MovieChat Forums > Fifty Dead Men Walking (2009) Discussion > What did the IRA want exactly?

What did the IRA want exactly?


Rose McGowan said she believed in 'the cause'
What cause?

They wanted independence from the UK but wanted all the benefits etc
Why did they want independence from the UK anyway?

Lastly how the bloody hell can Rose McGowan support their wishes?

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Well the original "cause" is they wanted independence from British rule,remove all British soldiers from Ireland and to unify the country.
If Britain would of allowed this then Ireland would be run by what are basically armed robbers and murderers.

Then during the 1980's I strongly believe it was simply for money.
The fund raising that the IRA couped in from places like the USA was huge,and there was even a huge claim that still refuses to die that even McDonalds burger chain used to donate......I personally think that this is a urban myth and at worst if true then it was from franchise owners ????.

So there you go,the original Irish Republican Army wanted independence from British soil and they wanted there own rules and regulations.

As for Rose McGowan,she supports the "cause" 100% because her father is Irish and so therefore thinks it is great fun to bomb innocents in Britain and mainly the poor souls that were trapped in it all over in Ulster.

I hope this has helped you in some way.

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The confusion arose because in the US what in the Uk are called PPP's [Personal Pension Plan] were called Individual Retirement Accounts or IRA's for short.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Individual_Retirement_Account

These were a pension plan that banks sold based on a rising stock market. Mainly purchased by people who didnt work for a large company with their own pension plan or that sponsored a 401k.
However McDonalds in the US used them as a pension plan for its staff and on the wage slip would be a deduction labelled IRA.
This confusion has served Northern Ireland well as no potential franchisee risked opening a McDonalds so keeping the population a little bit healthier.

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The original IRA were fighting to gain Irish independence from 800 years of oppression from Brittan, which they achieved in 1922. But Northern Ireland remained under British rule. The wing of the IRA that reemerged in the 70's with the bombing campaigns wanted Brittan to hand the North back so that Ireland could be an independent Island, instead of being split into two states. Thought their cause was just, their methods were not.

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Keep lapping up that propoganda like a good little moron.

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First of all... a reply to a post I made three years ago?
Secondly? Propaganda? lol. You're either a troll or an idiot. I grew up in Ireland. Everybody knows at least one person with links. Everyone here knows what they got up to and are not proud of it. So you can take your 'propaganda' and shove it.

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Why would they want independence from Britain anyway?
What's wrong with been part of the british empire/commonwealth?

Look what happened to Africa when they gained independence from us!

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Because of 800 years of oppression. Ireland was never asked to be part of the commonwealth, it was invaded, then occupied and subject to atrocities by the likes of Cromwell and Elizabeth the 1st.

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I have lost the small amount of respect I had for Rose McGowan after hearing she said that she supports the IRA's 'cause'. There is no cause anymore, they're a terrorist organisation no different to Al-Queda and the likes. They have killed hundreds of innocent people over the last 50 years, perhaps much more. I hate those b a s t a r d s. Margaret Thatcher was great in suppressing them and most Americans are misinformed about them, hence they stupidly fund them with money. I know about them because I have witnessed it all here in Northern Ireland, where I live. Damn Americans! If one told me they donated to the IRA I would go mad on them lol!

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use all do know there were other terriost groups in northern ireland killing innocent people too

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Of course I know this. There was the UVF, UDA, RIRA etc., but in my opinion the IRA were still the most evil (plus they're republican...... the bas tards)

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you never heard of the shankill butchers?. the loyalists where evil cu.n.t.s too.....you all make it seem like the ra where just killing people for the heck of it and *beep* but it was happening to catholics aswell, just not by the loyalists but by the british army aswell

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Of course I've heard of the Shankill butchers, but I was just naming paramilitaries. They were evil bas tards. The IRA are easily the worst paramilitary though, the c.u.n.t.s.

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"Of course I've heard of the Shankill butchers, but I was just naming paramilitaries. They were evil bas tards. The IRA are easily the worst paramilitary though, the c.u.n.t.s."

Can you really measure "evil" though? Surely after you've crossed a certain line it all becomes one and the same, no matter what the cause? The IRA may have killed more people (or at least according to the figures I've read), but that doesn't make them any better or worse than their Unionist counterparts - quantifying evil through the use of statistics does just not make sense.

Cheers

"You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off"

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Astonishingly ignorant comments on this board.

They fought with the only methods they could. Sadly innocent people where the casualties of their war.
Although the British armies comitted immeasurable attrocities far greater over many, many years.
Part of the motivation I imagine, along with - as part of the Catholic community - being treated as second class citizens in N. Ireland.

Would 'the cause' have gotten to the stage that it's at today if the PIRA not been so aggressive and effective?


What has always surprised me is the lack of support from the Southern Irish?

What's that all about?

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"Astonishingly ignorant comments on this board." oh the irony, it is too much. Enjoy your support for the IRA. I will support alquida in the same capacity.

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So they're evil simply because they have an ideology that differs from your own? I love how dismissive you are of the Shankill Butchers even though their philosphy was "any taig will do." War is awful and people dying is a terrible thing, but it wasn't politics that established peace in the north of Ireland.

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Thought their cause was possibly just, their methods were definatly not.

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Why was there cause just ? They weren't speaking for the majority of the people. Northern Ireland was split about becoming independent, what about the NI citizens who wanted to remain part of the UK ? Why should a cause of few take precedent over the wishes of the majority ? British and American troops invade countries at will, are Al Qaeda's motives true ? Do we all believe that Bin Laden's atrocities were because of a just cause ? The IRA were terrorists, yet I thought the USA condemned all terrorism ? Obviously not, in fact they have actively supported terrorism.

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NI was split because you put British people there to take the land from the Native Irish. Of course the British want to remain with the British, they're the majority of NI.

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British empire that name is even a joke, English empire would be more correct, as theres nothing British about it

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Scotland had their chance to leave the UK

they stayed

now the UK have left the EU

a huge mistake imo

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Why would the US want independence from Britain or colonized countries want freedom?

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Just because you believe in the cause doesn't mean you have to believe in their methods or acts.

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'Why was there cause just ? They weren't speaking for the majority of the people. Northern Ireland was split about becoming independent, what about the NI citizens who wanted to remain part of the UK ? Why should a cause of few take precedent over the wishes of the majority ? British and American troops invade countries at will, are Al Qaeda's motives true ? Do we all believe that Bin Laden's atrocities were because of a just cause ? The IRA were terrorists, yet I thought the USA condemned all terrorism ? Obviously not, in fact they have actively supported terrorism.'


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Their cause was just because Ireland was artificially divided by Britain, with a built in majority for Unionists. In fact, there were only 4 counties out of Ulster's 9 that had a Unionist majority population, but the British government decided that 4 counties wasn't viable so they added 2 more. NI is an artificially created state, in fact, it is just an area. The 'majority' as you call them are actually the minority on the island of Ireland. When Ireland was partitioned in 1922 it was a temporary measure, to be reviewed within 5 years. Had Collins not been killed in the Civil War, I believe things would've turned out a lot different. To turn your argument around, why should the cause of a few (the Unionists, a minority in Ireland) take precedence over the wishes of the majority (the Republicans)?

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you, sir are an idiot.

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'you, sir are an idiot.'

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If that is aimed at me, then excellent comeback. That certainly put me in my place. Your scintillating rebuttal shows that you have thought deeply on this subject and have enormous knowledge at your fingertips to be able to argue a case so brilliantly. Obviously, you hail from Ireland and have an in-depth understanding of our history and how it led to the 'Troubles'.

If on the other hand, that statement is not aimed at me, then I apologise profusely. Actually, thinking about it, it couldn't be aimed at me, could it? I mean only an idiot themselves would assume that someone with the name Anna was a male, wouldn't they?

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haha, no, it wasn't aimed at you, Anna ;)

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haha, no, it wasn't aimed at you, Anna ;)

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Then I apologise most profusely.

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There has been more than one IRA. The one portrayed in this film began as a Marxist organisation that saw Northern Ireland as Britain's imperial colony. At the beginning, they were supposed to be non-sectarian and secular. However, they won support only amongst working-class Catholics, so the Marxism fell by the side after a while.

Sinn Fein, the political wing of the IRA, remains socialist to this day. They favour a welfare state, women's rights, secularisation, etc.

It ought to be remembered that the British Army were originally sent to Northern Ireland in 1968 to protect the Catholics. They had been imitating the US civil rights movement, and the Protestants had often responded with violence. I'm not sure how the IRA managed to persuade so many Catholics that the British army was evil, but they did somehow.

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Rose McGowen is clearly simple. The IRA shot and killed innocent women and children. She does not know what she is talking about.

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the IRA murdered women and children
the IRA murdered police officers
the IRA sexually abused people
the IRA intimidated witnesses to force verdicts of not guilty and manslaughter

She does not know what she is talking about

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