Saor Éire (1967-1975)

Saor Éire (pronounced [s̪ˠɯɾˠ eːɾʲə] or [s̪ˠiːɾˠ eːɾʲə], meaning Free Ireland) was an armed Irish republican organisation composed of Trotskyists and ex-IRA members. It took its name from a similar organisation of the 1930s.

It was formed in 1967 by ex IRA members who left in protest in the early sixties over lack of military action. its leaders included Peter Graham, Frank Keane (Former Commandant of the Dublin Brigade of the IRA), Liam Walsh, Joe Dillon and Martin Casey and Maureen Keegan of the Young Socialists. It recruited members of the Marxist Irish Workers Group.

Between 1967 and 1970, Saor Éire carried out a number of bank robberies, the proceeds being used to purchase arms. These were notable for using guns as a means of intimidation during the robberies the first time in a long time that such methods were used. The group provided arms, training and funding to nationalists in Northern Ireland after the outbreak of the Troubles in 1969.

Saor Éire was officially disbanded in 1975, although it remains a Proscribed Organisation in the United Kingdom under the Terrorism Act 2000.

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