There are three armed Republican groups. i) IRA, its known in the media as "new" IRA. It is made up of Real IRA, RAAD (aka Republican Action Against Drugs) and some units that were independent of organizations. The IRA was formed in July 2012. ii) Oglaigh na hEireann or known in the media as ONH iii) Continuity IRA, this group is near none existing.
I will write more on each group soon
Thank you, according to wikipedia they have 450-550 members total (Not including RAAD) Needs updating.
I suppose its hard to tell no one can be certain of their numbers. But when their political supporters have events like commemoration, etc they tend to get big numbers attending. Sometimes they get anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000 people attending. They have a big enough Political Prisoner list to. There are 31 prisoners in Maghaberry Gaol in the north and 2 women prisoner in Hydebank Gaol also in the north. And they have 22 prisoners in Portlaoise Gaol in the free state. I will put up a list of all political prisoners
Port Laoise Gaol Dublin Rd Port Laoise Co. Laois E4 : : Teach na Fáilte I.N.L.A Eugene Kelly (Dundalk) Noel Mooney (Dublin) Non-I.N.L.A E4 Michael Mc Hugh (Crossmaglen /40 years no remission) Darren Mulholland (Louth /Convicted and sentenced in England) Liam Grogan Kildare (Convicted and sentenced in England) Joe Conlon (Dublin / PáirtÃ* Poblachtach Dearg) Tarlach Mac Dhomhnaill (South Fermanagh / PáirtÃ* Poblachtach Dearg)
Maghaberry Prison Old Road Ballinderry Upper Lisburn The North of Ireland BT28 2PT Cabhair C.I.R.A Martin Corey Damien McKenna Gary Toman Willie Wong Ciaran Collins Gabriel Mackle ROE 3 : Cogús O.N.H Tony Taylor Phil O'Donnell Fra Carlton Ta Mc Willams Eamon Cassidy Tommy McGuire Gary Adams Paddy Larkin Stephen Mackin Dermontt McFadden (Derry) BELMARSH Western Way Thamesmead Belmarsh, England SE28 0EB
ALL I.R.P.W.A I.R.A Maghaberry Prison Old Road Ballinderry Upper Lisburn The North of Ireland BT28 2PT Roe 4 Joe Barr Brian Cavlan Barry Concannon Martin Connolly Gavin Coyle (CSU) Jason Ceulman Colin Duffy Dominic Dynes Harry Fitzsimons Damien Harkin Neil Hegarty Seamus Kearney Sean Kelly Nathan Hastings Brendan McConville Sean McConville Alex McCrory Anthony McDonnell Mark McGuigan Ryan McKenna DD McLaughlin Seamus McLaughlin Kieran McLaughlin Gerard McManus Sean McVeigh Brian Sheridan Kieran Smith Kevin Vernon John Paul Wotton Colin Duffy Harry Fitzsimmons Alex McCrory Female Republican Wing Hydebank Wood Hospital Road BT8 8NA Hydebank Sharon Rafferty Nuala Gormley Portlaoise Gaol Portlaoise County Laois E3 Portlaoise Gaol Vincent Banks Michael Barr Kevin Braney John Brock Ciaran Burke Desmond Christie Sean Connolly Bernard Dempsey Dean Evans Sean Farrell Cormac Fitzpatrick Stephen Hendricks David Jordan Sharif Kelly Nick Kendall Nick McBennett Jim McCormick Edward McGrath Stephen McGowan Declan Phelan Brian Walsh (Dublin) Brian Walsh (Cork)WA
Port Laoise Gaol Dublin Rd Port Laoise Co. Laois E2 : : COGÚS O.N.H Michael McKevitt (Louth) Michael McDonald (Louth / Sentenced & Convicted in England) Tony Hyland (Dublin / Sentenced & Convicted in England) Charles Anthony Deery (Derry City) Gerard Carroll (Louth) Niall Farrell (Louth) Patrick Tierney (Co. Armagh) Patrick Gordon (Co. Armagh) Dalton McKevitt (Louth) Joe O'Brien (Wexford) Noel Callan* (*40 Years No Remission) Remand Colin Brady (Dublin) E1 : : Unaligned Finton O’Farrell (South Armagh / Sentenced & Convicted in England) Declan Rafferty (Co. Louth / Sentenced & Convicted in England) Aiden Hulme (Co. Louth / Sentenced & Convicted in England) Robert Hulme (Co. Louth / Sentenced & Convicted in England) Gerard McGarrigle (West Tyrone) David Murphy (Co. Louth)
The IRA formed in 2012. The Real IRA, RAAD and some different independent units from around the country joined together to create one organization. They are the most deadly of the armed Republican groups. Before the amalgamation the Real IRA in 2009 claimed responsibility for the killing of 2 British soldiers in the Massereene Barracks shooting. They were the first British soldiers to be killed by Republicans since 1997. The Real IRA were responsible for bombings in the early 2000's in England and RPG attack on MI6 headquarters in England. They were responsible for bomb attacks, mortar bomb attacks on police stations, fire bombings on commercial targets and gun attacks on police in the North of Ireland in the early 2000's to late. And they were believed to be behind the killing of drug dealers in Dublin and Cork. Two members were killed from when the Real IRA was formed in 1997. In 1998, Volunteer Rónán Mac Lochlainn was gunned down and killed by Garda while a armored van was being robbed. In 2000 Volunteer Jo Jo O’Connor was shot dead by the Provisional IRA in Belfast. RAAD stands for Republican Action Against Drugs. They were mainly active in Derry, Strabane and other parts of Tyrone. They were a vigilante group set up to try combat drugs. They are responsible for many many kneecappings, kidnappings, raids on grow houses, pipe bombings and responsible for a killing of a drug dealer. The independent units were made up of people that left the Provisional movement not happy with the route Sinn Fein had taken and seen that Sinn Fein weren't going to achieve a united Ireland. There were also ex members of the Continuity IRA and Real IRA that had left them groups that weren't happy with the leaderships at the time. The independents were active from the late 2000's to 2012. They are believed to be responsible for the booby-trap car bomb of a police officer in 2010, the police officer lost his leg in the attack. They are believed to be behind other shooting and bombing incidents. In 2012 it was announced in the media that all the groups mentioned have amalgamated to form the IRA. They have claimed responsibility for the killing of a police officer by booby-trap car bomb in 2011. They also claimed responsibility for the shooting dead of a prison officer in 2013. There was a prison protest going on at time by Republican prisoners in Maghaberry prison. The IRA are believed to be behind a few incidents since 2012, including attempted mortar bombings on police stations, shooting attacks on police, killing of 2 drug dealers. Real IRA leader in Dublin Alan Ryan was shot dead by drug dealers in 2012, sine the shooting dead of Alan Ryan, the IRA has been doing an internal clean up and purge of criminal elements within the organization, members that were using the organisation to make a profit for themselves. There has been many kneecappings, maimings and killing of these corrupt criminal elements.
