In order to finance their armed campaigns during the Troubles (1969–1998), both Irish republican and Ulster loyalist paramilitaries engaged in numerous fundraising activities within Ireland and the United Kingdom, such as bank robbery, extortion, drug trafficking, bootleg recording, racketeering, and legitimate businesses such as social clubs, taxi companies, and retail shops.
[1] These funds were used to purchase weapons overseas and parts to manufacture homemade firearms and explosives, pay their volunteers and families of imprisoned activists, and for political, public relations, and community activities.
[7]By 1978, after brothels and massage parlours had multiplied tenfold[citation needed], the paramilitary groups saw their potential as sources of revenue.
Paramilitary-run pubs were established in the wake of civil disorder across Northern Ireland, initially functioning to provide safe areas for local communities to congregate.
Whilst many of the IRA-run clubs became “legalized,” they nonetheless “all ran two sets of books”’ to obscure the diversion of funds to IRA-affiliated organizations, as well as to hide the extent of their illicit profiteering.
[8] In March 1997, The Irish Times reported that "IRA has acquired the services of senior professional figures, including an accountant and banker, in Dublin to oversee the acquisition and running of up to 20 public houses and the laundering of money.
[11] Neil Southern wrote that: [B]lack taxis, which charged reasonable fares, were a significant source of income for the IRA.
[12]Military historian Margaret Sankey stated: In 1972, British intelligence tracked a PIRA firebombing campaign against Belfast city buses, assuming that it was solely a terror tactic against the government and meant to unsettle the population and destroy infrastructure.
It turned out that the PIRA had decided to buy into the taxi business, putting money "to work" via Sinn Fein's grants to entrepreneurs affiliated with the cause.
Every step of operating the black cabs—renting the vehicle, fueling it, repairing it, and paying a tax on earnings—went into republican pockets, with the additional expectation that the cabs were on call to ferry people around anonymously and deliver crates of arms.
In a thinly veiled reference to a well-known West Belfast taxi firm, he wrote it was "managed by men with strong Provisional IRA/Provisional Sinn Féin connections.
On 31 March 1976, an IRA unit robbed the Cork-Dublin train at County Kildare of over £220.000 in an operation planned by the PIRA long in advance of the actual robbery, a raid that was even considered by the Irish National Liberation Army because of the nature of the potential reward.
Following a County Waterford robbery in 1982, the IRA unit escaped by boat across the River Suir, avoiding garda roadblocks on bridges.
"[18] In March 1997, The Irish Times reported that "£60,000 stolen in armed robberies was surrendered to this [IRA head accountant] man at the beginning of the 1994 ceasefire.
The money was used to fund a weapons shipment from the South African apartheid regime, in which the British government largely assisted.
The actual robbery occurred when armed and masked men outside Lisburn stopped the van, and a million pounds in used banknotes were seized by the UDA.
John Hermon, Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, stated in his annual report for 1983 that:[25]Republican and Loyalist paramilitary organisations have established a lucrative foothold in criminal racketeering which, if not eradicated, will become a pernicious feature of the social and economic life of our community.Perhaps the most notorious operation is that of Thomas "Slab" Murphy, who earned his nickname from his habit of dropping cement blocks on peoples' legs.
[17] In April 1984, two armed IRA members hijacked a lorry as it left the PJ Carroll cigarette factory on the outskirts of Dundalk, County Louth.
In a November 18, 1996 interview with the Human Rights Watch, Jeff Maxwell of government-funded Base 2 charity – charged with verifying intimidation – stated that:[27] In loyalist areas, you take a loan from someone who is a member of a paramilitary organization.
According to the U.S. Northern Ireland Threat Assessment for 2001, it was believed that half of the groups involved in drug dealing had paramilitary associations.
But for many, it was justified on the grounds it was a low risk compared to extortion and drinking clubs (the latter which attracted government attention) and in order to keep the cash flow going.
It was also a major reason why the splinter groups of the Ulster Freedom Fighters and Loyalist Volunteer Force were established in 1996 in order to keep the drug trade going.
[28] Irish Republican militants also received considerable donations from groups, individuals and state actors outside Northern Ireland.
The financial backbone of the Provisional cause in America was the Irish Northern Aid Committee (NORAID), which was estimated to have raised $3.6 million between 1970 and 1991, ranging from supporting families of dead or imprisoned IRA members to lobbying and propaganda efforts.
[36][37][38] The Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee report of June 2002 estimated that in 1992, Scottish support for the UVF and UDA was at £100,000 per year.
The sums involving donations from overseas were very small and paled in comparison to the sources generated within the British Isles, which provided the overwhelming bulk of revenue for both Republican and loyalist paramilitaries.
[16] In April 1987, RUC chief constable John Hermon told government ministers at the Anglo-Irish Intergovernmental Conference that "[i]t costs the IRA £2-£3 million per year to maintain its activity.