Tara was a loyalist movement in Northern Ireland that espoused a brand of evangelical Protestantism.
The group was first formed in 1966 by William McGrath from an independent Orange lodge that he controlled.[1] It was intended as an outlet for virulent anti-Catholicism. The group endorsed British Israelism as it sometimes claimed that Ulster Protestants were descendants of the Lost tribe of Israel.[1] The group espoused a form of historical revisionism, arguing that the early inhabitants of Ireland were Scots or Picts, whilst also utilising Gaelic terms and symbols.[2]
A short-lived alliance with the Ulster Volunteer Force was attempted and Roy Garland, a leading Orangeman in the 60s and 70s, and now an author, was one of Tara's members who worked closely with the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) for a time.[3] As a movement Tara sought to establish a Protestant Northern Ireland in which law and order would be paramount and Catholicism would be outlawed.[1] Tara viewed Catholics as being in a grand conspiracy with communism and felt that a conflict between Protestantism and Catholicism was inevitable. As a result members of Tara were expected to be proficient in weapon use and were encouraged to join the security forces.[2]
Tara failed to attract much interest as its ideas were too esoteric for most loyalists. McGrath and his deputy John McKeague (also a leading member of the Red Hand Commandos) were both members of the Free Presbyterian Church,[4] although the influence of Tara did not spread far beyond sections of this church. According to Steve Bruce the group did little beyond releasing occasional threatening statements but was quickly superseded by the UVF and eventually the Ulster Defence Association.[5] The group was known to spread rumours about senior unionist figures whom it felt were too moderate.[1] A 1981 arms find damaged the group whilst McGrath had already been caught up in the Kincora House scandal.[6] The movement faded soon afterwards.