What have the IRA done to unite Eire and Northern Ireland since 1972

Lisa Dougherty 11W

The IRA have used a combination of peaceful, sometimes political tactics and also violent vicious tactics in order to unite Eire and Northern Ireland. In order to understand these tactics we must look at them in greater detail.

The IRA was founded in 1858 they were formally known as the Irish Republican Brotherhood and later became the Irish Republican Army in 1972. In 1969 a single group broke away, forming the Provisional IRA. This terrorist group was a younger group than the former IRA, and was said to also become a more powerful group. In 1971 a provisional IRA member shot dead a British Soldier, the first to be killed in Northern Ireland since 1969. This caused Internment to be brought into action. This meant any Catholic who caused any protest; violence or disruptions in Northern Ireland were imprisoned. This resulted in more people disliking the British and supporting the IRA.

In 1972 an illegal Civil Rights March held in Derry against the use of Internment ended in great violence with many injured and 13 dead, many of these being catholic marchers. After the events of Bloody Sunday on the 30th of January 1972, support for the IRA rapidly increased.

In 1972 the British government imposed directed rule of Northern Ireland. The campaign was fought on two fronts. The political front by Sinn Fein and the military front by the IRA.

The IRA used Guerrilla warfare tactics and still do today. This means they used irregular attacks, mostly at night wearing ...

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In 1972 the British government imposed directed rule of Northern Ireland. The campaign was fought on two fronts. The political front by Sinn Fein and the military front by the IRA.

The IRA used Guerrilla warfare tactics and still do today. This means they used irregular attacks, mostly at night wearing disguises or masks to keep their identities secret. Such attacks could cause great destruction and often death. The IRA’s targets have been Ambassadors, MP’s and other famous people for example on 14th November 1981 Robert Bradford, a Unionist MP was murdered by the IRA in Belfast. By targeting important and famous people this has shown the IRA as a very powerful terrorist group. The IRA is known for conducting bombing campaigns in Northern Ireland and also in Britain. On the 20th July 1982 a bomb in Hyde Park in London killed 8 soldiers and 7 horses during a parade and in March 1993, a bomb planted by the IRA went off and killed two children in Warrington. Other targets of the IRA have been famous shops and buildings. In December 1983 a bomb exploded outside Harrods in London, killing 5 people and injuring 80. This caused good publicity for the IRA as people would not go to London. The IRA also targeted the London stock exchange, House of commons, and the Bank of England.

As well as the violent approaches the IRA also used more peaceful approaches in order to capture the sympathy of the public. In 1981, Republican prisoners at the Maize jail demanded political status and began a protest, which grew into a hunger strike. Bobby Sands agreed to lead the hunger strike. Bobby realised that someone would have to die to win political status. At 1:17am on Tuesday 5th May after 65 days of the hunger strike Bobby died. Nine others also died during the hunger strikes, they were willing to sacrifice their lives in order to gain publicity for the IRA. Another way of creating sympathy was to publicise the hunger strikes, marches and internment in order to get the public attention. Some of the things that were publicised were the use of internment and the imprisonment of Catholics in the H blocks. They got lots of media attention from America and other countries around the world, which is what they wanted. These countries agreed with the IRA and thought Britain had no rights to rule Northern Ireland. They also held marches in peaceful protest but some just resorted back to violence.

The IRA declared a cease-fire on 31st August 1994. However they refused to hand over their weapons, because of this Sinn Fein (a political party set up in 1905) were not allowed to take part in the talks about the uniting of Ireland. The IRA did not feel the cease-fire was improving their chances of reuniting Ireland and they ended it 17 months later on 9th February 1996. They exploded a bomb in London Docklands killing two innocent people.

The IRA got a lot of public sympathy from around the world by events such as Bloody Sunday, however this sympathy has been lost even by Irish Catholics by the number of innocent people who have been killed in Britain and Ireland. Ireland is still not united to this day however peaceful talks are underway.