Provisional Irish Republican Army

Leadership

1. Martin McGuinness (Unknown to Unknown): Martin McGuinness was a former member of the Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA) who left the organization to command the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA)'s Derry branch.
2. Bell (Unknown to Unknown):
3. Gerry Adams (1969 to Unknown): peace process...
4. Sean MacStiofain (December 1969 to Unknown): Sean MacStiofain had been Intelligence Chief for the original Irish Republican Army prior to the organization's split. He was from England, unusually for a republican.{{Holland, Jack. Hope Against History : the Course of Conflict In Northern Ireland. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1999. pp. 39, 54.}}

Ideology & Goals

Name Changes

-Nicknames include the Provos, Provies. 

Size Estimates

• 1975: 1,500 (Cain Web Service)[1]
• 1994: 500 (CAIN Web Service)[2]

External Influences

Got RPG-7 from Libya (first used on November 28, 1972)[3], via Army Council member Joe Cahil who had "made contact with Colonel Gaddafi (ibid), connections to Irish in NY.

New Yorker George Harrison ran a weapons network helped supply the Provisional Irish Republican Army with arms, and at one point hosted McGuinness and O Bradaigh in his Brooklyn apartment.[4]

Major Attacks

1. November 8, 1987: Members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) bombed a Protestant memorial service for war dead in the town of Enniskillen. It was one of the worst PIRA attacks of the period. (11 killed, 60 injured.).[5]
2. October 23, 1993: Three members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) attempted to bomb a meeting of the leaders of the Ulster Defense Association (UDA), the largest loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland, believed to be taking place above a shop in a loyalist stronghold of Belfast. No UDA members were present, however, and instead nine Protestant civilians, and one of the bombers, were killed when the bomb exploded prematurely. (10 killed.).[6]

References

1. ^ Melaugh, Martin. "Violence - Membership and Arsenals of Paramilitary Organizations." CAIN Web Service. Last updated January 14, 2012. Retrieved June 29, 2012, from: http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/issues/violence/paramilitary2.htm
2. ^ Melaugh, Martin. "Violence - Membership and Arsenals of Paramilitary Organizations." CAIN Web Service. Last updated January 14, 2012. Retrieved June 29, 2012, from: http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/issues/violence/paramilitary2.htm
3. ^ Holland, Jack. Hope Against History : the Course of Conflict In Northern Ireland. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1999. p.95
4. ^ Holland, Jack. Hope Against History : the Course of Conflict In Northern Ireland. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1999. p. 144
5. ^ Moloney, Ed. A Secret History of the Ira. London: Allen Lane, 2002. pp. 340-341.
6. ^ Melaugh, Martin. "The Irish Peace Process - Chronology of Key Events (April 1993 - April 1998). (v3). Last Updated January 14, 2012. Retrieved June 2, 2012, from http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/peace/pp9398.htm, and Moloney, Ed. A Secret History of the Ira