Didn’t it come out that the IRA was largely run by the British?
Huh?
It is suspected by some that the UK government was able to turn one or two high-ranking IRA members into confidential informants.
It is suspected by others that this is only a deliberately planted rumor for UK psychological operations.
There is no question that by the early 90s the British had severely penetrated the senior echelons of the Provisional IRA (given the fact that they had also turned the senior levels of the Loyalist groups one could almost say British Intelligence was running the Troubles by then).
How far that penetration went is a matter of debate. Some like the present day dissidents believe it went right to the very top and that Adams and McGuinness were British stooges. I cannot say nor can anyone else for certain.
By the late 80s the IRA was split, the hardliners in East Tyrone wanted to use the massive Libyan arms shipments for a last ditch “Tet Offensive”, these hardliners were opposed by the Adams faction.
Maybe it is just coincidence that the last major shipment from Libya was intercepted by the British in 1987 and in the following three years the entire leadership of East Tyrone IRA was wiped out in a series of well-planned British ambushes and Adams was then free to push forward his peace strategy.
Like I say, probably just a huge set of coincidences.