Volunteer (Irish republican)

Volunteer, often abbreviated Vol., is a term used by a number of Irish republican paramilitary organisations to describe their members. Among these have been the various forms of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA). Óglach is the equivalent title used in the Irish language.

History of the term volunteer in Ireland
In Ireland, the term was used in the 18th century for members of local defence forces formed by the Government in anticipation of foreign threats – such as Jacobite (1715 and 1745) and French invasions (1757 and 1760). The term "Ulster volunteers" goes back to 1803 when mention is made of the "Ulster volunteers of 1760".

The Irish Rifle Volunteer Corps was established in London in 1859, and later became the London Irish Rifles. In 1860, in response to the Volunteer Force movement in the rest of the United Kingdom, the short-lived Royal Irish Rifle Volunteers was established in Dublin.

The 1,400 Irish Catholics who enlisted with the Papal Army in 1860, to defend the Papal States during the Unification of Italy, are cited as being volunteers.

In 1913, the Ulster Volunteers (Ulster Volunteer Force, UVF) were formed to resist Irish Home Rule. In response and in part inspired by the formation of the UVF, Irish nationalists founded the Irish Volunteers (Irish Volunteer Force) to defend Home Rule. The Irish Volunteers name in Irish was Óglaigh na hÉireann.

In September 1914, there was a split in the Irish Volunteers and most of its 160,000 members became part of the National Volunteers, while 12,000 members, led by Eoin MacNeill, continued under the name 'Irish Volunteers'. This group became the Irish Republican Army (IRA). The IRA and descended groups see themselves as the continuation of these Irish Volunteers, calling their members "volunteers" and calling themselves Óglaigh na hÉireann in Irish.

The regular Irish Defence Forces also trace their descent back to the Irish Volunteers, with their official Irish name also being Óglaigh na hÉireann.

Definition
The use of the term is quite loose. Sometimes it is used to refer to any member of an Irish republican paramilitary. For example, Official IRA member Joe McCann, killed in 1972, was referred to in commemorations as a "Staff Captain" but also as a "Volunteer".

However, sometimes the term is narrowed to mean a "rank and file" member, similar to a private, or a member that does not hold the role of an officer such as Chief of Staff or Quartermaster General. The 'v' may or may not be capitalized. For instance, Joe Cahill said in a press conference, after the introduction of internment in 1971, that British forces had arrested two "officers" in the Provisional IRA, "the rest are volunteers, or as they say in the British Army, privates".

Most modern IRA memorials refer to the dead only as "Volunteer", "Vol." or "Óglach" rather than giving a specific rank.

The role of a volunteer
The Green Book, the IRA training manual, defines the role of a new volunteer as follows:
 * General Order number 1: "The duties of a Volunteer shall be at the discretion of a unit commander ... A Volunteer who for any reason, ceases to maintain contact with his or her unit for a period of three months shall automatically cease to be a member of the army."


 * General Order number 2: "Volunteers when making the Army Declaration promise; to obey all orders and regulations issued by the Army Authority and any superior officers. Where an order issued by a duly accredited officer has been disobeyed, the Volunteer in question must be suspended immediately, pending investigation of the case."