Civilians and Communities I: Non-cooperation and Defiance

This chapter focuses on civilians who refused to cooperate with the Irish Republican Army (IRA). It begins by exploring two illustrative examples of Dáil Éireann edits enforced by local IRA units: the Dáil Courts and the Belfast Boycott. It then examines the local arms fund levy. As an exclusively ‘army’, rather than ‘civil’, collection, the arms fund offers a useful comparison with the poor rate collection explored in Chapter 2. The final two sections of the chapter explore the influence of community politics and personal relationships on loyalism and allegiance to the British administration. The chapter argues that well-established community behaviour and personal interest significantly influenced the guerrilla campaign, the conduct of guerrillas, and the behaviour of the civilian population. General conclusions about loyalty and allegiance will be offered before those conclusions are tested with a micro-study of loyalism in one ‘southern’ Irish community (Arva, County Cavan) based on a detailed reading of compensation claims submitted to the Irish Grants Committee.