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I.N.L.A - Deadly Divisions
The Irish National Liberation Army was one of the most ruthless terrorist organisations during the troubles in Northern Ireland. Formed in 1974 as a splinter group of the Official IRA, the INLA's campaign of murder throughout the 1970s and 1980s included such notorious acts as the bombing of the Droppin' Well in Derry in 1982 and, perhaps most infamously, the kidnapping and mutilation of Dublin dentist by former member, the "Border Fox". Many of their leading members found death at the end of a gun, including founder members Seamus Costello and Ronnie Bunting, and leader Dominic McGlinchey. The INLA were also involved in numerous bloody feuds and splits. This new revised edition of a classic book brings the INLA story right up to date, featuring the 1997 killing of LVF leader Billy "King Rat" Wright; their 1998 ceasefire; their continuing involvement in punishment attacks and criminal activities; and their declaration, in October 2009, that their armed campaign was finally over.
498 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 20, 2010
38 people are currently reading
128 people want to read
About the author
Henry McDonald
20 books5 followersHenry Patrick McDonald was a Northern Irish journalist and author. He was a correspondent for The Guardian and Observer, and from 2021 was the political editor of The News Letter, one of Northern Ireland's national daily newspapers, based in Belfast.
He was born in a Catholic enclave of central Belfast in 1965, and was a student at St Malachy's College. He briefly attended Edinburgh University before gaining a degree from Queen's University Belfast.
In his youth, McDonald involved in the Workers' Party, a left-wing party that emerged from Sinn Féin in the early 1970s and was associated with the Official IRA. He travelled to the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) with the youth wing of SFWP in the early 1980s.
After taking a journalism course at Dublin City University, McDonald began his professional writing career in 1989 at the Belfast newspaper The Irish News. He wrote extensively about the Troubles and related issues, with a particular focus on paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland, like the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and Irish National Liberation Army (INLA). He wrote a book on the INLA, INLA – Deadly Divisions, which he co-authored with his cousin, Jack Holland. The book was first published in 1994.
McDonald also wrote on Ulster loyalist paramilitary groups and co-authored books on the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and UDA with Jim Cusack. He also wrote a biography of Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) leader David Trimble, a personal biography Colours: Ireland – From Bombs to Boom, and, in 2017, Martin McGuinness: A Life Remembered. He was, for a period, a security correspondent for the BBC in Belfast.
In 1997, McDonald became the Ireland correspondent for The Observer, and assumed the role for The Guardian in 2007. He was based out of the paper's London office from 2018 to 2020. He then returned to Belfast, where he wrote for The Sunday Times, and worked as the political editor of The News Letter, headquartered in Belfast.
McDonald's first novel, The Swinging Detective, was published in 2017, and his second, Two Souls, was published by Merrion Press in 2019. A third novel, called Thy Will Be Done, was forthcoming at the time of his death.
He was born in a Catholic enclave of central Belfast in 1965, and was a student at St Malachy's College. He briefly attended Edinburgh University before gaining a degree from Queen's University Belfast.
In his youth, McDonald involved in the Workers' Party, a left-wing party that emerged from Sinn Féin in the early 1970s and was associated with the Official IRA. He travelled to the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) with the youth wing of SFWP in the early 1980s.
After taking a journalism course at Dublin City University, McDonald began his professional writing career in 1989 at the Belfast newspaper The Irish News. He wrote extensively about the Troubles and related issues, with a particular focus on paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland, like the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and Irish National Liberation Army (INLA). He wrote a book on the INLA, INLA – Deadly Divisions, which he co-authored with his cousin, Jack Holland. The book was first published in 1994.
McDonald also wrote on Ulster loyalist paramilitary groups and co-authored books on the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and UDA with Jim Cusack. He also wrote a biography of Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) leader David Trimble, a personal biography Colours: Ireland – From Bombs to Boom, and, in 2017, Martin McGuinness: A Life Remembered. He was, for a period, a security correspondent for the BBC in Belfast.
In 1997, McDonald became the Ireland correspondent for The Observer, and assumed the role for The Guardian in 2007. He was based out of the paper's London office from 2018 to 2020. He then returned to Belfast, where he wrote for The Sunday Times, and worked as the political editor of The News Letter, headquartered in Belfast.
McDonald's first novel, The Swinging Detective, was published in 2017, and his second, Two Souls, was published by Merrion Press in 2019. A third novel, called Thy Will Be Done, was forthcoming at the time of his death.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
January 14, 2021
A great look inside the foolishly forgotten INLA. The book is full of rich details while remaining relatively easy to read. The INLA fell victim to much of the same that plagued the other paramilitaries within Ireland: intra-republican violence. An organization founded on Seamus Costello's socialist ideals ended as a capital hungry gang. Oh the irony...
March 20, 2025
A very informative look at a paramilitary that has faded to irrelevance and in many cases from memory but wielded an outsized influence on the Republican movement, leading the way in both supporting the hunger strikers and abandoning abstentionism in NI elections.
It also highlights how the INLA struggled to maintain legitimacy through the sidelining of its political wing the IRSP, repeated internal and external feuding, sectarian attacks by its members and the for-profit criminal elements operating within its ranks.
It also highlights how the INLA struggled to maintain legitimacy through the sidelining of its political wing the IRSP, repeated internal and external feuding, sectarian attacks by its members and the for-profit criminal elements operating within its ranks.
December 20, 2021
engrossing and very informative. I am not too sure if the authors do not have an axe to grind though. Also, there seems to be something missing from the story, especially towards the later stages
September 30, 2017
Good book covers an awful lot. I definitely got a better understanding of what was a very violent organisation with a small number of political ideas. No remorse from any of those interviewed. I I thought I authors came across as objective.
September 19, 2023
For being first published in 1994, this book has aged well.
Being almost thirty years old, we obviously have the omissions of the assassination of Billy "King Rat" Wright and The Good Friday Agreement, but I'm sure there will be other publications that detail accounts of those events.
This book however, is a very detailed and as unbiased an account as you'll get of the machinations of the INLA/IRSP. The Marxist grouping of Irish republicans who split from the Official IRA, mainly in opposition to an OIRA ceasefire.
As a left winger myself, some of this makes for heart breaking reading. As is so often the case with the left and factionalism, as left leaning groups rip themselves apart, due to semantics and schisms. With the Irish republican left being no different! Factionalism that would inevitably lead to bloodbaths and a wake of devastation. This and the fact the organizations became infested with informants is so depressing and utterly demoralizing!
But putting the negative stuff aside, there is detailed accounts of INLA successes like the assassination of MP and Thatcher's aide, the imperialist Airey Neave and highlighting successful arms runs from the Middle East, through France and into Ireland, all very interesting, intriguing and told with no hint of judgmental negativity.
It even had me laugh out, when at the trial in France of an alleged INLA gun runner, the prosecution objected when the defendant compared Thatcher to Klause Barbie, in effect, "Barbie may well have been evil, but he's no Thatcher!"
https://youtu.be/COo7LH-b8D0?si=pCQkN...
Being almost thirty years old, we obviously have the omissions of the assassination of Billy "King Rat" Wright and The Good Friday Agreement, but I'm sure there will be other publications that detail accounts of those events.
This book however, is a very detailed and as unbiased an account as you'll get of the machinations of the INLA/IRSP. The Marxist grouping of Irish republicans who split from the Official IRA, mainly in opposition to an OIRA ceasefire.
As a left winger myself, some of this makes for heart breaking reading. As is so often the case with the left and factionalism, as left leaning groups rip themselves apart, due to semantics and schisms. With the Irish republican left being no different! Factionalism that would inevitably lead to bloodbaths and a wake of devastation. This and the fact the organizations became infested with informants is so depressing and utterly demoralizing!
But putting the negative stuff aside, there is detailed accounts of INLA successes like the assassination of MP and Thatcher's aide, the imperialist Airey Neave and highlighting successful arms runs from the Middle East, through France and into Ireland, all very interesting, intriguing and told with no hint of judgmental negativity.
It even had me laugh out, when at the trial in France of an alleged INLA gun runner, the prosecution objected when the defendant compared Thatcher to Klause Barbie, in effect, "Barbie may well have been evil, but he's no Thatcher!"
https://youtu.be/COo7LH-b8D0?si=pCQkN...
February 7, 2022
Fascinating account of one of the lesser known groups to take part in the Northern Irish conflict as they made their journey from noble enough, if misguided, beginnings in the mid 1970s through to the savage internecine conflict and apolitical gangsterism that they would come to be known for by the late 80s and early 90s.
August 22, 2024
Very interesting book about an underrepresented organisation. I especially found the sections on the IPLO and the drug trade interesting. The only problem is this is probably the worst edited book i have ever seen. There is no index and it has very few sources. Apart from that it's great.
December 25, 2024
The only book chronicling the INLA. It does a great job of doing so, outlining everything up to the group’s disarmament in 2009. Great read if you are interested in the conflict in Northern Ireland and an important history to be told.
May 25, 2023
Fascinating.
August 26, 2024
well-written history
March 31, 2025
Long book on the history of the very violent INLA and it's various offshoots.
January 7, 2023
A book of great reportage only sandbagged by the authors' occasional injection of their awful analysis.
March 9, 2025
This is a book I re-read every few years to remind myself of what life used to be like in Belfast and of the fear that lurked the streets back in the day.
Its authors Jack Holland and Henry McDonald both worked with me at the Irish News - Henry was a young reporter, making his way, Jack, who has since passed away, wrote a sharp weekly column.
The book is remarkable for its attention to detail, both writers knew how important that was to bring reportage to life. It is meticulously researched, much of it based on interviews with some of those involved. You'd have to have been a reporter to fully understand how difficult, and dangerous it was to interview members of banned paramilitary groups at that time.
It required incredible courage, not least because the INLA and its offshoot the IPLO were every bit as ruthless as the book describes.
This is a very good and important book which is one of the better studies of paramilitaries during the conflict. Younger readers will not believe some of the accounts. They did happen. Things were that bad. The story of the rise and fall of the INLA is not as well known as it should be.
Its authors Jack Holland and Henry McDonald both worked with me at the Irish News - Henry was a young reporter, making his way, Jack, who has since passed away, wrote a sharp weekly column.
The book is remarkable for its attention to detail, both writers knew how important that was to bring reportage to life. It is meticulously researched, much of it based on interviews with some of those involved. You'd have to have been a reporter to fully understand how difficult, and dangerous it was to interview members of banned paramilitary groups at that time.
It required incredible courage, not least because the INLA and its offshoot the IPLO were every bit as ruthless as the book describes.
This is a very good and important book which is one of the better studies of paramilitaries during the conflict. Younger readers will not believe some of the accounts. They did happen. Things were that bad. The story of the rise and fall of the INLA is not as well known as it should be.
April 11, 2025
A far from comprehensive yet entertaining history of the chaotic and ideologically manic INLA.
Their role in The Troubles is oft ignored but without the legitimacy struggle they engendered the actions and preoccupations of the Provisional IRA may have been very different.
The authors focus on the internecine strife of the characters that held power within the paramilitary outfit which necessitates an emphasis on certain narratives over others but it provides for some exciting and terrifying tales.
A very necessary book if you wish to understand the complexity of The Troubles.
3.5/5
Their role in The Troubles is oft ignored but without the legitimacy struggle they engendered the actions and preoccupations of the Provisional IRA may have been very different.
The authors focus on the internecine strife of the characters that held power within the paramilitary outfit which necessitates an emphasis on certain narratives over others but it provides for some exciting and terrifying tales.
A very necessary book if you wish to understand the complexity of The Troubles.
3.5/5
December 20, 2022
Detailed book that gives a great background and history of the INLA from their formation until their final days.
This is a highly recommended book on the INLA from a gifted journalist and writer.
This is a highly recommended book on the INLA from a gifted journalist and writer.
February 11, 2018
A good read and well researched with many contributions from people connected.
Worth reading if you are looking for further insight into the conflict in Ireland. Offers insight into other less reported side of Irish republicanism
Worth reading if you are looking for further insight into the conflict in Ireland. Offers insight into other less reported side of Irish republicanism
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews