(IRA), unofficial semimilitary organization based in the Republic of Ireland. Hopes were high in Ireland in 1997 that the Irish Republican Army's cease-fire had the potential to change the lives of people in Northern Ireland, where coexistence with the IRA had been a fact of life for more than half a century. During much of its existence the organization sponsored varying degrees of warfare in its attempt to end British rule in Northern Ireland. The IRA was criticized for using terrorist tactics, but its members believed there was no other way to convince the British government that Ireland should be a unified country with an independent government.
The history of the English presence in Ireland is a long and contentious one, dating back to the 12th century when the English first arrived. Acts of rebellion against the English occurred frequently, but the English continued to consolidate their power over the island--particularly in the northern province of Ulster--culminating in the merging of Ireland and Great Britain to create the United Kingdom in 1801.
Continued acts of rebellion, notably those of the Fenian revolutionary movement among exiled Irish in the United States and England in the 1860s, convinced British Prime Minister William Gladstone of the need for reform, though his home rule bills failed to pass through Parliament. In 1912 the Ulster Volunteer Force, consisting of Ulster men loyal to Britain, was formed to resist home rule. They were countered by a group called the Irish Volunteers, formed in 1913.
The Irish Volunteers were tested sorely in the uprising that took place on Easter Monday in 1916. The uprising was rapidly and violently quelled by the British government, which proceeded to execute more than a dozen of the Irish Volunteers' leaders. Public opposition to the harsh treatment of the volunteers led to victory in the 1918 elections by the nationalist Sinn Fein party, which was headed by one of the survivors of the Easter Rising, Eamon de Valera. De Valera set up a provisional Irish government and an Irish parliament, called the Dail Eireann. The IRA was established to support the claims of the self-proclaimed state.
From 1919 to 1921 during the struggle for independence, the IRA sponsored ambushes and other guerrilla activities, forcing the British to negotiate a political settlement. The result was the division of Ireland into the predominantly Protestant Northern Ireland, consisting of six of the counties of Ulster, and the Irish Free State, consisting of the rest of the island, which was primarily Roman Catholic. The Irish Free State was to be a sovereign state within the British Commonwealth while Northern Ireland would remain part of the United Kingdom. Many in Ireland were dissatisfied with this arrangement. The ensuing conflict within the IRA set two factions against each other. One of the IRA's founders, Michael Collins, a signer of the treaty, was assassinated by members of his own army.
The IRA found intolerable the British presence, especially that of the military, in Northern Ireland. Sinn Fein also wanted the British out of Ireland. Sinn Fein was considered to be the political wing of the IRA. Most Sinn Fein officials, however, denied that they had any leverage or control over the IRA.
In 1931 the IRA was declared illegal, and any members caught by officials were to be imprisoned. In 1939 the Dail Eireann passed legislation allowing internment without trial after the IRA organized a series of bombings in England. Authorities of the Irish Free State arrested five IRA leaders and executed them after a brief trial. In 1948 the Irish Free State withdrew from the British Commonwealth and formed a republic. The IRA then set as its goal the unification of the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland.
During the 1960s resistance grew in Northern Ireland against the continued occupation by the British, and demonstrations were staged.
This resulted in another split within the IRA over how much violence to
use. The official IRA wanted a union of the north and the south, Protestant
and Roman Catholic, in a socialist Irish republic but the IRA was not dedicated
to terrorist means to achieve this end. The splinter group, formed in 1969,
was known as the Provisional IRA, or Provos. Their tactics included terrorist
activities, bombings, and assassinations, in order to remove the British
from Northern Ireland. Sinn Fein at the same time was using local and national
political channels and elections to effect the same change. Among the terrorist
acts of the Provos in the 1970s was the 1979 assassination of the British
naval official Louis Mountbatten, a member of the British royal family.
During the 1980s the provisional IRA staged protests and hunger strikes,
including a 1981 hunger strike that resulted in the deaths of ten protesters.
None of these efforts produced satisfactory results.
In 1993 there was a breakthrough. Many parties to the conflict signed the Downing Street Declaration. The British and Irish governments and parties in Northern Ireland and the south of the country agreed to talks to end the conflict. In August 1994 the IRA declared a cease-fire. It lasted for nearly 18 months during which there were no terrorist activities, bombings, or related assassinations. A bombing in February 1996 in London broke the cease-fire, and planned talks were canceled. The IRA leadership claimed that it could not trust the British government to negotiate in good faith. Sinn Fein, led at the time by Gerry Adams, was barred from negotiations after the cease-fire was broken.
A year later the IRA declared another cessation of violence. Peace talks were planned, and members of Sinn Fein were expected to be invited to participate for the first time. The 17,000 British troops in Northern Ireland eased their patrols, and negotiations were scheduled to take place in Belfast in the fall.