NORTHERN IRELAND / In the Shadow of the Gunmen

(7 of 10)

Growing Violence. Under pressure from London, the Stormont government enacted some much-needed reforms—notably the disbanding of the B specials, and the allocation of housing on a merit basis. Gradually, though, the Catholics came to see the British military as enemy rather than friend. The reason was the growing influence of the I.R.A. At first it had merely policed Catholic areas, but in 1970 it began stepping up its preparations for guerrilla warfare. This led to sweeps of Catholic areas by British troops searching for arms—and inevitably to killings by both the I.R.A. and British troops. Last summer, as I.R.A. violence grew, Ulster's Prime Minister Brian Faulkner in desperation invoked the Special Powers Act, which suspended habeas corpus and allowed indefinite internment without trial of suspected subversives. Internment was intended only to quash the gunmen; instead it swiftly radicalized thousands of Ulster Catholics, whose support enabled the army to expand and intensify its campaign of selective terror.

For obvious reasons, the I.R.A. leaders will say nothing about the size or strength of the army or the sources of its income. Recruits are continually in training, some in secret camps near Dublin, but the British insist the quality and training of the new men do not match that of the veterans who have been captured, killed or forced out of combat for fear of arrest. Some Ulster policemen claim that the Provos have recruited men "who never would have been allowed into the old I.R.A. They're letting in criminals, drinkers, hooligans."

The army still has plenty of "gear" (guns and ammunition) and "stuff" (explosives), but the British are uncovering more and more arms caches every week because of breakdowns in I.R.A. secrecy. The discoveries indicate that the army has no regular source of supply: weapons range from the inaccurate Thompson submachine guns of Chicago gangster days to a few M-1 and Armalite rifles. "In general," says one British ordnance expert, "the I.R.A. scrapes around for any old thing that shoots." Army volunteers (privates) are paid little more than pocket money, and it seems that the I.R.A. has no shortage of funds. Ironically, some gunmen have been getting British unemployment pay of up to $35 a week. All the moneys raised by Irish organizations in the U.S.—perhaps as much as several hundred thousand dollars this year—is officially earmarked for civilian relief; the suspicion is that some of it finds its way into army coffers.

Stocking Masks. Currently, the I.R.A. campaign is concentrated on bombing activities, mainly in Belfast. Action in Londonderry flares up only when British troops invade the Catholic Bogside to make a snatch. The Belfast Provisionals include a couple of hundred volunteers in the bombing organization and perhaps a score or so of gunmen who may each fire only one shot per week. The backroom bomb makers rarely venture out, leaving the dirty work to carriers, most of them inexperienced teenagers. Six have died in bombing accidents this winter. The campaign is not yet a children's crusade, but the volunteers get younger; in one Belfast district the Provo chief is only 19.