Editing Official Irish Republican Army (section)

==Decommissioning==
In October 2009, after a long period of inactivity, the Official IRA began talks with a view to decommissioning its stockpile of weapons,<ref>{{cite news |last1=McCaffrey |first1=Barry |title=Official IRA starts talking to arms body |url=https://www.irishnews.com/articles/540/5860/2009/10/10/629718_396544758525OfficialI.html |work=Irish News |date=10 October 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091015071331/https://www.irishnews.com/articles/540/5860/2009/10/10/629718_396544758525OfficialI.html |archive-date=15 October 2009}}</ref> and in February 2010 the Newry-based [[#After 1972|Official Republican Movement]] announced that it had decommissioned its weapons.<ref>{{cite news|author=Allison Morris|title=Exclusive: The inside story of how the gun was taken out of Irish politics|url=http://www.irishnews.com/news/decommissioning/2018/02/20/exclusive-the-inside-story-of-how-the-gun-was-taken-out-of-irish-politics-1259113/|work=[[Irish News]]|date=20 February 2018|access-date=13 February 2020|archive-date=13 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200213173957/http://www.irishnews.com/news/decommissioning/2018/02/20/exclusive-the-inside-story-of-how-the-gun-was-taken-out-of-irish-politics-1259113/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Statement by the Official IRA about Decommissioning|url=https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/othelem/organ/oira/oira080210.htm|work=[[Conflict Archive on the Internet]]|date=8 February 2010|access-date=13 February 2020|archive-date=8 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200708025947/https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/othelem/organ/oira/oira080210.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> The process was confirmed to be completed by the [[Independent International Commission on Decommissioning]] on 8 February 2010, coming in the last 24 hours of the commission's existence.<ref name=Timesdecom>[https://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article7019958.ece Three more Northern Ireland terrorist groups lay down their arms] ''The Times'' {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604190543/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article7019958.ece |date=4 June 2011 }}</ref> The decommissioning was completed at the same time as that of the republican INLA and the loyalist [[UDA South East Antrim Brigade]].<ref name=Timesdecom/> The step was described by [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|British Prime Minister]] [[Gordon Brown]] as a "central part of moving Northern Ireland from violence to peace".<ref name=Timesdecom/>

In 2015, it was reported that up to 5,000 Official IRA weapons may still be hidden in secret bunkers. The weapons were supplied to the OIRA in the 1980s by the [[Soviet Union]]'s [[KGB]] and [[North Korea]]. The report said that the weapons were to be used to defend Catholic areas if there was an outbreak of major sectarian conflict, and that the plan was known only to a few high-ranking members of the organisation.<ref name="POP">[http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/official-ira-doomsday-bunkers-may-still-contain-thousands-of-weapons-31267631.html "Official IRA "doomsday" bunkers may still contain thousands of weapons"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305225253/http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/official-ira-doomsday-bunkers-may-still-contain-thousands-of-weapons-31267631.html |date=5 March 2016 }}. ''[[Belfast Telegraph]]''. 31 May 2015.</ref>