THE history of an Irish- American organisation that defied British exile orders and were accused of aiding the IRA has been revealed in a new tell-all RTE documentary.
NORAID: Irish America & The IRA uses never-before-seen footage to explore the lives of Manhattan Irish expats who fundraised overseas for the Irish republican cause.
NORAID: Irish America and the IRA will air on RTE[/caption]
John McDonagh said Irish America was always part of the conflict in Northern Ireland[/caption]
NORAID has denied helping the IRA, with the group’s publicity director in 2025 claiming the accusations are false.
The focus of the volunteer group, officially named the Irish Northern Aid Committee, was liberating the six Ulster counties given to the British Empire in the Anglo-Irish treaty of 1921.
It was formed in 1969 by Michael Flannery following growing unrest in Belfast after The Troubles broke out a year before.
NORAID organised fundraising events, protests, made anti-British merchandise and produced its own newspaper, The Irish People, in a New York bodega.
The group raised almost half a million dollars for the cause and saw a surge in membership after the death of Bobby Sands from hunger strike in 1981 in a Northern Irish prison.
Taxi driver and NORAID member John McDonagh tells how the Big Apple was “always a hub for Irish republicanism”.
He said: “Irish America’s always been part of conflict, from the 1800s on. It would have been very unusual that we weren’t part of the conflict, us being part of it was natural, it had been going on for hundreds of years — so why would it stop?”
McDonagh recounts how he and other members of NORAID rented a Times Square billboard to send Christmas wishes to Irish prisoners of war in 1983 — the day after an IRA petrol bomb attack outside Harrods department store killed six people.
In the same year, American lawyer and then-director of NORAID, Martin Galvin, was banned from speaking at large scale internment rallies in Northern Ireland after he was slapped with an exclusion order from the British government.
But the following year, Galvin felt compelled to speak at a Belfast rally in open defiance of the order.
He was revealed to adoring crowds by then-Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams, but chaos quickly ensued.
Royal Ulster Constabularies fired rubber bullets as the screaming crowd dispersed, leading to the death of one man, Sean Downes.
Galvin reveals in newly shown footage that he escaped by hiding in the attic of a nearby female NORAID supporter.
‘MAKING SITUATION WORSE’
Although the heads of NORAID firmly denied any involvement with the IRA over the years, the group drew strong criticism from politicians and the public alike.
While members who travelled home to their roots were welcomed in Northern Ireland, the Republic was more hostile.
Archive footage of critics shows some claiming that the presence of the group was “making the whole situation worse”.
And then-Taoiseach Charles Haughey condemned the group for allegedly assisting the IRA in a “campaign of violence”.
- Episode one of NORAID: Irish America & The IRA, will stream on RTE One and RTE Player tomorrow at 9.35pm with episode two following on July 16.
The group drew huge support after the death of Bobby Sands on hunger strike in 1983[/caption]
Then-Taoiseach Charles Haughey condemned the group for allegedly assisting the IRA[/caption]
