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Backgrounder: IRA Splinter Groups (U.K., separatists) (Continuity Irish Republican Army, Real IRA, Irish National Liberation Army)

Council on Foreign Relations

Author: Holly Fletcher

Updated: May 21, 2008

Introduction

Northern Ireland's sectarian conflict, which raged most seriously from 1969 to 1998, pitted Protestant "unionists," who want to maintain their link with London, against Roman Catholic "nationalists" or "republicans," who want to reunite Northern Ireland with the independent Republic of Ireland. The provisional Irish Republican Army, a terrorist group, conducted a violent struggle against British rule for three decades until it sued for peace at the end of the 1990s. When its leadership adopted a policy of negotiating with British authorities, several splinter groups emerged, and they remain committed to removing British influence from Northern Ireland and sabotaging the peace process through violence. The most serious of them are the Real IRA and Continuity Irish Republican Army, both listed as active terrorist groups in the U.S. State Department's 2007 Country Report. Neither group has mounted a large-scale attack since 1998, yet both continue to engage in smaller attacks, including shootings and firebombings, in an effort to derail the relative peace that has been in place since the Belfast Agreement was signed that year. A third group, the Irish National Liberation Army, dates to the Cold War and clings to a Marxist ideology that has left it largely irrelevant today.

Real IRA

The Real IRA (RIRA) was formed in 1997 by hard-liners who opposed the negotiations being pursued by the provisional IRA and its political wing, Sinn Fein. Real IRA hoped to derail the peace process and further the reunification movement by continuing terrorist activities. British authorities say the Real IRA is recruiting new members, increasing its intelligence gathering capabilities, and continuing its armed campaign against British presence in Northern Ireland.

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Copyright 2008 by the Council on Foreign Relations. This material is republished on GlobalSecurity.org with specific permission from the cfr.org. Reprint and republication queries for this article should be directed to cfr.org.