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Irish Republican Army 1968 PUNC XI: EYE OF THE STORM 2018 Irish Republican Army 1968 Presented by: Table of Contents Letter from the Crisis Director Page 2 Letter from the Chair Page 3 Committee History Page 5 Delegate Positions Page 8 Committee Structure Page 10 Committee Goals Page 13 Sources Page 15 1 Letter From the Crisis Director Hello Delegates, My name is Daniel Donaher, and I will be your crisis director through this wild and turbulent ride through the IRA. I have been doing Model UN since my senior year of high school, and I now serve as President of the International Affairs and Debate Association here at Penn State, through which this conference is run. My hobbies include running, writing, and listening to music. A fun fact about me is that I’m something of a tea fanatic. I think tea has a fascinating history and culture behind it that often goes unnoticed, and I am an avid drinker of all different kinds of oolong teas. This committee idea struck me after I watched a documentary about the IRA and the internal politics and the external obstacles they faced. The delicate political complexity of the situation surrounding Northern Ireland and the Republic seemed a perfect fit for an experiment to see how MUN delegates could balance being both paramilitary terrorists and striving to become a legitimate negotiating power. I look forward to see how all of you will handle this situation, and I look forward to meeting you all as well! Please feel free to e-mail me with any questions. Best, Daniel Donaher [email protected] 2 Letter From the Chair Hello Irishmen (and Irishwomen)! My name is Meghan McNicholas, and I am thrilled to welcome you to State College for PUNC XI! I am originally from Radnor, PA, and am currently a sophomore majoring in International Politics and French with minors in Arabic and History. I fell in love with MUN during high school, and have been involved with PSIADA since the beginning of my freshman year. Over the past two years, I have staffed PUNC as well as our high school conference, PHUNC. I served as Director of Logistics for PHUNC this past November, and will be the Secretary-General of our upcoming conference. Additionally, I am the current Director of Logistics for PUNC XI, and (even more importantly), will be your Chair for the weekend! In the rare chance that I am not in committee session or at a nerdy MUN-related event, you will most likely find me telling notoriously bad jokes, eating socially unacceptable amounts of ice cream, running because of said ice cream, and petting every single dog that I can find. This will be my first time Chairing a committee, and I could not have asked for a better topic or team to work with. The Irish Republican Army faced immense challenges in 1968, and I am excited to see how you and your fellow Irishmen decide to face these difficulties. As the great-granddaughter of Irish immigrants herself (just in case the last name and freckled Irish 3 Catholic skin didn’t give it away), I trust that you will make my ancestors proud as you tackle what will surely be complex but extremely rewarding debate topics and crises. During PUNC, my job is not only to ensure that our committee sessions run smoothly, but also that each of you have an incredible experience both inside and outside of the committee room. That being said, please do not hesitate to reach out to me at any time prior to PUNC at [email protected], as well as over the course of the weekend itself. Question, comments, and bad jokes are always welcomed (and highly encouraged!) Best, Meghan McNicholas 4 Committee History “Burn everything British but their coal” - Irish Republican saying Origins of the IRA In 1918, the Sinn Féin government of Ireland declared independence from Britain which led to the start of the Anglo-Irish War. Young supporters of Irish independence came together as a band of volunteer soldiers under the name of the Irish Republican Army. These forces operated with counsel from the Irish government in hopes of igniting violent and unpopular retaliatory action from the British. This strategy proved to be effective, and as the war raged on, more and more people became sympathetic to Sinn Féin propaganda. However, as the British government switched tactics to interning Irish insurgents. The young volunteers had to go into hiding and embrace guerilla tactics against these measures. The British counter-insurgency efforts were plagued by soldiers having little to know knowledge of the Irish countryside, which lent itself in favor of the IRA’s guerilla warfare. The increasing frustration on the British side led to a greater intensity and brutality of containment methods. Ultimately,this would result in the events of Bloody Sunday, the day in which nineteen suspected British intelligence officials were gunned down, and British Auxiliaries fired indiscriminately onto a crowd at a football game. Following this, tensions and violence would reach an all-time high as the British government was eventually forced to negotiations. The Anglo-Irish treaty was ratified on December 6th, 1921. It created the Irish Free State, which was still a part of the British Empire as a self-governing dominion, similar to Canada. The year prior, the government passed the Government of Ireland Act, establishing Northern Ireland out of the six north-east counties of Ireland. Under the treaty, Northern Ireland had the choice to 5 opt out of the Irish Free State, which it did. The treaty was controversial among Irish Nationalists, especially due to Ireland still remaining a part of the empire rather than an independent republic. The treaty was eventually ratified, and while it technically did not release Ireland from the British Empire, it was clear that the path was set for full Irish Independence. The Border Campaign The IRA was dormant briefly, as many of its members loyal to the original cause still objected to the partition of Ireland as laid out in the treaty. From 1956 to 1962, the organization waged an offensive that would eventually be referred to as the Border Campaign. The IRA would send in columns of 50 soldiers to attack strategic infrastructure targets with the hopes of driving British forces from sections of Northern Ireland. The government responded by passing the Special Powers Act, which allowed them to intern suspected Irish Nationalists without trial. This greatly hindered the impact of the IRA’s campaign. The campaign was quite brutal and energetic in its early years, and it seemed that Irish Republicans who died in the campaign only became martyrs to the cause and continued to fuel support for the IRA. However, the tide turned when the Republic of Ireland came under a new government more adamantly opposed to the IRA and began internment practices as well. Eventually the campaign petered out, as the IRA suffered a lack of support from the citizens of Northern Ireland. The campaign was seen as a massive failure, as it damaged the IRA’s reputation in Northern Ireland. It caused the leadership of the organization to fracture into two groups, one that continued to support violence, and one that embraced a leftist ideology as a means of accomplishing its goals. 6 The Troubles Issues in Northern Ireland began to spring up as Catholics in the region complained of gerrymandering and discrimination as a means to keep their voices silenced in the government. Irish Republican organizations, the North Ireland Labour Party, and left-wing political parties came together to form the North Ireland Civil Rights Association. Many demonstrations by this group ended in violence with counter-protestors on the side of the unionists in Northern Ireland, causing tensions between these two groups to rise. The NICRA was not intended as a body for Irish Reunification, but for the purposes of obtaining rights for Catholic citizens. The organization gathered ire for having associations with the IRA and having some of its members in leadership. In response, unionists founded the Ulster Protestant Volunteers, which was essentially their counter measure to the IRA. The Volunteers would disrupt and counter Republican and NICRA protests, and began forming as a paramilitary organization in anticipation of the IRA’s resurgence. They also aimed to oust the current Prime Minister for being too soft on the protestors. IRA Politics As previously mentioned, the IRA was plagued with divisions following the Border Campaign. There were two wings, the Official and Provisional IRA. The Officials were marxists who dreamed of uniting the Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland with the goals of uniting the working classes against the elites of society. The Provisionals, on the other hand, considered themselves and their tactics to be descendants of the real IRA. As for the start of this committee, all members of this committee are a part of a unified IRA under Chief of Staff Goulding. 7 Delegate Positions Cathal Goulding (IRA Chief of Staff) - Serving as Quartermaster and eventually Chief of Staff, ​ Golding was an influential member of the IRA. He was one of the leading voices in advocating that the IRA move away from the policy of abstentionism, and attempt to become an active political organization. His opposition to the British rule is rooted largely in Marxist theory, as he believed the British attempted to divide the Irish working class to maintain control. Seán Garland (IRA Training Officer) - Garland began his involvement to the IRA as an agent ​ in the British Army in order to gather intelligence to lead a arms raid on a Gough Barracks.
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