The Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) is an Irish republican paramilitary group that split from the Provisional IRA in 1986 in a dispute over the attendance of the elected representatives of Sinn Féin (the political party affiliated to the Provisional IRA) at Dáil Éireann (the lower house of parliament of the Republic of Ireland). The CIRA also styles itself the Continuity Army Council and "Óglaigh na hÉireann". The latter name is Irish Gaelic for "Volunteers of Ireland" and a title also claimed by both the legal Defence Forces of the Republic of Ireland and the Provisional IRA.

At the 1986 Sinn Féin Ard Fheis (annual party conference) it was decided to discontinue the party's long held policy of abstention from the Dáil but this decision was rejected by a minority of members who walked out of the conference to form a new political party--Republican Sinn Féin--and a new paramilitary group: the CIRA. The dispute within Sinn Féin was also seen as one between the Northern Ireland leadership of the party under Gerry Adams, who remained within 'Provisional Sinn Féin', and the party's southern leadership under Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, who was among the defectors.

Contrary to commmon belief, the formation of the CIRA did not arise from the signing of the 1998 Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement and predated that of the 'Real' IRA. The CIRA opposes the Agreement nonetheless and, as of 2004, unlike the Provisional IRA, the CIRA has not announced a cease fire or agreed to participate in weapons decommissioning.

The CIRA claim to be the true inheritors of an Irish republican tradition that includes the 'Old' Irish Republican Army that fought the 1919-1921 War of Independence, and claims to have attained legitimacy as such in being recognised by Tom Maguire, the last surviving member of the Second Dáil, as the modern incarnation of the old IRA, in what CIRA supporters perceive to be a kind of 'apostolic' succession. These claims are not widely accepted among republicans however.

• Activities: CIRA activities have included numerous bombings, assassinations and kidnappings, as well as extortion and robbery. Targets of the CIRA have included British military and Northern Ireland security targets, as well as loyalist paramilitary groups. It has also conducted bomb attacks on predominantly Protestant towns in Northern Ireland. The group is claimed to be the only paramilitary group in Northern Ireland never to have killed or targeted a civilian. As of 2004, the CIRA is not believed to have an established presence or capability of launching attacks on the island of Great Britain.
• Strength: In 2004 the United States (US) government believed the CIRA to consist of fewer than fifty fully active members.
• External aid: The US government suspected the CIRA of receiving funds and arms from supporters in the United States. It is also believed that, in cooperation with the 'Real' IRA, the CIRA may have acquired arms and materiel from the Balkans.

On 13th July, 2004, the US government designated the CIRA as a "terrorist" organisation [1] (http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3199226), thereby making it illegal for Americans to provide material support to it, requiring US financial institutions to block the group's assets, and denying CIRA members visas into the US.