Editing Irish War of Independence (section)

===IRA organisation and operations===
[[File:General Collins.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Michael Collins]]
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Collins was a driving force behind the independence movement. Nominally the [[Minister of Finance]] in the Republic's government and IRA Director of Intelligence, he was involved in providing funds and arms to the IRA units and in the selection of officers. Collins' charisma and organisational capability galvanised many who came in contact with him. He established what proved an effective network of spies among sympathetic members of the Dublin Metropolitan Police's G Division and other important branches of the British administration. The G Division men were a relatively small political division active in subverting the republican movement. They were detested by the IRA as often they were used to identify volunteers, who would have been unknown to British soldiers or the later Black and Tans. Collins set up the "Squad", a group of men whose sole duty was to seek out and kill "G-men" and other British spies and agents. Collins' Squad began killing RIC intelligence officers in July 1919.<ref>''Michael Collins's Intelligence War'' by Michael T. Foy ({{ISBN|0-7509-4267-3}}), p. 25.</ref> Many G-men were offered a chance to resign or leave Ireland by the IRA. One spy who escaped with his life was [[F. Digby Hardy]], who was exposed by Arthur Griffith before an "IRA" meeting, which in fact consisted of Irish and foreign journalists, and then advised to take the next boat out of Dublin.<ref>T. Ryle Dwyer. ''The Squad: And the Intelligence Operations of Michael Collins''. pp. 137–139.</ref>

The Chief of Staff of the IRA was [[Richard Mulcahy]], who was responsible for organising and directing IRA units around the country.{{sfn|Townshend|1975|p=17}} In theory, both Collins and Mulcahy were responsible to Cathal Brugha, the Dáil's Minister of Defence, but, in practice, Brugha had only a supervisory role, recommending or objecting to specific actions. A great deal also depended on IRA leaders in local areas (such as Liam Lynch, Tom Barry, [[Seán Moylan]], [[Seán Mac Eoin]] and [[Ernie O'Malley]]) who organised guerrilla activity, largely on their own initiative. For most of the conflict, IRA activity was concentrated in [[Munster]] and Dublin, with only isolated active IRA units elsewhere, such as in [[County Roscommon]], north [[County Longford]] and western [[County Mayo]].

While the paper membership of the IRA, carried over from the Irish Volunteers, was over 100,000 men, Collins estimated that only 15,000 were active in the IRA during the war, with about 3,000 on active service at any time. There were also support organisations [[Cumann na mBan]] (the IRA women's group) and [[Fianna Éireann]] (youth movement), who carried weapons and intelligence for IRA men and secured food and lodgings for them. The IRA benefitted from the widespread help given to them by the general Irish population, who generally refused to pass information to the RIC and the British military and who often provided "[[safe house]]s" and provisions to IRA units "on the run".

Much of the IRA's popularity arose from the excessive reaction of the British forces to IRA activity. When Éamon de Valera returned from the United States, he demanded in the Dáil that the IRA desist from the ambushes and assassinations, which were allowing the British to portray it as a terrorist group and to take on the British forces with conventional military methods. The proposal was immediately dismissed.