Dissident republicans () are
Irish republicans who do not support the
Northern Ireland peace process. The peace agreements followed a 30-year conflict known as
the Troubles
The Troubles () were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed t ...
, in which over 3,500 people were killed and 47,500 injured, and in which republican paramilitary groups such as the
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Provisional IRA), officially known as the Irish Republican Army (IRA; ) and informally known as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary force that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland ...
waged a campaign to bring about a
united Ireland. Negotiations in the 1990s led to a Provisional IRA ceasefire in 1994 and to the
Good Friday Agreement of 1998. Mainstream republicans, represented by
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin ( ; ; ) is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The History of Sinn Féin, original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffit ...
, supported the Agreement as a means of achieving Irish unity peacefully. Dissidents saw this as an abandonment of the goal of an independent Irish republic and acceptance of
partition. They hold that the
Northern Ireland Assembly
The Northern Ireland Assembly (; ), often referred to by the metonym ''Stormont'', is the devolved unicameral legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliam ...
and
Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) are illegitimate and see the PSNI as a British paramilitary police force.
Some dissident republican political groups, such as
Republican Sinn Féin and the
32 County Sovereignty Movement, support
political violence
Political violence is violence which is perpetrated in order to achieve political goals. It can include violence which is used by a State (polity), state against other states (war), violence which is used by a state against civilians and non-st ...
against the British security forces and oppose the Provisional IRA's 1994 ceasefire; other groups, such as the
Irish Republican Socialist Party, wish to achieve their goals only through peaceful means.
Since the IRA ceasefire, splinter groups have
continued an armed campaign against the British security forces in Northern Ireland. Like the Provisional IRA, each of these groups sees itself as the only rightful successor of the
original IRA and each calls itself simply "the IRA", or ''
Óglaigh na hÉireann
(), abbreviated , is an Irish-language idiom that can be translated variously as ''soldiers of Ireland'', ''warriors of Ireland'', ''volunteers of Ireland''O'Leary, Brendan. ''Terror, insurgency, and the state: ending protracted conflicts''. ...
'' in Irish (see also
Irish republican legitimism).
Groups currently described as dissident republican
Paramilitary
*
Arm na Poblachta (ANP)
*
Continuity Irish Republican Army (Continuity IRA)
*
Cumann na mBan
*
Fianna Éireann
*
Irish Republican Liberation Army (IRLA)
*
Irish Republican Movement (IRM)
*
New Irish Republican Army (New IRA)
*
Óglaigh na hÉireann (Real IRA splinter group) (ONH)
Political
*
32 County Sovereignty Movement (32CSM)
*
Anti-Imperialist Action Ireland (AIA)
*
Irish Republican Prisoners' Welfare Association (IRPWA)
*Irish Republican Resistance (IRR)
*
Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP)
*Lasair Dhearg
*
Republican Network for Unity (RNU)
*
Republican Sinn Féin (RSF)
*
Saoradh
Groups previously described as dissident republican
Paramilitary
*
Irish National Liberation Army (INLA)
(Armed campaign ended in 2009)
*
Real Irish Republican Army (Real IRA)
(merged into the New IRA in 2012)
*
Republican Action Against Drugs (RAAD)
(merged into the New IRA in 2012)
Political
*
Irish Republican Voice (IRV) (disbanded 2014)
References
{{CIRA/RSF
Dissent
Dissident Irish republican campaign
Irish republicanism
Northern Ireland peace process
Politics of Northern Ireland