Why did the IRA split in two?The role of Billy McMillen, Seán Garland and Cathal GouldingAnd could the Official IRA still exist?
The IRA – the Irish Republican Army - is a title most people associate with the Provisional IRA.
But in fact, the Provisionals had broken away from what became known as the Official IRA at the beginning of the Troubles. The Officials went on ceasefire in 1972 – but never fully disappeared. Do they still exist in some form?
Political republicanism also split, into what continued as Sinn Féin, associated to the Provisionals during the Troubles – and the Workers’ Party, connected to the Officials.
Sinn Féin are on course to become the largest political party in Ireland today, while the Workers’ Party has been left without electoral representation.
Ciarán Dunbar speaks to Dr Brian Hanley, a lecturer in Trinity College Dublin, and co-author of ‘The Lost Revolution: The Story of the Official IRA and the Workers’ Party’.
The other IRA: The story of the Officials and the Workers’ Party
