The Moral Parameters of Violence: The Case of the Provisional IRA

Over three decades, the Provisional Irish Republican Army waged a campaign of violence that claimed the lives of some two thousand people. This article explores the moral framework by which the IRA sought to legitimate its campaign—how it was derived and how it functioned. On the one hand, the IRA relied on a legalist set of political principles, grounded in a particular reading of Irish history. An interlinked, yet discrete strand of legitimation stressed the iniquities of the Northern Irish state as experienced by Catholic nationalists, especially in the period 1968–1972. These parallel threads were interwoven to build a powerful argument that justified a resort to what the IRA termed its “armed struggle.” Yet the IRA recognized that the parameters for war were set not simply by reference to ideology but also by a reading of what might be acceptable to those identified as “the people” or “the community.” Violence was subject to an undeclared process of negotiation with multiple audiences, which served to constitute the boundaries of the permissible. Often, these red lines were revealed only at the point of transgression, but they were no less important for being intangible. An examination of the moral parameters for IRA violence provides a new perspective on the group, helping to explain IRA resilience but also its ultimate weakness and decline.

Passionate Belief: Ideology, Emotion and Terrorist Action

Ideologies sit at the intersection of thought and emotion, capable of inspiring some people to greatness and driving others to commit horrendous acts of violence. Providing more than just systematic arguments, ideologies encourage shared political identities, help explain social circumstance, and frame what actions need to be taken in response. Ideologies often carry a negative connotation, particularly in relation to acts labelled as terrorism. Yet ideologies encourage people to imagine a future that is better than the present. In this sense, they are narratives of hope that can help to ameliorate the pain of everyday life. This essay draws on interviews and ethnographic fieldwork conducted with former members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army to examine the interplay between hope, ideology and acts of political violence. In doing so, it contributes to a growing body of scholarship that seeks to integrate emotions into the analyses of how individuals come to embrace violence as a political tactic.

Political violence and re-victimization in The Ferryman

Jez Butterworth’s The Ferryman (2017) is a play about the Carney family living in 1980s Ireland during the period of insurgency of the Irish Republican Army (IRA – also known as the Provisional IRA) and its efforts to end British rule in Northern Ireland, a period known as “the Troubles”. This paper focuses on Jez Butterworth, one of the most distinctive voices of the contemporary British theatre scene and a typical representative of the 1990s cultural trend, and his tragedy The Ferryman, which portrays the struggle and conflicts between Catholic nationalists and Protestant loyalists in Northern Ireland in the last decades of the 20th century. The second major point of the study is that the power of the Irish Republican Party has a heavy impact on the play. The paper also discovers how Sean Carney and other members of his family both embody and apply the story of Eugene Simons and other members of “the Disappeared”. Like other young men, Seamus Carney became a victim during the Troubles and the campaign of political violence. The discovery of his body symbolizes how political violence created the Disappeared and shows that re-victimization and retraumatisation continue in the aftermath of the Troubles.

The psychological impact of involvement in the Irish Republican Army during the ‘Troubles’: Preliminary evidence of moral injury

To elucidate some of the psychological implications of involvement in terrorism, this study investigated whether former members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) experienced moral injury. Ten autobiographical sources from former IRA members who were active during the ‘Troubles’ in Northern Ireland were qualitatively analysed through interpretative phenomenological analysis. The analysis yielded preliminary evidence of morally injurious experiences and symptoms. These symptoms were commonly coped with through reparative actions. Three types of morally injurious experiences were found in this population: experiences associated with the IRA’s strategy of violence; experiences of informing; and experiences during the hunger strike campaigns. Additionally, there was evidence of moral disillusionment with the IRA. The analysis also identified factors that decreased susceptibility to moral injury. How moral injury and moral disillusionment might have played a role in disengagement from the IRA is discussed.

1921

This chapter looks at the deaths of the people who died in Ireland in 1921. Ex-serviceman Martin Heavy was abducted along with his mother, sister, young niece, and nephew on the night of December 30, 1920, by masked members of the Curraghboy Company, 4th Battalion, South Roscommon Brigade. Held overnight in a cattle shed, the family were taken next evening by 'mule and trap' through Knockcroghery to 'a big house'. His family were expelled, while Heavy 'was left behind with his hands tied'. Thrown into the Shannon River, his body was never recovered. Ten Curraghboy Company Volunteers were arrested in January of 1921, each suffering 'a severe beating'. Meanwhile, Michael McGrath was one of about fifty of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) who mounted an ambush at Pickardstown. McGrath was killed on the Ballinattin road; he was the first Waterford city volunteer killed during the War of Independence.

Political Violence and Re-victimization in The Ferryman

<p>Jez Butterworth’s <i>The Ferryman</i> (2017) is a play about the Carney family living in 1980s Ireland during the period of the rebellion of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and its efforts to get rid of British sovereignty in Northern Ireland, a period known as ‘the Troubles’. This paper focuses on Jez Butterworth, one of the most distinctive voices of the contemporary British theatre scene and a typical representative of the 1990s cultural trend, and his tragedy <i>The Ferryman</i>, which portrays the struggle and conflicts between Catholic nationalists and Protestant loyalists in Northern Ireland in the last decades of the twentieth century. The second major point of the study is that the power of the Irish Republican Party has a heavy impact on the play. The paper also discovers how Sean Carney and other members of his family both embody and apply the story of Eugene Simons and other members of ‘the Disappeared’. Like other young men, Seamus Carney became a victim during the Troubles and the campaign of political violence. The discovery of his body symbolizes how political violence created the Disappeared and shows that re-victimization and re-traumatisation continue in the aftermath of the Troubles.</p>