Glossary of Acronyms and Abbreviations

Glossary of Acronyms, Abbreviations, and Terms Related to Ireland

Definitions, unless otherwise referenced, come from the following source:
McKittrick, David and David McVea. Making Sense of the Troubles: The Story of the Conflict in Northern Ireland. Chicago: New Amsterdam Books, 2002.

Fitzduff, M., (2002). Beyond Violence: Conflict Resolution Process in Northern Ireland. Tokyo: United Nations University Press.

ACT- All Children Together
Active service- a term used by the IRA when its members were on an operation1
ANC- African National Council
Apprentice Boys - One of the Protestant "loyal orders," its main activity is organizing annual demonstrations commemorating the 1688 Siege of Derry. Its parades have been controversial, as they flaunt Unionist victory in the city over the native Irish population. Have been known to cause violence and tension. Many Apprentice Boys are also members of the Royal Black Preceptory and Orange Order.
APRN - An Phoblacht/Republican News - Weekly newspaper of the Provisional Republican movement, now associated with Sinn Fein.
BBC- British Broadcasting Corporation
CAJ- Commission on the Administration of Justice
CCRU- Central Community Relations Unit
CIRAC- Centre for Independent Research and Analysis of Crime
CLMC- Combined Loyalist Military Command
CRC- Community Relations Council
Crown- A term used to denote the British Government and all the forces, like the British army, and institutions that compose the British State, whose constitutional head is the Queen2
CRTLC- Conflict Resolution Training Learning Consortium
CTG- Cultural Traditions Group
Dáil Éireann - Lower house of the Irish Parliament
DCAL- Department for Culture Arts and Leisure
DPPB- District Policing Partnership Board
DUP- Democratic Unionist Party
ECONI- Evangelical Conference on Northern Ireland
EDI- Equity, Diversity and Interdependence
EMU- Education for Mutual Understanding
ETA- Euskadi'ta Askatasuna
FAIT- Families Against Intimidation and Terror
FEA- Fair Employment Agency
FEC- Fair Employent Comission
Fenian- a term, usually pejorative, for a Catholic that implies he or she is a Republican3
Fianna Fail - "Soldiers of Destiny" in Gaelic; it is the largest of the Republic's political parties, it has Republican leanings4
Fine Gael- A conservative party in the Irish Republic who are strongly opposed to the IRA and whose historical forebears fought on the pro-treaty side against the IRA during the Irish Civil War5
ICA- Irish Citizen Army
IFA- Irish Football Association
INCORE- Initiative on Conflict Resolutions and Ethnicity
INLA - Irish National Liberation Army
IPCC- Independent Police Complaints Commision
IRA- Irish Republican Army
IRB - Irish Republican Brotherhood
LVF- Loyalist Volunteer Force
MI5-The British domestic intelligence service that has overall control over the British government's battle against the IRA6
MI6- Britain's overseas intelligence services. MI6 once fought against MI5 for control of spying operations in the Irish Republic, often sends its own agents to Ireland7
NGO- Non Governmental Organization
NICEA- Northern Ireland Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment
NICRA- Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association
NIWC- Northern Ireland Women's Coalition
NORAID- Nothern Aid Committee
OC- Officer Commanding (IRA)
Official IRA- The Officials split from the Provisionals in 1969. They declared a ceasefire in 1972 and have since played a limited role in the conflict.8
Oglaigh na hEireann- Gaelic term for the Irish Republican Army9
Orange Order - largest of the Unionist orders; founded in Armagh in 1795. Its extensive program of marches culminates annually in a commemoration of the victory of William III at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.
PAF- Protestant Action Force
PAFT- Policy Appraisal and Fair Treatment
PSNI- Police Service Northern Ireland
PEG- Political Education Group
PRG- Peace and Reconciliation Group
Provisionals- The modern-day IRA, they split with the Officials in 1969. The term Provisionals can be used synonymously with the term IRA10
Provos- Abbreviated name for the Provisionals11
PUP- Progressive Unionist Party
RIR- Royal Irish Regiment. See UDR.12
RISCT- Research Institure for the Study of Conflict and Terrorism
RUC- Royal Ulster Constabulary
SAS- Special Air Service, a small but elite unit of the British Army that specialized in the ambush and assassination of IRA members on active duty13
SDLP- Social Democratic and Labour Party, the main constitutional Catholic party
Sinn Fein- The legal political wing of the IRA
Special Branch- The RUC's intelligence division which recruits and runs informers14
Taig- A pejorative term used by Loyalists to describe Catholics15
TSN- Targeting Social Need
UDA- Ulster Defense Association, the once legal but now banned Loyalist paramilitary organization, it was once the largest Loyalist paramilitary group16
UDP- Ulster Democratic Party
UDR- Ulster Defense Regiment, a regiment of the British Army that is nearly exclusively recruited from Northern Ireland's Protestant population. In 1992 the group was merged with the Royal Irish Rangers to form the Royal Irish Regiment17
UFF- Ulster Freedom Fighters
UUP- Ulster Unionist Party
UUUC- United Ulster Unionist Council
UVF- Ulster Volunteer Force
Volunteer- Term used to describe an IRA member
WAVE- Widows and Widowers Against Violence
WEA- Workers Education Association
whack- a term used by paramilitary organizations that means "to murder"18
YMCA- Young Men's Christian Association

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License