influential ranks in the IRA. Only the chief of staff and his adjutant were higher .
A large number of people held the post of QMG. One of them was Cathal Goulding , who became Chief of Staff of the IRA from 1962 and later headed the Official IRA . In 1997 the then QMG, Michael McKevitt , left the Provisional IRA and founded the breakaway paramilitary faction Real IRA . The transfer of this QMG was significant, as he gave many weapons that he controlled through his "office" to his new organization.