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Volunteer, often abbreviated Vol., is a term used by a number of Irish republican paramilitary organisations to describe their members. Among these have been the various forms of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA). Óglach is the equivalent title used in the Irish language. The United Irishmen who have come to be regarded as the forerunners of modern physical-force nationalism, in a line that extended to the Young Ireland revolutionaries of 1848, to the Fenians of 1867, and onto the Irish Republican Brotherhood of 1916, up to the Irish Republican Army of today.

Original usage of the term Volunteer

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The first usage of the term "Volunteer" can be traced back to the name of the 18th century Irish Volunteers, of which an institution of it is described as combining republicanism along with chilvalry, intolerance, and patriotism amongst other ideals. The origins of Irish Republicanism lay with the both the American and French revolutions. The almost unanimous sympathies of Irishmen during the American War of Independence were on the side of the Americans, whose grievances were very similar. When the Irish Parliament voted money to raise regiments for service against the Americans, it resulted in a 'hailstorm of indignation about its ears.'

In late 1778, alarmed by the activities of French and Spanish privateers and the prospect of a French invasion, the inhabitants of Belfast were left to their own defence according to Lord Charlemount, the Lord Lieutenant of County Armagh who said that they had been abandoned by Government in the hour of danger. The date of the original muster-roll of the Belfast First Volunteer Company was 17 March 1778. It later adopted nationalist colours and called itself the Green Company. While the Chief Secretary in Dublin Castle John Hobart, 2nd Earl of Buckinghamshire said that he very much approved their formation, in reality according to A.T.Q. Stewart there was few things he approved of less, but dared not say so in public. The war with the American colonists having drastically reduced the number of troops in Ireland a matter of some importance for the stability in Irish society with the landed gentry reacting nervously.

According to Liz Curtis the English regime in Ireland was vulnerable, and the Volunteers used this to press for concessions from England using their new found strength. In 1779 the Volunteers paraded through Dublin with cannons with placards attached reading 'Free Trade or this'. The Government attempted to start a scare by saying that Catholics were securing arms under cover of Volunteering, however the Patriot Opposition countered this by requesting that Catholics refrain from Volunteering. The Catholics complying raising large sums of money in which buy equipment for the Protestant Volunteers, leaving the Government who had tried to divide Protestants and Catholics actually promoted their Union.

In February 1782 at a Volunteer convention held in Dungannon, delegates from a number of Ulster Volunteer corps would pledge their support for resolutions advocating legislative independence for Ireland. Despite proclaiming their loyalty to the British Crown, many of its membership were just as concerned with securing Irish free trade and opposing English governmental interference in Ireland as they were in repelling the French.

The Irish Volunteers also played a part in influencing the United Irishmen’s organisation. The Belfast Volunteers protesting against the discrimination endured by Scots Presbyterians in Ulster, attracted disaffected Protestants and Catholics alike throughout Ireland. Wolfe Tone decrying the disunity of the Irish would later say 'I made speedily what was to me a great discovery: that the influence of England was the radical vice of our Government, and consequently, that Ireland would never be either free, prosperous, of happy until she was independent, and that independence was unattainable whilst the connection with England existed.'

20th century Irish Volunteers

In 1913, in response to the formation of the Ulster Volunteers, Irish nationalists founded the Irish Volunteers, with the intentions "to secure and maintain the rights and liberties common to the whole people of Ireland". Their name in Irish was Óglaigh na hÉireann, literally translatable as "Warriors of Ireland". The original IRA, and subsequent organisations of the same name, all of which see themselves as inheritors of these Irish Volunteers, continue to use Óglaigh na hÉireann as their Irish name. An alternative name, Fianna Fáil, also translatable as "Warriors of Ireland", is sometimes used, as in the Irish national anthem, Amhrán na bhFiann, and as the name of the Fianna Fáil political party, founded in 1926. The initials "FF" were incorporated into the Volunteer badge, and later the badge of the Irish Defence Forces.

The regular Irish Defence Forces also trace their descent back to the Irish Volunteers and the original IRA. Their Irish title is also Óglaigh na hÉireann. However, a new member is described as "recruit" (Template:Lang-ga) or "cadet" (Template:Lang-ga) rather than a "Volunteer" or Óglach. The Irish Army uses Saighdiúr Singil ("single soldier") as Irish for the rank of Private.

Definition

The term volunteer can be used to describe the entire membership of an Irish republican paramilitary organisation., but can be used to describe a "rank and file" member, similar to that of a private or a member that does not hold the role of an officer such as Chief of Staff or Quartermaster General. Use of the term is quite elastic, not only in its application to describe either all members or specifically lower ranks, but also over whether the 'v' is capitalised or not.

Sometimes the term volunteer is used specifically to refer to a low-ranking IRA member. For instance, Joe Cahill stated in a press conference, after the introduction of internment in 1971, that the British forces had arrested two "officers" in the Provisional IRA, "the rest are volunteers, or as they say in the British Army, privates".

However, in other cases, the term is used to refer to all IRA members. For example, Official IRA member Joe McCann, killed in 1972 was referred to in commemorations by his rank "Staff Captain" but also as a "Volunteer".

Most modern IRA memorials refer to the dead only as "Volunteer", "Vol." or "Óglach" rather than giving a specific rank.

The role of a volunteer

The Green Book defines the role of a new volunteer as follows:

• General Order number 1: "The duties of a Volunteer shall be at the discretion of a unit commander ... A Volunteer who for any reason, ceases to maintain contact with his or her unit for a period of three months shall automatically cease to be a member of the army."

• General Order number 2: "Volunteers when making the Army Declaration promise; to obey all orders and regulations issued by the Army Authority and any superior officers. Where an order issued by a duly accredited officer has been disobeyed, the Volunteer in question must be suspended immediately, pending investigation of the case."

References

1. See for example Belfast brigade 25th Anniversary of H-Block Hunger Strike 1981 - 2006 from a Republican Sinn Féin website
2. Curtin, Nancy J. (1998). The United Irishmen: Popular Politics in Ulster and Dublin, 1791-1798. Oxford University Press. p. 9. ISBN 9780198207368.
3. Madden, Richard R. (1842). The United Irishmen: Their Lives and Times. James Duffy. p. 147. Quote:"The origin of the Irish Volunteers, which, as an organized national military association, may be dated from 1777, ceased to exist as such in 1793…It is not inconsistent with truth, though it may be with the military glory of this institution of the Volunteers, to say that it combined in one great national phalanx the talent, the intolerance, the chivalry, the extravagance, the prodigality, the embarrassment, the republicanism, and patriotism, for one brief epoch, of all ranks and classes."
4. ^ Llwelyn, Morgan (2001). Irish Rebels. O'Brien Press. p. 29. ISBN 0 86278 857 9.
5. Cronin, Sean (1980). Irish Nationalism: A History of its Roots and Ideology. The Continuum Publishing Company. pp. 1–2. ISBN 0 8264 0062 0.
6. ^ Jackson, T.A. (1946). Ireland Her Own. Cobbett Press. p. 87.
7. Stewart, A.T.Q. (1998). A Deeper Silence: The Hidden Origins of the United Irishmen. Blackstaff Press. pp. 3–4. ISBN 0 85640 642 2.
8. Stewart, A.T.Q. (1998). A Deeper Silence: The Hidden Origins of the United Irishmen. Blackstaff Press. p. 4. ISBN 0 85640 642 2.
9. Stewart, A.T.Q. (1998). A Deeper Silence: The Hidden Origins of the United Irishmen. Blackstaff Press. pp. 4–5. ISBN 0 85640 642 2.
10. Curtis, Liz (1994). The Cause of Ireland: From the United Irishmen to Partition. Beyond the Pale Publications. p. 4. ISBN 0 9514229 6 0.
11. F.X. Martin, T.W. Moody (1994). The Course of Irish History. Mercier Press. p. 233. ISBN 1 85635 108 4.
12. Duffy, Sean (2005). A Concise History of Ireland. p. 133-134. ISBN 0717138100. Quote: We know our duty to our Sovereign, and are loyal. We know our duty to ourselves, and are resolved to be free. We seek for our rights and no more than our rights
13. Duffy, Sean (2005). A Concise History of Ireland. pp. 132–133. ISBN 0717138100.
14. Gibbon, Peter (1975). The Origins of Ulster Unionism: The Formation of Popular Protestant Politics and Ideology in Nineteenth-century Ireland. Manchester University Press. p. 35. ISBN 9780719006135.
15. Foy, Michael; Barton, Brian (2004). The Easter Rising. Sutton Publishing. pp. 7–8. ISBN 0 750 93433 6.
16. Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977). Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla / Irish-English Dictionary. Dublin: An Gúm. ISBN 1857910389. óglach: 1. (lit.) a young man (a) (young) warrior 2. Lit. Attendant, servant or vassal. 3. Mil: Volunteer; Óglaigh na hÉireann, the Irish Volunteers.
17. The Earl of Longford and Thomas P. O’Neill, Eamon de Valera, Dublin 1970, ISBN 978-0-09-104660-6, chapter 21
18. "The Army Recruit". Irish Defence Forces. Retrieved 11 February 2007.
19. "Earcach an Airm" (in Irish). Irish Defence Forces. Retrieved 11 February 2007. (Irish-language version of the preceding page)
20. "Defence Forces Cadetships". Irish Defence Forces. Retrieved 11 February 2007.
21. "Óglaigh na hÉireann: An Struchtúr Céime". Irish Defence Forces. Retrieved 11 February 2007.Template:Ga icon (Defence Forces ranks in Irish)
22. Bell, J. Bowyer. The Gun in Politics: An Analysis of Irish Political Conflict, 1916-1986. ISBN 088738126X.
23. Moloney, Ed (2002). A Secret History of the IRA. p. 571. ISBN 0-71-399665-X.
24. YouTube - The Ulster Troubles (Part 17 of 24)
25. "South Belfast - Plaques". CAIN. Retrieved 11 February 2007.
26. "West Belfast - Memorials". CAIN. Retrieved 11 February 2007.
27. "West Belfast - Murals". CAIN. Retrieved 11 February 2007.
28. Dillon, Martin (1990). The Dirty War. Hutchinson. p. 468. ISBN 0-09-984520-2.

• Use dmy dates from September 2011
• Irish Republican Army
• Irish National Liberation Army