The Provisional IRA: From Insurrection to Parliament

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While the UDR became, by the time PIRA was defeated in 1996, the epitome of efficiency in fighting terrorism that was not always the case.” All told, it’s clear that partition is no longer only an academic subject but is instead a live political issue. To repeat the words of one of Ireland’s leading communists of the last century, we may ignore the national question but the national question won’t ignore us. The protest, which included six members of the IRA and one INLA prisoner, lasted 53 days after being launched on October 27 1980. See, for example, Steve Johnson, “Investors shrug off Beijing intervention worries to pump money into ETFs,” Financial Times, 22 December 2021.

Over the past four decades Britain’s welfare state has been subjected to a relentless neoliberal assault. The once-proud National Health Service is faltering in all sectors.² Council housing is a thing of the past. Less-well-off third-level students are having to take out government loans that often require a lifetime to repay. An astonishing 13 per cent of the population are living in absolute poverty, according to a report by the House of Commons library.³ More recently, the threat of inflation is exacerbating the hardship experienced by working-class communities in Britain.Recognising what is at stake, several high-powered commentators, here and abroad, are advocating a Keynesian approach to deal with the anticipated recession. In reality, they recognise the threat a second more intensive round of austerity would pose for capitalism. However, this would be a difficult option for a Dublin government that doesn’t control its own currency and adheres slavishly to EU regulations preventing state intervention. The reality of course will be different because triangulation comes at a price. Even with a comfortable lead in opinion polls, there is no realistic possibility of Sinn Fein winning an overall majority and will therefore be dependent on the support of others to form a government. Just as a convoy travels at the speed of the slowest ship, a coalition depends for sustainability on the approval of the most recalcitrant participant. Introducing any radical measure would risk bringing down the coalition and with it a mauling from disgruntled middle-class voters believing they have been conned. Nothing worries an established ruling class so much as a series of unpredictable events over which they have no control. This is especially so when these events pose questions about the stability of the status quo. There can be little doubt that developments over the last six months have given rise to just such concerns within governing circles in Dublin.

We were willing to understand why they would ask for a type of face-saver such as changes being made over a period of time but we needed to see some evidence of it happening. I believe that when the hunger strike came along that we found ourselves in a position where we had attempted practically every avenue we could think of between withdrawing co-operation, refusing to wear the uniform, to work for them, to do anything by way co-operation or consent.

I listened to James English (not a favourite interviewer) talking with Sam Millar. Millar was robustly unapologetic about the targeting of prison officers and scathing of them as a bloc. He said he would like to have seen hundreds of them killed. He said he did not feel that way about British soldiers. I think this is relevant to Sam Thompson's point about attrition - prison officers could and did brutalise members of an organisation killing them on the outside. The UDR couldn't investigate and convict the organisation killing them, so they acted out in different ways. A substantial number would have acted out anyway, for sectarian reasons (and because of the flawed personality type Tommy makes the point that to think the book is an indictment of the UDR and its members, which he feels it isn't. He might have phrased that differently as the book seems very much an indictment of the UDR but not all its members.