Real Irish Republican Army
The Real Irish Republican Army, or Real IRA, 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 Real IRA waged a campaign in Northern Ireland against the Police Service of Northern Ireland—formerly the Royal Ulster Constabulary—and the British Army. It was the largest and most active of the "dissident republican" paramilitary groups operating against the British security forces. It targeted the security forces in firearm attacks and bombings, and with grenades, mortars and rockets.
The Real IRA was also responsible for bombings in Northern Ireland and England with the goal of causing economic harm and disruption, the most notable being the 1998 Omagh bombing, which killed 29 people. After that bombing, the Real IRA went on ceasefire, but resumed operations in 2000. In March 2009 it claimed responsibility for an attack on Massereene Barracks which killed two British soldiers, the first to be killed in Northern Ireland since 1997. The Real IRA has also been involved in attacks on drug dealers.
In July 2012, it was reported that Republican Action Against Drugs and other small republican militant groups were merging with the Real IRA. This new entity was named the New IRA by the media but members continue to identify themselves as simply "the Irish Republican Army". Small pockets of the Real IRA that did not merge with the New IRA continue to have a presence in the Republic of Ireland, particularly in Cork and to a lesser extent in Dublin.
Origins
In July 1997, the Provisional IRA called a ceasefire. On 10 October 1997, a Provisional IRA General Army Convention was held in Falcarragh, County Donegal. At the convention, Provisional IRA Quartermaster General Michael McKevitt—also a member of the 12-person Provisional IRA Executive—denounced the leadership and called for an end to the group's ceasefire and to its participation in the Northern Ireland peace process. He was backed by his partner and fellow Executive member Bernadette Sands McKevitt. The two dissidents were outmanoeuvred by the leadership and were left isolated. The convention backed the pro-ceasefire line, and on 26 October McKevitt and Sands McKevitt resigned from the Executive along with other members.In November 1997, McKevitt and other dissidents held a meeting in a farmhouse in Oldcastle, County Meath, and a new organisation, styling itself Óglaigh na hÉireann, was formed. The organisation attracted disaffected Provisional IRA members from the republican stronghold of South Armagh, as well as Dublin, Belfast, Limerick, Tipperary, County Louth, County Tyrone and County Monaghan.
The name "Real IRA" entered common usage when in early 1998 members set up a roadblock in Jonesborough, County Armagh, and told motorists "We're from the IRA. The real IRA".
Objectives
The RIRA's objective is a united Ireland by forcing the end of British sovereignty over Northern Ireland through the use of physical force. The organisation rejects the Mitchell Principles and the Good Friday Agreement, comparing the latter to the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty which resulted in the partition of Ireland. The organisation aims to uphold an uncompromising form of Irish republicanism and opposes any political settlement that falls short of Irish unity and independence.Bernadette Sands McKevitt, sister of hunger striker Bobby Sands and a founder of the RIRA's political wing, the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, said in an interview that her brother "did not die for cross-border bodies with executive powers. He did not die for nationalists to be equal British citizens within the Northern Ireland state". The RIRA adopted a tactic of bombing town centres to damage the economic infrastructure of Northern Ireland. The organisation also attacks members of the security forces using land mines, home-made mortars and car bombs, and has also targeted England using incendiary devices and car bombs to "spread terror and disruption".
Campaign
Early campaign
The organisation's first action was an attempted bombing in Banbridge, County Down on 7 January 1998. The intention was to explode a car bomb, but this was thwarted when the bomb was defused by security forces. The RIRA continued its campaign in late February with bombings in Moira, County Down and Portadown, County Armagh. On 9 May the organisation announced its existence, in a coded telephone call to Belfast media claiming responsibility for a mortar attack on a police station in Belleek, County Fermanagh.The RIRA also carried out attacks in Newtownhamilton and Newry, and a second attack in Banbridge on 1 August injured 35 people and caused £3.5 million of damage when a car bomb exploded. Despite these attacks the organisation lacked a significant base and was heavily infiltrated by informers. This led to a series of high-profile arrests and seizures by the Garda Síochána in the first half of 1998; these involved the death of RIRA member Rónán Mac Lochlainn who was shot dead trying to escape from police, following an attempted robbery of a security van in County Wicklow.
Omagh bombing
On 15 August 1998, the RIRA left a car containing 500 lb of home-made explosives in the centre of Omagh, County Tyrone. The bombers could not find a parking space near the intended target of the courthouse, and the car was left 400 metres away. As a result, three inaccurate telephone warnings were issued, and the Royal Ulster Constabulary believed the bomb was located outside the courthouse. They attempted to establish a security cordon to keep civilians clear of the area, which inadvertently pushed people closer to the location of the bomb. Shortly after, the bomb exploded killing 29 people and injuring 220 others, in what became the single deadliest strike of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.The bombing caused a major outcry throughout the world, and the Irish and British governments introduced new legislation in an attempt to destroy the organisation. The RIRA also came under pressure from the Provisional IRA, when Provisional IRA members visited the homes of 60 people connected with the RIRA and ordered them to disband and stop interfering with Provisional IRA arms dumps. With the organisation under intense pressure, which included McKevitt and Sands-McKevitt being forced from their home after the media named McKevitt in connection with the bombing, the RIRA called a ceasefire on 8 September.
Ceasefire
Following the declaration of the ceasefire the RIRA began to regroup, and by the end of October had elected a new leadership and were planning their future direction. In late December, Irish government representative Martin Mansergh held a meeting with McKevitt in Dundalk, in an attempt to convince McKevitt to disband the RIRA. McKevitt refused, stating that members would be left defenceless against attacks by the Provisional IRA. In 1999, the RIRA began preparations for a renewed campaign, and in May three members travelled to Split in Croatia to purchase arms, which were smuggled back to Ireland. On 20 October, ten people were arrested when Gardaí raided a RIRA training camp near Stamullen, County Meath.Officers found a firing range inside a disused wine cellar being used as an underground bunker, and seized weapons including an assault rifle, a submachine gun, a semi-automatic pistol and an RPG-18 rocket launcher. An earlier version of the rocket launcher, the RPG-7, had been in the possession of the Provisional IRA from as early as 1972, but this was the first time the RPG-18 had been found in the possession of a paramilitary organisation in Ireland.
Return to activity
On 20 January 2000, the RIRA issued a call-to-arms in a statement to the Irish News. The statement condemned the Northern Ireland Executive, and stated: "Once again, Óglaigh na hÉireann declares the right of the Irish people to the ownership of Ireland. We call on all volunteers loyal to the Irish Republic to unite to uphold the Republic and establish a permanent national parliament representative of all the people." The RIRA launched its new campaign on 25 February with an attempted bombing of Shackleton Army Barracks in Ballykelly. The bombers were disturbed as they were assembling the device, which would have caused mass murder if detonated, according to soldiers.On 29 February, a rocket launcher similar to one seized in the 1999 raid was found near an army base in Dungannon, County Tyrone, and on 15 March three men were arrested following the discovery of 500 lb of home-made explosives when the RUC searched two cars in Hillsborough, County Down. On 6 April a bomb attack took place at Ebrington Barracks in Derry. RIRA members lowered a device consisting of 5 lb of homemade explosives over the perimeter fence using ropes, and the bomb subsequently exploded damaging the fence and an unmanned guardhouse.
Bombings in England
After the Omagh bombing, the RIRA leadership were unwilling to launch a full-scale campaign in Northern Ireland due to the possibility of civilians being killed. Instead they decided to launch a series of attacks in England, in particular London, which they hoped would attract disenchanted Provisional IRA members to join the RIRA. On 1 June 2000, a bomb damaged Hammersmith Bridge, a symbolic target for Irish republican paramilitary groups. The bridge had been targeted by the Irish Republican Army on 29 March 1939 as part of its Sabotage Campaign, and by the Provisional IRA on 24 April 1996.On 19 July, security forces carried out a controlled explosion on a bomb left at Ealing Broadway station and public transport was disrupted when the Metropolitan Police closed Victoria and Paddington train stations and halted services on the London Underground. On 21 September a rocket-propelled grenade was fired at the MI6 headquarters using an RPG-22 rocket launcher, which generated headlines around the world. In November 2000, security forces foiled a plot to drive 500 lb of homemade explosives to central London that month, a bomb twice as powerful as the one in Omagh. At the time, police were warning for weeks that a terrorist attack in London could be imminent.
On 21 February 2001, a bomb disguised as a torch left outside a Territorial Army base in Shepherd's Bush seriously injured a 14-year-old cadet, who was blinded and had his hand blown off. A second attack in Shepherd's Bush, the 4 March BBC bombing, injured a civilian outside the BBC Television Centre. The explosion was captured by a BBC cameraman, and the footage was broadcast on TV stations worldwide, and gained mass publicity for the group. On 14 April, a bomb exploded at a postal sorting office in Hendon, causing minor damage but no injuries. Three weeks later on 6 May, a second bomb exploded at the same building, causing slight injuries to a passer-by. The 3 August 2001 Ealing bombing injured seven people, and on 3 November a car bomb containing 60 lb of home-made explosives was planted in the centre of Birmingham. The bomb did not fully detonate and no one was injured.