* 1979 – A Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb kills British World War II admiral Louis Mountbatten and three others while they are boating on holiday in Sligo, Republic of Ireland.

* 1994 – The Provisional Irish Republican Army declares a ceasefire.

* 1916 – Easter Rising: The Irish Republican Brotherhood led by nationalists Patrick Pearse, James Connolly, and Joseph Plunkett starts a rebellion in Ireland.

Although established to target the Irish Republican Army, the Black and Tans became notorious through their numerous attacks on the Irish civilian population.

In the same month the Irish Republican Army began the Irish War of Independence, a guerrilla campaign against British rule ; in 1919 this consisted of attacks on the Royal Irish Constabulary ( RIC ).

One of the most famous Irish Republican songs is Dominic Behan's " Come out Ye Black and Tans ".

He and 13 others resigned, actively changing sides in the conflict with many joining or assisting the Irish Republican Army.

The Provisional Irish Republican Army's ( IRA ) campaign against the partition of Ireland had begun in the two years prior to Bloody Sunday, but public perceptions of the day boosted the status of, and recruitment into, the organisation enormously.

In the following twenty years, the Provisional Irish Republican Army and other smaller republican groups such as the Irish National Liberation Army ( INLA ) mounted an armed campaign against the British, by which they meant the RUC, the British Army, the Ulster Defence Regiment ( UDR ) of the British Army ( and, according to their critics, the Protestant and unionist establishment ).

The Irish Republican political party, Sinn Féin is also known to have close political links to the Cuban government.

In the past Fidel Castro has expressed support for the Irish Republican cause of a United Ireland.

The Cuban government supported and still supports the Republican cause, but opposed the attacks which took place on civilian targets by Sinn Féin's military ally, the Provisional Irish Republican Army and of course attacks on civilians by their loyalist enemies such as the Ulster Volunteer Force and Ulster Defence Association.

The Continuity Irish Republican Army, otherwise known as the Continuity IRA ( CIRA ) and styling itself as Óglaigh na hÉireann, is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that aims to bring about a united Ireland.

The CIRA considers itself a direct continuation of the Irish Republican Army ( the army of the unilaterally-declared 1919 – 1922 Irish Republic ) that fought in the Irish War of Independence ; as such, its supporters regard it as the national army of a 32 county Irish Republic.

In a 1986 statement, he rejected " the legitimacy of an Army Council styling itself the Council of the Irish Republican Army which lends support to any person or organisation styling itself as Sinn Féin and prepared to enter the partition parliament of Leinster House.

" In 1987, Maguire described the " Continuity Executive " as the " lawful Executive of the Irish Republican Army.

Organised by the Military Council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, the Rising lasted from Easter Monday 24 to 30 April 1916.

Physical force Irish republicanism as an ideology had a long history, from the United Irishmen of the 1798 and 1803 rebellions, to the Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848 and the 1867 rebellion by the Irish Republican Brotherhood.

However, about 12, 000 Volunteers, led by Eoin MacNeill and dominated by the secret Irish Republican Brotherhood ( IRB ), refused to join the British war effort and kept the name " Irish Volunteers ".

One ancestor was a leading activist in the Irish National Land League of Mayo and the Irish Republican Brotherhood ; an uncle, Sir Paget John Bourke, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II after a career as a judge in the Colonial Service ; while another relative was a Roman Catholic nun.

After the war, thousands of Irish veterans joined the Fenian Brotherhood and formed the Irish Republican Army with the intention of invading and holding Canada hostage in exchange for Irish independence.

* December 26 – The Irish Republican Brotherhood Military Council decides to stage a rising on Easter Sunday 1916.

However, due to funding disputes within the Irish Republican Brotherhood and disagreement over payments from the IRB to Holland, the IRB stole Fenian Ram and the Holland III prototype in November 1883.

Adams ' grandfather, also called Gerry Adams, had been a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood ( IRB ) during the Irish War of Independence.

Category: Members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood

Other sections were taken by Collins directly from the Oath of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, of which he was the secret head.

The 19th century Irish revolutionary organisation known as the Fenian Brotherhood took its name from these legends.

* John Boyle O ' Reilly poet and novelist, member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood.

The Fenian Brotherhood was an Irish republican organization founded in the United States in 1858 by John O ' Mahony and Michael Doheny.

It was a precursor to Clan na Gael, a sister organization to the Irish Republican Brotherhood.

The Fenian Brotherhood trace their origins back to 1798 and the United Irishmen, who had been an open political organization only to be suppressed and became a secret revolutionary organization, rose in rebellion, seeking an end to British rule in Ireland and the establishment of an Irish Republic.

Stephens returned to Ireland and in Dublin on St. Patrick's Day 1858, following an organizing tour through the length and breadth of the country, founded the Irish counterpart of the American Fenians, the Irish Republican Brotherhood.

Whereas MacNeill intended to use force only to resist the imposition of conscription on Ireland, or to prevent the use of force to disarm of the Volunteers, the IRB men intended to launch an armed rebellion in pursuit of Irish independence.

* The IRB: The Irish Republican Brotherhood from The Land League to Sinn Féin, Owen McGee, Four Courts Press, 2005, ISBN 1-85182-972-5

This drew the interest of the Irish Republican Brotherhood ( IRB ), a physical force Irish organisation that had staged a rebellion in 1867.

For the next 20 years, the IRB ceased to be an important force in Irish politics, leaving Parnell and his party the leaders of the nationalist movement in Ireland.

Many Irish emigrants to the United States quickly associated with separatist republican groups and organisations like the IRB.

The young Griffith was a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood ( IRB ).

The IRB members argued that the aim of dual monarchism should be replaced by republicanism, and that Griffith was excessively inclined to compromise with conservative elements ( notably in his pro-employer position during the 1913 – 1914 Dublin Lockout, when he saw the syndicalism of James Larkin as aimed at crippling Irish industry for Great Britain's benefit ).

The dominant leaders in the new unilaterally declared Irish Republic were figures like Éamon de Valera, President of Dáil Éireann ( 1919 – 21 ), President of the Republic ( 1921 – 1922 ), and Michael Collins, Minister for Finance, head of the IRB and the Irish Republican Army's Director of Intelligence.

In 1916, a group of IRB activists within the Irish Volunteers led an insurrection aimed at Irish independence in Dublin, known as the Easter Rising.

Boland was enrolled in the Irish Republican Brotherhood ( IRB ) along with his younger brother Harry in 1904, following in the footsteps of his father Jim, uncle Jack and, probably, grandfather Patrick.

Bulmer Hobson, a member of the IRB, approached MacNeill about bringing this idea to fruition, and, through a series of meetings, MacNeill became chairman of the council that formed the Irish Volunteers, later becoming its chief of staff.

With the co-operation of James Connolly and the Irish Citizen Army, a secret council of IRB officials planned a general rising on Easter, 1916.

Brugha became actively involved in the Irish Republican Brotherhood ( IRB ) and in 1913 he became a lieutenant in the Irish Volunteers.