To Dolours, a split in the IRA came to seem inevitable. By early 1970, a breakaway organization had formed. Known as the Provisional IRA, they were explicitly geared to armed resistance. The old IRA became known as the Official IRA. On the streets of Belfast, they were often distinguished as the “Provos” and the “Stickies,” because Officials would supposedly wear commemorative Easter lilies that stuck on their shirtfronts with adhesive, whereas the more dyed-in-the-wool Provos wore paper lilies affixed with a pin.
