The 32 County Sovereignty Movement, often abbreviated to 32CSM or 32csm, is an Irish republican group that was founded by Bernadette Sands McKevitt. It does not contest elections but acts as a pressure group, with branches or cumainn organised throughout the traditional counties of Ireland. The 32CSM has been described as the "political wing" of the Real IRA, but this is denied by both organisations. The group originated in a split from Sinn Féin over the Mitchell Principles. Objectives "The restoration of Irish national sovereignty". "To seek to achieve unity among the Irish people on the issue of restoring national sovereignty and to promote the revolutionary ideals of republicanism and to this end involve itself in resisting all forms of colonialism and imperialism." "To seek the immediate and unconditional release of all Irish republican prisoners throughout the world." History The organisation was founded as the 32 County Sovereignty Committee on 7 December 1997 at a meeting of like-minded Irish republicans in Finglas in Dublin. Those present were opposed to the direction taken by Sinn Féin and other mainstream republican groups in the Northern Ireland peace process, which would lead to the Belfast Agreement (also known as the Good Friday Agreement) the following year. The same division in the republican movement led to the paramilitary group now known as the Real IRA breaking away from the Provisional Irish Republican Army at around the same time. Most of its founders had been members of Sinn Féin; some had been expelled from the party for challenging the leadership's direction, while others felt they had not been properly able to air their concerns within Sinn Féin at the direction its leadership had taken. Bernadette Sands McKevitt, wife of Michael McKevitt and a sister of hunger striker Bobby Sands, was a prominent member of the group until a split in the organisation. The name refers to the 32 counties of Ireland which were created during the Lordship and Kingdom of Ireland. With the partition of Ireland in 1920–22, twenty-six of these counties formed the Irish Free State which was abolished in 1937 and is now known as Ireland since 1949; the remaining six counties of Northern Ireland remain part of the United Kingdom. Founder Bernadette Sands McKevitt said in a 1998 interview with the Irish Mirror that people did not fight for "peace" – "they fought for independence" – and that the organisation reaffirms to