Surely the same can be said of any criminal organisation once it reaches a certain level and degree of organisation?

I think you need to define and operationalize your use of the term, political.

Agreed. The IRA and the Sicilian Mafia certainly have different roots, but by the time each "matured" the similarities were more striking than the differences I think.

The only independence the Mafia wants is between you and your money.

Fair enough. There are distinctions to be made there. As I just said, the IRA's origins were political in the sense of an independence movement, while the mafia became involved in politics as a means of extending its power. But there was convergence such that the two have (had) much in common.

hmm interesting, can't say i have ever thought of them this way. i would say assassinations, bombings on the line of terrorist acts were not committed because of rebellion, religion or an attempt at a coup, simply to dissuade prosecutions, kill witnesses and the like, all connected to criminality. political aims, to control law in an area for their own ends, all profit and greed rather than some kind of jihad.

I wouldn't want to push the analogy too far either, I suppose. Just throwing a thought out into a type of discussion I wish were more common on here.

Who mentioned jihad?

i certainly would agree thats how PIRA was operating at the end and certainly how the remnants operate today. i remember how they started to knee cap people with an electric drill, instead of shooting them, as this would have been a breach in the ceasefire. this punishment for the dealers who did not pay up for instance, so you certainly have a similarity there. you got it in the front if you were a bit late, from the back if you were very late.

just me on the jihad, just a comparison with regard to what may be considered a purely terrorist struggle on religious grounds without profit.

well dodged, you could be running for government yourself.
i just find him very ironic, fighting so hard, and well it has to be said, to achieve his dream, then having to fight against the very men he stood with in the first place, backed by his worst enemy, quite unbelievable. his biography, along with rocky marcianos, one of the best books i have read.

The mafia got involved in politics and the IRA got involved in organized crime (reportedly drug dealing and running protection rackets). There is a convergence of M.O. there (as they say on cop shows)

Is it really religious though - you could argue that the root of the problem is land and access to it and control there of. Same as in nothern island - i always thought it was a land struggle dressed up as a religious one (Oink will probably tell me this is bollocks mind)

With respect, "a purely terrorist struggle" isn't quite right for the IRA. Nor is "religious grounds" quite appropriate.

on this one i honestly could not say, trying to come up with a reason for conflict in the middle east, jihad, whatever you want to call it is well above my pay grade thats for certain.

misinterpretation, my fault for not being clear, i was referring to jihad in that post, not the IRA at all.