Republican Movement (Ireland)

The Republican Movement is the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and other political, social and paramilitary organisations and movements associated with it. It can include:

• Irish Republican Army (1922-1969)
• Provisional Irish Republican Army
• Irish National Liberation Army
• Official Irish Republican Army
• Continuity Irish Republican Army
• Real Irish Republican Army
• Cumann na mBan
• Fianna Éireann
• Sinn Féin
• Ógra Shinn Féin
• Republican Sinn Féin
• 32 County Sovereignty Movement

The term was in use at least as early as 1957 when the United Irishman reported:

"Jim Dolan, election agent for the successful Sinn Féin candidate John Joe Mac Fhearghaill, went on to say that in the course of the election campaign the Republican Movement had been at a great disadvantage because, as a result of arrests and internments, some of their very best speakers north and south had not been not been available to them."

J. Bowyer Bell, in The Secret Army, uses the term throughout to refer to the several organizations associated with the IRA in the 1960s and beyond. For instance, in chapter XVII he says: "But beneath the smooth patina applied by MacGiolla, The Republican movement seethed with bitter faction and the advanced rot of despair." Specifically mentioned in relation to this are Sinn Féin, the Clan (Clan na Gael) in America, the United Irishman and the National Graves Association. Peter Taylor, although he himself uses the term to refer to the IRA and Sinn Féin, claims that Republicans use it to refer to the IRA only. However, a Sinn Féin 'members course' of around 1979 specifically states: "Sinn Féin is the political section of the Republican Movement". Martin McGuinness, interviewed by John Humphrys for the BBC, denied that he was then a member of the IRA but did not contradict Humphrys when he described him as "a leader of the Republican Movement". Similarly, Francie Molloy, chair of the National Commemorations Committee said that "the growth in the attendance at Bodenstown (the annual Wolfe Tone commemoration) is a reflection of the growth of the Republican Movement."