The Provisional IRA: From Insurrection to Parliament

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The 'Blanketmen', as protesting republicans became known, later started a no-wash protest, which included smearing excrement on their cell walls, as demands for a return of political status intensified. A major concern for the establishment will be to contain the disaffected, that disturbingly large number of people who voted for Sinn Fein and/or left-wing candidates. While coercion is an option, it is not the first choice. The more sophisticated strategy of shaping the opposition is favoured. It worked in Britain and no doubt it will be tried here. The full article is well worth reading, albeit deeply alarming for Northern unionists, with Osborne arguing that Scotland is vital to the sustainability of the United Kingdom while Northern Ireland is not.¹

Writing later, the socialist republican Peadar O’Donnell made the incisive observation that “the middle class, which lurked in the shadow of the republican movement from its rise to popularity, was no part of the freedom forces; it had no aim that could not be realised in Home Rule within the British Empire.”

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Whether the ruling class here and in Britain are familiar with the thinking of the late Seán Murray is doubtful, but we can be sure that on this one point they at least share his analysis. Mícheál Martin may fluster and prevaricate while the DUP growl and fulminate about reunification, but there’s little doubt that the permanent government or the deep state is making pragmatic calculations. They are aware that constitutional change is inevitable, and are determined to shape the resulting governing institutions and economic system. Ireland, in terms of global military power, is a minnow. With a tiny population and a small economy relatively speaking, it is nonsense, dangerous nonsense to believe we would make a significant impact on any global conflict. On the other hand, by embedding ourselves on one side or the other, Ireland would make its infrastructure and by extension our people, a target. A belligerent intent on degrading our infrastructure would strike Shannon airport, the Curragh and high-tech centres in Dublin. The resulting, widespread destruction would be unimaginable.

Undoubtedly, official Britain is keeping a watchful eye on these developments. London always has a keen interest in what is happening in a country a few miles off its western shores—not that Ireland is any military or financial threat to British interests. Moreover, the old Empire’s decline as a global superpower has actually reduced the risk of Ireland being used as a springboard for invasion. Ken Maginness’s UDR career is discussed. He recruited soldiers from the ranks of those he taught whilst a schoolteacher. Maginness survived 11 attempts on his life, and is clearly hugely proud of the UDR and its role in the conflict: He spent 53 days on hunger strike, from 27 October to 18 December and, according to a doctor had only a few hours left to live when the strike was called off. [13] Split from Provisional IRA A way must be found to convince unionists, and particularly working-class unionists, that change is becoming virtually inevitable and, thereafter, that it is in their self-interest to influence positively how this change takes place and where it leads.

While the UDR became, by the time PIRA was defeated in 1996, the epitome of efficiency in fighting terrorism that was not always the case.”