ABSTRACT
The interviews carried out for this book suggest that new recruits to the republican movement did not have an in-depth understanding of the political structures existing at the time of their joining, as can be deduced from the analysis in the previous chapters of how they became members and the motivations with which they rationalised this decision. This is unsurprising if we take into account the nature of the relationship between factors as important as age, ideology and membership. This significant connection explains the extent to which political objectives can be regarded as motivational factors for IRA members. It is worth recalling some of the expressions used by young activists when referring to their personal conduct at the time that they were recruited: ‘I was a hot head’; ‘It was an emotional response’; ‘I was a very narrow minded individual’; ‘I was very intolerant’; ‘Mine was a gut reaction’; ‘I wasn’t politically conscious’; ‘Politically I was very immature’; ‘I was very pro republican without knowing what republicanism actually was’; ‘I had very romantic ideas about Ireland and the IRA’; ‘My entry into the struggle at that very young age would have been instinctive, it would not have been based on any sort of real understanding of the politics.’
