Page "Continuity Irish Republican Army" Paragraph 5

Thus, similar to the claim put forward by the Provisional IRA after its split from the Official IRA in 1969, the Continuity IRA claims to be the legitimate continuation of the ' Irish Republican Army ' or Óglaigh na hÉireann.

This argument is based on the view that the surviving anti-Treaty members of the Second Dáil delegated their " authority " to the IRA Army Council in 1938.

As further justification for this claim, Tom Maguire, one of those anti-Treaty members of the Second Dáil, issued a statement in favour of the Continuity IRA as he had done in 1969 in favour of the Provisionals.

J. Bowyer Bell, in his The Irish Troubles, describes Maguire's opinion in 1986, " abstentionism was a basic tenet of republicanism, a moral issue of principle.

Abstentionism gave the movement legitimacy, the right to wage war, to speak for a Republic all but established in the hearts of the people ".

Maguire's stature was such that a delegation from Gerry Adams sought his support in 1986, but was rejected.