The Official IRA

OCorcrainn

I am sure everyone knows that the Provisional IRA were the most prominent paramilitary organization throughout the conflict in Ireland and Britain, and that they spark a lot of debate.

But what about the Official IRA, we never really hear much about them. What are people's thoughts on them? Unionists in particular?

OCorcrainn

Wikipedia wrote:

The split in the Irish Republican Army, soon followed by a parallel split in Sinn Féin, was the result of the dissatisfaction of more traditional and militant republicans at the political direction taken by the leadership. The particular object of their discontent was Sinn Féin's ending of its policy of abstentionism in the Republic of Ireland. This issue is a key one in republican ideology, as traditional republicans regarded the Irish state as illegitimate and maintained that their loyalty was due only to the Irish Republic declared in 1916 and in their view, represented by the IRA Army Council.[4]
During the 1960s, the republican movement under the leadership of Cathal Goulding radically re-assessed their ideology and tactics after the dismal failure of the IRA's Border Campaign in the years 1956–62. They were heavily influenced by popular front ideology and drew close to communist thinking. A key intermediary body was the Communist Party of Great Britain's organisation for Irish exiles, the Connolly Association. The Marxist analysis was that the conflict in Northern Ireland was a "bourgeois nationalist" one between the Protestant and Catholic working classes, fomented and continued by the ruling class. Its effect was to depress wages, since worker could be set against worker. They concluded that the first step on the road to a 32-county socialist republic in Ireland was the "democratisation" of Northern Ireland (i.e., the removal of discrimination against Catholics) and radicalisation of the southern working class. This would allow "class politics" to develop, eventually resulting in a challenge to the hegemony of both "British imperialism" and the respective unionist and nationalist establishments north and south of the Irish border.[5]
Goulding and those close to him argued that, in the context of sectarian division in Northern Ireland, a military campaign against the British presence would be counter-productive, since it would delay the day when the workers would unite around social and economic issues.

They appeared to be non-sectarian, genuinely pro-workers besides being nationalists and republicans. If the split had not happen who knows how the Troubles would have played

Red About Town

Read The Lost Revolution book for the definitive history of this group. Very interesting indeed.

GRMA

Ask Eamonn Gilmore and Pat Rabbitte, in all likelihood they were elected on the backs of OIRA, or group B, activity.

Main source of Workers party income was from those lot.

While you're at it ask Kathleen Lynch and her husband who floats around Leinster House about Larry White

Might be pushing things too far if you bring up Seamas Costello though.


Gilmore joined the sticks in 1975 btw. Strange how he never gets the treatment others in the Dáil do.

OP the officials/workers party were/are absolute dirt, hypocrites of the worst kind. If I were alive at the time I would probably have sided with them around the split but they rapidly went downhill.

In basic terms they defined themselves by the provos, they just set about being the opposite. Unionist, pro British imperialism, pro loyalist, touts, anti republicans. They opposed political status despite their prisoners enjoying it in the cages. They opposed the Hunger Strikers and through there control in RTE made incredibly biased and propagandist programs against the Hunger Strikers (today tonight). They also ran against H-Block candidates in elections during the hungerstrikes to try and split the vote... they failed miserably.

Sean Garland (former general secretary, now treasurer) when he eventually stopped hiding in Scotland came back to Ireland after the split and set about turning on former comrades. They murdered Seamas Costello as I mentioned and the also threatened Vincent Browne with death for writing tremendous exposes about it, IIRC they planned to blow up his boat.

I've had the misfortune in meeting Garland a good few times, he is an utter disgrace of man. I opposed his extradition to America because I felt it was wrong but it really stuck in my craw to help the likes of him... I wasnt needed anyway because of his former comrades in labour who helped him out... As a fine example of his and worker party hypocrisy they opposed his extradition but supported the Columbia Three being extradited and gloated when Dessie Ellis, at deaths door, was extradited to Britain.

The OIRA/Group B made huge amounts of money through all kinds of illegal activity, bank robbery, intimidation, extortion, murder, tax fraud, you name it they did it. This continued up until the nineties. This was the main source of Workers party income, proof of this is the recent letters from Garland to east germany which emerged where he admitted illegal activity.

When Eoghan Harris is one of your leading lights and intellectuals you know you are in trouble.

They appeared to be non-sectarian, genuinely pro-workers besides being nationalists and republicans. If the split had not happen who knows how the Troubles would have played

That was true in the beginning but they rapidly went downhill, after Costello left and set up the IRSP that was really it for the stickies.

I see the HET recently ruled that the murder of big Joe McCann was unjustified.... he would have without a doubt been ashamed of what his group turned out to be.



On a more positive note about the stickies they were involved in some very courageous defensive battles with the British Army... like the battle of the falls which was said at the time to be the largest engagement with crown forces since 1916.

The only "republican falling from grace" incident even remotely comparable to that of Goulding, Garland and co I can recall off the top of my head is that of Tom McFeely of priory hall infamy. He went from being a lionhearted, courageous blanket man who had to be cajoled and persuaded to come off the 1980 hunger strike and begged and pleaded with not to go on hungerstrike for a second time from his hospital bed in 81 to an utter parasite.

I also recommend the book, "The Lost Revolution"

GRMA

Dessie insists that there are prominent members of Labour today — politicians who had previously been members of Democratic Left, the Workers’ Party and Official Sinn Féin before joining Labour — who were also members of the IRA. ‘There are quite a few hypocrites there. I’m well aware of that. I know some of them from my past. So, I know the positions that they held. Some of them are still there. Nobody gets scrutinised as much as us [Sinn Féin].’

http://cedarlounge.wordpress.com/2011/03/20/dessie-ellis-interview/

Thomas_I

OCorcrainn wrote: »

I am sure everyone knows that the Provisional IRA were the most prominent paramilitary organization throughout the conflict in Ireland and Britain, and that they spark a lot of debate.

But what about the Official IRA, we never really hear much about them. What are people's thoughts on them? Unionists in particular?

I rather thought that the OIRA ceased to exist after the split in 1969/1970 and the Provos took over the whole "IRA thing".

In the Glossary to the "Report of the The Bloody Sunday Inquiry
The Rt Hon The Lord Saville of Newdigate (Chairman)" it is stated:

Irish Republican Army. By 1972 this had split into two separate organisations, the Official IRA and the Provisional IRA. In many cases witnesses and documents referred simply to the IRA, without differentiating between these two organisations.

Although all these split "IRAs" which followed the old patterns, set up by the early Volunteers of 1919, the IRA developed itself - also due to its ban in the Irish Free State and underground life - into a more "criminal organisation". The latter is how they´re depicted and perceived during the decades of the troubles and nowadays.

In my opinion, the IRA of 1919 and the split groups like "PIRA", "RIRA" and "CIRA" are not quite the same, but they´ve much in common, as to say are of the same stock.