The Irish Republican Army, popularly known as the IRA (short for Irish Republican Army), was one of the most active terrorist groups of the 20th century. His performance was marked by the formation of paramilitary groups that planned several terrorist attacks against their biggest target: England. Opposition to the English nation was primarily motivated by the interest in making Northern Ireland a region politically independent of England.
Another issue that motivated the action of this group also had to do with the religious differences found in the Northern Irish territory. The majority of the population – around 60% – was a practitioner of Protestant Christianity and, therefore, ended up imposing their customs and political interests in opposition to a minority of Catholics. With that, part of this religious minority saw in the nationalist, military and anti-British discourse a way of political affirmation.
Throughout its history, the IRA was responsible for more than 3500 deaths and tarnished the famous English diplomatic reputation with the resistance of its members. In the year 2005, after a series of negotiation attempts, the IRA declared the end of its “armed struggle”. However, in late 2007, a group that called itself an integral part of the Irish nationalist movement tried to install a bomb near a police station.
In May 2008, a new bomb attack linked to the IRA injured a police officer. These two episodes ended up confusing public opinion. After all, has the IRA ended or is it still a latent threat? In fact, the vast majority who swelled the ranks of the Irish movement came to the conclusion that the path of armed struggle no longer made sense. However, the 2005 ceasefire declaration ended up establishing a “split” that split the IRA into three different factions.
The first and largest of these factions is the so-called Provisional IRA. Between 1969 and 1997, this group was responsible for a series of terrorist actions, guerrilla outbreaks and attacks that took place in England and Northern Ireland itself. In its heyday, the Provisional IRA became the largest organization on the European continent. However, the beginning of negotiations in the 1990s dismantled the provisional group's assault actions.
Initial dialogues took place between the various North Irish political groups and the UK government. One of the most expressive avenues of negotiation was established with the Sinn Fein party, which politically represented Irish separatist tendencies. In 1996, more radical groups refused to recognize the British political effort and therefore carried out a series of small attacks. The following year, this same group founded the so-called Royal IRA.
The Royal IRA (also known as the RIRA or True IRA) established a second moment of internal political disruption within the Irish terrorist movement. In 1986, disputes over political control of the Irish Republican Army gave rise to an earlier splinter group called The Continuity Group (popularly known as the CIRA). The two recent attacks attributed to the IRA were engineered by these two disruptive groups. In fact, the "Real" and "Continuity" group constitute a small minority that does not believe in a peaceful resolution to the problem between the Irish and the British.
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XXI century - War - Brazil School
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
SOUSA, Rainer Gonçalves. "The IRA today"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/guerras/o-ira-na-atualidade.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.
