ABSTRACT
Since 2009, the significant increase of violence from Irish dissident groups has broken the relative peace in Northern Ireland brought about by the 1998 Good Friday Agreement (GFA). As the largest and most active of the Irish dissident groups, this chapter focuses on the IRA. The original focus of the research was on the then-largest republican group, the Real IRA (RIRA), and its political wing, the 32 County Sovereignty Movement (32CSM). However, during the data collection period, RIRA amalgamated with another republican dissident group, Republican Action Against Drugs (RAAD), and disaffected former members of the Provisional IRA (PIRA). The increase in size of the group has consequently increased its capability to mount a period of violence in Northern Ireland and, potentially, mainland Britain.1 As a result, the research focus changed slightly by examining this new IRA group. The danger the 32CSM/IRA pose cannot be understated. The 2012 Northern Ireland Peace Monitoring Report states that as a result of the threat Irish dissident groups in the province pose to U.K. security, the Terrorism Risk Index placed the United Kingdom as at a greater risk than any other Western nation (Nolan, 2012, p. 43).
