The IRA Army Council was the decision-making body of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, more commonly known as the IRA, a paramilitary group dedicated to bringing about the end of the Union between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. The Council had seven members, said by the British and Irish governments to have included Gerry Adams, the former president of Sinn Féin. The Independent Monitoring Commission declared in 2008 that the council was "no longer operational or functional,"[1] but also states that the Army Council still exists and has not dissolved.[2]