The Irish People's Liberation Organisation was a small Irish socialist republican paramilitary organisation formed in 1986 by disaffected and expelled members of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA), whose factions coalesced in the aftermath of the supergrass trials. It developed a reputation for intra-republican and sectarian violence as well as criminality, before being forcibly disbanded by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) in 1992.
Some of the IPLO's most notable attacks during its short existence were: the Orange Cross shooting in which IPLO gunmen killed a member of the Red Hand Commando and injured an Ulster Defence Regiment soldier; the 1991 Donegall Arms shooting when they fired indiscriminately on a Protestant-owned pub, killing two Protestant civilians and injuring four others; and the assassination of outspoken loyalist politician and Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) member George Seawright in November 1987.
On 1 May 1990 the IPLO became a proscribed organisation by the British government. Although officially disbanded, the IPLO retains that classification under the Terrorism Act 2000.
Foundation The IPLO emerged from a split within the INLA. After the 1981 Irish hunger strike, in which three of its members died, the INLA began to break apart. The INLA virtually dissolved as a coherent force in the mid-1980s. Factions associated with Belfast and Dublin fell into dispute with each other. When INLA man Harry Kirkpatrick turned supergrass, he implicated many of his former comrades in various activities and many of them were convicted on his testimony.
Members both inside and out of prison broke away from the INLA and set up the IPLO. Some key players at the outset were Tom McAllister, Gerard Steenson, Jimmy Brown and Martin "Rook" O'Prey. Jimmy Brown formed a minor political group, known as the Republican Socialist Collective, which was to act as the political wing of the IPLO.
The IPLO's initial priority was to forcibly disband the Irish Republican Socialist Movement from which it had split, and most of its early attacks reflected this, being more frequently against former comrades than on the security forces. The feud with the INLA lasted from 1986 to 1987 and resulted in the deaths of 12 people including IPLO leader Gerard Steenson who was shot in March 1987.
Internal feud The IPLO was accused of becoming involved in the illegal drug trade, especially in ecstasy. Some of its Belfast members were also accused of the prolonged gang rape of a North Down woman in Divis Flats in 1990. Many of its recruits had fallen out of favour with the IRA and the portents for its future were not good. Sammy Ward, a low-level IPLO member, broke away from the main body of the organisation with a few supporters when the IPLO were severely depleted and weak in Belfast. His faction attacked the rest of the IPLO, culminating in the killing of Jimmy Brown. A full-scale feud followed between two factions terming themselves "Army Council" (formerly led by Jimmy Brown) and "Belfast Brigade" (led by Ward), which led to the 3000th killing of the Troubles, Hugh McKibben, a 21-year-old "Army Council" man. Brown had been the previous victim when he was shot dead in West Belfast on 18 August 1992. This feud was described by the IPLO's critics as a lethal squabble over money and drugs.
Disbandment The Provisional IRA – by far the largest armed republican group in Ireland – decided to attack and remove the IPLO, given its involvement in the drug trade and due to increasingly provocative actions by the IPLO towards the Provisional IRA. On Saturday 31 October 1992, in an event that was later dubbed "Night of the Long Knives" by locals in Belfast, the IRA attacked the two IPLO factions in Belfast, killing the breakaway Belfast Brigade leader Sammy Ward in the Short Strand. There were also raids on pubs and clubs where IPLO members were kneecapped. On 2 November 1992 the second-in-command of the IPLO Belfast Brigade formally surrendered to the Provisional IRA Belfast Brigade adjutant, which brought an end to the group in Belfast.
Outside Belfast the IRA did not attack any IPLO units and issued statements absolving the IPLO units in Derry, Newry and Armagh from any involvement in the drugs trade that was alleged against those in Belfast. In Dublin the IRA reprieved the IPLO Chief of Staff in return for surrendering a small cache of arms held in Ballybough.
The IPLO also had a presence in Strabane,Strabane Chronicle, 21 November 1992. and in Munster; like the INLA drawing its support from the Cork, Limerick, and Shannon areas.Evening Echo, 9 December 1987. Reportedly the group had also established small support bases in Continental Europe including France, Belgium, and the Netherlands.Irish Independent, 12 December 1989.
Casualties According to the Sutton database of deaths at the University of Ulster's CAIN project, the IPLO was responsible for 22 killings during the Troubles. Among its victims were 10 civilians, six INLA members, four loyalist paramilitary figures, a Royal Navy reservist, and one member of the British security forces, a Royal Ulster Constabulary constable.
List of attacks and actions 1986 Autumn – Former INLA Volunteers led by Jimmy Brown broke away to form the Irish People's Liberation Army (IPLA) which was later renamed the Irish People's Liberation Organisation (IPLO).Jack Holland & Henry McDonald, INLA – Deadly Divisions, 1994 p.279 They also set up a small political wing called the Republican Socialist Collective (RSC).Jack Holland & Henry McDonald, INLA – Deadly Divisions, 1994 10 November – Off-duty RUC officer Derek Patterson was shot dead by the IPLO on Fitzroy Avenue, off the Ormeau Road, Belfast. Both the IRA and later the INLA tried to claim responsibility. Irish Independent, 1 December 1986 29 November – The IPLO launched a hand grenade attack on Queen Street RUC station in Belfast injuring six RUC constables. Several shots were also fired. Responsibility for the attack and the shooting of Constable Patterson was claimed by the "People's Liberation Army" (PLA).Jack Holland & Henry McDonald, INLA – Deadly Divisions, 1994, p. 279 21 December – Thomas McCartan (31), a member of the INLA, was shot dead by the Irish People's Liberation Organisation in Andersonstown. This was the first killing in an INLA-IPLO feud that was to last until March 1987. The IPLO used the alias "INLA Army Council" to claim responsibility for actions carried out during the feud.Jack Holland & Henry McDonald, INLA – Deadly Divisions, 1994, p. 285-286 However, in the case of McCartan callers representing the Irish People's Liberation Organisation claimed responsibility for the killing shortly afterwards, accusing him of "abusing the republican struggle for his own selfish ends." Belfast Telegraph, 23 December 1986
1987 20 January – Rosnaree Hotel shooting: The IPLO killed two leading members of the INLA (Thomas "Ta" Power and John O'Reilly), they shot them inside a hotel in Drogheda, County Louth. 28 January – The IPLO tried to kill INLA member Emmanuel Gargan in the Lower Ormeau, Belfast. He was wounded in another attempt two days later.INLA – Deadly Divisions by Holland and McDonald, Torc (1994) 18 February – The IPLO shot dead INLA Volunteer Michael Kearney near his home in Ballymurphy, Belfast. 10 March – The IPLO shot and wounded the chairman of the IRSP Kevin "Bap" McQuillan at his home in Springfield Park, Belfast. His brother was also wounded in the attack. 21 March – The IPLO shot dead INLA Volunteer Emmanuel Gargan on the Ormeau Road in Belfast. 22 March – The IPLO shot dead INLA Volunteer Kevin Duffy. His body was found in the playground of St. Brigid's School, Nursery Road, Armagh. This was the last killing of the IPLO/INLA feud. 27 September – An IPLO member in Newry, County Down, accidentally shot dead his friend (Kevin Keenan) in his apartment with a handgun he believed was unloaded.Newry Reporter, 8 October 1987. 19 November – George Seawright a Loyalist politician known for his anti-Catholic views was shot by the IPLO on the Shankill Road, Belfast. He died of his wounds two weeks later on December 3. After his death it was also revealed he was a UVF member. 19 November – The IPLO shot and injured a woodwork instructor in County Armagh. The IPLO claimed the man was a member of the UDR but he had no ties to the security forces.Fortnight Magazine, Issue 258, p. 17. Fortnight Publications, 1988.
1988 5 January – The IPLO shot and wounded a Catholic man in Armagh.Fortnight Magazine, Issue 260, p. 18-19. Fortnight Publications, 1988. 3 March – The IPLO fired several shots and lobbed a grenade at an observation sangar at Musgrave Street RUC base in Belfast city centre.Belfast Telegraph 9 March 1988. 10 March – The IPLO shot and wounded a guard during the robbery of a cash-in-transit van at a bank in Bangor, County Down. A woman in the vicinity was also hit in the leg.Belfast Telegraph 27 July 1988. 9 August – The IPLO sent a parcel bomb to the home of Unionist politician William McCrea but the bomb was defused.Sunday Tribune, 14 August 1988. 9 August – The IPLO lured a Loyalist to a house on Cliftonville Road, Belfast where an assassination attempt failed when a gun jammed. 11 August – The IPLO mounted two gun attacks against the RUC and British Army in Belfast; attacking a joint patrol in Grosvenor Road and exchanging fire with British soldiers at Divis Flats. 12 August – IPLO members loaded a van with explosives and forced its owner to drive to the Belfast law courts, where the bomb exploded.Aberdeen Press and Journal, 13 August 1988. 12 August – The IPLO carried out an attempted bombing of a home it claimed was used as a meeting place by Loyalist paramilitaries in East Belfast. The device was defused.Holland, Jack; McDonald, Henry (1994). INLA Deadly Divisions. 19 August – A parcel bomb was sent to the home of Unionist MP Ken Maginnis. 7 September – UDA Volunteer William Quee was shot and killed by the IPLO at his shop in Oldpark Road, Belfast. 3 October – The IPLO shot dead Henry McNamee at his girlfriend's home at Lenadoon Avenue, Belfast, afterwards claiming he was an informer. Apparently, the IPLO had instructed McNamee to pose as an informer in 1987 so the IPLO could kill his RUC handler. This planned ambush failed to materialise and McNamee moved to London.Sunday Tribune, 9 October 1988. 22 December – The IPLO hijacked a taxi in West Belfast and forced the driver to carry a device consisting of two full gas cylinders wrapped in detonating cord to an unknown target. However, the taxi ran out of petrol and stopped in North Queen Street in north Belfast, and the British Army carried out a controlled explosion on the vehicle. The RUC claimed a massive fireball would have erupted had the device detonated.Belfast Telegraph, 23 December 1988.
1989 16 February – Orange Cross Social Club shooting: The IPLO attacked a pub on the predominantly Protestant Shankill Road, Belfast, killing Red Hand Commando (RHC) member Stephen McRea and injuring several people. A gunman opened fire indiscriminately with an Uzi submachine gun. Authors Jack Holland and Henry McDonald alleged the Belfast leadership of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) were holding a meeting upstairs at the time of the attack. 2 March – An IPLO member, Declan Malone, shot dead Patrick Boland in a freelance contract killing in the O'Malley Park estate in Southill, Limerick. He had been hired by the victim's wife, Majella Keane, whom Patrick had been violently abusive towards. 27 May – A joint RUC/British Army patrol stopped and searched three IPLO members in the Daisy Hill area of Newry. One of them drew a handgun and pointed it at soldiers, but ran. A search of the vicinity recovered two handguns and paramilitary clothing.