Chronology of Provisional Irish Republican Army actions (2010–present)

This is a chronology of activities by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), an Irish republican paramilitary group from 2010 onward.

2010

• 9 February 2010: A representative of the IRA using the pseudonym "P. O'Neill" issued a statement confirming that Belfast man Joe Lynskey was "executed" by the organisation in 1972. The statement said that the man had been an IRA member and was "court-martialled for breaches of IRA standing orders" and "was subsequently executed and buried in an unmarked grave." The statement went on to say that Lynskey had an affair with the wife of a Belfast republican and had ordered another IRA member to shoot the man. The IRA said it had not identified Lynskey's grave.^[1]
• March 2010: Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) MLA for Newry & Armagh, Dominic Bradley, claimed the IRA were responsible for a recent punishment shooting in the town of Meigh and an armed robbery in Armagh during which shots were fired.^[2]
• August 2010: The 32 County Sovereignty Movement, the Republican Network for Unity and the Ulster Political Research Group (UPRG), claimed that the IRA were responsible for a shooting incident in Gobnascale, Londonderry. It is claimed that up to 20 masked men, some armed with handguns, attacked a group of teenagers who were engaging in anti-social behaviour at an interface area. A number of the teenagers were attacked and shots were fired into the air. The men are then reported to have removed their masks when the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) arrived and were subsequently identified as members of the Republican Movement. Sinn Féin denied the IRA were involved.^[3][4][5]

2011

• 20 June 2011: Jim Wilson and other Unionist leaders claimed the Provisional IRA was responsible for shooting two loyalist rioters in the legs during a Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) led attack on the nationalist Short Strand area of Belfast. Alex Maskey denied the IRA was responsible for the shootings.^[6]
• 2 July 2011: An alleged member of the Provisional IRA was arrested for questioning over the stabbing of a man suspected of being linked to dissident republicans in the Markets area of Belfast.^[7][8]

2012

• 16 August 2012: Three men and two women were charged with Provisional IRA membership in Belfast.^[9]

2013

• 14 February 2013: Former IRA Volunteer Seán Kelly was arrested over the punishment shooting of an 18-year-old man in Belfast.^[10] He was later released unconditionally. Jim Allister suggested the IRA was involved in the shooting^[11] while the Ulster Unionist Party claimed the PSNI had come under pressure to distance mainstream republicans from the attack.^[12]
• 1 March 2013: Seán Hughes, a suspected member of the IRA Army Council, was charged with IRA membership, speaking at a meeting and encouraging support for an illegal organisation.^[13]
• 26 August 2013: It was alleged that the PIRA were responsible for planting two mortars along the border in South Armagh. Gardaí claimed the primed devices were intended as a warning by the IRA to the PSNI to cease disrupting the Provisional IRA's smuggling and diesel laundering business along the border.^[14]

2015

• 12 August 2015: Police believe members of the PIRA were involved in the fatal shooting of former IRA volunteer Kevin McGuigan in East Belfast. The shooting appears to be a revenge killing for the murder of another republican veteran in Belfast four months earlier.^[15]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Northern Ireland Troubles.

• Timeline of Continuity Irish Republican Army actions
• Timeline of Real Irish Republican Army actions
• Timeline of Irish National Liberation Army actions
• Timeline of Ulster Volunteer Force actions
• Timeline of Ulster Defence Association actions
• Timeline of Ulster Defence Regiment operations
• Timeline of the Northern Ireland Troubles

Notes