Irish Northern Aid Committee | |
 NORAID logo | |
| Formation | 1969 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Michael Flannery |
| Purpose | Irish reunification, support for theNorthern Ireland peace process |
| Headquarters | Pearl River, New York |
| Origins | Northern Ireland civil rights movement,The Troubles |
| Services | Fundraising,Irish language education,Republican activism |
Main organ | The Irish People |
| Website | irishnorthernaid |
NORAID, officially theIrish Northern Aid Committee, is anIrish American membership organization founded after the start ofthe Troubles inNorthern Ireland in 1969. The organization states its mission is to aid in the creation of aUnited Ireland in the spirit of the1916 Easter Proclamation and to support theNorthern Ireland Peace process.
During the Troubles, NORAID was known for raising funds for theProvisional Irish Republican Army andNationalist relief groups such asGreen Cross andAn Cumann Cabrach. However, the organization faced a steep decline due to bad publicity from news outlets, the general public, and the U.S., British, and Irish governments as a result of allegations that it used donations to fund theimportation of arms for the conflict by the IRA.
NORAID was organized and directed by Irish immigrantMichael Flannery, who in the 1920s was a member of theIRA North Tipperary Brigade. To collect funds, NORAID organized dinner dances, donations in Irish bars, and direct-mail appeals for support in humanitarian relief in Ireland duringthe Troubles.[1]
NORAID officials maintained that its money went to two Irish relief organizations, Green Cross (founded in 1973) and An Cumann Cabrach (founded in November 1953), to help families of imprisoned or dead Irish nationalists. However,Unionist politicians, much of the Irish American community, and the British, Irish and United States governments accused NORAID of being afront for theProvisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA), and that it was involved in fundraising forIRA arms importation from North America since the early 1970s.[2][3][4][5] HistorianEd Moloney disputed this by saying that funds raised by NORAID went largely to the families of imprisoned IRAvolunteers, and thatClan na Gael was the principal financial backer of the IRA.[6]
In May 1981, theUnited States Department of Justice won a court case forcing NORAID to register the Provisional Irish Republican Army as its "foreign principal" under theForeign Agents Registration Act. In his decision, U.S. District JudgeCharles S. Haight Jr. wrote: "The uncontroverted evidence is that [NORAID] is an agent of the IRA, providing money and services for other than relief purposes." NORAID lawyers appealed the decision but lost.[1] After three years of fighting, a compromise was reached between federal attorneys and NORAID, allowing it to include with its filings a written statement expressing that the document had been signed under duress and that NORAID maintained that the IRA was not its "foreign principal". NORAID resumed filing its financial returns in July 1984.[7]
By the late 1980s, NORAID was a loose federation of local branches centred on fundraising.Sinn Féin, the political party associated with the IRA, wanted NORAID to expand its activities. At the end of 1988, NORAID agreed to try to broaden its appeal and its executive committee was expanded. Sinn Féin sent an organizer to the United States, and more time and money was devoted to lobbying.[8]
Then-president Pat O'Connell said "Americans are fed up with their own nation's politics. They sure as hell don't want to get involved in Irish politics. They only want to give money for the prisoners and their families, not for political lobbying." O'Connell subsequently opened a separate NORAID office in the Bronx.[8]
A letter later published in New York's two Irish weeklies charged that under Martin Galvin and others, NORAID was "being steered in a direction toward politics and away from its original humanitarian objectives".[8] The first name among 41 signers was Michael Flannery, who in 1986 had quietly resigned from NORAID.[8]
Galvin joined NORAID in the early 1970s, and became the committee's publicity director and editor of its weekly newspaper,The Irish People. He later joined the group's board of directors.[9] In 1989, Pat O'Connell left NORAID following ideological disagreements with Galvin and founded The Friends of Irish Freedom later that year despite objections from Sinn Féin.[10]
Galvin split with Sinn Féin in the mid-1990s over the direction of theNorthern Ireland peace process.[11]
NORAID has in the past supported "Project Children", a New York-based organization founded in 1975, to provide summer vacations for children from Northern Ireland away from sectarian strife.[12]
In 1994, Sinn Féin was de-listed as aforeign terrorist organization by the US State Department after the start of peace efforts in Northern Ireland.[13] NORAID was supportive of the peace process and the subsequentGood Friday Agreement. In the 21st century NORAID has become highly supportive of Sinn Féin.
NORAID published the final issue ofThe Irish People on March 13, 2004.[14]
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