Teribus, This is all getting a bit thin, but rom y 0ne of your posts where you state the " No nationalist/republican, IRA appologist has ever been able to provide me with the name of one single IRA volunteer who ever gave his life to protect a single civilian - Examples of members of the RUC and British Forces who have done exactly that are well known.

The I.R.A. lost members while protecting whole communities like the New Lodge, Ardoyne, The Markets and other districts and towns throughout the 6 counties. Without the I.R.A. in places like the Ardoyne or the New Lodge more civilians would have been killed. I come from the New Lodge, where 396 people lost their lives many on account of army action.

So please do not tell me that the IRA terrorized these civilians, if these districts had not been terrorized initially by roaming bands of loyalists, supported by the R.U.C. and later by certain regiments of the army the IRA would not have been rejuvenated in the first place.

If the civilians in these areas had been able to rely on the army and the police to protect them there would have no need for the IRA. But they were not protected and in fact were terrorized by certain regiments that were sent there to protect them - Why was the IRA necessary, well I will give you three exmples that I know of personally:
1 - A loyalist murder squad was able to walk past an army patrol, then a police patrol, enter a cul-de-sac and shoot a cathoic at his own door and after the shooting were able to walk past the same two patrols without being questioned, this is a fact, the victim was a relative of mine.
Does the word collusion mean anything.

2 - One unarmed 16 year old was shot and killed in Trainfield Street (the same street that our late member Annroi came from) ,two soldiers were charged with murder, they were found guilty and 10 years later were still serving in the british army.
3 - In Tyrone the army stopped a car with 2 occupants, one occupant ( Hugh Heron) ran accross the parking lot and was shot repeatedly in the back. the other occupant (John Paddy Mullan) exited the card with his hands up and was riddled where he stood.

These things happened on a daily basis all over the 6 counties, especially in the rural areas away from the T.V reporters and newscasters. And people wonder why the IRA exists.

Statistics show that republicans were responsible for 58.8 % of the deaths, Loyalists for 28.9% and the securuty forces fo 10.1 %.

I accept that although the I.R.A. was the greatest taker of lives there were also many other deaths for which the R.U.C. and in particular the army were responsible, many of which generated sizeable and continuing conrtroversy, such as the 1972 Bloody Sunday shootings and the R.U.C' 1982 " Shoot-to-kill" incidents, in the long run the IRA offered the the only protectiona to nationalist areas and although responsible for many lives they may have actually prevented many more that would surely have been lost if the Loyalists, R.U.C. and the army had a free rein to do whatever they wanted without the threat of facing the IRA.

Also you state that from the mid 1700's no country has done more to eradicate slavery than the U.K. - well they certainly did nothing to eradicate it in Ireland.