Although the exact inventory of the IRA's arsenal may never be known, it is clear the organisation was extremely effective in arming itself over the past 30 years.
Seizures such as those found on the Marita Annboat in 1984 and on the Eksundin 1987 gave an indication as to the IRA's potential strength.
Those shipments included thousands of weapons, including automatic pistols, assault rifles and medium and heavy machine guns - capable of bringing down light aircraft and helicopters - along with at least one surface-to-air missile system.
The range of weapons seized, encompassing the full spectrum of arms from assault weapons to light artillery, gives some indication as to the possible full extent of the IRA's weapons inventory.
It is thought that at least three shipments of arms successfully reached the IRA between 1985 and 1987, and its inventory of weapons towards the end of the 1980s was significant.
The IRA was believed to have possessed about three tonnes of Semtex and a large quantity of detonators.
The organisation was also capable of developing its own weapons. One such example is the "barrack buster" Mark 10 and Mark 17 mortar bomb, which was capable of piercing the fortifications around police and army bases.
The weapon, consisting of gas cylinder tubes, each packed with up to 90kg of explosives, was usually welded to the trailer of a flatbed lorry before being fired over a perimeter wall using a remote control mechanism.
Between 1992 and 1994 the "barrack buster" was fired in more than 50 attacks on RUC and army bases.
In total, it is estimated that the IRA possessed some 800 assault rifles and machine guns as well as 40 rocket-propelled grenades, similar to the type being used in Iraq, along with one surface-to-air missile system and at least three tonnes of military-specification plastic explosives.