Provisional Irish Republican Army

Provisional Irish Republican Army (Óglaigh na hÉireann)
Participant in The Troubles
IRA members showing an improvised mortar and an RPG (1992)
Active	1969– (on ceasefire from 1997)
Ideology	Irish republicanism
Leaders	IRA Army Council
Strength	~10,000 over 30 years
Originated as	Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Opponents	British Army Royal Ulster Constabulary Ulster loyalist paramilitaries

The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA or PIRA) was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and to bring about an independent republic encompassing all of Ireland. It was the biggest and most active republican paramilitary group during the Troubles. It saw itself as the successor to the original IRA and called itself simply the Irish Republican Army, or Óglaigh na hÉireann in Irish. It was also widely referred to as such by others.

The Provisional IRA emerged in December 1969, following a split in the republican movement. The Troubles had begun a year before, when a largely Catholic, nonviolent civil rights campaign was met with violence from both Ulster loyalists and the Royal Ulster Constabulary, culminating in the August 1969 riots and deployment of British troops. The IRA initially focused on defence, but it began an offensive campaign in 1971 (see timeline). The IRA's primary goal was to force the British to negotiate a withdrawal from Northern Ireland. It used guerrilla tactics against the British Army and RUC in both rural and urban areas. It also carried out a bombing campaign in Northern Ireland and England against what it saw as political and economic targets.