Why do young people join the IRA?

[two gun sid]

From The BBC:
By Shane Harrison
BBC Northern Ireland Dublin correspondent

2005 has so far proven to be an annus horribilis, a dreadful year, for the republican movement.

Two men in their 20s were jailed for IRA membership
This week it got worse with the jailing for four years of five Dublin men after they were found guilty of IRA membership.

The five were arrested in Bray, County Wicklow, in October 2002 after they were seen acting suspiciously by an off-duty detective.

At the scene and in the homes of two of the five, Irish police officers found a stun gun, a CS canister, balaclavas, fake police uniforms and Sinn Fein election posters.

For many, this was yet another link between Sinn Fein and the IRA.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4292749.stm

[mrgorth]

1. Lack of jobs and romaniticism...purpose.

[Maeve]

2. A rather superficial article

With the current push to discredit SF, the IRA radicals who say "there will never be a political solution" are gaining credibility (sorry, I seem to keep repeating myself on this).

Who the hell are they going to support in elections--Fianna Fail? Fine Gael?