How much support did the IRA (Provisional) have in N. Ireland? ?

Question

Were they really popular, or just supported by a fringe minority?

I mean from the Irish/Nationalist/Catholic part of the population (not the British/Loyalist/Protestant).

Answer 1

Unfortunately enough to keep a campaign of terror going in the north for over three decades.

Stephen is completely wrong to say they had even close to the majority of Nationalist support  during the troubles.

If we use SF support pre 1998 (when the PIRA seized to use overt violence) the sdlp destroyed them in every election.  SF only took over as the North's biggest nationalist party after this period.

The provisional were supported by some because the British did, in some instances, not all brutalise the Nationalist community (NC) in the north. This in some minds legitimising the use of violence as a means to civil rights through a united Ireland.  

They then used this support to set up a systems of spies in NCs and in many cases brutalised there own community in order to rule by fear.

If you were a Catholic and joined the police you became a prime target.

If you as shop keeper in a NC served a British solider or a member of the RUC your shop would be burned down.

The provos regularly collected 'protection' money from catholic business owners or face the consequences.

Any Catholics who stood up or spoke against the provos were silenced.

So to summarise they were supported but fear played a much more significant factor.

Two stories highlight this.

Jean McConville was a mother of 10 went to the aid of a fatally wounded teenage British solider outside her home in west Belfast.  This mother of 10 was later abducted by the IRA and shot in the back of the head.  If this wasn't bad enough the provos labelled her a traitor and informer and refused to tell Jean McConville's family were the body was all because she went to the aid of a dying teenager.

Kingsmill Massacre: 12 work men were stopped by men in Balaclavas in South Armagh.  They ask all the Catholics to stand up, there's one who the others try to hide because they think it's the UVF.  The one Catholic is forced to walk home While the brave provos line up the other 11 against the van and riddle them with bullets for no other reason than being protestants.

Make no mistake the UVF targeted 100s of people in the north because they suspected they were Catholics but protestants in IRA strong holds were butchered as well.

Answer 2

They had too much flippin support from the deluded lot who thought nothing of blowing innocent people to kingdom come and funding their activities through armed robberies, kidnapping and drug runnning.

Pearse must have been turning in his grave to see those thugs carrying on the way they did.

Answer 3

Its hard to say exactly as most people would not say openly that they supported an illegal terrorist organisation.

In 1968, before the violence really took off, when asked if they believed it right ‘to take any measures necessary’ to achieve a political goal, 51% of Protestants and 13% of Catholics agreed.

In 1973, when asked if they believed that violence was a legitimate way to achieve one’s goals, 16% of Protestants and 25% of Catholics agreed.

In 1998, public support for violence had dropped massively, with only 7% on both sides having 'a lot of sympathy' with paramilitary activities (see link below for mmore details).

In terms of membership, the Provisional IRA had a fighting force which varied in size from about 150 in the late sixties to about 1,000 in the late seventies, back to around 300 (Real IRA) in 2002.

Many find it hard to separate support for the Provos with support for their political wing, Sinn Fein. When Sinn Fein ran for election in 1982, it won 43% of the vote. It is important to note that support for SF dropped significantly when violence escalated, suggesting that the majority supported the aims but not the methods, and that support for SF does NOT necessarily mean support for the IRA.

Also worth noting is that a lot of the logistical support for the Provos actually came from the Republic, for example, the discovery of a bomb-making factory in Co. Laois in 1996.

Answer 4

  in the catholic population , about 70%  of people supported them.