ALLIANCE PARTY Moderate, reformist, Unionist party, set up in April 1970, and attracting middle-class support across sectarian divide.
AMERICAN ANCIENT ORDER OF HIBERNIANS Strongly Nationalist and Roman Catholic grouping which organises annual New York St Patrick’s Day parade. Has been involved in controversy because of support by some of its members for the Provisional IRA.
APPRENTICE BOYS OF DERRY Loyalist organisation which annually commemorates the siege of Derry in 1688 which began when apprentice boys shut the gates of Derry in the face of King James’ army. It was an Apprentice Boys’ march which sparked the riots of August 1968.
ASSOCIATION FOR LEGAL JUSTICE A body set up in 1971 by Nationalist civil libertarians to monitor complaints against the courts and the security forces.
B-SPECIALS A Protestant, state-funded militia which was replaced by the Ulster Defence Regiment following the Hunt Report’s recommendation, in 1969, that the force be abolished (see Ulster Special Constabulary).
BLACK AND TANS An organisation of ex-British servicemen, set up in 1920 to augment the regular police force, the Royal Irish Constabulary, during the Anglo-Irish war. The corps was ill-disciplined and, like its counterpart organisation, the Auxiliaries, which was drawn from the ranks of ex-officers, it is remembered for many acts of destruction and death.
CATHOLIC EX-SERVICEMEN’S ASSOCIATION A Nationalist vigilante organisation which was active in the earlier phases of the Troubles.
CENTRAL CITIZENS DEFENCE COMMITTEE A co-ordinating committee of Nationalist defence organisations set up to repel further Loyalist incursions into Belfast Catholic areas following the burnings of August 1969. It was infiltrated by the IRA, and subsequently taken over by the Catholic clergy.
COMBINED LOYALIST MILITARY COMMAND Umbrella body of Loyalist paramilitaries. Declared Loyalist ceasefire in 1994.
CONSERVATIVE PARTY Formerly known as the Conservative and Unionist party, this right-wing – and frequently ruling – British party, often referred to as the Tory Party, is traditionally associated with opposition to Irish Home Rule movements and the upholding of the Union.
DAIL EIREANN The Irish Parliament, generally referred to as the Dail.
DEMOCRATIC UNIONIST PARTY (DUP) Right-wing, anti-Catholic, Unionist party, formed in 1971 in Six Counties by Revd Ian Paisley.
FIANNA FAIL Largest party in the Republic of Ireland. Centre right, Nationalist party formed from original Sinn Fein Party by Eamon de Valera in 1926.
FINE GAEL Second largest party in the Republic. Formed in 1933 from remnants of Sinn Fein, centrist, and farmers’ elements opposed to de Valera in Irish civil war of 1922–3.
GARDA SIOCHANA Unarmed police force of Republic of Ireland.
IRISH LABOUR PARTY Founded in 1912, third largest party in the Republic.
IRISH NATIONAL LIBERATION ARMY (INLA) Established 1975 by breakaway elements from the then Official IRA who had also founded the Irish Republican Socialist Party the previous year (1974).
IRISH PEOPLE’S LIBERATION ORGANISATION (IPLO) Breakaway group from INLA, founded 1976.
IRISH REPUBLICATION ARMY (IRA). Title given to original Irish Nationalist physical force group which fought the British after the establishment of the first Dail in 1919.
IRISH REPUBLICAN BROTHERHOOD (IRB) The IRB, or the Fenians, as they were termed after the legendary Irish version of the Japanese Samurai, were founded in 1858. The organisation was the inspiration behind the 1916 rebellion and the precursor of the IRA.
LOYALISTS Usually used to mean working-class Unionists.
LOYALIST ASSOCIATION OF WORKERS (LAW) Loyalist workers’ grouping centred on shipyards active in Belfast circa 1970–74.
NEW ULSTER POLITICAL RESEARCH GROUP Loyalist group which produced the document ‘Beyond the Religious Divide’, a blueprint for negotiated independence. Served as a think tank for the Ulster Defence Association.
NORTHERN IRELAND CIVIL RIGHTS ASSOCIATION Established in 1967. Spearheaded civil rights protests.
NORTHERN IRELAND LABOUR PARTY Founded in 1924 and collapsed in 1987.
NORAID North American Aid. A US organisation which raises funds for Irish Republican causes.
official irish republican army (OIRA) Left-wing IRA group.
OFFICIAL UNIONIST PARTY Protestant anti-power-sharing branch of the Ulster Unionist Party.
ORANGE ORDER Powerful Protestant society, modelled on Freemasons when originally set up in 1795, its colourful annual marches are often a flash-point for Protestant–Catholic clashes.
ORANGE VOLUNTEERS Paramilitary branch of the Orange Order, set up in 1972.
PROGRESSIVE UNIONIST PARTY Formed in 1979. Seen as a political wing of the Ulster Volunteer Force.
PROTESTANT ACTION FORCE Pseudonym of the Ulster Volunteer Force.
PROTESTANT ACTION GROUP Pseudonym of the Ulster Volunteer Force.
PROVISIONAL IRA (ALSO KNOWN AS PROVOS) Militant wing of the IRA which broke away from the OIRA in 1969. PROTESTANT UNIONIST PARTY The Revd Ian Paisley’s first political party, subsumed into DUP.
RED HAND COMMANDO Loyalist paramilitary organisation, founded in 1972.
ROYAL IRISH CONSTABULARY Pre-Partition Irish police force.
ROYAL ULSTER CONSTABULARY Armed Northern Ireland police force.
ROYAL ULSTER CONSTABULARY RESERVES Comprises full- and part-time members and serves as a reserve for the Royal Ulster Constabulary.
SAOR EIRE ACTION GROUP Republican left-wing splinter group.
shankill defence association Loyalist vigilante group.
SINN FEIN Originally ‘We Ourselves’. Political party and wing of the Provisional Irish Republican Army. Mainly supported by working-class Catholics.
SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC AND LABOUR PARTY (SDLP) Nationalist constitutional party founded in 1970. Believes in the necessity of majority consent for a united Ireland. Its main support comes from the Catholic middle class.
SPECIAL AIR SERVICE (SAS) The special operations force of the British Army against whom most accusations of carrying out a ‘shoot to kill’ policy are directed by Nationalists.
TARA Founded in 1966 by William McGrath, this anti-Catholic paramilitary organisation was linked to Ulster Volunteer Force.
THIRD FORCE Refers to Ian Paisley’s reported efforts to recruit a defensive militia. One such force was Ulster Resistance, formed with the help of Paisley and Peter Robinson, his deputy, in 1986 (see below).
ULSTER ARMY COUNCIL Loyalist paramilitary organisations’ talking-shop which folded in 1974.
ULSTER CITIZENS’ ARMY Fictitious Loyalist paramilitary organisation invented to generate inter-paramilitary hostility by British Army intelligence.
ULSTER CITIZENS CIVIL LIBERTIES Supported by Ulster Defence Association. Legal representations group.
ULSTER COMMUNITY ACTION GROUP Ulster Defence Association–supported community group association.
ULSTER CONSTITUTION DEFENCE COMMITTEE Organised Revd Ian Paisley’s protests in the 1960s against O’Neill.
ULSTER DEFENCE ASSOCIATION Founded in 1971. This is the largest Loyalist paramilitary organisation in Northern Ireland.
ULSTER DEFENCE REGIMENT Formed in 1970 to replace the Ulster Special Constabulary. Subsumed into the Royal Irish Regiment in 1992.
ULSTER FREEDOM FIGHTERS Pseudonym for Ulster Defence Association death squads.
ulster protestant action Unionist ginger group.
ULSTER PROTESTANT VOLUNTEERS A counterpart to Paisley’s Ulster Constitution Defence Committee.
UNIONIST PARTY OF NORTHERN IRELAND ‘Power-sharing’ wing of the Unionist party.
ULSTER RESISTANCE Established in protest over the Anglo-Irish Agreement. Linked to the Ulster Defence Association and the Ulster Volunteer Force. Involved in South African arms deal.
ULSTER SPECIAL CONSTABULARY Established in 1920 as an anti–Irish Republican Army paramilitary force. It was divided into three units at first, ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’. Sections ‘A’ and ‘C’ subsequently disbanded and unit ‘B’ remained as a part-time force, replaced in 1970 by the Ulster Defence Regiment.
ULSTER UNIONIST PARTY Largest Unionist party in Northern Ireland. Provided government from Partition to 1972. It has been led by James Molyneaux and is also known as the ‘Official’ Unionist Party.
UNIONISTS Loyal to the Union and opposed to a thirty-two-county Ireland.
UNITED ULSTER UNIONIST COUNCIL Initially an amalgam of anti-power-sharing Unionist groups comprising the Official Unionist Party, the Democratic Unionist Party and others.
UNITED ULSTER UNIONIST MOVEMENT Established when the United Ulster Unionists Council’s coalition of Unionists divided.
ULSTER VANGUARD Unionist grouping, established in 1972 by William Craig.
ULSTER VOLUNTEER FORCE (UVF) Established in 1912 by Edward Carson and James Craig to oppose Irish independence. In 1914 was incorporated as the 36th Ulster Division into the British Army. In 1966 it was the name given to the paramilitary body established by Loyalists in the Shankill Road area. The organisation has since been banned.
ULSTER VOLUNTEER SERVICE CORPS Established in 1973 to succeed the Vanguard Service Corps.
ULSTER WORKERS COUNCIL This succeeded the Loyalist Association of Workers and was involved in organising the strike of 1974.
VANGUARD UNIONIST PROGRESSIVE PARTY The former Ulster Vanguard which became a political party in 1973.