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Ruairí Ó Brádaigh | |
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| Born | Peter Roger Casement Brady October 2, 1932 Upper Mount Street, Dublin, Ireland |
| Died | June 5, 2013 Roscommon, Ireland |
| Political orientation | Irish Republicanism Socialism |
| Political party | Anti-Treaty Sinn Féin (1950-1970) Provisional Sinn Féin (1969-1986) Republican Sinn Féin (from 1986) |
Ruairí Ó Brádaigh was an Irish Republican politician and military leader. He participated in the Campaign of Resistance to British Occupation, during which he was Chief of Staff of the Anti-Treaty Irish Republican Army, and later played a central role in the Republican Movement Split of 1969/1970, where he sided with the abstentionist Provisionals. Along with Dáithí Ó Conaill he led the creation of Republican Sinn Féin and the Continuity Irish Republican Army in opposition to the adoption of electoralism by Provisional Sinn Féin.[1]
Early Life
Ó Brádaigh was born Peter Roger Casement Brady on October 2, 1932 in Dublin to Matthew Brady and May Caffrey. He was the second of three children, two sons and one daughter.[1]
His parents were both Republican veterans, with his father fighting in the Irish War of Independence in the IRA and his mother in Cumann na mBan. During that war his father was shot five times, seriously injuring him. After the war both of his parents opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty and the electoralist breakaway from Anti-Treaty Sinn Féin Fianna Fáil. His father was on the Longford County Council from 1934 to 1942 and his mother was secretary for the Longford board of health.[1]
He was named after Irish revolutionary figure Roger Casement, but adopted the more commonly used Irish language version of his name in the 1950s.[1]
He was educated at Melview National School and St Mel's College before attending the University of College Dublin from 1950 to 1954. After this he became a vocational teacher in Roscommon.[1]
Anti-Treaty IRA and Sinn Féin
Ó Brádaigh joined Anti-Treaty Sinn Féin at the age of 18 in 1950 and one year later joined the Anti-Treaty Irish Republican Army in 1951. He became the commander of the Longford unit of the IRA and helped the preparations for the Campaign of Resistance to British Occupation. He led a raid on the British Army barracks in Arborfield, Berkshire on August 13, 1955 and was second in command of the Teeling Column of the IRA during the Campaign of Resistance. He participated in an attack on an RUC station in Derrylin on December 30, 1956, one of the first attacks of the Campaign, where an RUC officer was killed.[1]
He was arrested after the attack and imprisoned for six months in Mountjoy Jail in Dublin. After his release he was immediately interned in Curragh Military Prison. While imprisoned he was elected Teachta Dála for Longford-Westmeath in 1957.[1]
He escaped in September 1958 with fellow IRA leader Dáithí Ó Conaill.[1]
He married Patricia O'Connor later that year, with whom he would have six children, three of whom would be active in the Republican movement later.[1]
He became Chief of Staff of the Anti-Treaty IRA in October 1958, a position he held until March 1959, when he became adjutant-general. He was reimprisoned in November 1959 for six months in Mountjoy. After his release he became Chief of Staff once again in June 1960, also becoming editor of the United Irishman, Sinn Féin's newspaper.[1]
He drafted the 1962 statement that ended the Campaign of Resistance and stepped down from his position as Chief of Staff. He returned to teaching in Roscommon and remained on the IRA Army Council. He ran for the Fermanagh-South Tyrone seat in the United Kingdom Parliament in 1966, winning twenty percent of the vote.[1]
Provisional Movement
Though a Socialist and a supporter of political action broadly, he opposed the Marxist oriented and electoralist leadership of the Anti-Treaty movement due to his belief in the primacy of the armed struggle in Republicanism. He played a central role in the Republican Movement Split of 1969/1970, where he became president of the abstentionist Provisional Sinn Féin and a member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army Council.[1]
He led the moving of the Provisionals to Socialism in the 1970s and created the Éire Nua plan, which advocated for a federal Ireland with four provinces and a semi-autonomous North. He opposed the fledgling European Community and built links between the IRA and other national liberation movements in the Basque Country and Brittany. He also made contacts with the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.[1]
He was arrested in 1972 and charged with membership of the IRA. He began a 14-day hunger strike, which ended when he was released due to lack of evidence. He was arrested again on December 19 of that year and was sentenced to six months in prison after his trial on January 11, 1973.[1]
In 1973 he visited the United States in a fundraising effort, testifying before the United States House of Representatives Sub-Committee on Foreign Relations on the human rights situation in Northern Ireland and even being invited as guest of honor to a House of Representatives reception by Irish-Statesian House Majority Leader Tip O'Neill. He attempted to visit the United States again in January 1974, but his entry visa was revoked by US authorities at the behest of the British government.[1]
He was involved in talks with Protestant leaders on December 10, 1974 and called for the Christmas truce, which was eventually extended to September 22, 1975 during IRA talks with the British government.[1]
Tensions between the Southern Ó Brádaigh-led Sinn Féin and members in the North began to grow due to perceived inaction in the face of sectarian killings by Protestants and disagreement with the Éire Nua plan's granting of power to Unionists in the North. He was replaced as President of Provisional Sinn Féin in November 1983 after Éire Nua was rejected by the Provisional IRA in 1979 and Sinn Féin in 1982.[1]
He suffered several health difficulties in 1984, leaving the Army Council and returning to teaching after being injured in a car accident in January and suffering a stroke.[1]
Republican Sinn Féin
Ó Brádaigh and Dáithí Ó Conaill led the creation of Republican Sinn Féin and the Continuity Irish Republican Army after walking out of the 1986 Sinn Féin Ard Fheis on November 2 over the Provisional's adoption of electoralism. The newly formed grouping claimed to be the legitimate successors to the original 1905 Sinn Féin party and to the revolutionary second dáil. This claim was supported by the fact that Thomas Maguire, the final surviving member of the second dáil, supported the breakaway group as well as that of the 10 still-active original leaders of the Provisional movement, 9 supported Ó Brádaigh's faction.[1][2][3][4]
He opposed the IRA ceasefire and Northern Ireland 'Peace' Talks of the 1990s. Attempts to merge other Republican groups opposed to the ceasefire failed in part due to Ó Brádaigh's insistence on abstentionism. He stepped down as President of Republican Sinn Féin in 2009, with Des Dalton succeeding him.[1]
He died on June 5, 2013 in the Roscommon County Hospital at the age of 80. His funeral, attended by a variety of Republican figures, including small fights between mourners and Gardaí officers who tried to prevent the traditional Republican firing of a volley of shots.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 Patrick Maume. "Ó Brádaigh, Ruairí" Dictionary of Irish Biography.
- ↑ "About Us". Republican Sinn Fein.
- ↑ Thomas Maguire (1994). 1987 Statement on Continuity IRA.
- ↑ Thomas Maguire (1994). 1986 Statement on Abstentionism.