32 County Sovereignty Movement

• "The restoration of Irish national sovereignty".
• "To seek to achieve unity among the Irish people on the issue of restoring national sovereignty and to promote the revolutionary ideals of republicanism and to this end involve itself in resisting all forms of colonialism and imperialism."
• "To seek the immediate and unconditional release of all Irish republican prisoners throughout the world."{{Cite web |title=32CSM |url=http://www.32csm.info/const.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110317214839/http://www.32csm.info/const.html |archive-date=17 March 2011 |access-date=20 June 2011}}

The organisation was founded as the 32 County Sovereignty Committee on 7 December 1997 at a meeting of like-minded Irish republicans in Finglas in Dublin. Those present were opposed to the direction taken by Sinn Féin and other mainstream republican groups in the Northern Ireland peace process, which would lead to the Belfast Agreement (also known as the Good Friday Agreement) the following year. The same division in the republican movement led to the paramilitary group now known as the Real IRA breaking away from the Provisional Irish Republican Army at around the same time.

Most of its founders had been members of Sinn Féin; some had been expelled from the party for challenging the leadership's direction, while others felt they had not been properly able to air their concerns within Sinn Féin at the direction its leadership had taken. Bernadette Sands McKevitt, wife of Michael McKevitt and a sister of hunger striker Bobby Sands, was a prominent member of the group until a split in the organisation.

The name refers to the 32 counties of Ireland which were created during the Lordship and Kingdom of Ireland. With the partition of Ireland in 1920–1922; 26 of these counties formed the Irish Free State which was abolished in 1937 and is now known as Ireland since 1949; the remaining six counties of Northern Ireland remain part of the United Kingdom. Founder Bernadette Sands McKevitt said in a 1998 interview with the Irish Mirror that people did not fight for "peace" – "they fought for independence" – and that the organisation reaffirms to the republican position in the 1919 Irish Declaration of Independence.{{Cite news |title=Perilous crisis facing 32-county group is of its own making |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/perilous-crisis-facing-32-county-group-is-of-its-own-making-1.185436 |newspaper=The Irish Times |access-date=12 March 2019 |archive-date=31 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210531154957/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/perilous-crisis-facing-32-county-group-is-of-its-own-making-1.185436 |url-status=live }}

Before the referendums on the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, the 32CSM lodged a legal submission with the United Nations challenging British sovereignty in Ireland.{{Cite web |title=Submission to the UN |url=http://www.32csm.info/UNsubmission.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080725115535/http://www.32csm.info/UNsubmission.html |archive-date=25 July 2008 |access-date=12 May 2008}} The referendums were opposed by the 32CSM, but were supported by 71% of voters in Northern Ireland and by 94% in the Republic of Ireland. It was reported in February 2000 that the group established a "branch" in Kilburn, London.{{Cite web |last1=Campbell |first1=Denis |last2=Thompson |first2=Tony |date=13 February 2000 |title=Real IRA sets up wing in London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/feb/13/northernireland.deniscampbell |work=The Guardian |access-date=12 March 2019 |archive-date=14 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200914193510/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/feb/13/northernireland.deniscampbell |url-status=live }}

In November 2005 the 32CSM launched a political initiative titled Irish Democracy, A Framework For Unity.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}}

On 24 May 2014, Gary Donnelly, a member of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, was elected to the Derry and Strabane super council.{{Cite web |date=24 May 2014 |title=Gary Donnelly elected in Derry & Strabane |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-27559217 |publisher=BBC |access-date=21 June 2018 |archive-date=25 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160325011159/http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-27559217 |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |date=12 June 2014 |title=Dissident republican Gary Donnelly takes Derry and Strabane super council seat and faces IRA bomb motion |work=Belfast Telegraph |url=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/dissident-republican-gary-donnelly-takes-derry-and-strabane-super-council-seat-and-faces-ira-bomb-motion-30348381.html |access-date=20 June 2014 |archive-date=21 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140821195305/http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/dissident-republican-gary-donnelly-takes-derry-and-strabane-super-council-seat-and-faces-ira-bomb-motion-30348381.html |url-status=live }} In July 2014, a delegation from the 32 County Sovereignty Movement travelled to Canada, to take part in a six-day speaking tour. On arrival the delegation was detained and refused entry into Canada.{{Cite web |date=28 July 2014 |title=Canadian detention a 'political decision' – Francis Mackey |url=http://ulsterherald.com/2014/07/28/canadian-detention-a-political-decision-francis-mackey/ |access-date=20 August 2014 |work=Ulster Herald |archive-date=12 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812212324/http://ulsterherald.com/2014/07/28/canadian-detention-a-political-decision-francis-mackey/ |url-status=live }}

File:Easter Rising Dublin Parade - 25 April 2010 -www.keepvid.com-.ogv, Dublin, April 2010]]

The 32CSM has protested against what it calls "internment by remand" in both jurisdictions in Ireland.

Other protests include ones against former Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Ian Paisley in Cobh, County Cork, against former British Prime Minister John Major being given the Keys to Cork city, against a visit to the Republic of Ireland by Police Service of Northern Ireland head Sir Hugh Orde, and against the Israeli occupation of Palestine and Anglo-American occupation of Iraq.

In 2015, the 32CSM organised a demonstration in Dundee, Scotland, in solidarity with the men convicted of shooting Constable Stephen Carroll, the first police officer to be killed in Northern Ireland since the formation of the PSNI. The organisation says the "Craigavon Two" are innocent and have been victims of a miscarriage of justice.{{Cite news |last=Dinnie |first=Steven |date=24 January 2015 |title=VIDEO: Tempers flare at Irish republican protest in Dundee |url=http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/local/dundee/video-tempers-flare-at-irish-republican-protest-in-dundee-1.804762 |access-date=24 January 2015 |archive-date=26 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150126160922/http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/local/dundee/video-tempers-flare-at-irish-republican-protest-in-dundee-1.804762 |url-status=live }}

The group is currently considered a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) in the United States, because the group is considered to be inseparable from the Real IRA, which is designated as an FTO.{{Cite web |title=Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) |url=http://2001-2009.state.gov/s/ct/rls/fs/37191.htm |website=2001-2009.state.gov |access-date=4 May 2010 |archive-date=29 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100629093938/http://2001-2009.state.gov/s/ct/rls/fs/37191.htm |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |last=Harnden |first=Toby |date=17 May 2001 |title=Real IRA designated terrorists |work=The Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ireland/1330611/Real-IRA-designated-terrorists.html |access-date=4 April 2018 |archive-date=25 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725021629/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ireland/1330611/Real-IRA-designated-terrorists.html |url-status=live }} At a briefing in 2001, a spokesman for the US Department of State stated that "evidence provided by both the British and Irish governments and open source materials demonstrate clearly that the individuals who created the Real IRA also established these two entities to serve as the public face of the Real IRA. These alias organizations engage in propaganda and fundraising on behalf of and in collaboration with the Real IRA." The US Department of State's designation made it illegal for Americans to provide material support to the Real IRA, requires US financial institutions to block the group's assets and denies alleged RIRA members visas into the US.{{Cite web |title=Real IRA Designation (Taken question) |url=http://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2001/2922.htm |website=2001-2009.state.gov |access-date=4 May 2010 |archive-date=17 October 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091017000951/http://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2001/2922.htm |url-status=live }}

The 32CSM also operates outside of the island of Ireland to some extent. The Gaughan/Stagg Cumann covers England, Scotland and Wales, and has an active relationship of mutual promotion with a minority of British left wing groups,{{dubious|date=September 2019}} and antifascist organisations.{{Cite news |date=14 July 2012 |title=Antifascist Solidarity Needed in Liverpool on Saturday 21st July! |publisher=Liverpool Antifascists |url=http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2012/07/497944.html |access-date=2 March 2015 |archive-date=4 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150404105032/http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2012/07/497944.html |url-status=live }} The James Larkin Republican Flute Band (founded in 1996) in Liverpool, and the West of Scotland Band Alliance (founded in 1979)—the largest section of which is the Glasgow-based Parkhead Republican Flute Band—are also supporters of the 32CSM{{harvnb|Lowe|2013|p=48}}. (the larger flute band communities in these areas tend to be aligned to Sinn Féin instead). As of 2014, the 32CSM's alleged paramilitary wing, the Real IRA, was reported to have been still involved in attempts to perpetrate bombings in Britain as part of the Dissident Irish republican campaign, which has been ongoing since 1998.[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26229321 'IRA group' sent suspect packages to army offices] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181002072021/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26229321 |date=2 October 2018 }}. BBC News. 17 February 2014.

• Saoradh
• Irish Republican Voice
• Republican Sinn Féin
• Republican Network for Unity
• Fianna Éireann

{{reflist}}

{{refbegin|2}}

• {{Cite book |last=Horgan |first=John |title=Divided We Stand: The Strategy and Psychology of Ireland's Dissident Terrorists |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2013 |isbn=9780199772858}}
• {{Cite book |last=Lowe |first=David |title=Examining Political Violence: Studies of Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Internal War |publisher=CRC Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-1466588202}}
• {{Cite book |last=Morrison |first=John F. |title=The Origins and Rise of Dissident Irish Republicanism: The Role and Impact of Organizational Splits |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |year=2013 |asin=B00GSSDAM8}}

{{refend|2}}

• [https://www.32csm.org/ Official website]
• [http://ulib.iupui.edu/digitalscholarship/collections/SNation Sovereign Nation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905054209/http://www2.ulib.iupui.edu/digitalscholarship/collections/SNation |date=5 September 2015 }} – Online and hard copy newspaper of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement
• [https://republicanarchive.com/2024/09/18/32-county-sovereignty-movement/ 32CSM documents] at the Irish Republican Digital Archive

{{RIRA/32CSM}}

Category:1997 establishments in Ireland

Category:Articles containing video clips

Category:Euroscepticism in Ireland

Category:Irish republican organisations

Category:Left-wing politics in Ireland

Category:Organizations based in Europe designated as terrorist

Category:Organizations designated as terrorist by the United States

Category:Organizations established in 1997

Category:Political advocacy groups in Ireland

Category:Sinn Féin breakaway groups

Category:Real Irish Republican Army

Category:Socialist organisations in Ireland