In Northern Ireland before the Troubles ended, low-level petty crime was not as common as in the rest of Ireland or the UK. [1]
Since the Good Friday Agreement was signed in 1998, there has been more low-level crimes being committed, although statistics show that some places in Northern Ireland (outside of Belfast) have some of the lowest crime rates in Western Europe. [2]
The type of crime committed in Northern Ireland varies although robbery, murder, [3] racketeering, disorder, burglary, joyriding, terrorism and assault are the main types. [3] There has also been an increase in rural-related crime in recent years. [4]
In recent times Tiger kidnapping has been used in robberies on banks, shops and post offices. [5]
Over the three years 2011–14, the homicide rate in Northern Ireland was 0.9 per 100,000 inhabitants per year. This is a similar figure to the UK average, the murder rate in the Republic of Ireland, and most Western European nations, a region which has among the lowest homicide rates globally. [6]
During The Troubles, homicide rates were considerably higher: at their height in 1972 there were 479 deaths caused either by terrorism or Security Forces' action – around 31 per 100,000, similar to homicide rates in 2010s Colombia or South Africa. During the period 1976–1993, most years saw 60–100 deaths related to The Troubles, or around 4.0–6.5/100,000 per annum. [7]
Although there are repeated terrorism-related attempts at murder, few succeed. Since the re-establishment of devolved government in 2007, two soldiers and one police officer were murdered in 2009, with a further police officer murdered in 2011. Other incidents have seen life-changing injuries to police officers caused by explosions.
Since the historic signing of the Good Friday Agreement most large terrorist groups and some smaller ones have since decommissioned their weapons or ceased military operations. These groups include the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA), Ulster Volunteer Force, Loyalist Volunteer Force, Ulster Defence Association, Irish National Liberation Army. [8]
Even though the larger organisations have decommissioned and are complying with the terms of the 1998 Agreement there is still on the Republican side so called "Dissident republicans" [9] who oppose the Agreement. These elements are short of numbers but still pose a serious threat, the threat became clear in March 2009, when two Soldiers were killed in County Antrim while collecting a pizza just outside the barracks, the Real Irish Republican Army later claimed responsibility for the shooting.
Two days later another group called the Continuity IRA shot dead a police officer in Craigavon, County Armagh. [10] The officer was responding to a call from a lady in the area when he was shot in the back of the head by a sniper.
More recently a large number of bombs have been discovered in counties Londonderry, Armagh and Tyrone. [11] Although none of the devices detonated the police and British Army said they were getting more "sophisticated", for instance in February 2008 the Army defused a 100 lb device in County Down, then in September 2009 a 600 lb device was made safe. [12] These groups do not have the same support as PIRA once had, nor the same weaponry but they are still capable of murder and bombings.
On Friday 16 October 2009, at around 07:30 BST a car bomb exploded under the car of a police officer's [13] wife in the large Unionist area of east Belfast and what is considered to be an area controlled by the Ulster Defence Association. The device was intended to kill her husband whom she usually drives to work but was not present in the car at the time. The woman escaped with minor injuries as the bomb detonated under the passenger side seat. [14] The Real IRA claimed responsibility for this incident. [15]
Between 2007 and 2009, there were on average in Northern Ireland around seven or more Hoax Bomb Alerts [16] each week, but some alerts are genuine. They are so common that there is a permanent Bomb Disposal team of the British Army stationed in Northern Ireland. The main areas are County Londonderry, County Down, County Antrim and Belfast. [17] [18]
Due to the threat posed to the society in Northern Ireland, all objects have to be treated with suspect care and controlled explosions are commonplace in some areas.
On 14 October 2009, the Police Service of Northern Ireland got a call stating that a 600 lb bomb had been left in a van abandoned on a bridge in a village in County Tyrone. The Army carried out a controlled explosion on the device which turned out to be a hoax. [19]
A British newspaper recently published an article that said, "Republican bomb alerts total 750 in two years" which is an average of 7.21 a week or just over one a day. [16]
With new countries joining the European Union and the freedom of movement of people within the union, there has been an influx of people from countries such as, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and surrounding countries.
In June 2009, around 100 Roma gypsies [20] from Romania had to be moved to safer houses because their windows had been smashed and racist graffiti dubbed on their houses in a Loyalist area of south Belfast. [20]
The theft of Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) in recent years is on the rise. It is not known whether the paramilitary groups are the main perpetrators or just organised crime groups. The theft of such a machine in Northern Ireland involves pulling the ATM from the wall, usually with a large digger, then putting it in a waiting vehicle (usually a dump truck). [21]
The BBC reported on 21 October 2009 that three such incidents had occurred in one week, all involving a digger. [21]
In November 2009 after a 'smash and grab' incident in Dungannon, County Tyrone the Irish News newspaper released an article that revealed that there had been 13 such incidents since March 2009 in Northern Ireland. [22] Inflation rises in 2023 made farming equipment in particular an attractive target for organised gangs and meant that each theft cost the rural community more than in previous years. [23]
The Continuity Irish Republican Army, styling itself as the Irish Republican Army, is an Irish republican paramilitary group that aims to bring about a united Ireland. It claims to be a direct continuation of the original Irish Republican Army and the national army of the Irish Republic that was proclaimed in 1916. It emerged from a split in the Provisional IRA in 1986 but did not become active until the Provisional IRA ceasefire of 1994. It is an illegal organisation in the Republic of Ireland and is designated a terrorist organisation in the United Kingdom, New Zealand and the United States. It has links with the political party Republican Sinn Féin (RSF).
The Real Irish Republican Army, or Real IRA (RIRA), was a dissident Irish republican paramilitary group that aimed to bring about a United Ireland. It was formed in 1997 following a split in the Provisional IRA by dissident members, who rejected the IRA's ceasefire that year. Like the Provisional IRA before it, the Real IRA saw itself as the only rightful successor to the original Irish Republican Army and styled itself as simply "the Irish Republican Army" in English or Óglaigh na hÉireann in Irish. It was an illegal organisation in the Republic of Ireland and designated a proscribed terrorist organisation in the United Kingdom and the United States.
The Troubles were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "irregular war" or "low-level war". The conflict began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed to have ended with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. Although the Troubles mostly took place in Northern Ireland, at times violence spilled over into parts of the Republic of Ireland, England, and mainland Europe.
The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group based in Northern Ireland. Formed in 1965, it first emerged in 1966. Its first leader was Gusty Spence, a former Royal Ulster Rifles soldier from Northern Ireland. The group undertook an armed campaign of almost thirty years during The Troubles. It declared a ceasefire in 1994 and officially ended its campaign in 2007, although some of its members have continued to engage in violence and criminal activities. The group is a proscribed organisation and is on the terrorist organisation list of the United Kingdom.
The East Tyrone Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), also known as the Tyrone/Monaghan Brigade was one of the most active republican paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland during "the Troubles". It is believed to have drawn its membership from across the eastern side of County Tyrone as well as north County Monaghan and south County Londonderry.
The Kingsmill massacre, also known as the White Cross massacre, was a mass shooting that took place on 5 January 1976 near the village of Whitecross in south County Armagh, Northern Ireland. Gunmen stopped a minibus carrying eleven Protestant workmen, lined them up alongside it and shot them. Only one victim survived, despite having been shot 18 times. A Catholic man on the minibus was allowed to go free. A group calling itself the South Armagh Republican Action Force claimed responsibility. It said the shooting was retaliation for a string of attacks on Catholic civilians in the area by Loyalists, particularly the killing of six Catholics the night before. The Kingsmill massacre was the climax of a string of tit-for-tat killings in the area during the mid-1970s, and was one of the deadliest mass shootings of the Troubles.
From 1969 until 1997, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) conducted an armed paramilitary campaign primarily in Northern Ireland and England, aimed at ending British rule in Northern Ireland in order to create a united Ireland.
Events during the year 1979 in Northern Ireland.
This is a chronology of activities by the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA), an Irish republican paramilitary group. The group started operations in 1994, after the Provisional Irish Republican Army began a ceasefire.
This is a timeline of actions by the Irish republican paramilitary groups referred to as the Real Irish Republican Army and New Irish Republican Army. The Real IRA was formed in 1997 by disaffected members of the Provisional IRA. Since July 2012, when Republican Action Against Drugs (RAAD) and other small republican groups merged with it, the group has been called the New IRA; although it continues to call itself simply "the Irish Republican Army".
This is the Timeline of Irish National Liberation Army actions, an Irish republican socialist paramilitary group. Most of these actions took place as part of its 1975–1998 campaign during "the Troubles" in Northern Ireland. The INLA did not start claiming responsibility for its actions under the INLA name until January 1976 at which point they had already killed 12 people, before then they used the names People's Liberation Army (PLA) and People's Republican Army (PRA) to claim its attacks.
This is a chronology of activities by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) from 1980 to 1989. For actions before and after this period see Chronology of Provisional Irish Republican Army actions.
This is a chronology of activities by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), from 1992 to 1999.
Óglaigh na hÉireann is a small dissident Irish republican paramilitary group that took part in the dissident Irish Republican campaign. The organisation started carrying out attacks around 2009 and was formed after a split within the Real IRA, led by Seamus McGrane.
The dissident Irish republican campaign began at the end of the Troubles, a 30-year political conflict in Northern Ireland. Since the Provisional Irish Republican Army called a ceasefire and ended its campaign in 1997, breakaway groups opposed to the ceasefire and to the peace agreements have continued a low-level armed campaign against the security forces in Northern Ireland. The main paramilitaries involved are the Real IRA, Continuity IRA and formerly Óglaigh na hÉireann. They have targeted the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and the British Army in gun and bomb attacks as well as with mortars and rockets. They have also carried out bombings that are meant to cause disruption. However, their campaign has not been as intensive as the Provisional IRA's, and political support for groups such as the Real IRA is "tending towards zero".
From 6 to 11 July 1997 there were mass protests, fierce riots and gun battles in Irish nationalist districts of Northern Ireland. Irish nationalists/republicans, in some cases supported by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), attacked the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and British Army. The protests and violence were sparked by the decision to allow the Orange Order to march through a Catholic/nationalist neighbourhood of Portadown. Irish nationalists were outraged by the decision and by the RUC's aggressive treatment of those protesting against the march. There had been a bitter dispute over the march for many years.
On 11 August 1970, two Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers were killed by a booby-trap bomb planted under a car by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) near Crossmaglen, in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. They were the first RUC officers to be killed by republicans during the Troubles and the first security forces to be killed in South Armagh, an IRA stronghold for much of the conflict.
The Charlemont pub attacks were co-ordinated militant Loyalist paramilitary attacks on two pubs in the small village of Charlemont, County Armagh, Northern Ireland, carried out by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) on the 15 May 1976. The attacks have been attributed to the Glenanne gang which was a coalition of right-wing Loyalist paramilitaries and subversive members inside the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), the Ulster Defense Regiment (UDR) and the British Army.
This is a timeline of actions by the Official Irish Republican Army, an Irish republican & Marxist-Leninist paramilitary group. Most of these actions took place as part of a Guerrilla campaign against the British Army & Royal Ulster Constabulary and internal Irish Republican feuds with the Provisional IRA & Irish National Liberation Army from the early 1970s - to the mid-1970s during the most violent phase of "the Troubles" in Northern Ireland.
