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 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), is a dissident Irish republican paramilitary group that aims to bring about a United Ireland. It 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 sees itself as the only rightful successor to the original Irish Republican Army and styles itself as simply "the Irish Republican Army" in English or Óglaigh na hÉireann in Irish. It is an illegal organisation in the Republic of Ireland and designated as a proscribed terrorist organisation in the United Kingdom and the United States.
The Troubles were an ethno-nationalist period of conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to the late 1990s. 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 the violence spilled over into parts of the Republic of Ireland, England, and mainland Europe.
The Irish National Liberation Army is an Irish republican socialist paramilitary group formed on 10 December 1974, during "the Troubles". It seeks to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and create a socialist republic encompassing all of Ireland. It is the paramilitary wing of the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP).
The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group. It emerged in 1966. Its first leader was Gusty Spence, a former British Army 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 classified as a terrorist organisation by the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland.
The Omagh bombing was a car bombing on 15 August 1998 in the town of Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. It was carried out by a group calling themselves the Real Irish Republican Army, a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) splinter group who opposed the IRA's ceasefire and the Good Friday Agreement, signed earlier in the year. The bombing killed 29 people and injured some 220 others, making it the deadliest single incident of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Telephoned warnings had been sent almost forty minutes beforehand but police inadvertently moved people toward the bomb.
A loyalist feud refers to any of the sporadic feuds which have erupted almost routinely between Northern Ireland's various loyalist paramilitary groups during and after the ethno-political conflict known as the Troubles broke out in 1969. The feuds have frequently involved problems between and within the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) as well as, later, the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF).
Irish republicanism is the political movement for the unity and independence of Ireland under a republic. Irish republicans view British rule in any part of Ireland as inherently illegitimate.
The 32 County Sovereignty Movement, often abbreviated to 32CSM or 32csm, is an Irish republican group that was founded by Bernadette Sands McKevitt. It does not contest elections but acts as a pressure group, with branches or cumainn organised throughout the traditional counties of Ireland.
Éirígí, officially Éirígí For A New Republic, is a socialist republican political party in Ireland. The party name, "Éirígí", means "Arise" or "Rise Up" in Irish, a reference to a famous speech by trade union leader James Larkin. Éirígí was formed in 2006 by a group of community and political activists.
The Massereene Barracks shooting took place at Massereene Barracks in Antrim, Northern Ireland. On 7 March 2009, two off-duty British soldiers of 38 Engineer Regiment were shot dead outside the barracks. Two other soldiers and two civilian delivery men were also shot and wounded during the attack. A dissident Irish republican paramilitary group, the Real IRA, claimed responsibility.
Dissident republicans, renegade republicans, anti-Agreement republicans or anti-ceasefire republicans are Irish republicans who do not support the current peace agreements in Northern Ireland. The agreements followed a 30-year conflict known as the Troubles, which claimed over 3,500 lives. During the conflict, republican paramilitary groups such as the Provisional Irish Republican Army waged a campaign to bring about a united Irish republic. Peace negotiations in the 1990s led to an IRA ceasefire in 1994 and to the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. Mainstream republicans, represented by Sinn Féin, supported the Agreement as a means of achieving Irish unity peacefully. 'Dissidents' saw this as an abandonment of republican ideals and acceptance of partition and British rule. They hold that the Northern Ireland Assembly and Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) are illegitimate and see the PSNI as a "British paramilitary police force".
This is a timeline of actions by the Real Irish Republican Army, also called the Real IRA, an Irish republican paramilitary group. The group was formed in late 1997 by members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army who disagreed with that organisation's ceasefire. Since June 2012, following a merger between Republican Action Against Drugs, the Real IRA and smaller republican militant groups, the new organisation has commonly been referred to as the New IRA.
Republican Action Against Drugs (RAAD) was an Irish republican vigilante group active mainly in Derry and the surrounding area, including parts of counties Londonderry and Tyrone in Northern Ireland, and parts of County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland. It targeted those who it claimed were drug dealers. The group's methods included shooting the alleged dealers in the arms and legs ; pipe bomb or arson attacks on the property of alleged dealers; and warning, threatening or banishing the alleged dealers.
This is a chronology of activities by the Provisional Irish Republican Army, an Irish republican paramilitary group from 2000 to 2009.
Óglaigh na hÉireann was the title taken by 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.
Frankie Curry nicknamed "Pigface", was an Ulster loyalist who was involved with a number of paramilitary groups during his long career. A critic of the Northern Ireland peace process, Curry was killed during a loyalist feud.
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 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".
The Newtownhamilton bombing was a carbombing carried out by the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) on 24 June 1998 in the Armagh border village of Newtownhamilton shortly after the signing of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement by the Irish government, British government Nationalist and Unionist parties as well as parties which represented Republican and Loyalist paramilitaries. The INLA and its political wing the IRSP were opposed to the agreement. The bombing was one of the last actions carried out or claimed by the INLA during the 30-year conflict known as the Troubles.
The Slovak Three were Irishmen Michael Christopher McDonald, Declan John Rafferty and Fintan Paul O'Farrell, who were members of the Real IRA. They were arrested in a sting operation in Slovakia conducted by British security agency MI5 in 2001 after they were caught attempting to buy arms for their campaign. They believed they were purchasing weapons from Iraqi intelligence agents and that Saddam Hussein was to play a role in the Real IRA similar to the one Colonel Gadaffi had in its predecessors the Provisional IRA. The three men met in Piešťany, a spa town in Western Slovakia, after months of meetings and telephone calls—all of which were intercepted and overheard by MI6. Believing its case to be now fireproof, MI5 had passed details of the men and their intentions to the Slovak authorities, who ambushed the men on the evening of 5 July 2001 after their meeting. They were arrested and imprisoned in the expectation Slovakia would receive a formal extradition request from the UK.
