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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;BRandM, post: 2460323, member: 22729&quot;]Here&#039;s two examples of another Irish political stamp I picked up a couple of years ago. I&#039;ve documented over 20 of these in my census, so they seem somewhat common. Since this is a Nationalist issue, all are stamped on British coins, and struck across the portrait of the Queen with the intent of defacing her. Although there are some Nationalist issues applied to Irish coins, they&#039;re quite scarce. Every RIRA stamp I&#039;ve seen has the same characteristic large letter style punch struck heavily on the coin. This suggests a small number of issuers, possibly only a single one.</p><p><br /></p><p>RIRA stands for the Real Irish Republican Army, and was formed from dissident members of the IRA (Irish Republican Army) in 1997 over their participation in the ongoing peace talks with the British government and most Loyalist factions in Northern Ireland. RIRA members refused to negotiate, unlike Sinn Fein, the political wing of the IRA.</p><p><br /></p><p>RIRA quickly made its presence felt by staging a bomb attack in Omagh that killed 29 civilians in the cities shopping district. The heinous act, purposely targeting civilians, was condemned by nearly everone, including the IRA itself. The organization is credited with many other attacks, but the Omagh bombing was the worst. </p><p><br /></p><p>In 2012 RIRA joined forces with RAAD (Republican Action Against Drugs) and several other smaller Nationalist groups and formed a group sometimes called the New Irish Republican Army. To my knowledge, it&#039;s the only paramilitary still engaged in armed conflict, though on a much smaller scale then previously seen. They also have a political wing known as the 32 County Sovereignty Movement.</p><p><br /></p><p>Bruce[ATTACH=full]515542[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]515543[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]515544[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]515545[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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