Brief Insight: IRA Terrorist or freedomfighters The IRA (Irish Republican Army) is an unofficial, paramilitary nationalist organisation whose purpose is to make British rule in Ireland ineffective by the use of armed force and to assist achieving an independent republic (the entire island) by the unification of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. This objective is pursued on a military level by the IRA and on the political level by the nationalist party, Sinn Fein (Ourselves Alone). These two organisations function independently. However their members overlap each other, so that membership