24-06-2025
- Politics
- Belfast Telegraph
The 1975 feud between Official IRA and the Provos which left 11 dead and scarred Belfast
To that end Republican groups killed over 1,000 members of the security forces and over 700 civilians.
Incredibly, different groups and factions have often attacked each over – resulting in the deaths of dozens of people – including innocent civilians caught in the crossfire.
This year sees the 50th anniversary of one of the bloodiest feuds between former comrades.
Described as the worst inter-republican fighting since the Irish Civil War, October and November 1975 saw the Provisional and Official IRA battle it out in Belfast.
It left 11 dead, including a 6-year-old Eileen Kelly, and around 50 wounded.
The feud left very deep scars in the nationalist communities of Belfast; schisms which exist to this very day.
Brian Hanley is Assistant Professor in the History of Northern Ireland, he is author of a Documentary History of the IRA, 1916-2005 and The Lost Revolution: the story of the Official IRA and the Workers Party.
He joins Ciarán Dunbar to tell the story of the 1975 IRA feud.
