Yes the movement began as a self-defense movement. But long ago the IRA was hijacked (as social movements often are: American civil rights movement, feminism, liberalism in general) by narcissists and thugs.
The IRA is as beneficial to Irish children as the Hezbos are to innocent Lebanese children asleep in Qana buildings.
My late husband did business in Belfast and was told by several people that the IRA had become more like the Mafia.......pay up or else.