Irish Republican Army and Censorship

• FOUNDED: 1917
• TYPE OF ORGANIZATION: Nationalistic, ethnic, illegal revolutionary force committed to the expulsion of British forces from Northern Ireland and the creation of a unified Irish Republic.

SIGNIFICANCE: The Irish Republican Army (IRA) has employed various forms of censorship and often been the target of numerous state efforts to suppress it and its political message.

Although the name “Irish Republican Army” dates back to the nineteenth century, the basis of the modern group began in 1917 and became the army of the Irish Republic following its declaration in 1919. The IRA has historically employed violence and intimidation as part of its strategy, targeting state institutions and perceived internal threats. The IRA has used violence to quiet its enemies and has likewise been suppressed with violence. In the 1920s, the IRA targeted British intelligence operatives and top police officers as obstacles to Irish nationalism. In doing so, the IRA reduced the efficiency of counterterrorist organizations. The IRA also intimidated prison wardens, court witnesses, and jurors.

The history of the IRA is complicated by frequent splits and divisions of various factions, most of which lay some claim to the overarching IRA name. The first major break came in 1922, as the Irish Civil War led to the creation of a new IRA consisting of those opposed to the treaty between Great Britain and Ireland after the Irish War of Independence (Anglo-Irish War). This IRA, which opposed both the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland as imperialist creations, split in 1969 into the Official IRA (OIRA) and the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA). While both groups espoused left-wing ideologies, the OIRA was heavily Marxist and eventually phased out its military wing in favor of the political branch that became the Workers’ Party of Ireland, while the PIRA remained the larger and more active paramilitary organization.

The PIRA in particular continued guerrilla warfare practices and escalated the level of violence. After 1969, assassinations carried out by snipers or bombs became a common modus operandi. In addition to other forms of censorship, IRA factions have acted aggressively to suppress and punish informants. Informants were physically abused or executed to stop their testifying and to act as warnings to other potential informers. The PIRA also frequently censored its publications, as evidenced by the forced resignation of an editor of a PIRA newspaper in 1974.

Throughout their existence, the IRA, the PIRA, and other offshoots have also faced extensive censorship themselves. Their paramilitary tactics aimed to pressure the governments of Great Britain, the Republic of Ireland, and Northern Ireland through intimidation, disruption, and propaganda. The opposing governments used censorship to attempt to destroy the IRA and PIRA and reduce the illegal organizations’ access to media coverage.

In 1919, the IRA was banned. In 1922, Northern Ireland passed the Civil Authorities Act, which granted the government the authority to arrest without warrant, intern without trial, ban any organization or meeting, prohibit coroner’s inquest, and to execute suspected terrorists. In 1925, the Roman Catholic Church publicly condemned political violence associated with republican militancy. The Irish Republic outlawed the IRA and banned its newspaper in 1931. In 1939 and 1940, the Irish Republic also passed legislation that allowed internment without trial and execution for terrorist acts. In 1957, the Republic passed the Offenses Against the State (Amendment) Act, which created military tribunals to try IRA suspects. In 1971, Great Britain allowed internment without trial. By 1976, all three governments allowed nonjury trials for terrorists. They also limited media access to trials. In 1971, the Irish Republic prohibited any interviews with representatives of the IRA, PIRA, or Sinn Féin, a political party associated with the republican movement. In 1974, Great Britain and the Irish Republic banned terrorists from speaking on television. In 1988, Great Britain implemented a broadcasting ban that prohibited the direct airing of voices of representatives from groups like Sinn Féin, though journalists often circumvented this restriction by using voice actors. Despite these efforts, the IRA and PIRA remained functional, and the use of sensational terrorist attacks—such as attacks on the British prime minister and mortar attacks on Heathrow Airport in the 1990s—ensured continuing media exposure for the IRA into the late twentieth century.

The PIRA also had several factions break away and claim the IRA name, beginning in 1986 with the Continuity IRA (CIRA), which opposed the PIRA’s decision to recognize the Republic of Ireland. After the PIRA announced a ceasefire in 1997, when the Sinn Féin political branch was allowed to join peace talks, the Real IRA (RIRA) splinter group was formed to oppose the peace process. The mainstream PIRA continued to move toward moderation, giving support to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. In 2005, the group announced it would disarm and abandon its paramilitary campaign, while pursuing peaceful means to achieve its political and social goals. However, the CIRA, RIRA, and others claiming the IRA name continued terrorist activities; in the early 2010s, dissident groups like the New IRA continued sporadic violence, opposing the peace process and claiming the mantle of the original IRA, though they lacked broad support in the 2020s.

Bibliography

Colbourne, Darren. “Troubling Rhetoric: Discourse Theory and Irish Republican Army Narratives (1962–1972).” Irish Political Studies, vol. 39, 26 Dec. 2023, pp. 99–125, doi:10.1080/07907184.2023.2296683. Accessed 5 May 2026.

Dingley, James. The IRA: The Irish Republican Army. Praeger, 2012.

Drisceoil , Donal Ó. “War of Words: Censorship and Propaganda during the Civil War.” Raidió Teilifís Éireann, 18 Aug. 2022, www.rte.ie/history/michael-collins/2022/0803/1313771-censorship-and-propaganda-during-the-civil-war. Accessed 5 May 2026.

“Full Text: IRA Statement.” The Guardian, 2 Feb. 2005, www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/feb/03/northernireland.northernireland3. Accessed 5 May 2026.

Morrison, John F. The Origins and Rise of Dissident Irish Republicanism: The Role and Impact of Organizational Splits. Bloomsbury Academic, 2013.

“Threat Levels | MI5 – The Security Service.” Mi5, 2024, www.mi5.gov.uk/threats-and-advice/terrorism-threat-levels. Accessed 5 May 2026.