Artifact 5: Photo of Irish People’s Liberation Organization Soldiers at the Funeral of Martin O’Prey

IPLO soldiers saluting the coffin of Martin O’Prey, a Republican Volunteer who was killed by UVF paramilitaries, August 1991. (from CAIN).

This artifact is a photo of IPLO soldiers at the funeral of their comrade Martin O’Prey, who was killed by two UVF gunmen. It is believed that O’Prey had previously been involved in the killings of multiple British soldiers and Unionist Loyalist paramilitaries (CAIN, Sutton Index of Deaths). Following the Orange Cross Social Club shooting, in which a Red Hand Commando was killed, he became a prime candidate for Loyalist paramilitary retribution until his eventual death in 1991.

The exhibit also serves as an example of funerals as a place to display unity and show force at the same time. Due to the many splinters in the IRA over time, many of those killed during the Troubles were part of multiple organizations over the course of their lives. Martin O’Prey was one such individual, initially joining the Irish National Liberation Army before IPLO broke off. The armed and masked soldiers adjourning the casket are meant to demonstrate strength and the threat of retaliation for the death of their comrade. However, the variety of mourners which attended the many funerals during the Troubles also show the underlying acceptance by many dissident republicans that their divisions are ultimately immaterial.

That unity, to the extent, that it existed, quickly evaporated. In the following year, on October 31st, “the PIRA killed a drug dealer and knee-capped another ten, an activity that allowed it to ‘project itself as the defender of the community’” (Kit and Bakke, 2021). Those drug smugglers were part of the so-called “Belfast Brigade” of the IPLO. Three days after the killing and maiming, which was later dubbed ‘the Night of the Long Knifes’, the “Belfast Brigade” and the IPLO Army Council based in Dublin announced that it would disband (Melaugh, Chronology of the Conflict: 1992).