Irish Republican Army (IRA) FBI Files Download

Irish Republican Army FBI Files

2,871 pages of FBI files covering the Irish Republican Army and activities in the U.S. with links or possible links to the Irish Republican Army.

The files date from 1939 to 1976. Files contain approximately 1,200 pages of discernable memos.

The name Irish Republican Army or IRA has been used in whole or part distinctly different organizations. The Irish Republican Army, also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army was an Irish republican paramilitary organization that sought through a wide range of means to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate the reunification of Ireland and bring about an independent republic encompassing all of Ireland.

 
Highlights from the files include:

A 1939 report accounts the history of the IRA and connections to Irish Americans in the United States.

Files show FBI concern in the late 1930's and early 1940's that anti-British sentiment by Irish Americans might be used by a German fifth column to foster sabotage and subversion in the United States.

FBI memos concerning Cornelius Neenan, also known as Connie Neenan. Neenan was the former head of the Irish Republican Army in the United States and the founder of the U.S. Irish hospital sweepstakes.

Information on organizations such as the Irish Northern Aid Committee and the Irish-American social organization Clan Na Gael.

FBI memorandums concerning Joseph McGarrity. Joe McGarrity was a leader of the Philadelphia district of Clan-na-Gael.

Documents concerning former IRA chief Sean Russell. Memos show confusion over whether Sean Russell was alive or dead and whether he was in the United States or if he had left.

Memos show that when the July 31, 1943 edition of the Irish Advocate printed an article stating that an individual who had recently died had left $100 in her will to the Irish Republican Army, this launched an FBI investigation to determine how the money would be transferred to the IRA in the hope that it would reveal methods of transmission of funds from America to the IRA in Ireland.

Memos show that an undercover FBI agent was able to attend a closed meeting of the IRA-Clan Na Gal held in New York City in 1944.

Memos document pro-IRA demonstrations held in the San Francisco area in the early 1970's and possible interest by New Left groups in the IRA cause.