Irish Republican Army

The Irish Republican Army appears in 697. The Troubles: Murder in Belfast (Part 1) as an organization that never fully disappeared after the Irish civil war, even when reduced to a few hundred active members. The episode cites the 1939 S-Plan bombing campaign, wartime crackdowns by London and Dublin, the failed 1956 border campaign, and Cathal Goulding’s later Marxist turn as the pre-1968 republican background.

698. The Troubles: The Brink of Civil War (Part 2) then presents the IRA as both a remembered republican threat and a limited armed presence during the 1968-1969 escalation. The source also stresses that some attacks blamed on the IRA were not IRA attacks. Infrastructure bombings that helped bring down Terence O’Neill are attributed to the UVF and aligned loyalist networks, making the IRA label part of Paramilitary Spoiler Violence and propaganda as well as an armed organization.

699. The Troubles: Return of the IRA (Part 3) turns the IRA branch into an organizational split. The Official IRA remains tied to Cathal Goulding’s Marxist turn and an arms cache in the Falls Curfew sequence, while the Provisional IRA becomes the growing armed force that wins credibility at Short Strand, recruits after army and internment abuses, and receives support through NORAID and Irish-state-adjacent channels.

Connections

• Northern Ireland, Belfast, Cathal Goulding, Derry Citizens Defence Association, Battle of the Bogside, Official IRA, and Provisional IRA - source setting, republican direction, and defense networks.
• Ian Paisley, UVF, Ulster Protestant Volunteers, NICRA, Sinn Fein, and NORAID - accusation, sabotage, politics, and support overlap.