in
South Boston saying "Welcome to South Boston" in
English and in
Irish. Also shown is a
Celtic cross, the
coats of arms of the
Provinces of Ireland and the words "
Sinn Féin", and "NORAID". The mural was torn down along with the building to make way for residential housing. NORAID was organized and directed by Irish immigrant
Michael Flannery, who in the 1920s was a member of the
IRA North Tipperary Brigade. To collect funds, NORAID organized dinner dances, donations in Irish bars, and direct-mail appeals for support in humanitarian relief in Ireland during
the Troubles. NORAID officials maintained that its money went to two Irish relief organizations, Green Cross (founded in 1973) and An Cumann Cabrach (founded in November 1953), to help families of imprisoned or dead Irish nationalists. However,
Unionist politicians, much of the Irish American community, and the British, Irish and United States governments accused NORAID of being a
front for the
Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA), and that it was involved in fundraising for
IRA arms importation from North America since the early 1970s. Historian
Ed Moloney disputed this by saying that funds raised by NORAID went largely to the families of imprisoned IRA
volunteers, and that
Clan na Gael was the principal financial backer of the IRA. In May 1981, the
United States Department of Justice won a court case forcing NORAID to register the Provisional Irish Republican Army as its "foreign principal" under the
Foreign Agents Registration Act. In his decision, U.S. District Judge
Charles S. Haight Jr. wrote: "The uncontroverted evidence is that [NORAID] is an agent of the IRA, providing money and services for other than relief purposes." NORAID lawyers appealed the decision but lost. By the late 1980s, NORAID was a loose federation of local branches centred on fundraising.
Sinn Féin, the political party associated with the IRA, wanted NORAID to expand its activities. At the end of 1988, NORAID agreed to try to broaden its appeal and its executive committee was expanded. Sinn Féin sent an organizer to the United States, and more time and money was devoted to lobbying. Then-president Pat O'Connell said "Americans are fed up with their own nation's politics. They sure as hell don't want to get involved in Irish politics. They only want to give money for the prisoners and their families, not for political lobbying." O'Connell subsequently opened a separate NORAID office in the Bronx. In 1989, Pat O'Connell left NORAID following ideological disagreements with Galvin and founded The Friends of Irish Freedom later that year despite objections from Sinn Féin. Galvin split with Sinn Féin in the mid-1990s over the direction of the
Northern Ireland peace process. NORAID has in the past supported "Project Children", a New York-based organization founded in 1975, to provide summer vacations for children from Northern Ireland away from sectarian strife. In 1994, Sinn Féin was de-listed as a
foreign terrorist organization by the US State Department after the start of peace efforts in Northern Ireland. NORAID was supportive of the peace process and the subsequent
Good Friday Agreement. In the 21st century NORAID has become highly supportive of Sinn Féin. NORAID published the final issue of
The Irish People on March 13, 2004. ==See also==