Seamus Twomey
Seamus Twomey | |
---|---|
Chief of Staff |
Seamus Twomey (
Biography
Born in
IRA
He began his involvement with the
In 1969, he was prominent in the establishment of the
In March 1973, Twomey was first appointed
By June/July 1974, Twomey was IRA Chief of Staff for a second time. He took part in the Feakle talks between the IRA and Protestant clergymen in December 1974. In the IRA truce which followed in 1975, Twomey was largely unsupportive and wanted to fight on in what he saw as "one big push to finish it once and for all".[6]
IRA informer
Twomey was dedicated to paramilitarism as a means of incorporating Northern Ireland into the
Capture
In December 1977, he was captured in Sandycove, Dublin by the Garda Síochána, who had been tipped off by Belgian police about a concealed arms shipment, to be delivered to a bogus company with an address in the area. They swooped on a house in Martello Terrace to discover Twomey outside in his car, wearing his trademark dark glasses. After a high-speed pursuit, he was recaptured in the centre of Dublin. The Gardaí later found documents in his possession outlining proposals for the structural reorganisation of the IRA according to the clandestine cell system. Twomey's arrest ended his tenure as IRA chief of staff as he was imprisoned in Portlaoise Prison until 1982.[10] In the 1986 split over abstentionism, Twomey sided with the Gerry Adams leadership and remained with the Provisionals.
Death
After a long illness from a heart condition,[11] Twomey died in Dublin in 1989. He was buried in the family plot in Milltown Cemetery, Belfast. His funeral was attended by about 2,000 people.[citation needed]
Quotations
- "I have most of my life been brought up in a Republican tradition ... However, I grew up in a situation of such degradation and unemployment and humiliation that the life our people lived was just no life at all. I said to myself that when I grow up and get married I will want for my children something better than this."[12]
- "Our first prime and main objective is the unification of our country. This means getting the British out of the occupied part of the country. After that the whole system in North and South would have to be changed"[13]
- "We draw a distinction between Irish Nationalism and republicanism. A 'nationalist' as such can work for the benefit of his country by doing all in his power to promote industry and help people etc. Our definition implies the militant republican tradition. Our use of the term 'nationalism' means first of all getting the freedom of our country and then starting to better the welfare of the people".[14]
- "Freedom does not mean simply the freedom of green fields: it means that every person is catered for so that every family in the country would be able to live free from poverty and unemployment".[14]
Further reading
- Sean Cronin, Irish Nationalism: A History and its Roots and Ideology, Dublin: The Academy Press, 1980, p. 214
Footnotes
- ISBN 0-9542946-0-2.
- ^ a b c d Volunteer Seamus Twomey, 1919-1989 : a tribute.
- ISBN 978-0-692-04283-0.
- ^ "IRA Provisional Leader Captured", Los Angeles Times, September 2, 1973, p.I-2
- ^ "Remembering the Past – The helicopter escape". anphoblacht. 28 October 2004. Archived from the original on 5 August 2008. Retrieved 6 May 2008.
The helicopter touched down in the centre of the compound outside D-Wing, where political prisoners had been exercising. Upon landing, Séamus Twomey, Chief of Staff of the IRA, JB O'Hagan, Quartermaster of the IRA, and Kevin Mallon, an IRA activist since the 1950s campaign, ran forward and boarded the aircraft.
- ^ John McGuffin, Internment Archived 11 August 2005 at the Wayback Machine, 1973 (Chapter 16: Internment out–Detention in Archived 7 April 2005 at the Wayback Machine)
- ^ Sean O'Callaghan, "The Decider" Archived 18 January 2004 at the Wayback Machine, Irish Independent, 12 February 2000.
- ^ Quoted in Kevin. J. Kelley, The Longest War: Northern Ireland and the IRA, Westport, Conn: Zed Books, 1988.
- ^ "CAIN: Events: IRA Truce: Kelley, Kevin.J., (1988) The Longest War: Northern Ireland and the IRA". cain.ulster.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 22 July 2019. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
- ^ Thorne, Pg. 604
- ^ "Death of IRA leader". The Times. 13 September 1989. p. 2.
- ^ Archiv der Gegenwart Archived 22 July 2006 at the Wayback Machine 47 (1977), p. 21127.
- ^ Martin McMahon, I Cry for My People Archived 19 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine, 2001.
- ^ a b Twomey, S. (1977). Interview with Seamus Twomey. The Crane Bag, 1(2), 21-26. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/30059438 Archived 7 June 2019 at the Wayback Machine