Official Irish Republican Army - Impact of The Split

Impact of The Split

Initially there was much confusion among republicans on the ground, Martin McGuinness for example, joined the Official IRA in 1970, unaware that there had been a split and only later joined the Provisionals. The Provisionals launched an armed campaign against the British presence in Northern Ireland. Despite the reluctance of Cathal Goulding and the OIRA leadership, their volunteers on the ground were inevitably drawn into the violence. The Official IRA's first major confrontation with the British Army came in the Falls Curfew of July 1970, when over 3,000 British soldiers raided the Lower Falls area for arms, leading to three days of gun battles. The Official IRA lost a large amount of weaponry in the incident and their members on the ground blamed the Provisionals for starting the firing and then leaving them alone to face the British. The bad feeling left by this and other incidents led to a feud between the two IRAs in 1970, with several shootings carried out by either side. The two IRA factions arranged a truce between them after the OIRA killing of Provisional activist, and Belfast brigade D-Company commander, Charlie Hughes (a cousin of the well known Republican Brendan Hughes).

Soviet defector Vasili Mitrokhin alleged in the 1990s that the Goulding leadership sought, in 1969, a small quantity of arms (roughly 70 rifles, along with some hand guns and explosives) from the KGB. The request was approved and the weapons arrived in Ireland in 1972. This has not been independently verified however. On the whole, the OIRA had a more restricted level of activity than the Provisionals. Unlike the Provisionals, it did not establish de facto control over large Catholic areas of Belfast and Derry and characterised its violence as "defensive". However it retained a strong presence in certain localities, notably the Lower Falls, Andersonstown, Turf Lodge and the Markets areas of Belfast, along with a presence in the Bogside in Derry. Though the OIRA did maintain many attacks against the British Army and the RUC throughout 1970, they never killed anyone until 1971. In August 1971, after the introduction of internment without trial, OIRA units fought numerous gun battles with British troops who were deployed to arrest paramilitary suspects. Most notably the Official IRA company in the Lower Falls, led by Joe McCann, held off an incursion into the area by over 600 British troops. In December 1971, the Official IRA killed Ulster Unionist Party Senator John Barnhill at his home in Strabane. This was the first murder of a politician in Ireland since the assassination of Free State Minister for Justice Kevin O'Higgins in 1927. In February 1972, the organisation also made an attempt on the life of Unionist politician John Taylor. On Bloody Sunday, an OIRA man in Derry is believed to have fired several shots with a revolver at British troops, after they had shot dead 13 nationalist demonstrators—the only republican shots fired on the day. The anger caused by Bloody Sunday in the nationalist community was such that the Official IRA announced that it would now be launching an "offensive" against the British forces.

However, the OIRA declared a ceasefire later in the same year. The Official IRA ceasefire followed a number of armed actions which had been politically damaging. The organisation bombed the Aldershot headquarters of the Parachute Regiment in revenge for Bloody Sunday, but killed only six civilians and a Roman Catholic army chaplain. After the killing of William Best, a British soldier, home on leave in Derry, the OIRA declared a ceasefire. In addition, the death of several militant OIRA figures such as Joe McCann, in confrontations with British soldiers, enabled the Goulding leadership to call off their armed campaign, which they had never supported wholeheartedly.