It claims to a direct continuation of the original Irish Republican Army and the national army of the Irish Republic that was proclaimed in 1916.
This argument is based on the view that the surviving anti-Treaty members of the Second Dáil delegated their "authority" to the IRA Army Council in 1938.
The CIRA believed the lorry was going to be put on a North Channel ferry to Scotland in January 2020. ==Claim to legitimacy== Similar to the claim put forward by the Provisional IRA after its split from the Official IRA in 1969, the Continuity IRA claims to be the legitimate continuation of the original Irish Republican Army or Óglaigh na hÉireann.
As further justification for this claim, Tom Maguire, one of those anti-Treaty members of the Second Dáil, issued a statement in favour of the Continuity IRA, just as he had done in 1969 in favour of the Provisionals.
It emerged from a split in the Provisional IRA in 1986 but did not become active until the Provisional IRA ceasefire of 1994.
In September 1986, the Provisional IRA held a General Army Convention (GAC), the organisation's supreme decision-making body.
Bowyer Bell, in his The Irish Troubles, describes Maguire's opinion in 1986: "abstentionism was a basic tenet of republicanism, a moral issue of principle.
Maguire's stature was such that a delegation from Gerry Adams sought his support in 1986, but was rejected. ==Relationship to other organisations== These changes within the IRA were accompanied by changes on the political side and at the 1986 Sinn Féin Ard Fheis (party conference), which followed the IRA Convention, the party's policy of abstentionism, which forbade Sinn Féin elected representatives from taking seats in the Oireachtas, the parliament of the Republic, was dropped.
The traditionalists, having lost at both conventions, walked out of the Mansion House, met that evening at the West County Hotel, and reformed as Republican Sinn Féin (RSF). According to a report in the Cork Examiner, the Continuity IRA's first chief of staff was Dáithí Ó Conaill, who also served as the first chairman of RSF from 1986 to 1987.
The traditionalists, having lost at both conventions, walked out of the Mansion House, met that evening at the West County Hotel, and reformed as Republican Sinn Féin (RSF). According to a report in the Cork Examiner, the Continuity IRA's first chief of staff was Dáithí Ó Conaill, who also served as the first chairman of RSF from 1986 to 1987.
On 3 January 1991, a man in paramilitary uniform fired a single shot at the funeral of Dáithí Ó Conaill (later alleged to be the Continuity IRA's chief of staff).
Dáithí Ó Conaill was the first chief of staff until 1991.
It emerged from a split in the Provisional IRA in 1986 but did not become active until the Provisional IRA ceasefire of 1994.
It has links with the political party Republican Sinn Féin (RSF). Since 1994, the CIRA has waged a campaign in Northern Ireland against the British Army and the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), formerly the Royal Ulster Constabulary.
On 21 January 1994, on the 75th anniversary of the First Dáil Éireann, Continuity IRA volunteers offered a "final salute" to Tom Maguire by firing over his grave, and a public statement and a photo were published in Saoirse Irish Freedom.
In February 1994 it was reported that in previous months Gardaí had found arms dumps along the Cooley Peninsula in County Louth that did not belong to the Provisional IRA, and forensics tests determined had been used for firing practice recently. It was only after the Provisional IRA declared a ceasefire in 1994 that the Continuity IRA became active, announcing its intention to continue the campaign against British rule.
The CIRA continues to oppose the Good Friday Agreement and, unlike the Provisional IRA (and the Real IRA in 1998), the CIRA has not announced a ceasefire or agreed to participate in weapons decommissioning—nor is there any evidence that it will.
Since the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 the CIRA, along with other paramilitaries opposing the ceasefire, have been involved with a countless number of punishment shootings and beatings.
As a result of this continued activity the IMC said the group remained "a very serious threat". On 10 March 2009 the CIRA claimed responsibility for the fatal shooting of a PSNI officer in Craigavon, County Armagh—the first police fatality in Northern Ireland since 1998.
In 2005, Irish Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform Michael McDowell told Dáil Éireann that the organisation had a maximum of 150 members. The CIRA is an illegal organisation under UK (section 11(1) of the Terrorism Act 2000) and ROI law due to the use of 'IRA' in the group's name, in a situation analogous to that of the Real Irish Republican Army (RIRA).
On 31 May 2001 Dermot Gannon became the first person to be convicted of membership of the CIRA solely on the word of a Garda Síochána chief superintendent.
In 2004 the United States (US) government believed the Continuity IRA consisted of fewer than fifty hardcore activists.
On 13 July 2004, the US government designated the CIRA as a 'Foreign Terrorist Organization'.
By 2005 the CIRA was believed to be an established presence on the island of Great Britain with the capability of launching attacks.
A bomb defused in Dublin in December 2005 was believed to have been the work of the CIRA.
In February 2006, the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) blamed the CIRA for planting four bombs in Northern Ireland during the final quarter of 2005, as well as several hoax bomb warnings.
In 2005, Irish Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform Michael McDowell told Dáil Éireann that the organisation had a maximum of 150 members. The CIRA is an illegal organisation under UK (section 11(1) of the Terrorism Act 2000) and ROI law due to the use of 'IRA' in the group's name, in a situation analogous to that of the Real Irish Republican Army (RIRA).
They also suspect that the Continuity IRA arsenal contains some weapons that were taken from Provisional IRA arms dumps, including a few dozen rifles, machine guns, and pistols; a small amount of the explosive Semtex; and a few dozen detonators. ==Internal tension and splits== In 2005, several members of the CIRA, who were serving prison sentences in Portlaoise Prison for paramilitary activity, left the organisation.
Most of those who had left went back to the CIRA, or dissociated themselves from the CGRP, which is now defunct. In February 2006, the Independent Monitoring Commission claimed in a report on paramilitary activity that two groups, styling themselves as "Óglaigh na hÉireann" and "Saoirse na hÉireann", had been formed after a split in the Continuity IRA either in early 2006 or late 2005.
In February 2006, the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) blamed the CIRA for planting four bombs in Northern Ireland during the final quarter of 2005, as well as several hoax bomb warnings.
Most of those who had left went back to the CIRA, or dissociated themselves from the CGRP, which is now defunct. In February 2006, the Independent Monitoring Commission claimed in a report on paramilitary activity that two groups, styling themselves as "Óglaigh na hÉireann" and "Saoirse na hÉireann", had been formed after a split in the Continuity IRA either in early 2006 or late 2005.
The Saoirse na hÉireann (SNH) group was composed of "disaffected and largely young republicans" and was responsible for a number of bomb hoaxes, two of which took place in September 2006.
The groups had apparently ceased operations by early 2009. In 2007, the Continuity IRA was responsible for shooting dead two of its members who had left and attempted to create their own organisation.
The Óglaigh na hÉireann group was responsible for a number of pipe bomb attacks on the PSNI, bomb hoaxes, and robberies, the IMC also claimed the organisation was responsible for the killing of Andrew Burns on 12 February 2008 and was seeking to recruit former members of the RIRA.
As a result of this continued activity the IMC said the group remained "a very serious threat". On 10 March 2009 the CIRA claimed responsibility for the fatal shooting of a PSNI officer in Craigavon, County Armagh—the first police fatality in Northern Ireland since 1998.
Carroll was killed two days after the Real IRA's 2009 Massereene Barracks shooting at Massereene Barracks in Antrim.
The groups had apparently ceased operations by early 2009. In 2007, the Continuity IRA was responsible for shooting dead two of its members who had left and attempted to create their own organisation.
The Continuity IRA is believed by Gardaí to have been involved in a number of gangland killings in Dublin and Limerick. In July 2010, members of a "militant Northern-based faction within the CIRA" led by a well-known member from south Londonderry claimed to have overthrown the leadership of the organisation.
A senior source from RSF said: "We would see them [the purported new leadership] as just another splinter group that has broken away." This organisation is referred to as the Real CIRA. In June 2011 CIRA member Liam Kenny was murdered, allegedly by drug dealers, at his home in Clondalkin, West Dublin.
On 28 November 2011 an innocent man was mistakenly shot dead in retaliation for the murder of Liam Kenny.
In a press interview with Republican Sinn Féin some days later, regarded by some to be the political wing of the Continuity IRA, Richard Walsh described the attacks as "acts of war". In 2013, the Continuity IRA's 'South Down Brigade' threatened a Traveller family in Newry and published a statement in the local newspaper.
The alert turned out to be a hoax. On Easter 2016, the Continuity IRA marched in paramilitary uniforms through North Lurgan, Co Armagh, without any hindrance from the PSNI who monitored the parade from a police helicopter. In July and August 2019 the CIRA carried out attempted bomb attacks on the PSNI in Craigavon, County Armagh and Wattlebridge, County Fermanagh. On 5 February 2020, a bomb planted by the CIRA was found by the PSNI in a lorry in Lurgan.
The alert turned out to be a hoax. On Easter 2016, the Continuity IRA marched in paramilitary uniforms through North Lurgan, Co Armagh, without any hindrance from the PSNI who monitored the parade from a police helicopter. In July and August 2019 the CIRA carried out attempted bomb attacks on the PSNI in Craigavon, County Armagh and Wattlebridge, County Fermanagh. On 5 February 2020, a bomb planted by the CIRA was found by the PSNI in a lorry in Lurgan.
The alert turned out to be a hoax. On Easter 2016, the Continuity IRA marched in paramilitary uniforms through North Lurgan, Co Armagh, without any hindrance from the PSNI who monitored the parade from a police helicopter. In July and August 2019 the CIRA carried out attempted bomb attacks on the PSNI in Craigavon, County Armagh and Wattlebridge, County Fermanagh. On 5 February 2020, a bomb planted by the CIRA was found by the PSNI in a lorry in Lurgan.
The CIRA believed the lorry was going to be put on a North Channel ferry to Scotland in January 2020. ==Claim to legitimacy== Similar to the claim put forward by the Provisional IRA after its split from the Official IRA in 1969, the Continuity IRA claims to be the legitimate continuation of the original Irish Republican Army or Óglaigh na hÉireann.
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