Tara (Northern Ireland) facts for kids
Tara was a group in Northern Ireland that supported Ulster loyalism, which means they wanted Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom. This group also followed a specific type of Protestantism called Evangelicalism. Tara had strong, sometimes unusual, loyalist beliefs. It gained some attention in the late 1960s but later became less important. This happened as its leader, William McGrath, faced serious legal problems, which led to the group's decline.
How Tara Started
Tara began from a smaller, secret group known as "The Cell." This group was led by William McGrath, who was a religious speaker. "The Cell" included young people who followed McGrath and older members of the Orange Order, a Protestant organization. They met at McGrath's home in Belfast, at 15 Wellington Park on Malone Road.
Young men like Fraser Agnew, Roy Garland, and Clifford Smyth joined this growing, mostly secret group. "The Cell" organized speeches for Protestant audiences. These speeches were more about politics than religion. They encouraged unionists to support Ian Paisley, a strong loyalist leader, instead of the more moderate Terence O'Neill.
Tara's Growth and Ideas
In November 1966, William McGrath changed "The Cell" into Tara. He chose the name "Tara" because he believed his political and religious ideas were connected to Irish history. The group strongly opposed Catholicism.
Tara believed in something called British Israelism. This idea suggested that Ulster Protestants were descendants of ancient Israelite tribes. The group also had its own view of history, claiming that the first people in Ireland came from modern Scotland before being replaced by the Irish. Tara even used Gaelic words and symbols. An Orange Order lodge started by McGrath was called "Ireland's Heritage" because of these beliefs.
Tara's motto was: "we hold Ulster that Ireland might be saved and Britain reborn." The group wanted to create a Protestant Northern Ireland where law and order were very important, and the Catholic Church would not be allowed. Tara thought that Catholics, moderate unionists, and left-wing groups were all part of a big plan against them. They believed a conflict between Protestants and Catholics was unavoidable. Because of this, Tara members were expected to be good at using weapons and were encouraged to join the security forces.
Working with Other Groups
Tara tried to form a short-term partnership with the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), another loyalist group. Roy Garland, a well-known Orangeman and now an author, was a Tara member who worked closely with the UVF for a while. The UVF leaders at first encouraged their members to join Tara. In the late 1960s, when the UVF was led by Samuel McClelland, McGrath thought that working with the better-armed UVF could help Tara achieve its goals.
Tara gained many members around 1969. This was when the Troubles, a period of conflict in Northern Ireland, began, and the UVF started a bombing campaign. McGrath spread rumors that the bombings were done by the Irish Army, which made his predictions of a difficult time seem true.
Tara started holding its regular meetings at Clifton Street Orange Hall, an important Orange Order center in Belfast. McGrath did not tell the Orange Order leaders that he was using the rooms for Tara meetings; he just said he needed them for general meetings. Tara became more organized, with Garland as deputy leader and Clifford Smyth as Intelligence Officer. Frank Millar Jr and Protestant Telegraph journalist David Browne also had important roles. Davy Payne was also connected to the group, though in a smaller way.
Even though Tara and the UVF worked together at first, some people told McClelland that McGrath was using the connection with the UVF to meet young men from the organization. McClelland confronted McGrath, who strongly denied the claims. After a heated argument, the UVF ended its relationship with Tara. McClelland even burned the Tara list that had the names of his UVF members. From then on, the UVF banned its members from joining Tara and tried to stop Tara's activities. Some UVF members who had joined Tara also told their UVF leaders that Tara did not have many weapons or much military skill. According to writer Steve Bruce, "Tara had a good line in martial rhetoric but even its claims to be ready for martial defence rang hollow." Bruce also added that UVF members mostly used Tara meetings to find new recruits for their own group.
Tara's Decline
Tara's ideas were too unusual for most loyalists, so it did not attract much interest. By 1971, McGrath's relationship with his deputy, Garland, worsened because they disagreed on their beliefs. Garland had also heard from some young Tara members about McGrath's behavior. Garland soon left Tara and confirmed to the UVF that their suspicions about McGrath were correct.
A conflict of words started between the two groups. McGrath and Tara were often criticized in the UVF magazine Combat. McGrath also wrote letters to newspapers, claiming the UVF was a communist organization. McGrath tried to strengthen his struggling group by connecting with John McKeague, a member of the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster, a leader in the Shankill Defence Association, and the founder of the Red Hand Commando. The two met at the Kincora Boys' Home, where McGrath started working in 1971, to talk about trading weapons for their groups. Around this time, McGrath also contacted another unionist figure, Sir Knox Cunningham, and secured funding for Tara from him.
By 1974, Tara had an estimated 300–400 members, which was much less than its peak in 1969. To try and revive the group, which, unlike the UVF, RHC, and UDA, was not involved in shooting or bombing attacks, McGrath brought in rifles, machine guns, and ammunition from strong Protestants in the Netherlands with whom he had close ties.
In 1976, a graduate from Queen's University Belfast who was part of Tara's "brigade staff" made three trips to the Netherlands. One of his main contacts there was the secretary of the anti-Ecumenist International Council of Christian Churches in Utrecht. Ian Paisley's Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster was a leading member of this council. During these trips, various firearms, ammunition, and plastic explosives were bought to be brought back to Northern Ireland. These included belt-fed MG 42 machine guns, MP 40 submachine guns, M1 carbines, .22 rifles with telescopic sights and silencers, Beretta machine pistols, Luger pistols, .303 rifles, shotguns, and about 50,000 rounds of different ammunition. Some of these weapons reportedly came from Apartheid South Africa.
Many Tara members were Royal Ulster Constabulary reservists, meaning they had access to standard police weapons like 9mm Walther pistols and Sterling submachine guns. Near Dromore, County Down, Tara members built homemade submachine guns based on the Sterling design. These had a special barrel that made them much more reliable than those made by the UDA. In June 1981, a Tara member from Dromore, Walther Crothers, was fined £600 by the Belfast Crown Court for having detonators, gun parts, and various ammunition. During the trial, Crothers claimed he had put together the weapons at his home to use under the direction of the security forces if a "doomsday situation" happened. The judge, Robert Babington, said: "I am satisfied you felt very strongly, clearly and honestly and that you thought you were behaving as a good patriot should. But the way you went about it was totally and utterly wrong."
The group continued to talk about a coming "doomsday" situation where they would have to lead the fight against the Irish government and return the island to its pre-Catholic past. However, beyond some training, Tara did not do much real activity. In April 1973, posters from the group appeared in Belfast. They called for Protestants to raise their children in the Protestant faith, end illegal drinking clubs, bring back capital punishment, use lawful authorities to "crush" any "spirit of rebellion," make the Catholic Church an illegal organization, and for Protestants to know how to use firearms and be ready to "fight to the death." They also stated:
We must campaign now for integrated education. All Roman Catholic centres of education must be closed.
In June 1974, Tara published a full-page advertisement in Belfast newspapers. It called for the Catholic Church to be banned by law and claimed that a civil war was unavoidable. According to Steve Bruce, the group did little more than release occasional threatening statements. It was quickly overshadowed by the UVF/RHC and later by the UDA. The group also spread rumors about senior unionist figures they felt were too moderate.
A discovery of weapons in 1981 harmed the group. McGrath himself faced legal issues. In December 1981, McGrath was sentenced to four years in prison, which effectively ended Tara, as it was already very weak. The name "Tara" appeared again in 1986 when a leaflet was circulated. This leaflet spoke against the Anglo-Irish Agreement and again predicted a "doomsday" scenario. However, this seemed to be the work of a few remaining members rather than a reorganized movement. In September 1986, a group calling itself Tara threatened "all republicans in loyalist areas."
