Talk:Provisional Irish Republican Army

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Provisional Irish Republican Army was a Social sciences and society good articles nominee, but did not meet the good article criteria at the time. There may be suggestions below for improving the article. Once these issues have been addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
June 1, 2012	Good article nominee	Not listed
March 9, 2021	Good article nominee	Not listed

Facts from this article were featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "On this day..." column on July 28, 2008, July 28, 2009, July 28, 2010, July 28, 2013, July 28, 2015, July 28, 2018, July 28, 2020, and July 28, 2024.

Current status: Former good article nominee

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Warning: active arbitration remedies

The contentious topics procedure applies to this article. This article is related to the Troubles, which is a contentious topic. Furthermore, the following rules apply when editing this article:

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There is a clear guideline on Wikipedia about the use of the word Terrorism. Please read it before editing: Wikipedia:Words to avoid#Contentious labels.

Shanahan citation

I can't edit the article since I don't have a user, but I just wanted to draw attention to a problem in a source cited in support of the claim that "Following partition, Northern Ireland became a de facto one-party state governed by the Ulster Unionist Party in the Parliament of Northern Ireland, in which Catholics were viewed as second-class citizens." The footnote cites p. 12 of Timothy Shanahan's book "The Provisional Irish Republican Army and the Morality of Terrorism". On that page, however, the author describes the "Standard Republican Narrative" of which he says that "I will not argue that these myths are false in all respects, but rather that they contain partial-truths at best and that the reality is considerably more complicated" (p. 11).

"Officially known as"?

What does this phrase mean? Does it mean "self-described as"? In fact they self-described as "Óglaigh na hÉireann" (which does not translate as "Irish Republican Army" either but as "younglings of Ireland" or more idiomatically "Irish volunteers", IRA merely being a euphemism of no status from 1919 onwards). And that is also the title of the Irish Defence Forces, which surely have a higher claim on "officially" etc. 185.60.76.112 (talk) 11:35, 26 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

See the history section about their origins. The Banner talk 12:36, 26 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

That has nothing to do with the "officially known as" though - "officially" by what? What office or officer calls them this? 2A02:C7C:37D6:C100:885E:F169:EE60:F3F7 (talk) 20:07, 26 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

First PIRA public statement

The article states, "The Provisional IRA issued their first public statement on 28 December 1969." The citation is to a secondary source. Is this statement (or other PIRA statements) online anywhere? The CAIN website has an archive of IRA statements[1] but it's focused on the period after 1994. I'm really asking out of personal curiousity but this would probably be of interest to other readers. Prezbo (talk) 21:13, 25 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

On the Misuse of Past Tense References to the Provisional Irish Republican Army

To speak of the Provisional Irish Republican Army in the past tense is to indulge in fiction.

The organization endures; diminished, yes, but defunct?

Defunct, it is not.

This is no idle assertion but an incontrovertible fact, borne out by government records, journalistic accounts, and even elsewhere on this very site.

To persist in the past tense is to mislead, whether by design or by neglect.

Let the record stand as it is, not as some would prefer it to be. This page must be amended accordingly. TheWorkersRepublic (talk) 13:49, 31 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Can you cite your specific sources instead of preaching? Yue🌙 22:08, 31 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 7 March 2025

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Please remove "FLNC" from the "Allies" field in the infobox. Firstly this information is not covered in the main body of the article, violating MOS:INFOBOXPURPOSE. Secondly, and perhaps more pertitently, the citations don't actually support this claim. The first citation is presumably to page 68, which says "Some rather tenuous claims of PIRA connections with French terrorist groups have been made". The second citation is presumably to page 34 (page 44 of the PDF, which is numbered differently), and covers relations between Sinn Féin and Corsican nationalists including the FLNC. "Tenuous claims" and links between Sinn Féin (not the IRA) and Corsican nationalists don't merit including this claim in the infobox. 2A0A:EF40:C4E:E01:44FE:BAF5:C2AB:AF94 (talk) 10:19, 7 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 12 March 2025

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Organization is spelled wrong several times. It is spelled ORGANISATION the "S" should be a "Z". Thank you 207.255.245.122 (talk) 10:05, 12 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Organisation is perfectly correct spelling. See WP:ENGVAR Valenciano (talk) 10:55, 12 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The "organizations" are all in article titles and therefore frozen in place. In the plain text organisation is used. The Banner talk 12:11, 12 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]