sentences:  A leader of the newly formed Provisional IRA in 1969, he was involved in the formation of "citizens' defence groups" to protect nationalist areas of Belfast from loyalist rioters who were largely unhampered by the police.He was jailed on three occasions for IRA related activity spending a total of fifteen years in prison in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.His first term was for his activity in the 1956 IRA border campaign, He also served a six-month term in 1973 in the Republic of Ireland for being a member of the IRA.