Provisional IRA in the Republic of Ireland
[n 1][2][3] The Republic also had to deal with mostly small but hundreds of attacks by loyalist and republican paramilitaries in its territory, including bombings, prison escapes, kidnappings, and gun battles.
The largest loss of life both in its territory and the entire conflict came on 17 May 1974, when the Glenanne gang–an informal alliance of loyalist militants and British security forces–exploded no warning bombs in the cities of Dublin and Monaghan; 33 civilians were killed and 300 others injured.
Since the beginning of the war in 1969, a number of training camps in the Republic of Ireland were established by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA).
The IRA Southern Command, headquartered in Dublin, was responsible for maintaining these camps in the Republic and recruiting volunteers to be trained on weapons procured either within the country or overseas.
To finance their armed campaigns during the Troubles (1969–1998), the IRA engaged in numerous illegal and semi-legitimate funding activities within the Republic of Ireland, such as fundraising, bank robbery, extortion, drug trafficking, bootleg recording, racketeering and legitimate businesses such as social clubs, taxi companies, and retail shops.
Most or nearly all of the revenue for the IRA came from legitimate and criminal activities within Ireland, all which contributed to the longevity of the conflict as it enabled the group to buy enough guns and explosives.
It identified extortion, fuel laundering, rum-running, tobacco smuggling, armed robbery, and counterfeiting in Ireland and Britain as the primary sources of funding for both Republican and Loyalist militants throughout and after the Troubles, while "the sums involved [from overseas] [were and] are comparatively small".
[12] To avoid alienating support within the Republic of Ireland, the IRA Southern Command issued General Order No.8, in which its first provision stated: Volunteers are strictly forbidden to take any military action against 26 County forces under any circumstances whatsoever.
For example, Detective Garda Jerry McCabe was killed by machine-gun fire as he sat in his patrol car in Adare County Limerick during the escort of a post office delivery in 1996.
Small arms were also reported missing from Irish Defence Forces barracks, with one man receiving a six-month prison sentence for the theft of an FN rifle.
A young man from Derry received a six-year sentence for breaking into a gunshop in Tullamore and stealing six firearms including rifles and 12-bore shotguns as well as 12,000 rounds of ammunition.
In September 1971, 70 lbs of gelignite, 100 detonators and 200 safety fuses were stolen by the IRA from a line works near Kilmacow, with the help of local supporters who had knowledge of the area.
By spring 1972, they successfully manufactured quantities of two types of homemade explosives (HMEs), using mostly commercially available fertilizers and ANFO (a mixture of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil).
[23] The New York Times on September 25, 1979, reported: Besides rifles and machine guns, which they appear to have in abundance, the Provos’ principal weapons are bombs, like the one that they planted in Lord Mountbatten's fishing boat last month.
The result was considered unsatisfactory, so the IRA decided to establish training camps southwest of the Republic specifically to operate mortars.
[26] British counter-terrorism expert Andy Oppenheimer wrote that: In the mid-1970s, Irish-origin explosives were still being used in IRA devices and were occasionally turning up on the English mainland.
The following year on 19 March 1979, a British soldier was killed and eight others (including two civilian contractors) injured after a RUC barracks was hit by sustained mortar and rifle fire.
IRA volunteer Thomas McMahon from Monaghan planted a 50 lb gelignite bomb in Shadow V, a 27 feet (8.2 m) fishing boat owned by Louis Mountbatten at Mullaghmore, County Sligo, near Donegal Bay.
[34][35] Following the assassination, Unionist politician John Taylor assailed the “weak‐kneed Government in Dublin” for poor security, cooperation and extradition common throughout Europe.
[37] That same year, Irish police seized a large number of chemicals (including sulphuric, nitric acid, ammonium nitrate, and sodium hypochlorite) from Tallaght, much of it which was stolen from the Euro-Chemicals plant in Lucan, to make HMEs.
British and Irish officials stated that: [I]t was agreed that the theft of the chemicals was a further demonstration of the increasing sophistication and scientific ability of the Provisional IRA.
The bomb was assembled in Ballinamore and transported across the border by multiple volunteers operating in relays, and consisted of both HME and Libyan-supplied Semtex.
