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A Secret History of the IRA

Page 90

by Ed Moloney


  2. Speech by Tony Blair, British prime minister, in Belfast, Oct. 17, 2002.

  3. Speech by Tony Blair, British prime minister, in London, March 21, 2006.

  4. Notes of conversation with U.S. Department of State official, Oct. 2004.

  5. Confidential information, Dec. 2000.

  6. Northern Ireland Office, The Belfast Agreement, Chapter 7, April 10, 1998.

  7. Dean Godson, Himself Alone—David Trimble and the Ordeal of Unionism (London: HarperCollins, 2004), 347.

  8. Northern Ireland Office, The Way Forward, July 2, 1999.

  9. Notes of conversation with Department of Foreign Affairs official, Nov. 1998.

  10. Notes of conversations with republican dissidents, summer 2000.

  11. Channel Four, The Big Heist, Sept. 22, 2005.

  12. Godson, Himself Alone—David Trimble and the Ordeal of Unionism, 686.

  13. Ibid.

  14. Confidential information.

  15. Daily Telegraph, Oct. 10, 2002. Confirmed by security force source, Nov. 2005.

  16. Confidential information.

  17. Irish Times, Jan. 23, 2006.

  18. House International Relations Committee, International Global Terrorism: its links with illicit drugs as illustrated by the IRA and other groups in Colombia. Hearing on April 24, 2002.

  19. Ibid.

  20. Confidential information.

  21. Daily Telegraph, May 15, 2002.

  22. Sunday Herald, Aug. 29, 1999.

  23. Irish Times, Jan. 9, 1999.

  24. Ibid.

  25. Sunday Tribune, Jan. 31, 1999.

  26. Notes of conversation with Irish Department of Foreign Affairs official, March 1999.

  27. Michael Benson, Failed Entity, The Blanket, , Dec. 6, 2004.

  28. Sunday Tribune, Jan. 17, 1999.

  29. Godson, Himself Alone—David Trimble and the Ordeal of Unionism, 592.

  30. Ibid., 586.

  31. Ibid., 556.

  32. Interview with former republican activist, autumn 2006.

  33. Interview with senior Irish political source, Sept. 2006.

  34. Godson, Himself Alone—David Trimble and the Ordeal of Unionism, 556.

  35. Interview with General John de Chastelain, Sept. 2006.

  36. Millward Brown Ulster, The Good Friday Agreement—Latest Public Opinion, Oct. 25/26, 2000.

  37. Irish Times, March 25, 2002.

  38. Interview with security source, Nov. 2005.

  39. BBC NI webpage, Jan. 13, 2003.

  40. Interview with security source, Nov. 2005.

  41. Interview with Irish political source, Sept. 2006.

  42. Irish Times, Oct. 2, 2003.

  43. Interview with General de Chastelain, Sept. 2006.

  44. Irish Times, Oct. 21, 2003.

  Twenty: The Last Kalashnikov

  1. Chris Ward was charged in connection with the robbery in December 2005. At the time of writing his trial has not been held.

  2. Richard O’Rawe, Blanketmen—An Untold Story of the H-Block Hunger Strike (Dublin: New Island, 2005), 236.

  3. Irish Independent, June 10, 1999.

  4. Conversation with DUP figure, Aug. 2005.

  5. Fourth Report of the Independent Monitoring Commission, Feb. 10, 2005.

  6. RTE radio, This Week, Jan. 9, 2005.

  7. Irish Times, Feb. 21, 2005.

  8. IRA statement, Feb. 3, 2005.

  9. Channel 4 Television, The Big Heist, Sept. 22, 2005.

  10. Interview with Irish security source, Sept. 2006.

  11. Interview with Northern Bank spokesman, Oct. 18, 2006.

  12. Confidential information.

  13. Fifth Report of the Independent Monitoring Commission, May 24, 2005.

  14. Interview with Irish political source, Sept. 2006.

  15. Confidential information.

  16. Irish Times, Feb. 12, 2005.

  17. Irish Times, Jan. 11, 2005.

  18. BBC NI webpage, Jan. 16, 2005.

  19. Daily Telegraph, July 5, 2006.

  20. Irish Times, July 4, 2005.

  21. Ibid.

  22. Confidential information.

  23. Ibid.

  24. Irish Times, Feb. 15, 2005.

  25. Anthony McIntyre, Burdens Unbearable, The Blanket, , Feb. 4, 2005.

  26. Irish Times, July 4, 2005.

  27. Interview with Catherine McCartney, Sept. 2005.

  28. Irish Times, July 4, 2005.

  29. Interview with Catherine McCartney, Sept. 2005.

  30. Irish Times, March 17, 2005.

  31. Irish Times, March 16, 2005.

  32. BBC NI webpage, March 14, 2005.

  33. Irish Times, March 18, 2005.

  34. Interview with U.S. Department of State official, Nov. 2006.

  35. Sunday Telegraph, March 20, 2005.

  36. Irish Times, March 18, 2005.

  37. Interview with Catherine McCartney, Sept. 2005.

  38. Council on Foreign Relations, March 14, 2005.

  39. Ibid.

  40. Ibid.

  41. Irish Times, April 7, 2005.

  42. Irish Times, Oct. 1, 2005.

  43. Irish Times, Oct. 16, 2006.

  44. Irish Times, Sept. 27, 2005.

  45. Irish Times, Oct. 1, 2005.

  46. Interview with security source, Nov. 2005.

  47. Irish Times, Sept. 27, 2005.

  48. Irish News, Oct. 14, 2005.

  49. Irish Times, Oct. 8, 2004.

  50. Guardian, Feb. 22, 2005.

  51. Sunday Independent, Feb. 27, 2005.

  52. Irish Times, March 4, 2005.

  53. Irish Times, May 19, 2006.

  54. BBC News website,

  55. Sunday Times, Oct. 2, 2005.

  56. Sunday Times, May 7, 2006.

  57. O’Rawe, Blanketmen.

  58. The Blanket website,

  59. O’Rawe, Blanketmen, 257.

  60. The Blanketmen website,

  61. Irish News, March 12, 2005.

  62. Daily Ireland, June 7, 2006.

  63. Hunger Strike, DoubleBand Films, RTE, May 9, 2006.

  64. Democratic Dialogue, April 5, 2006, reproduced on www.openDemocracy.net.

  65. Independent, Dec. 7, 1997.

  66. Sunday Times, Oct. 31, 1999.

  67. Belfast Telegraph, Dec. 21, 2005.

  68. Sinn Fein website,

  69. Irish News, Jan. 8, 2005.

  70. Confidential information.

  71. A Ministry of Defence gagging writ preventing “Ingram” from referring to “Steaknife” obliged the ex-FRU soldier to coin the name “Stakeknife” instead, a fiction that facilitated continuing media coverage of the story.

  72. Confidential information.

  73. Daily Telegraph, March 29, 1998.

  74. Ibid.

  75. Irish News, Dec. 1, 2001.

  76. Mark Urban, Big Boys’ Rules—The Secret Struggle Against the IRA (London: Faber and Faber, 1992), 181–82.

  77. Sunday Tribune, Jan. 31, 1992.

  78. Daily Telegraph, March 29, 1998.

  79. Irish Times, Dec. 17, 2005.

  80. Interview with Irish security source, Sept. 2006.

  81. Interview with security source, Nov. 2005.

  82. Ibid.

  83. Radio Free Eireann interview, Dec. 29, 2005.

  84. Interview with former Noraid official, Aug. 2006.

  85. Irish Times, Dec. 24, 2005.

  86. Interview with former Noraid official, Aug. 2006.

  87. Confidential information.

  88. See website,

  89. Sunday Times, Oct. 31, 1999.

  90. The Times, March 20, 2006.

>   91. Interview with former republican activist, autumn 2006.

  92. Confidential information.

  93. Sunday Independent, Sept. 17, 2006.

  94. Interview with Irish security source, Sept. 2006.

  Epilogue: “Turning the Titanic in a Bathtub”

  1. Confidential conversation with Presbyterian cleric, spring 2001.

  2. The Report of the Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland, Sept. 1999, para 12. 18.

  3. Confidential source, July 2006.

  4. Email to author, February 2007.

  Chronology of Events

  1170

  First English invasion of Ireland led by Strongbow

  1541

  English Tudor monarch, Henry VII declares himself King of Ireland

  1558–1603

  Six of Ulster’s nine counties “planted” with English and Scots settlers

  1690

  King William of Orange defeats Stuart King James II at Battle of the Boyne

  1795

  Orange Order founded after battle between Catholic Defenders and Protestant “Peep O’Day Boys”

  1798

  United Irishmen rebellion put down.

  1801

  Act of Union unites Ireland and England creating United Kingdom

  1867

  Fenian rising defeated

  1916

  Easter Rising put down

  1919

  Sinn Fein wins 75 of 105 Irish seats at Westminster and forms First Dail in Dublin

  1921–23

  IRA wages armed campaign to force British withdrawal and Irish independence

  Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiated

  Irish civil war begins

  Michael Collins killed

  IRA defeated

  Northern Ireland state and the new Free State consolidated

  1926

  Eamon de Valera forms Fianna Fail

  1932

  De Valera forms first Fianna Fail government

  1938

  Anti-treaty remnants of Second Dail elected in 1921 pass on their powers to the IRA Army Council

  1939

  IRA declares war on Britain with bombing campaign in English cities

  1942

  Belfast IRA leader Tom Williams hanged Gerry Adams Snr. jailed

  1948

  Gerry Adams Jnr. born

  IRA General Army Order No 8 promulgated; forbids military action against Southern security forces

  1956

  IRA begins Border Campaign in Northern Ireland

  1959

  Eamon de Valera retires as taoiseach; succeeded by Sean Lemass

  1962

  Border Campaign abandoned in failure

  Cathal Goulding becomes IRA chief of staff

  1963

  Terence O’Neill becomes prime minister of Northern Ireland

  Roy Johnston and Tony Coughlan join republican movement

  1964

  Divis Street riots in Belfast over display of Irish flag

  1965

  O’Neill and Lemass meet in Belfast

  Gerry Adams joins D Coy of Belfast Brigade IRA

  1966

  UVF re-formed in Belfast and kills Catholics

  Death toll is 3

  1967

  NICRA formed

  Unionist prime minister Terence O’Neill meets Irish taoiseach Jack Lynch at Stormont; loyalist demonstrators marshalled by Ian Paisley throw snowballs at his car

  1968

  First civil rights marches in Northern Ireland

  1969

  Riots in Derry and deaths in Belfast

  British army sent to Northern Ireland

  IRA splits into Official and Provisional wings

  Provisional IRA Convention held; Sean MacStiofain becomes first chief of staff

  Death toll for year is 18, cumulative toll is 21

  1970

  Sinn Fein splits after majority vote to drop abstentionism, dissidents walk out and give their allegiance to new “Provisional” IRA

  Siege of St. Matthew’s and Falls Curfew boost Provisionals

  IRA commercial bombing campaign begins

  Billy McKee is Belfast commander

  Adams heads IRA in Ballymurphy and choreographs Ballymurphy riots, defying McKee

  Ian Paisley elected to Westminster parliament

  Death toll for year is 28, cumulative toll is 49

  1971

  IRA campaign intensifies

  First British soldier shot dead, and Provo commercial bombing campaign begins in Belfast

  Adams on Second Belfast Battalion staff and then commander

  Adams on Belfast Brigade staff

  Internment without trial introduced

  IRA campaign mushrooms

  Death toll for year is 180, cumulative toll is 229

  1972

  Bloody Sunday in Derry

  Stormont parliament prorogued and direct rule from London imposed

  Adams interned but released to take part in cease-fire talks with British

  Adams becomes adjutant of Belfast Brigade

  Special category status granted to IRA prisoners

  Cease-fire breaks down at Belfast Brigade urging

  Adams introduces Armalite rifle to IRA

  Car bomb weapon accidentally discovered by Belfast Brigade

  IRA kills seven in Bloody Friday bombings

  Operation Motorman puts IRA under pressure

  Adams becomes Belfast Brigade commander

  Four Square Laundry operation

  “Unknowns” cell formed by Adams

  Belfast Brigade begins to “disappear” double agents including Jean McConville

  Breton nationalists introduce IRA to Libyans

  IRA establishes “embassy” in Libyan capital, Tripoli

  Death toll for year is 496, cumulative toll is 725

  1973

  London bombings carried out by Belfast Brigade

  Adams arrested and interned, later imprisoned for trying to escape

  Claudia intercepted en route to Ireland from Libya with weapons

  Brian Keenan appointed IRA QMG

  Northern IRA leaders stop Sinn Fein contesting elections to Northern Ireland Assembly

  Death toll for year is 263, cumulative toll is 988

  1974

  Power-sharing Sunningdale deal brought down by Ulster Workers’ Council general strike assisted by UDA and UVF and mainstream loyalist politicians

  Libya grows cool on IRA

  Death toll for year is 303, cumulative toll is 1291

  1975

  IRA cease-fire called, IRA leadership believes British wish to disengage

  Lengthy talks with British

  Adams and Ivor Bell lead Long Kesh dissidents against Billy McKee leadership and oppose cease-fire

  Loyalist killings of Catholics surge

  Sectarian killings by IRA and feuding with Officials intensify

  IRA cease-fire peters out

  Death toll for year is 267, cumulative toll is 1558

  1976

  New British security policy introduced

  RUC put in charge of security operations, internment phased out, juryless courts set up, IRA to be treated as criminals in jail

  Prison protest by IRA inmates in new H Blocks begins

  Loyalist assassination campaign peaks

  Peace People movement emerges after two children killed in IRA-British Army clash

  Death toll for year is 308, cumulative toll is 1866

  1977

  Police interrogation centers begin to process scores of IRA suspects

  Adams released from jail and eventually reappointed as Belfast Brigade commander

  Father Reid mediates in feud between Official and Provisional IRAs

  Adams becomes adjutant-general and joins Army Council

  “Long war” speech at Bodenstown in June

  Northern Command set up and Revolutionary Council established

  I
RA campaign of assassination against Northern businessmen starts

  Cellular restructuring of IRA starts

  Adams forms “think tank” group of advisers

  Adams becomes IRA chief of staff in succession to Seamus Twomey

  Martin McGuinness and Brian Keenan join Army Council

  McKee censured by Revolutionary Council over handling of feud with Official IRA

  Gerry O’Hare deposed as editor of Dublin IRA paper An Phoblacht

  Death toll for year is 116, cumulative toll is 1982

  1978

  Adams loses his rank as chief of staff when he is arrested in the wake of La Mon bombing

  Martin McGuinness becomes IRA chief of staff

  Adams cleared and released; he becomes adjutant-general, second-in-command to McGuinness

  IRA introduces Green Book for recruits

  IRA sets up internal security unit to hunt informers

  IRA says next cease-fire will happen only when British quit Ireland

  An Phoblacht merged with Belfast IRA paper Republican News in Adams takeover

  British Army document, Northern Ireland – Future Terrorist Trends leaked to IRA; names Adams and Bell as architects of IRA restructuring O Bradaigh proposal to contest Euro elections opposed by Adams

  Death toll for year is 88, cumulative toll is 2070

  1979

  Margaret Thatcher becomes British prime minister

  Lord Mountbatten killed in IRA bombing

  18 British soldiers killed in ambush on Border

  Move to left advertised in Bodenstown speech

  Army Council rejects Eire Nua policy of O Bradaigh–O Conaill leadership as Adams camps bids for supremacy

  Adams denies Marxist influence

  Northern IRA leaders oppose Bernadette Devlin’s bid for Euro seat on H Blocks issue

  Death toll for year is 125, cumulative toll is 2195

  1980

  First IRA prison hunger strike begins

  Northern IRA leaders negotiate secret deal to end fast with Britain’s MI6

  Hunger strike ends with no significant concessions; IRA leadership tries to disguise defeat

 

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