Dáithí Ó Conaill Commemoration , Dublin.
dublin | history and heritage | event notice 
Saturday December 29, 2012 14:26
by Sharon. - Individual. 
Annual Dáithí Ó Conaill Commemoration , Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin.
Assemble at Glasnevin Cemetery Gates , Tuesday 1st January 2013 , at 12.45pm.
Hi !
The Annual Dáithí Ó Conaill Commemoration will be held on Tuesday , 1st January 2013, at 12.45pm in Glasnevin Cemetery , Dublin. The event will be Chaired by Andy Connolly , Dublin , and Fergal Moore , Monaghan, will deliver the oration.
The Annual Dáithí Ó Conaill Commemoration will be held on Tuesday , 1st January 2013, at 12.45pm in Glasnevin Cemetery , Dublin. The event will be Chaired by Andy Connolly , Dublin , and Fergal Moore , Monaghan, will deliver the oration.
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SATURDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2012
DÁITHÍ Ó CONAILL COMMEMORATION : TUESDAY 1ST JANUARY 2013.
The Annual Dáithí Ó Conaill Commemoration will be held on Tuesday 1st January 2013 in Glasnevin Cemetery.
"Dáithí came from a strong Cork Republican family. His uncle Michael O’Sullivan (17), along with five of his comrades, was bayoneted to death by British Crown forces in March 1921. He joined Sinn Féin at the age of 17 during the local elections in 1955. By the end of the following year he was on active service as a Volunteer in the Irish Republican Army , serving as an organiser under GHQ staff in Co Fermanagh.
On January 1, 1957 he was second-in-command of the Pearse Column during the attack on Brookeborough RUC barracks which resulted in the deaths of two of his comrades, Fearghal Ó hAnluáin and Seán Sabhat. Four others were wounded including the column commander. At 18 years of age Dáithí took command and led a successful withdrawal back across the border – evading 400 RUC, B-Specials, two helicopters and the British army – where they were forced to retire. He was then imprisoned in Mountjoy and the Curragh Concentration camp from where he escaped with his friend and comrade Ruairí Ó Brádaighin September 1958.
He returned to active service and for a period was Director of Operations. He was critically wounded in an ambush by the RUC and B-Specials in Arboe, Co Tyrone on the shores of Lough Neagh in November 1959. He made his escape but was forced to seek help because of loss of blood and his weakened condition. He was captured by Crown Forces and was sentenced to eight years which he served in Belfast’s Crumlin Road Jail. Following his release in 1963 he reported back to active service.
In 1969/70 he again made his talents available to the Republican Movement. Ruairí Ó Brádaigh said of him he possessed the 'ablest mind in the Republican Movement for over 20 years'. The sheer breadth of his ability and intellect was evidenced by his service to the All-Ireland Republic both militarily and politically. He had a central role in framing ÉIRE NUAand remained a tireless advocate of it right up to his death in 1991.
Dáithí Ó Conaill never equivocated on what was the cause of the war in Ireland or what was required to deliver a just and lasting peace for all of the Irish people. Speaking in Belfast at Easter 1973 he said: 'Today, the central issue in the war is one of conflict between Ireland’s right to freedom and England’s determination to keep us in subjection. All other issues are subordinate to this basic point. There can be no compromise on the fundamental issue as to who should rule Ireland: the British Parliament or the Irish people. We have had 800 years of British ineptitude in ruling Ireland; we have never known rule by the Irish, of the Irish, for the Irish. Until we do, we shall never enjoy peace and stability in our land.....' " (From here)
On January 1, 1957 he was second-in-command of the Pearse Column during the attack on Brookeborough RUC barracks which resulted in the deaths of two of his comrades, Fearghal Ó hAnluáin and Seán Sabhat. Four others were wounded including the column commander. At 18 years of age Dáithí took command and led a successful withdrawal back across the border – evading 400 RUC, B-Specials, two helicopters and the British army – where they were forced to retire. He was then imprisoned in Mountjoy and the Curragh Concentration camp from where he escaped with his friend and comrade Ruairí Ó Brádaighin September 1958.
He returned to active service and for a period was Director of Operations. He was critically wounded in an ambush by the RUC and B-Specials in Arboe, Co Tyrone on the shores of Lough Neagh in November 1959. He made his escape but was forced to seek help because of loss of blood and his weakened condition. He was captured by Crown Forces and was sentenced to eight years which he served in Belfast’s Crumlin Road Jail. Following his release in 1963 he reported back to active service.
In 1969/70 he again made his talents available to the Republican Movement. Ruairí Ó Brádaigh said of him he possessed the 'ablest mind in the Republican Movement for over 20 years'. The sheer breadth of his ability and intellect was evidenced by his service to the All-Ireland Republic both militarily and politically. He had a central role in framing ÉIRE NUAand remained a tireless advocate of it right up to his death in 1991.
Dáithí Ó Conaill never equivocated on what was the cause of the war in Ireland or what was required to deliver a just and lasting peace for all of the Irish people. Speaking in Belfast at Easter 1973 he said: 'Today, the central issue in the war is one of conflict between Ireland’s right to freedom and England’s determination to keep us in subjection. All other issues are subordinate to this basic point. There can be no compromise on the fundamental issue as to who should rule Ireland: the British Parliament or the Irish people. We have had 800 years of British ineptitude in ruling Ireland; we have never known rule by the Irish, of the Irish, for the Irish. Until we do, we shall never enjoy peace and stability in our land.....' " (From here)
Those attending the commemoration are requested to assemble at the gates of Glasnevin Cemetery at 12.45pm. The commemoration will be Chaired by Andy Connolly , Dublin, Fergal Moore , Monaghan, will deliver the oration , and refreshments will be available afterwards in a near-by venue.
All genuine Republicans Welcome!
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2008)
Dáithí Ó Conaill (1938 – 1 January 1991) was an Irish republican, a member of the IRA Army Council, vice-president of Sinn Féin and Republican Sinn Féin. He was also the first chief of staff of the Continuity IRA.[1]
Contents [hide]
1 Joins IRA
2 Sides with Provisional IRA
3 Involvement in Sinn Féin electoral campaigns
4 Joins Republican Sinn Féin
5 External links
6 Notes and references
[edit]Joins IRA
Ó Conaill was born in Cork in 1938. His uncle Michael O'Sullivan, a member of the 1st Cork Brigade of the Irish Republican Army, was bayoneted to death by British forces in 1921. After his vocational school education, he trained as a woodwork teacher in a college in County Wexford.
He joined the republican movement at 17 years of age and took part in the IRA Border Campaign. On 1 January 1957 he was second-in-command of the Pearse Column which carried out the raid on Brookeborough Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) Barracks in County Fermanagh, in which Seán South and Fergal O'Hanlon were killed. He was arrested by the Garda Síochána and imprisoned in Mountjoy Prison for six months. Upon release, he was interned in the Curragh. On 27 September 1958 he escaped along with Ruairí Ó Brádaigh and went on the run.
With most of the IRA leadership under arrest or interned, Ó Brádaigh (who had been on the Army Council at the start of the campaign) became IRA chief of staff and Ó Conaill became IRA Director of Operations and joined the IRA Army Council.[2]
In an altercation with the RUC and B Specials near Lough Neagh in 1959, he was shot and badly injured and later captured by the RUC. On recovery he received an eight-year sentence and remained in Belfast Jail until he was released unconditionally in September 1963.
In the October 1961 Irish general election, Ó Conaill ran as a Sinn Féin candidate in the Cork Borough constituency. Winning 1,956 first preference votes (a share of 5.24 percent), he just missed taking the fifth and final seat.[3]
Upon release, Ó Conaill took up residence in Glencolmcille, County Donegal, where he taught. He also married Deirdre Caffrey, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh's cousin. Ó Conaill worked closely with Fr James McDyer who was active in rural development. During the late 1960s, Ó Conaill played little part in the activities of the IRA or Sinn Féin.
With the outbreak of the Troubles in Northern Ireland in the late 1960s, Ó Conaill would become a prominent spokesperson for the Provisional IRA. He was active in the IRA through the 1960s, and IRA Chief of Staff Cathal Goulding appointed him the Commanding Officer (O/C) of the Donegal unit prior to the IRA's Convention in December 1969; Ó Conaill was also a member of the IRA's Army Council after Goulding expanded that body at the IRA Convention late in 1968. In the autumn of 1969, Ó Conaill, upset with the then IRA leadership, walked out of the "unit convention" and was suspended.[4] In the 1960s, Ó Conaill was approached by elements from within the Irish government and the Fianna Fáil party with an offer to provide arms and training in Irish Army barracks or ranges.[5]
Ó Conaill helped form the Provisional IRA after the 1969 IRA split, served on the first Provisional IRA Army Council, and was the Provisional IRA's Director of Publicity. In 1970 he travelled to New York and was instrumental in establishing Irish Northern Aid or NORAID, which raised funds for the Provisionals.
In 1971, he travelled to Prague and purchased 4.5 tons of small arms from the Czechoslovakia state arms marketing company, Omnipol. The consignment was later seized in the Netherlands.
Despite his belief in the armed campaign, Ó Conaill was not solely a militarist. He was deeply involved in the drafting of the Éire Nua policy, working with Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, which was launched by Sinn Féin in June 1972. He also played a leading role in the truce negotiations between the IRA and the British government in June–July 1972.
On 13 June 1972, he appeared at an IRA press conference in Derry, along with Seán Mac Stiofáin, Seamus Twomey and Martin McGuinness, which announced an IRA cease-fire proposal, and gave William Whitelaw forty-eight hours to make a decision.
On 20 June 1972, he represented the IRA along with Gerry Adams at secret talks at the home of Colonel Sir Michael McCorkell, Ballyarnett, County Londonderry. The British representatives were Frank Steele, who presented himself as a government official but was an MI6 agent, and Philip John Woodfield of the Northern Ireland Office. The meeting lasted four hours and the British side informed the IRA representatives that while Whitelaw refused to offer political status, he was prepared to suspend arrests of republicans and searches of homes. Both sides then agreed to call a ten-day ceasefire.
In a report, Woodfield noted that “There is no doubt whatever that these two at least genuinely want a ceasefire and a permanent end to violence," and that the appearance of Ó Conaill and Adams was “appearance and manner of the men was "respectable and respectful". "Their response to every argument was reasonable and moderate. (…) Their behaviour and attitude appeared to bear no relation to the indiscriminate campaigns of bombing and shooting in which they have both been prominent leaders." [1]
On 26 June, the IRA called a "bilateral truce". On 7 July 1972, he was part of the IRA delegation which met with representatives of the British government in London (see article on Seán Mac Stiofáin for more details).
After the collapse of the IRA-British government contacts, Ó Conaill maintained informal contacts with Sir John Hackett, by then retired and Principal of King's College London, and who had been the commanding officer of British forces in Northern Ireland. In September 1973, Hackett reported to Woodfield of the Northern Ireland Office that Ó Conaill was "losing ground to younger and more impatient operators. To arrest him and remove him from the scene would loosen restraint on those and open the way for more irresponsible action." [2]
In 1974, at a secret meeting arranged by journalist Kevin Myers, Ó Conaill and Brian Keenan had talks with Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) leaders Billy Mitchell and Jim Hanna in Lough Sheelin, County Cavan. Myers summarised the purpose of the talks: The IRA simply wished to discuss the terms of the loyalist surrender and the loyalists wished merely to assure the IRA they had no intention of surrendering.[6] The meeting lasted four hours. Mitchell later recalled that "We just wanted to get to know one another. And we thought we could find a way to call an end to everything." "I really liked David. And neither of us accused the other of anything" [3]
In an interview with Mary Holland on London Weekend Television’s Weekend World on 17 November 1974, Ó Conaill claimed there would be an escalation of IRA violence. Four days later, on 21 November, IRA detonated bombs in two pubs in Birmingham, killing 21 civilians. This was not Ó Conaill had intended, as the Provisional IRA leadership did not endorse indiscriminate bombing in England.[7] The interview and the attacks led to the introduction of the Prevention of Terrorism Act in the United Kingdom. [4]. The interview prompted hostile questions in the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
Although Ó Conaill was on the run for much of the early 1970s, he managed to make some public appearances. In 1973, he gave the oration at the Easter Rising commemoration in Belfast, and the following year, he spoke at the funeral of IRA hunger striker Michael Gaughan in Ballina.
While on the run he was prominent in arranging the Feakle talks with Protestant clergymen in December 1974. In 1975, Ó Conaill was regularly consulted by Republican representatives who negotiated a truce with British representatives, including Ruairí Ó Brádaigh and Billy McKee, but he did not meet with the British representatives.[8]
Ó Conaill was officer commanding (O/C) of the IRA Southern Command for much of the early 1970s until his arrest, in July 1975. (He was replaced by Pat Doherty). Found guilty of IRA membership, and imprisoned in Portlaoise Prison, where in 1977 he was one of 20 men who took part in a 47-day hunger strike in protest at conditions in the jail.
[edit]Involvement in Sinn Féin electoral campaigns
Upon his release from prison, he was active in the Anti H-Block Movement. Contrary to popular opinion, it was Ó Conaill and not Gerry Adams who proposed that Bobby Sands contest the Westminster by-election for Fermanagh and South Tyrone during the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike. This decision was made at the March 1981 Sinn Féin Ard Chomhairle meeting.[9]
He was the director of elections in the June 1981 Irish general election in which two prisoners were elected to Dáil Éireann: hunger striker Kieran Doherty in the Cavan/Monaghan constituency and prison protester Paddy Agnew in the Louth constituency.
In 1983, along with Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, he resigned from the position of vice-president of Sinn Féin in opposition to the dropping of the Éire Nua policy.
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