The Troubles: Ireland's Ordeal 1966–1995 and the Search for Peace

by Tim Pat Coogan

In fact the IRA had in a sense recognised their lack of support in one vital area, the Republic, as far back as 1954. In that year the organisation introduced Standing Order Number Eight as official IRA policy. It said: Volunteers are strictly forbidden to take any militant action against 26-Co. Forces under any circumstances whatsoever. The importance of this Order in present circumstances, especially in Border areas, cannot be overemphasized… Volunteers arrested during training or in possession of arms will point out that the arms were for use against the British Forces of Occupation only.56 This order had been prompted by a recognition of the fact that the years since the civil war, particularly those of World War II, when de Valera ruthlessly made use of emergency powers to cripple the organisation, had demonstrated that the south would not tolerate a physical force policy against the state.