View source for Irish Republican Liberation Army

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{infobox war faction
| name             = Irish Republican Liberation Army
| native_name      = 
| native_name_lang = 
| war              = [[Dissident Irish Republican campaign]]
| image            = 
| caption          = 
| active           = 2006–unknown
| ideology         = [[Irish republicanism]]
| leaders          = 
| clans            = 
| headquarters     = [[Belfast]]
| area             = 
| size             = 
| partof           = 
| predecessor      = 
| successor        = 
| allies           = 
| split            = 
| opponents        = 
| battles          = 
| url              = 
}}
{{Irish republicanism|Militant groups}}

The '''Irish Republican Liberation Army''' (IRLA) is an Irish [[paramilitary]] "self-styled vigilante group".<ref name="Breen"/>

==Origins==
The IRLA is centred on [[Belfast]] in the [[Ardoyne]] area.<ref name="IMC">{{cite web |url=http://www.independentmonitoringcommission.org/documents/uploads/18.%20Eighteenth%20Report.pdf |title=Eighteenth Report of the Independent Monitoring Commission |website=www.independentmonitoringcommission.org |date=November 2008 |accessdate=2008-11-02 |url-status=usurped |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080910135800/http://www.independentmonitoringcommission.org/documents/uploads/18.%20Eighteenth%20Report.pdf |archivedate=2008-09-10 }}</ref> [[The Irish News]] suggested that its membership were from a [[County Antrim]] family with links to the [[Loyalist Volunteer Force]],<ref>{{cite news |title=Dissident republican group has LVF links |url=http://www.nuzhound.com/articles/irish_news/arts2007/dec11_LVF_IRLA_links.php |newspaper=The Irish News |date=12 December 2007 |accessdate=26 April 2020 |archive-date=10 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210410023054/http://www.nuzhound.com/articles/irish_news/arts2007/dec11_LVF_IRLA_links.php |url-status=live }}</ref> while others have suggested they splintered from the [[Continuity IRA]] (CIRA).<ref name="Breen">{{cite news | author=Suzanne Breen | title=Republicans face death threats as tensions grow | url=http://www.nuzhound.com/articles/Sunday_Tribune/arts2007/mar25_tension_death_threats_Republicans__SBreen.php | newspaper=Sunday Tribune | date=25 March 2007 | accessdate=26 April 2020 | archive-date=21 August 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190821155330/http://www.nuzhound.com/articles/Sunday_Tribune/arts2007/mar25_tension_death_threats_Republicans__SBreen.php | url-status=live }}</ref>

==Threats==
Following the deaths of two of its members in squabbles over firearms in November 2007, Ed Burns and Joe Jones, the former who was shot near the [[Gaelic Athletic Association|GAA]] St Galls' club in West Belfast and the latter who was beaten to death with a shovel in Ardoyne, the group threatened retribution against [[Republican Sinn Féin]], the alleged political wing of the CIRA, believed responsible for the deaths.<ref name="Breen"/> Veteran west Belfast activist, Geraldine Taylor, a [[Republican Sinn Féin]] candidate in [[Belfast West (Assembly constituency)#2007|the Assembly elections]], and a north Belfast Republican Sinn Féin member, were told by police that their lives were in danger. The threat was said to have come from the apparently "self-styled vigilante group", the IRLA. Further to this, two other republicans were also warned of the danger to their lives.<ref name="Breen"/>

In November 2007, the group also claimed responsibility for the [[shotgun]] attack that wounded a police officer driving away from his son's school in [[Derry]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/13/europe/EU-GEN-NIreland-Police-Shot.php |title=Archived copy |access-date=25 August 2008 |archive-date=30 November 1998 |archive-url=https://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/19981130000000/http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/13/europe/EU-GEN-NIreland-Police-Shot.php |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The [[Independent Monitoring Commission]] said the IRLA has a small arms collection, though its threat is not "terrorist in nature".<ref name="IMC"/>

In the twentieth IMC report, the IRLA was set to be a "essentially a group of criminals taking a republican banner in order to give supposed status to their activities". Although the group committed at least one other shooting it was not recognised as immediately threatening.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.independentmonitoringcommission.org/documents/uploads/Twentieth%20Report.pdf |title=Twentieth Report of the Independent Monitoring Commission |website=www.independentmonitoringcommission.org |date=November 2008 |accessdate=2008-12-18 |url-status=usurped |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081218015532/http://www.independentmonitoringcommission.org/documents/uploads/Twentieth%20Report.pdf |archivedate=2008-12-18 }}</ref>

==Government response==
On 5 March 2008, [[East Antrim (Assembly constituency)|East Antrim]] MP [[Sammy Wilson (politician)|Sammy Wilson]] asked the [[Minister for Security|Minister of State for Security, Counter-Terrorism, Crime and Policing]] [[Tony McNulty]] if he would consider prohibiting the Irish Republican Liberation Army under the [[Terrorism Act 2000]]. McNulty replied that "As a matter of normal policy and practice we do not comment on organisations not on the proscribed list."<ref>{{Cite Hansard |house=[[British House of Commons|House of Commons]] |title=Terrorism |date=5 March 2008 |column=2492W |url=http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200708/cmhansrd/cm080305/text/80305w0002.htm |access-date=2008-08-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605024412/http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200708/cmhansrd/cm080305/text/80305w0002.htm |archive-date=2011-06-05 |url-status=dead }} {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303191151/http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200708/cmhansrd/cm080305/text/80305w0002.htm |date=3 March 2016 }}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{IRAs}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Irish Republican Liberation Army}}
[[Category:2006 establishments in Northern Ireland]]
[[Category:Continuity Irish Republican Army]]
[[Category:Dissident Irish republican campaign]]
[[Category:False flag operations]]
[[Category:Irish republican militant groups]]
[[Category:Paramilitary organisations based in Northern Ireland]]