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Irish Republican Army FBI Files

2,871 pages of FBI files covering the Irish Republican Army and
activities in the U.S. with links or possible links to the Irish
Republican Army.

Prior to the Easter Rebellion of 1916, the last significant rising in

Ireland against the British had been the Fenian Rising in 1867. After
the failure of that attempt, the vast majority of Irish nationalists
attempted to work through constitutional means to secure some form
of independence, typically a home rule bill from the British
government. Despite this attempt, however, there was still an
undercurrent of activity by those who would resort to physical force to
achieve their ends.

The Irish nationalists had traditionally attempted to wage open,

positional warfare against the English forces. In this vein, the modern
series of uprisings began in 1798 with the United Irishmen, inspired
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and led by Wolfe Tone. This coincided with an attempted landing and
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invasion of Ireland by French forces. This rebellion was crushed
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rapidly by the English. A few years later, in 1803, Robert Emmet led
GO another abortive rising. This was followed by the First Fenian Rising
in 1848, which occurred subsequent to the massive emigration and
starvation of the potato famine years. Fenians was the popular name
for a group known officially as the Irish Republican Brotherhood
(IRB). Once again, the English forces easily quelled this uprising,
that had attempted to wage conventional warfare by seizing positions
Search and attempting to hold them. The final rising of the nineteenth
century was the Fenian Rising of 1867. This rising, too, was rapidly
crushed, and many of the Fenians were imprisoned. A few of the
surviving Fenians, however, subsequently experimented with new
forms of physical violence. The aftermath of the 1867 incident was
one prison breakout, an assassination, and a rash of bombing attacks
in England. These were the isolated storm clouds and harbingers of
an entirely new approach to violent resistance to English control of
Ireland.

The Easter Rising of April 1916 was timed to coincide with a bank
holiday (Easter Monday) and the arrival of a German arms shipment.
The plotters planned on a nationwide rising, and to cover the assembly
of the Volunteers and the Citizen Army, a long holiday weekend of
training activities was scheduled. Many members of the Irish
Volunteers, however, did not know that a rising was intended, and the
plotters were limited in their assembly of manpower to the Irish
Republican Brotherhood and its close associates. Beginning shortly
after the apprehension of the last rebels, a series of court-martials
were held, and many of the rebel leaders were hastily shot, including
all those who had signed the Proclamation of the Irish Republic.
James Connolly, because of the wounds he had received in the rising,
had to be shot while strapped in a chair. After a trial in England that
invoked an archaic Norman-era statute, Sir Roger Casement was hung
for treason. In reaction to the severity of this British response,
however, the tide of public opinion in Ireland began to shift swiftly.

The IVF (soon to be known widely as the Irish Republican Army) was
reorganized and began clandestine training in a new style of hit-and-

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run warfare. Meanwhile, Michael Collins, appointed as director of

intelligence, began to examine the security and intelligence structure
of the British administration in Ireland. Once Collins had built a file
of potential targets, he recruited a special squad of twelve hard young
men, known as the Twelve Apostles, to carry out executions. Just as
Collins attempted to do thorough investigative work to identify his
targets, he and the squad did extremely detailed planning to conduct
the actual assassinations. The general method was to follow the target
to establish his habits and patterns of action. Then, a team of two to
four gunmen was selected to conduct the attack. The attack was
planned to provide the greatest possibility of success and to allow for
a subsequent escape.

When the Irish Free State was established in 1922, the IRA remained
a force of opposition to Ireland's status of being under the dominion of
Great Britain and the separation of Northern Ireland. During the early
years of the Free State, the IRA was responsible for numerous
bombings, raids, and street battles on both sides of the Irish border.

The popularity and effectiveness of the IRA began to decline first

when former IRA supporter Eamon De Valera took the helm of the
Irish Free State in 1932. As time went on internal fighting, the public's
lessening of tolerance for violence, pro-German sentiment in years
before World War II, and increased autonomy of the Republic of
Ireland, lead to a decline in status of the IRA and its being outlawed
by both Irish governments. This drove the IRA underground, causing
it to become a secret organization. In 1950's the IRA was responsible
for bombings in Belfast, London, and the Ulster border region.
Attacks stepped up in 1956 and 1957. IRA actions grew sparse until
he late 1960's.

On August 12, 1969, the Battle of the Bogside took place in Derry,
when the Orange Apprentice Boys of Londonderry held a parade.
Rioting broke out and 1,000 police arrived to contain the crowd.
Bogside marks a pivitol point where the troubles in Ireland moved
away from civil rights issues and toward religious and national
identities. A few days later, the British Army arrived to maintain
order.

In 1969 the IRA split into two groups, the majority, or "officials" and
the "provisionals." The "officials" advocated a united Ireland, but
disavowed terrorist activities. The "provisionals" claimed that
terrorism was necessary to achieve unification. In the early 1970's the
British Government began imposing additional martial law rules over
Northern Ireland. The "provisionals" then began a systematic terrorist
campaign in Northern Ireland. In 1972 the "provisionals" extended
their terrorism to England.

On January 30, 1972, known as "Bloody Sunday," during a civil rights

march in Derry involving thousands of people, British paratroopers
shot and killed thirteen Roman Catholics. Two months later the
British government abolished Northern Ireland's Stormont Parliament
and established direct rule. On July 21, 1972, known as "Bloody
Friday", the IRA detonated 26 bombs in Belfast killing nine and
injuring 130. The "provisionals" extended their terrorism campaign to
England, culminating into the 1974 bombing of a Birmingham pub
that killed nineteen. In 1974 the Northern Ireland Emergency
Provision Act of 1973 was amended making the Ulster Volunteer
Force and Sinn Fein legal organizations. From 1974 to 1975 a cease-
fire was declared as secret negotiations between the Provisional IRA
and the British security forces took place. The IRA believed this

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would be followed by a British withdrawal from Northern Ireland. In

December of 1975 Britain began to prosecute Irish prisoners they had
been holding with trial.

In March 1976, Britain ended Special Category status for those

convicted of terrorist acts and declared that they were to be treated as
ordinary criminals. In September Kieran Nugent, a Provisional IRA
member is the first prisoner convicted and not given Special Category
status. He refuses to wear a uniform and wears a blanket to
differentiate himself from the other prisoners. This became known as
the "Blanket Protest." In August 1978 Cardinal O'Fiaich visited Maze
Prison and protests the unsanitary conditions. Three hundred
Republican prisoners refuse to wear prison clothes and demand
Special Category status. Protesters wear only blankets and smear the
walls in their cells with excrement.

On August 27, 1979, Lord Mountbatten, the uncle of Queen Elizabeth

II, is murdered along with three others when his boat is blown up by
an IRA bomb. In October 1980, Tommy McKearney and six other
IRA members start the first prison hunger strike demanding the right
to wear their own clothes. On March 1, 1981. Bobby Sands begins a
new hunger strike on the fifth anniversary of the ending of Special
Category status. On April 9, 1981, forty days into his hunger strike,
Sands is elected to parliament, winning the seat for Fermanagh-South
Tyrone. On May 5, 1981, Bobby Sands dies on 66th day of his hunger
strike. His death causes rioting in Northern Ireland and in the
Republic of Ireland. One-hundred-thousand attend his funeral. The
next day, provisional IRA prisoner, Joe McDonnell starts a hunger
strike to take the place of Sands. Another nine IRA members starve
themselves to death.

On November 15, 1985 the Anglo-Irish Agreement is signed by Prime

Minister Margaret Thatcher and Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald. It
establishes an Inter-Governmental Conference to deal with political
matters, security, and legal matters and the promotion of cross-border
cooperation. This sets in motion years of movements back and forth
toward a political solution to the Irish-British Crisis.

The files date from 1939 to 1976. Files contain approximately 1,200
pages of discernable memos.

Highlights from the files include:

A 1939 report accounts the history of the IRA and connections to Irish
Americans in the United States. Files show concern in the late 1930's
and early 1940's that anti-British sentiment by Irish Americans might
be used by a German fifth column to foster sabotage and subversion in
the United States. FBI memos concerning Cornelius Neenan, also
known as Connie Neenan. Neenan was the former head of the Irish
Republican Army in the United States and the founder of the U.S.
Irish hospital sweepstakes. Information on organizations such as the
Irish Northern Aid Committee and the Irish-American social
organization Clan Na Gael. FBI memorandums Concerning Joseph
McGarrity. Joe McGarrity was a leader of the Philadelphia district of
Clan-na-Gael. Documents concerning former IRA chief Sean Russell.
Memos show confusion over whether Sean Russell was alive or dead
and whether he was in the United States or if he had left. Memos
show that when the July 31, 1943 edition of the Irish Advocate printed
an article stating that an individual who had recently died had left

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$100 in her will to the Irish Republican Army, this launched an FBI
investigation to determine how the money would be transferred to the
IRA in the hope that it would reveal methods of transmission of funds
from America to the IRA in Ireland. Memos show that an undercover
FBI agent was able to attend a closed meeting of the IRA-Clan Na Gal
held in New York City in 1944. Memos document pro-IRA
demonstrations held in the San Francisco area in the early 1970's and
possible interest by New Left groups in the IRA cause.

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