of principle, the first because abstentionism had been breached and the second because Adams wished to accept the Mitchell principles, which implicitly endorsed the consent precept. In both instances, Adams’s pragmatism won out among his northern following. And so on, and so on.
In a very real sense, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh can thus be said to be the last, or one of the last, Irish Republicans. Studies of the Provisional movement to date have invariably focused more on the northerners and the role of people like Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness. But an understanding of them is not possible without appreciating where they came from and from what tradition they have broken. Ruairí Ó Brádaigh is that tradition, and that is why this account of his life and politics is so important.
Ed Moloney
New York
April 2005
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
THERE ARE SO many people who must be thanked for supporting this project that I fear missing someone. I especially want to thank the respondents, who gave generously of their time and their memories. Most important, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh patiently sat for interviews, responded to letters, and spoke with me on the phone. He generously shared his time, his papers, his opinions, and access to his colleagues, comrades, and family. I also want to thank Patsy Ó Brádaigh and Sein Ó Brádaigh and their families for all of their help. It was especially helpful that Ruairí Ó Brádaigh and his family let me form my own conclusions. Others would have been tempted to form them for me.
Two top scholars, David Rapoport and the late J. Bowyer Bell, have been ardent supporters. David is the masterful co-editor of Terrorism and Political Violence. He is open-minded, reasoned, and always charming. Bow Bell, from 1983, was always supportive, willing to answer questions and offer suggestions, and a fun person to meet on an Irish street. He set the standard for research on Irish Republicans and he is missed. The staff of the Linen Hall Library, especially Yvonne Murphy and the staff of the Northern Ireland Political Collection, are the best. Father Ignatius Fennessey of the Franciscan Library at Dün Mhuire, former repository of Sein Mac Eoin’s papers, was especially helpful. The papers are now held by University College Dublin. A grant from The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation supported travel and research assistance and allowed a very fruitful sabbatical in Ireland in the fall of 1996. Grants from the Indiana University Office of International Affairs and the Indiana University Bloomington West European Studies Program paid for travel and/or research assistants. An Indiana University Arts and Humanities grant also supported travel and research assistance.
A lengthy list of research assistants has been a great help. They include Shannon Baldwin, Bruce Beal, Erin Bethuram, Karen Budnick, Evelyn Hovee, Amber Houston, Lori Langdoc, Libby Laux, Karen Patterson, Patricia Richards, Jasper Sumner, and Bridget Tucker. Others who offered help, insights, suggestions, and sometimes just listened to me include Herman Blake, David Bodenhamer, Egan Dargatz, Scott Evenbeck, Charlie Feeney, Dave Ford, Toni Giffin, Velma Graves, Rick Hanson, Wayne Husted, Mel Johnson, Joy Kramer, John Leamnson, Gianni Lipkins, Mike Maitzen, Kevin Marsh, John McCormick, Fr. William Munshower, Fred Burns O’Brien, Gail Plater, Jane Quintet, Becky Renollet, Patrick Rooney, Mike Scott, Gen Shaker, Michelle Simmons, Catherine Souch, Margie Tarpey, Michael Tarpey, Rick Ward, and Tom White. Thanks go to Kevin Mickey and James Colbert for the maps. Over the course of writing this project I have served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and as Dean of the School of Liberal Arts. The dean’s staff, many of whom are listed above, is extraordinary, and their support and friendship has been a great help. Special thanks go to Sue Herrell, my administrative assistant, and Carol Clarke, Merle Illg, and Mark Shemanski, the office receptionist/secretaries, for their help. Stephanie Osborne, formerly of the dean’s staff, has great ideas and listens very well. Miriam Langsam, my teacher, colleague, friend, and fellow Acting Co-Director of the Women’s Studies Program, read several chapters, offering her insight. Richard Turner, Mary Trotter, and the students of 1300, Irish Tradition and Culture, offered their insights and gave me the opportunity to talk about my project. The students of R476, Social Movements, offered comments and perspective and were a pleasure to teach. Christian Kloesel and the late Tony Sherrill are and were sources of mirth and inspiration. Special thanks go to Val and Dolores Lynch and their family for their friendship. I especially want to thank Ed Moloney for his foreword and comments.
As “I poked about a village church and found his family tomb,” my family has been a source of support and encouragement. My wife, Terry, patiently read every chapter at least twice and offered several suggestions that smoothed out the presentation. She and our children, Kerry and Claire, have participated in many an Irish adventure, have tolerated my constant telling of stories about this and that, and have patiently listened to my infrequent and mild complaints associated with academic administration.
Two people with me when I started this project, my mother, Margaret White, and my sister, Barbara White Thoreson, have left us physically but remain with me. I measc Naomh is Laochra na hEireann go raibh a n-anam uasal.
RWW
Indianapolis
July 2005
INTRODUCTION
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1971, was an ugly day in Northern Ireland. In the four weeks since the introduction of internment without trial, gun battles on Belfast streets between the British Army and the IRA had been a daily occurrence. Similar violence was widespread throughout the province. On that Friday morning, three Provisional IRA gunmen shot dead 23-year-old Frank Veitch, a private in the Ulster Defence Regiment, who was on guard duty outside a joint British Army/Royal Ulster Constabulary base in Kinawley, County Fermanagh. He lived with his widowed mother and sister. The shooting was condemned by his neighbor and MP, Mr. Frank McManus, as “shocking and dastardly.” That afternoon, in Belfast, 7-year-old Paula Gallagher was out for a walk with her 17-month-old sister, Angela. They were visiting their grandparents. As Angela pushed a doll’s pram along the pavement, a sniper took a shot at British troops. The bullet ricocheted off a wall, passed through Paula’s skirt, and struck Angela in the head. She died in Paula’s arms.
That night, the Taoiseach (prime minister) of the Republic of Ireland, Jack Lynch, stated that “Nothing—no motive, no ideal—can excuse the killing of this innocent of the innocents. Cannot even this shameful act bring home to these men of violence the evil of the course they have taken? The sacrifice of this innocent life must surely convince them of the futility of their actions. The sympathy of the whole country goes out to the parents and family of this child.” The minister for community relations for the Northern Ireland government at Stormont, David Bleakley, stated that those responsible for Angela Gallagher’s death should be treated “like the lepers they are. They deserve neither comfort nor shelter—only cold contempt and utter rejection.” The Daily Mail reported that Pope Paul VI condemned the shooting and quoted from his address to pilgrims and tourists, “We hope that this innocent blood may be worthy to beseech from God a true and just reconciliation among the people.” Although the IRA’s Belfast Brigade denied it, the evidence and the historians record that the sniper was a member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army.
The next morning, John Shaw of the Press Association telephoned Ruairí Ó Brádaigh at his home in Roscommon. Ó Brádaigh was president of Provisional Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Provisional IRA. Questioned about Angela Gallagher, he stated that what “happened was one of the hazards of urban guerilla warfare … it was one of those unfortunate accidents.”
The sound bite was picked up and condemned in the tabloids and by Ó Brádaigh’s political opponents. Even the Provisional IRA chief of staff (C/S), Seán Mac Stiofáin, phoned and berated him for the comment. The rival Official IRA, which would later kill a number of civilians with its own activities, released a statement that included, “We have consistently attacked
