Continuity Irish Republican Army
The Continuity Irish Republican Army (who call themselves "Óglaigh na hÉireann", Irish for Volunteers of Ireland) split from the Provisional IRA after the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis in 1986, when SF decided to take their seats, if elected to the Dail (the Irish Parliament). Until that time, Sinn Féin had refused to participate in any government that did not cover the whole island of Ireland.
Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, Daithi Ó Conaill and others walked out of the Ard Fheis and reconvened as Republican Sinn Féin, remaining true to what they saw as a basic Republican principle of abstentionism. They stress that the split was not as a result of the signing of the Belfast Agreement (variously known as the "Good Friday" Agreement or Stormont Agreement), and that they are not connected to the self-styled "Real" IRA, which they predate.
The CIRA do not support the current political process, and continue to fight against the Union of Northern Ireland with Great Britain, which they denounce as British rule in Ireland. The CIRA has not called a ceasefire nor has it decommissioned any of its weapons. Tommy Crossan. , senior CIRA prisoner in Maghaberry Prison, Co. Antrim is campaigning for political status for the CIRA prisoners.
CIRA claim to be the true inheritors of the Irish Republican tradition, because of their refusal to accept the existence of partition on even a temporary basis, and because Commandant-General Tom Maguire of the IRA, the last surviving member of the 2nd (All-Ireland) Dáil Éireann, recognised the Continuity Executive and the Continuity Army Council as the lawful Executive and Army Council respectively of the Irish Republican Army, in a sort of "apostolic" succession.