IRIS and PSF Press Releases 1970s

Provisional Sinn Féin came into being with the republican split of 1970 and spent the decade that followed as the political voice of the Provisional movement, led by its president Ruairí Ó Brádaigh and directed from its headquarters in Kevin Street, Dublin. This section gathers the movement’s press output across those years: the statements it issued to the newspapers, and the regular bulletin through which it put its case to the wider world.

The earlier material, running from 1970, takes the form of individual press releases on the issues of the day. They range widely, from opposition to internment, the Offences Against the State Act, and the Special Criminal Court to commentary on Stormont, the EEC, wage freezes, and food prices, showing a party that addressed the social and economic life of the twenty-six counties as readily as the conflict in the North. Interleaved with them are statements of the IRA and its Army Council, among them the ceasefire announcement of June 1972, together with Ó Brádaigh’s Ard Fheis addresses and a 1969 statement by Comdt General Tom Maguire touching on the legitimist succession. Running alongside these from 1973 was the Irish Republican Information Service, a weekly bulletin circulated to journalists, support groups, sympathetic organisations, and foreign embassies, which continued until 1980 and makes up the greater part of the material gathered here from 1974 onward.

Taken together, the documents offer a close and continuous record of how the Provisional movement explained itself in public through the 1970s. .

1970


Ard Fheis Sinn Féin (22 October 1970)

Wages Freeze Opposed (18 October 1970)

Unveiling of Memorial (01 January 1970)

Threatened Internment (05 December 1970)

Stormont Must Go (10 November 1970)

Sinn Féin President Challenges Mr Lynch (29 October 1970)

Republican Prisoners in Belfast and England (29 December 1970)

Mr Lynch and the North (22 July 1970)

Cement and Bank Disputes (25 June 1970)

Arrest of Derry Republican (06 August 1970)

Protest at Murder of Derry Youth (01 August 1970)

Sinn Féin Caretaker Executive Statement on Ard Fheis Walkout (17 January 1970)

1971


Ard Fheis in Dublin (23 October 1971)

Ard Chomhairle (24 October 1971)

All Ireland Council Rejected (07 August 1971)

Sinn Féin Will Contest Election (31 October 1971)

Sinn Féin Men Prosecuted (19 April 1971)

Nationwide Demonstrations (19 June 1971)

Jailing of Belfast Woman Condemned (13 March 1971)

Food Prices Campaign (19 November 1971)

IRA Statement (06 September 1971)

Long Kesh Letter (27 October 1971)

IRA Proposes Step Towards Political Solution (11 August 1971)

A Vindication of Sinn Féin Policy (13 July 1971)

Ruairí Ó Brádaigh 1971 Ard Fheis Speech

Statement from Army Council

Sinn Féin Press Release – O’Hanlon Memorial (01 January 1971)

New Social and Economic Programme (17 January 1971)

Mrs Maire Drumm to be Charged Again (03 October 1971)

Factory Closures (04 January 1971)

Dear Housing (29 March 1971)

Ard Fheis Sinn Féin (19 October 1971)

Reasons for Redundancies (21 October 1971)

Protest at London Sentences (26 March 1971)

Statement from the Leadership of the Republican Movement (29 September 1971)

Belfast Kidnapping (17 March 1971)

1972


Arrests Under OASA (17 February 1972)

The IRA is Not Terrorist (16 August 1972)

Support From France (13 June 1972)

Six County Referendum Not Acceptable (15 February 1972)

Sinn Féin Speaker Calls for Regional Government (04 March 1972)

Rugby Matches (17 February 1972)

No Mandate for EEC Treaty (23 January 1972)

Court of Human Rights (25 February 1972)

Call of California Legislature (21 July 1972)

IRA Statement on Ceasefire (22 June 1972)

Culu on nGaelige (20 March 1972)

Mr Lynch’s Special Court (26 May 1972)

Leadership Differences (28 July 1972)

Guerrilla War in British Occupied Ireland (August 1972)

Green Paper Solves Nothing (07 November 1972)

First Anniversary of Internment (August 1972)

1973


Easter Statement (1973)

Easter Statement 1973

1974


Irish Republican Information Service (15 February 1974)

1975


Irish Republican Information Service (03 January 1975)

Allied Irish Bank Profit (15 May 1975)

Meeting of Sinn Féin Councillors (24 June 1975)

Dr Daly and Prisoners (09 September 1975)

Sinn Féin Welcomes Truce (14 February 1975)

Sinn Féin No to Convention Elections (25 March 1975)

Letter about Portlaoise Prison (14 December 1975)

Coordinated Bombing Operation (22 September 1975)

Portlaoise Hunger Strike (January 1975)

Bank Raid Denial (13 September 1975)

1976


Portlaoise Prison (28 February 1976)

IRA Statement (20 February 1976)

Irish Republican Publicity Bureau (08 January 1976)

IRIS – Frank Stagg Statement (06 February 1976)

Irish Republican Publicity Bureau (05 March 1976)

Stormont Convention (14 January 1976)

Hijacking of Frank Staggs Body (26 February 1976)

Frank Stagg Burial (20 February 1976)

Frank Stagg (12 February 1976)

Frank Stagg (10 February 1976)

Frank Stagg (03 February 1976)

Statement from Frank Stagg (06 February 1976)

Frank Stagg Statement (05 February 1976)

1977


Irish Republican Information Service (03 February 1977) incomplete

The EEC and Irish Fishing (28 July 1977)

1978


Irish Republican Information Service (01 November 1978)

Irish Republican Information Service (27 September 1978)

Irish Republican Information Service (25 October 1978)

Irish Republican Information Service (22 November 1978)

Irish Republican Information Service (20 September 1978)

Irish Republican Information Service (18 October 1978)

Irish Republican Information Service (15 November 1978)

Irish Republican Information Service (14 December 1978)

Irish Republican Information Service (11 October 1978)

Irish Republican Information Service (08 November 1978)

Irish Republican Information Service (06 January 1978)

Irish Republican Information Service (04 October 1978)

Irish Republican Information Service (05 May 1978)

1979


Irish Republican Information Service (03 March 1979)

Irish Republican Information Service (03 February 1979)

Irish Republican Information Service (02 June 1979)

Irish Republican Information Service (31 March 1979)

Irish Republican Information Service (28 April 1979)

Irish Republican Information Service (27 January 1979)

Irish Republican Information Service (26 May 1979)

Irish Republican Information Service (24 March 1979)

Irish Republican Information Service (24 February 1979)

Irish Republican Information Service (21 January 1979)

Irish Republican Information Service (21 April 1979)

Irish Republican Information Service (19 May 1979)

Irish Republican Information Service (17 March 1979)

Irish Republican Information Service (17 February 1979)

Irish Republican Information Service (14 April 1979)

Irish Republican Information Service (12 May 1979)

Irish Republican Information Service (12 January 1979)

Irish Republican Information Service (10 March 1979)

Irish Republican Information Service (10 February 1979)

Irish Republican Information Service (09 June 1979)

Irish Republican Information Service (07 April 1979)

Irish Republican Information Service (05 May 1979)

Ruairí Ó Brádaigh Press Release

Misc


Blank Press Release

Comdt. General Tom Maguire Statement (1969)

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