split in 1986 and lasting for more than twenty-five years, he was the key person involved in laying the ideological and organizational foundation for the many different contemporary Republicans who reject the path taken by the Provisionals—the “Dissidents.”
Contrary to what some reviewers have suggested, this was never an official or authorized biography. As noted in the acknowledgments and elsewhere, in interviews, conversations, and correspondence, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh provided facts and opinions and then let me form my own conclusions. He offered no objection when it became clear that my conclusions would be informed by the perspectives of a variety of people, including his political opponents. His approach to the project and to life in general was shaped by the strength of his own convictions, a willingness to listen to others, and an open-minded, unassuming self-assuredness that is sadly lacking in most political figures, in Ireland and elsewhere.
I again thank the many different people who helped with this biography. In addition, special thanks go to Líta Ní Chathmhaoil, Des Dalton, Marisa McGlinchey, Anthony McIntyre, Dieter Reinisch, and Cáit Trainor for comments and suggestions, and for taking the time to answer my many different questions. Finally, I want to thank Ted Polley of the IUPUI University Library for help with tracking down the quotation from Voltaire.
RWW
Indianapolis
October 2019
A CHRONOLOGY OF KEY EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF RUAIRÍ Ó BRÁDAIGH (RÓB)
| 1890 | Birth of his father, Matt Brady, North County Longford. |
| 1899 | Birth of his mother, May Caffrey, Belfast. |
| 1914–1918 | World War I. |
| 1916 | Easter Rebellion. |
| 1919 | Anglo-Irish War; Dáil Éireann formed. Matt Brady, Irish Republican Volunteer, shot; recuperates in Dublin. |
| 1920 | Government of Ireland Act partitions Ireland. |
| 1922 | Anglo-Irish Treaty ratified; Irish Civil War starts. Matt Brady returns to Longford and meets May Caffrey, who becomes secretary of the Longford County Board of Health. |
| 1923 | Irish Civil War ends, cementing partition of Ireland into Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State. The IRA and Sinn Féin refuse to recognize the authority of each. |
| 1926 | Sinn Féin splits; Éamon de Valera forms Fianna Fáil. Marriage of Matt Brady and May Caffrey. |
| 1927 | Éamon de Valera and Fianna Fáil recognize Leinster House, site of the Free State government. |
| 1929 | Birth of his sister, Mary (May Óg) Brady. |
| 1932 | Éamon de Valera and Fianna Fáil form coalition government of Irish Free State. Birth of Rory Brady, Longford, Ireland. |
| 1934 | Matt Brady and Seán F. Lynch elected to Longford County Council. |
| 1937 | Birth of his brother, Seán Brady. |
| 1938 | Delegation of powers of government from the Second Dáil Éireann to the Army Council of the Irish Republican Army. |
| 1939–1945 | IRA campaign in England and Northern Ireland. Fianna Fáil represses Irish Republicans. |
| 1942 | Death of Matt Brady. |
| 1944 | May Brady marries Patrick Twohig. |
| 1946–1950 | RÓB attends St. Mel’s of Longford. |
| 1946 | Sean Mac Bride, former IRA chief of staff, forms Clann na Poblachta, which recognizes Leinster House. Mac Bride had resigned from the Republican Movement in 1938. |
| 1950 | RÓB enrolls at University College Dublin. Joins Sinn Fein. Changes name to Ruairí Ó Brádaigh. |
| 1951 | Joins Irish Republican Army in Dublin. |
| 1955 | Leads IRA Arborfield raid. Elected to IRA Executive Council. |
| 1956 | Joins Ard Chomhairle of Sinn Fein. Elected to the IRA Army Council. |
| 1956–1962 | Elected to Leinster House, interned in the Curragh, escapes, and becomes IRA chief of staff. Marries Patsy O’Connor and is chief of staff when the campaign ends. |
| 1962–1969 | Member IRA Army Council. |
| 1969–1970 | Sinn Féin and IRA split into “Officials” and “Provisionals” over recognition of Leinster House, Stormont, and Westminster. RÓB becomes president of Provisional Sinn Fein. Reported a founding member of the Provisional IRA. |
| 1972 | RÓB and Daithi O’Connell develop Sinn Fein’s federalism policy, often referred to as Eire Nua. RÓB is arrested (in May) and is on hunger strike until his release fifteen days later. First British-IRA truce. Arrested again (in December). |
| 1973 | RÓB is sentenced to six months’ imprisonment on the opinion of a senior police officer that he is a member of the IRA. |
| 1974 | RÓB is excluded from the United States. Birmingham bombs lead to Feakle talks. |
| 1975 | Second British-IRA truce. RÓB is one of three Irish Republicans who meet with British representatives. |
| 1976 | RÓB is excluded from Great Britain and Northern Ireland. IRA prisoners go “on the blanket.” |
| 1979 | RÓB supports Sinn Féin contesting first election to European Parliament but is outvoted on the Ard Chomhairle. Margaret Thatcher becomes prime minister. |
| 1980–1981 | IRA prisoner hunger strikes. Bobby Sands elected MP for Fermanagh-South Tyrone. Owen Carron elected in by-election occasioned by death of Bobby Sands. |
| 1983 | RÓB resigns as president of Provisional Sinn Fein. Succeeded by Gerry Adams. |
| 1986 | Sinn Féin recognizes Leinster House and splits. Formation of Republican Sinn Féin and the Continuity IRA. RÓB becomes first president of Republican Sinn Fein. Martin McGuinness and other leading Provisionals pledge to never enter Stormont. |
| 1990 | Provisional IRA enters into secret talks with British representatives. |
| 1994 | Provisional IRA cease-fire. RÓB is a leading critic. |
| 1996 | Canary Wharf bomb ends Provisional IRA cease-fire. Continuity IRA emerges. |
| 1997 | RÓB criticizes second Provisional IRA cease-fire, is excluded from Canada. |
| 1998 | Good Friday Agreement. Provisional Sinn Féin agrees to enter Stormont. |
| 2005 | Provisional IRA formally ends its campaign. |
FOREWORD
BACK IN THE summer of 1980, I was commissioned by Magill magazine in Dublin to write a lengthy article about the Provisional IRA and Sinn Féin. Magill’s editor was particularly interested in the internal politics of the Provos and whether rumours of a northern takeover and resulting divisions and tensions held any truth at all.
For me it was the start of a long career spent reporting on the Provisional movement, its leaders, and its politics, an experience that most of the time was fascinating, often frustrating, and occasionally disturbing. Throughout all those years I was painfully aware that the IRA and Sinn Féin were organisations defined by their secrecy and that as an outsider I would be lucky ever to learn more than a fraction of the truth of any story.
The IRA had a rule enforcing internal silence similar to the Sicilian Mafia’s omerta and added to that was a long legacy of distrust of the media in all its forms and whatever the national origin. But there was another unwritten rule that governed the business of reporting the IRA, and that was the knowledge that though it might take years, the IRA could never keep a lid on all its activities and eventually stories its leadership would rather have kept suppressed would seep to the surface. Human nature eventually prevailed over autocracy, and the patient observer could enjoy a rich harvest.
My Magill commission became a metaphor, in its way, for all this. The IRA leadership agreed to cooperate with me, and the organisation’s director of publicity, Danny Morrison, introduced me to various figures that I had asked to talk to. We spent many hours together that summer, often on the road, discussing the Provisional movement. The article was written, and looking back at the episode it is difficult not to conclude, unhappily, that much of it reflected the direction I was steered towards.
I was able quite easily to confirm that the Provisionals were indeed riven at that time with division and tension and two camps now existed, one represented by Gerry Adams and his young, militantly left-wing northern supporters and the other led by Ruairí Ó Brádaigh and Dáthí Ó Conaill,
