There’s a Hidden History of US Support for Irish Republicans

The Irish Northern Aid Committee — Noraid, as it was generally known — was accused of involvement in various activities to support the Irish Republican Army (IRA). Its alleged offences included purchasing M-60 rifles, paying for ships to cross the Atlantic with weapons cargo, and even robbing a Brink’s armored car of more than $7 million.

In a new documentary about the group’s history, veteran Noraid activists categorically deny such claims. As the New York priest Pat Moloney puts it, “I had absolutely nothing to do with the Brink’s robbery before the fact, or after the fact.” Father Moloney lives like a monk, but a British intelligence officer once described him as “the underground general” of IRA gunrunners.

Noraid always maintained that the money it collected went to Irish political prisoners and their families, not to pay for guns. Produced by Ireland’s national broadcaster RTÉ, Noraid: Irish America and the IRA tells the story of Irish American fundraising for the Irish republican movement in the heat of the Troubles.

The program is due to air on Irish television next month and should hopefully soon find an international distributor that can bring it to viewers in the United States and elsewhere. Beyond the myths about collection money in New York bars being used to pay for surface-to-air missiles, there’s a very real story about Irish American support for the struggle against British rule. That story has some important political implications for today.

Noraid came into existence with the eruption of conflict in the North…