ABSTRACT
On being asked of his reasons for joining the IRA at the beginning of the 1950s, Kelly answered as follows: ‘Because it was traditional within my own family background that the only way to oppose British rule in Ireland was through the use of physical force and that is a longstanding tradition within Irish political life.’3 This ideology was broadly shared by Bob Murray, born in Belfast in 1941, who also participated in the 1950s campaign and later joined the Provisional IRA after the schism in the republican movement, becoming Gerry Adams’ bodyguard until the second half of the 1980s. He was also responsible for certain matters related to the financial administration of the organisation.4 The same can be said of Ruairi O’Bradaigh, born in 1932 in county Longford, in the south of Ireland. In 1950 he joined Sinn Féin, and a year later the IRA. He came to hold an important position during the campaign which ended in 1962, and was also one of the founders of the Provisional IRA some years later. In 1986 he left to set up Republican Sinn Féin, of which he has been president ever since.5
