Another nationalist group was NORAID, established in the 1970’s to the 1980’s. NORAID was a group, which still support the provisional IRA, from America after the Easter Rising (also called Easter rebellion) (1916), republican insurrection in Ireland against British government there, which began on Easter Monday, April 24, 1916, in Dublin. Patrick Pearse, Tom Clarke, and several other leaders of the Irish Republican Brotherhood planned the insurrection, which was a revolutionary society within the nationalist organization called the Irish Volunteers.
NORAID raised an estimated £4 million for the provisional IRA around the time of the 1970’s and 1982. Members of NORAID admitted to illegally smuggling arms to Northern Ireland to help fight the unionist protestants.
One member who helped to pay towards this was Pat Guerin a catholic American who knows that his money will go towards the weapons and ammunition that will kill somebody. Pat thinks, “ We cannot do enough to liberate the people of Northern Ireland as far as I am concerned” He believes that until the British unionists leave Northern Ireland then the next generation of The Irish Northern Aid Committee will not stop sending money to Ireland. Pat believes that all the blood on the streets of Ireland is not high price to pay. NORAID now has it is own bank account, a registered charity account to help the IRA. At the head quarters of NORAID in New York, they never talk about buying weapons to help Northern Ireland.
There are many demonstrations, including the St Patrick’s Day parade in New York.
It is more than an ethnic display of pride; it is also a political posture with over ten thousand walking the two miles of the Fifth Avenue in green sweaters, green neckties, silly green hats and even a few with their hair died green. (The independent, March 1989.)
It is a festival where people will get drunk and hum the tune “Mac-Namara’s Band.” In America, it is taken more seriously than anywhere else is in the world even Ireland. In America, there is even a special march in Manhattan lead by the mayor. (The independent, March 2000.)
Most of the arms the IRA has have been smuggled from the United States of America.
American supporters offer most of the weaponry and ammunition the provisional IRA has. One of the weapons they class as the most important is the American Armalite or also know as ′the widow maker′. It has been a key part in the IRA’s success since 1969. It is known to the U.S army as the M16 and can cause tremendous damage i.e. piercing a flak jacket at 500 yards. It is the supporting version of the Armalite AR15, which has managed to reach Ulster in large quantities, weighing only a staggering 7Ib., it is the IRA’s favourite weapon because it can be dismantled and reassembled, and is easy to hide away and to get to places in ′disguise′. It has proved an ideal weapon for the urban guerrilla and ′single-shot sniper′ in Ulster. 80% of Armalites have been of US origin. (Information from the article by Godfrey Baker in ′the spectator′ November 1975.)
American Armalites were amongst the huge seizing of weapons taken from the fishing vessel, ′Marita Anne′ by the Irish Navy on its way to help the Nationalists in Ireland.
There are many politicians in the fight for the Irish settlement including people like Gerry Adams, John Hume and ex presidents Jimmy Carter, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, and Bill Clinton.
John Hume of the Social Democratic and Labour Party has been responsible for getting the support of American politicians including some who are not Irish-American.
He chose support from the Americans in hope and wishful thinking in that they will put pressure on the British to make changes in Northern Ireland. Ex president, Kennedy believes that Britain is partly to blame and that they should work towards leaving Northern Ireland.
On The 30th January 1994 ex president, Bill Clinton lifted the twenty-year ban despite British urgings, and granted Gerry Adams the president of Sinn Fein a visa to visit America for a conference on Northern Ireland. The visa will allow him to launch a media storm on behalf of the republicans, but not to raise funds. (The Guardian, 31st January 1994).
Sinn Fein has been given it’s own little pot of gold by Washington. It has been fundraising legally now and donations are estimated to raise a million dollars in its first year. Nevertheless, the money is miniscule compared by the amounts given to Ireland by the US government, which is backing up its political pressure with economic aid. Clinton has promised twenty million dollars for the international fund for Ireland in 1995 but has offered a further sixty million dollars over the next two years. (The Observer, 3rd December 1995). Bill Clinton made it clear that Gerry Adams would have to decommission his weapons in order to try to save the Good Friday agreement. (The Guardian, 13th January 2000).
I think the role of America in Irish affairs has caused more trouble than anything because they have helped Ireland financially by providing them money, which in my opinion has helped to by their weapons, but President Clinton has helped by trying to get the peace process moving again.