The IRA’s Secret History

This documentary examines the actions and attitudes of the IRA between 1956 and 1962. Combining a strong narrative and exclusive interviews with eye-witnesses and those who participated at first hand, it offers a fascinating account of subterfuge and counter-intelligence which marked the IRA’s campaign.
We also look at gun-running and lightning raids, the bloody events of a six-year border campaign, and the power struggle between the hawks and doves of Republicanism which ultimately led to the formation of the Provisional IRA.
Through a series of exclusive interviews with surviving gunrunners of the Northern Action Committee filmed in New York, we outline the fundraising and gun running operations of Clan na Gael and the Northern Action Committee in the United States of America.
Through the words of former IRA activists and archive footage drawn from un-broadcast private collections, the documentary charts the evolution of Irish Republicanism before the Northern Troubles.
This unique insight into an otherwise hidden chapter of British and Irish history is driven by the words of veterans who survived to tell the tale. It captures a rare chapter of oral history, bridging an important gap in Ireland’s historical record: the missing link between pre-war and post-war Republicanism – the doctrine which gave rise to the Provisional IRA.