Irish Republican News: Archives

July 31, 2025

Very little, very late

The brother of a man shot dead by loyalists acting in collusion with the Crown Forces, and who made the pursuit of truth his lifelong mission, has passed away just days after receiving a deathbed apology from PSNI police chief Jon Boutcher.

‘Imperial arrogance’ as Palestinians starve

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s conditional recognition of Palestinian statehood has been dismissed as “gesture politics” and a “textbook example of imperialist arrogance”.

Raids and harassment linked to political policing

Saoradh has condemned a wave of violent and provocative raids carried out by the Crown Forces in the Creggan area of Derry.

Talks ‘interlocutor’ to be named by governments

An “interlocutor” is reportedly to be appointed next week by the Dublin and London governments to hold talks with republican armed groups and loyalist paramilitaries.

Marches of shame recall massacres

A huge parade to commemorate a UVF Miami Showband killer will take place in Portadown on Saturday week on the 50th anniversary of the massacre.

Anniversary of historic IRA statement marked

The Provisional IRA formally ended its armed struggle twenty years ago this week, but that only came at the end of a process that took decades, Gerry Adams has said.

Britain’s century of complicity in Palestinian suffering

Britain cannot claim moral leadership while enabling Gaza’s suffering, according to Sinn Féin MP Chris Hazzard.

Twenty years on from historic statement

Contrasting views of the epochal decision by the Provisional IRA to disarm and decommission its weapons, twenty years ago this week.

July 24, 2025

MONSTERS

Escalating protests are taking place across the world as international leaders allow Israel to deliberately starve millions of Palestinians.

‘Oversight’ or cover-up? RUC policing themselves

A former RUC and PSNI police ‘intelligence’ chief, Hugh Hume, has been appointed to effectively head the Police Ombudsman’s Office, a body charged with holding the PSNI to account in the wake of the Good Friday Agreement.

GAA condemned over policing hypocrisy

Jarlath Burns, the president of the GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) is being urged to refuse any further payments from the British Crown Forces after a shameful advertisement appeared at the All-Ireland Senior Hurling final.

Voting change could move the dial on reunification

The announcement by the London government that it intends to lower the voting age to 16 could advance the process of electoral demographic change in the north of Ireland, with a potential additional swing to nationalists on the order of 1%.

Irish language triggers vandalism, intimidation

The statue of an anti-slavery campaigner in the grounds of Belfast City Hall has been vandalised by unionists - because a section of the statue’s plaque was in Irish.

Golf fans caught up in sectarian parade

At least six bands with paramilitary links took part in a loyalist parade last weekend in front of golf fans attending a major golf tournament, without intervention from the police or Parades Commission.

PKK disarms as Öcalan ends armed struggle

Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan has spoken from his Turkish prison cell, signalling the end of his PKK movement’s armed campaign, writes Kurdish rights activist Agit Karatas.

Miami Showband massacre survivor writes, 50 years on

Des Lee, a member of the Miami Showband, was interviewed by Liam Collins on his new book ‘My saxophone saved my life’, published fifty years after the atrocity which claimed the lives of three of his bandmates.

July 17, 2025

Loyalists still call the shots

Proof that unionist paramilitaries control policing in the north of Ireland has been seen in a decision by the PSNI to back down in the face of a UDA/UVF threat over a bonfire constructed at an asbestos dump.

Discrimination exposed in death by late republican legend

The PSNI have been humiliated by being forced to return a mural billboard featuring veteran republican Kevin Hannaway after it was seized last Friday. Two days later, a large crowd saw it defiantly unveiled in west Belfast.

‘Shameful’ displays as Orangemen march

The annual ‘Twelfth’ parades by the Protestant Orange Order took place this year with several provocative displays of anti-Catholic hate.

Deportation threat to Clinton’s Irish peace deal

An octogenarian great-grandfather who was caught up in an FBI sting 42 years ago has apparently been ordered out of the United States by Donald Trump’s Homeland Security.

Kids’ sports camp closed as bigots target GAA

A cross-community camp for children in County Down has been scrapped following opposition over the involvement of a small group of kids who played Gaelic sports, while in Belfast a GAA club has been attacked.

Warning of MI5 agenda behind far-right groups

The infiltration of a former loyalist paramilitary and MI5 agent in anti-immigration groups in the 26 Counties has raised concerns, including for some of those involved.

Kevin Hannaway remembered

Former republican prisoner Stephen Murney delivered the main oration at the unveiling of the mural in west Belfast to Volunteer Kevin Hannaway. The full text of his speech is published below.

What compels young men to die?

A poem written by hunger strike martyr and IRA East Tyrone Brigade Volunteer, Martin Hurson, at Easter 1981 during the 1981 hunger strike. On 13 July 1981, he became the sixth of ten men to die in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh in protest against attempts to criminalise the republican struggle.

July 10, 2025

Bonfire threats find new level

A giant loyalist bonfire is set to burn a boatful of asylum seekers in effigy in what may go down as the world’s most public hate crime – without any intervention from the authorities in the north of Ireland.

Tensions as body scanner used to isolate prisoner

The Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association (IRPWA) has warned against the “ongoing antagonistic attitude” of the prison administration at Maghaberry after the riot squad was deployed in response to tensions at the jail.

Solidarity with victims of new British censorship

The banning of British peace campaign ‘Palestine Action’ by the British government has been condemned by the Bloody Sunday March committee.

Compensation denial compounds injustice

Former Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams has criticised the London government over its plans to bring in new legislation to stop internees from being compensated for their wrongful imprisonment in the 1970s.

Former senior Sinn Féin figure cleared of wrongdoing

Prosecutors have been accused of blindly defending the Stormont system against an attempt to ‘rock the boat’ by dragging out the so-called ‘Nama’ trial over ten years.

New grasp of economic potential of unity

New research has shown that a united Ireland would cost far less than previously estimated and that any financial burdens would disappear within a decade, according to the first peer-reviewed academic research on the topic.

Tom Barry, West Cork Flying Column commander

Tom Barry was the West Cork Flying Column commander whose memoirs of the struggle to free Ireland from British rule became an influential guide to guerrilla warfare. He died on 2 July 1980, 45 years ago this week.

What about the women of the Orange Order?

Apart from the obvious sectarianism, the exclusion of women should raise questions over the fawning media coverage of the Orange Order’s parades.

July 3, 2025

PSNI protect inflammatory Orange parades

A 400-metre-long steel barrier was required to protect local nationalist homes prior to an annual sectarian parade by the anti-Catholic Orange Order through East Belfast, which is supposedly held to mark the Battle of the Somme of World War One.

Times are changing as festival crowds beat censors

An attempt to silence Irish-speaking hip-hop band Kneecap at last weekend’s Glastonbury festival instead saw another band deliver an even stronger message of defiance and resistance.

Strong opposition to plan to redevelop 1916 HQ

The Dublin government’s plans to redevelop the General Post Office (GPO) as a mixed-use “flagship” site have been met with unified criticism as community leaders, politicians, and cultural organisations all accuse the government of disrespecting the nation’s revolutionary heritage.