Irish Army

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The Irish Army is the main branch of the Irish Defence Forces of the Republic of Ireland. It was formed in 1922 after the foundation of the Irish Free State after the Anglo-Irish Treaty. It was originally formed from the pro-Treaty elements of the Irish Republican Army and its first task was to defend the new Free State from the anti-Treaty Irish Republican Army in the Irish Civil War. Since then, it has been deployed at home to aid the Garda Siochana (police) in ensuring domestic security and abroad in United Nations peace keeping. missions across the world.

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History

The Irish Army was set up in 1922 as the Army of the new Irish Free State government under Michael Collins. Initially it was expected that the Irish Republican Army - a guerrilla force that had fought the British in the Irish War of Independence (1919-21) would fulfill this function. However, the bulk of the IRA opposed the Treaty that set up the state, believing that it compromised the Irish Republic which had been unilaterally declared in 1919. As a result, the new Free State authorities had to recruit a new force to put down republican resistance in the Irish Civil War (1922-23). In the early weeks of the Civil War, the Irish Army, or "National Army", as it was called, was composed of pro-Treaty IRA units, especially the "Dublin Guard", whose members had personal ties to Michael Collins. Its size is estimated at about 7000 men. However, the Free State soon recruited far more troops, the army's size mushrooming to 55,000 men and 3500 officers by the end of the Civil War in May 1923. Many of its recruits were Irishmen who had served in the British Army in the First World War. Indeed, the Free State recruited experienced soldiers from wherever it could. Two of its senior Generals in the Civil War had served in the United States Army - Emmet Dalton and "Ginger" O'Connell. The British government supplied the new army with uniforms, small arms, ammunition, artillery and armoured units, which enabled it to bring the Civil War to a fairly speedy conclusion. Dublin was taken from Anti Treaty IRA units (or "Irregulars") after a week and a half of street fighting in July 1922. The Irregulars were also dislodged from Limerick and Waterford in that month and Cork and county Kerry were secured after seaborne landings in August. The remainder of the war was a counter-insurgency campaign against Anti-Treaty guerrillas. The National Army suffered about 800 fatalities in the Civil War, including its commander in chief, Michael Collins. Collins was succeeded by Richard Mulcahy.

Following the end of the Civil War, the Irish Army was too big for a peacetime role and too expensive for the new Irish state to maintain. Richard Mulcahy, now Irish Defence Minister, had to cut it down to about 10,000 men. This nearly provoked a mutiny among Irish Army officers in 1923-24, particularly among former IRA officers, who perceived that former British Army officers were treated better than them. The "mutiny" petered out however and the Army has never since challenged the civil power in Ireland. When deployed within Ireland since the Civil War, the Army has always been under the command of the Gardai (Ireland's unarmed police force).

Ireland was neutral in the Second World War, which was named the The Emergency in Irish government circles. However, the Irish Army was greatly expanded for the duration of the War to ward off potential invasions from either the Axis or Allied powers (both of whom drew up contingency plans to invade Ireland). In 1940, the remnants of the IRA stole almost all the Irish Army's reserve ammunition from its dump at the Magazine Fort in Dublin's Phoenix Park. However, as the War went on, more and newer equipment was purchased from Britain and the United States.

Since 1945, the Irish Army has been deployed on many peace keeping missions for the United Nations. The first of these took place in the 1960s, when Irish troops were sent to the Congo. This remains the most costly enterprise for the Irish Army since the Irish Civil War, as over 25 Irish soldiers lost their lives. Subsequent missions have taken Irish troops to the Lebanon, Kosovo, Cyprus, East Timor and most recently, Liberia. At home, the Army has been occasionally deployed as a back up to the Gardai along the border with Northern Ireland during the civil conflict in the north known as the Troubles (1969-1998). In the early 1970s, it was suggested that the Irish Army might cross the Border to protect the nationalist community within Northern Ireland. However this was never acted upon and the Army's most consistent role has been to try and impede the movement of Provisional IRA members across the border. One Irish Army soldier was killed in the Troubles.

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Composition

The regular army of the Republic of Ireland has 8,500 personnel, and is divided primarily into three infantry brigades, each responsible for a geographical area of the country:

1 Southern Brigade2 Eastern Brigade4 Western Brigade
HQ 1 Southern BrigadeHQ 2 Eastern BrigadeHQ 4 Western Brigade
3 Infantry Battalion2 Infantry Battalion1 Infantry Battalion
4 Infantry Battalion5 Infantry Battalion6 Infantry Battalion
12 Infantry Battalion27 Infantry Battalion28 Infantry Battalion
1 Cavalry Squadron2 Cavalry Squadron4 Cavalry Squadron
1 Field Artillery Regiment2 Field Artillery Regiment4 Field Artillery Regiment
1 Field Engineer Company2 Field Engineer Company4 Field Engineer Company
1 Logistic Support Battalion2 Logistic Support Battalion4 Logistic Support Battalion
1 Field Communications Information Service Company2 Field Communications Information Service Company4 Field Communications Information Service Company
3 Field Military Police Company2 Brigade Military Police Company4 Brigade Military Police Company
1 Brigade Training Centre2 Brigade Training Centre4 Brigade Training Centre

In addition to the three brigades, there is also the Defence Forces Training Centre (DFTC), which is responsible for providing professional training to Ireland's defence forces through three separate colleges:

  • Military College
  • Combat Support College
  • Combat Service Support College

There are also several units located at the DFTC that are not part of the brigade structure:

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Rank Structure

The Irish Army is Organised along Standard Military Rank and Command Structures. As there are only 3 Infantry Brigades there is a limited number of Senior Officers.

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Famous former Irish Regiments

Prior to 1922 and the foundation of the Irish Free State, many Irish soldiers served with distinction in regiments of the British Army. Among the regiments that disappeared on independence included:

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See also

Template:Irish Defence Forces

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