Continuity Irish Republican Army - Structure and Status

Structure and Status

The leadership of the Continuity IRA is believed to be based in the Munster and Ulster areas. It is alleged that its chief of staff is a Limerick man and that a number of other key members are from that county. He is believed to have been in this position since the death of Dáithí Ó Conaill, the first chief of staff, in 1991. In 2004 the United States (US) government believed the Continuity IRA consisted of fewer than fifty hardcore activists. 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 Irish 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). Membership of the organisation is punishable by a sentence of up to ten years imprisonment under UK law. On 13 July 2004, the US government designated the CIRA as a 'Foreign Terrorist Organization' (FTO). This made it illegal for Americans to provide material support to the CIRA, requires US financial institutions to block the group's assets and denies alleged CIRA members visas into the US.

Read more about this topic:  Continuity Irish Republican Army

Famous quotes containing the words structure and, structure and/or status:

    Slumism is the pent-up anger of people living on the outside of affluence. Slumism is decay of structure and deterioration of the human spirit. Slumism is a virus which spreads through the body politic. As other “isms,” it breeds disorder and demagoguery and hate.
    Hubert H. Humphrey (1911–1978)

    For the structure that we raise,
    Time is with materials filled;
    Our to-days and yesterdays
    Are the blocks with which we build.
    Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1809–1882)

    [In early adolescence] she becomes acutely aware of herself as a being perceived by others, judged by others, though she herself is the harshest judge, quick to list her physical flaws, quick to undervalue and under-rate herself not only in terms of physical appearance but across a wide range of talents, capacities and even social status, whereas boys of the same age will cite their abilities, their talents and their social status pretty accurately.
    Terri Apter (20th century)