There was little in the way of coordinated military activity and the organisation failed to develop a political programme with popular appeal. As the leadership drifted further to the left, it helped found the radical (and short-lived) socialist organisation Saor Éire (Free Ireland) in 1931. 1 That year there was an upsurge in activity, with shootings – including the killing of a garda superintendent in Tipperary – intimidation of juries and reports of widespread drilling.2 In the run-up to the general election of March 1932 Frank Aiken approached Moss Twomey with a proposal that the IRA merge with Fianna Fáil, which Twomey rejected.3 The IRA supported Fianna Fáil in the election campaign, and with the party’s victory and formation of a government the IRA was on a crest of a wave. Membership increased to around 10,000 and the organisation openly recruited and paraded in public.4 Many in the IRA thought that the organisation and Fianna Fáil would work together to bring about a republic.
