Dominic McGlinchey
Encyclopedia
Dominic McGlinchey from Bellaghy
Bellaghy
Bellaghy , is a village in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It lies north west of Lough Neagh and about 5 miles north of Magherafelt. At the centre of the village lies the junction of three main roads leading to Magherafelt, Portglenone and Toome. It had a population of 1,063 people in the...

, County Londonderry
County Londonderry
The place name Derry is an anglicisation of the old Irish Daire meaning oak-grove or oak-wood. As with the city, its name is subject to the Derry/Londonderry name dispute, with the form Derry preferred by nationalists and Londonderry preferred by unionists...

, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

 was an Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 republican
Irish Republicanism
Irish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic.In 1801, under the Act of Union, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...

 paramilitary with the Irish National Liberation Army
Irish National Liberation Army
The Irish National Liberation Army or INLA is an Irish republican socialist paramilitary group that was formed on 8 December 1974. Its goal is to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and create a socialist united Ireland....

 (INLA).

Background

McGlinchey was born into a large Bellaghy
Bellaghy
Bellaghy , is a village in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It lies north west of Lough Neagh and about 5 miles north of Magherafelt. At the centre of the village lies the junction of three main roads leading to Magherafelt, Portglenone and Toome. It had a population of 1,063 people in the...

 family (he had 10 siblings) with a strong Irish Republican background.

Family

In the midst of his paramilitary career, he married Mary McNeill, from County Antrim
County Antrim
County Antrim is one of six counties that form Northern Ireland, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of 2,844 km², with a population of approximately 616,000...

 on 5 July 1975. The couple had three children: Declan, Dominic, and Máire (who died as an infant from meningitis). Mary herself later became a volunteer in the INLA. Dominic Jr. also became a republican activist. In October 2006, Declan McGlinchey was remanded in custody at Londonderry Magistrates' Court on explosives charges. The charges were connected to the discovery of a bomb in Bellaghy
Bellaghy
Bellaghy , is a village in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It lies north west of Lough Neagh and about 5 miles north of Magherafelt. At the centre of the village lies the junction of three main roads leading to Magherafelt, Portglenone and Toome. It had a population of 1,063 people in the...

 in July. He has since been cleared of these charges. Declan was again arrested on 14 March 2009 in connection with the murder of Police Service of Northern Ireland
Police Service of Northern Ireland
The Police Service of Northern Ireland is the police force that serves Northern Ireland. It is the successor to the Royal Ulster Constabulary which, in turn, was the successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary in Northern Ireland....

 Constable Stephen Carroll. No charges have been brought.

Paramilitary activities

In August 1971, at the age of 17, he was interned without charge for ten months in the prison camps of Ballykelly and Long Kesh
Maze (HM Prison)
Her Majesty's Prison Maze was a prison in Northern Ireland that was used to house paramilitary prisoners during the Troubles from mid-1971 to mid-2000....

. After his release, he was imprisoned again in 1973 on arms charges.

After his next release, he joined a South Derry Independent Republican Unit
South Derry Independent Republican Unit
The South Derry Independent Republican Unit was an Irish republican guerrilla unit which operated during the Troubles in Northern Ireland.It operated from c. 1973–1978 and included members such as Dominic McGlinchey, Francis Hughes, Thomas McElwee, Joe Sheridan and Ian Milne...

 along with Ian Milne and future Provisional IRA hunger strikers
1981 Irish hunger strike
The 1981 Irish hunger strike was the culmination of a five-year protest during The Troubles by Irish republican prisoners in Northern Ireland. The protest began as the blanket protest in 1976, when the British government withdrew Special Category Status for convicted paramilitary prisoners...

 Francis Hughes
Francis Hughes
Francis Hughes was an Irish volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army . Hughes was the most wanted man in Northern Ireland until his arrest following a shoot-out with the Special Air Service in which an SAS soldier was killed...

 and Thomas McElwee
Thomas McElwee
Thomas McElwee was an Irish republican hunger striker and a volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army .-Early life:...

. The unit would later merge with the Provisional IRA. Their activities led the Royal Ulster Constabulary
Royal Ulster Constabulary
The Royal Ulster Constabulary was the name of the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2000. Following the awarding of the George Cross in 2000, it was subsequently known as the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC. It was founded on 1 June 1922 out of the Royal Irish Constabulary...

 to take the unusual step of issuing wanted posters.

IRA

McGlinchey was arrested by the Gardaí
Garda Síochána
, more commonly referred to as the Gardaí , is the police force of Ireland. The service is headed by the Commissioner who is appointed by the Irish Government. Its headquarters are located in the Phoenix Park in Dublin.- Terminology :...

 in 1977 and charged with hijacking
Carjacking
Carjacking is a form of hijacking, where the crime is of stealing a motor vehicle and so also armed assault when the vehicle is occupied. Historically, such as in the rash of semi-trailer truck hijackings during the 1960s, the general term hijacking was used for that type of vehicle abduction,...

 a police vehicle, threatening a police officer with a gun, and resisting arrest. In 1982, while serving time in Portlaoise Prison
Portlaoise Prison
Portlaoise Prison is the Republic of Ireland's only high security prison. It is located in Portlaoise, County Laois. It should not be confused with the Midlands Prison, which is a newer, medium security prison situated directly beside it....

, he clashed with the Provisional Irish Republican Army
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...

 leadership, he was later expelled from the IRA.

INLA

The INLA welcomed McGlinchey because of his previous experience. He joined in 1982 as Operations Officer for South Derry and became Chief of Staff within six months. Under McGlinchey the organisation began to shake off its reputation for disorganization and incompetence. British intelligence agencies reportedly believed that he had masterminded the Droppin Well bombing
Droppin Well bombing
The Droppin Well bombing or Ballykelly bombing occurred on 6 December 1982, when the Irish National Liberation Army exploded a time bomb at a disco in Ballykelly, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. The disco was targeted because it was frequented by British Army soldiers from the nearby...

 in Ballykelly
Ballykelly
Ballykelly is a village and townland in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It lies west of Limavady on the main Derry to Limavady A2 road and is east of Derry. It is designated as a Large Village and in 2001 the population of Ballykelly was 1,827...

, County Londonderry
County Londonderry
The place name Derry is an anglicisation of the old Irish Daire meaning oak-grove or oak-wood. As with the city, its name is subject to the Derry/Londonderry name dispute, with the form Derry preferred by nationalists and Londonderry preferred by unionists...

, it has been alleged that he was targeted for assassination by The 'Det'
14 Intelligence Company
14 Field Security and Intelligence Company is alleged to have been an element of the British Army Intelligence Corps which operated in Northern Ireland from the 1970s onwards. The unit conducted undercover surveillance operations against suspected members of Irish republican and loyalist...

. However an attempt to interdict him on 12 December 1982 failed with Roddy Carroll and Seamus Grew
Seamus Grew
Seamus Grew was a volunteer in the Irish National Liberation Army who was killed in controversial circumstances by 14 Intelligence Company soldiers. It is alleged that this was part of an attempt to kill the INLA Chief of Staff Dominic McGlinchey. Roddy Carroll also died in the incident...

 being killed as they allegedly ran a checkpoint. (Their deaths were subsequently investigated by John Stalker
John Stalker
John Stalker is a former Deputy Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, now residing in Lymm. He headed the Stalker Inquiry that investigated the shooting of suspected members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army in 1982. He has also had a television and literary career.-Career:Stalker...

 as part of his investigation into the Shoot-to-kill policy in Northern Ireland
Shoot-to-kill policy in Northern Ireland
During the period known as "the Troubles" in Northern Ireland, the British Army and Royal Ulster Constabulary were accused of operating a shoot-to-kill policy, under which suspects were alleged to have been deliberately killed without any attempt to arrest them...

.)

Internal feud

Tim Pat Coogan
Tim Pat Coogan
Timothy Patrick Coogan is an Irish historical writer, broadcaster and newspaper columnist. He served as editor of the Irish Press newspaper from 1968 to 1987...

, a historian of the Republican movement asserted that McGlinchey's authority within the INLA was absolute and that he re-enforced it by ordering the deaths of 'anyone he didn't like'. However other authors claimed that decisions were actually taken collectively by a council of leading members, although those disgruntled with the outcomes tended to attribute everything solely to McGlinchey. When a powerful northern unit based around an extended family did not turn over £50,000 raised in a fake postal order scheme (which was essential to the INLA's finances) the scheme's originator insisted that unless the offending unit was punished he would not supply any more funds. It was decided, reportedly against McGlinchey's objections, that members of the northern faction were to be killed. Two were summoned to a meeting, because Mary McGlinchey was acting as an emissary the pair were lulled into thinking that there would be no danger of violence however they were led to waiting gunmen and shot dead. This incident sparked a long running series of tit for tat revenge killings, including that of Mary, and is theorised to have ultimately led to the death of Dominic McGlinchey..

Imprisonment

In March 1984 McGlinchey was wounded in a shoot-out with the Gardaí in Ralahine, Newmarket on Fergus, County Clare
County Clare
-History:There was a Neolithic civilisation in the Clare area — the name of the peoples is unknown, but the Prehistoric peoples left evidence behind in the form of ancient dolmen; single-chamber megalithic tombs, usually consisting of three or more upright stones...

 and arrested. He was extradited to Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

 and sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted of murder. This conviction was overturned in October 1985 by the Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...

 Appeals Court on the grounds of insufficient evidence, and McGlinchey was returned to the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

 where he was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment on firearms charges. His wife Mary was murdered in her Dundalk
Dundalk
Dundalk is the county town of County Louth in Ireland. It is situated where the Castletown River flows into Dundalk Bay. The town is close to the border with Northern Ireland and equi-distant from Dublin and Belfast. The town's name, which was historically written as Dundalgan, has associations...

 home by gunmen who broke in while she was bathing her children on 31 January 1987. McGlinchey was unable to attend her funeral as he was still imprisoned in the Republic of Ireland. After being released from prison in March 1993, he investigated claims that Irish criminals were involved in money laundering
Money laundering
Money laundering is the process of disguising illegal sources of money so that it looks like it came from legal sources. The methods by which money may be laundered are varied and can range in sophistication. Many regulatory and governmental authorities quote estimates each year for the amount...

 with the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). He survived an assassination attempt made by UVF member Billy Wright in June 1993.
After being released from prison in March 1993, he investigated claims that Irish criminals were involved in money laundering
Money laundering
Money laundering is the process of disguising illegal sources of money so that it looks like it came from legal sources. The methods by which money may be laundered are varied and can range in sophistication. Many regulatory and governmental authorities quote estimates each year for the amount...

 with the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). He survived an assassination attempt made by UVF member Billy Wright in June 1993.

Death

On 10 February 1994, McGlinchey was making a call from a phone box in Drogheda
Drogheda
Drogheda is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, 56 km north of Dublin. It is the last bridging point on the River Boyne before it enters the Irish Sea....

 when two men got out of a vehicle and proceeded to shoot him 14 times. It remains one of the most mysterious deaths in The Troubles
The Troubles
The Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. The duration of the Troubles is conventionally dated from the late 1960s and considered by many to have ended with the Belfast...

. No-one has ever been charged with his murder and it is not known which group, whether loyalist, republican, state-security service or criminal carried out the assassination. After his death, INLA activity decreased and its organisational capability was nearly eliminated.

His funeral took place in Bellaghy
Bellaghy
Bellaghy , is a village in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It lies north west of Lough Neagh and about 5 miles north of Magherafelt. At the centre of the village lies the junction of three main roads leading to Magherafelt, Portglenone and Toome. It had a population of 1,063 people in the...

, County Londonderry
County Londonderry
The place name Derry is an anglicisation of the old Irish Daire meaning oak-grove or oak-wood. As with the city, its name is subject to the Derry/Londonderry name dispute, with the form Derry preferred by nationalists and Londonderry preferred by unionists...

. The mourners included Martin McGuinness
Martin McGuinness
James Martin Pacelli McGuinness is an Irish Sinn Féin politician and the current deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland. McGuinness was also the Sinn Féin candidate for the Irish presidential election, 2011. He was born in Derry, Northern Ireland....

 and Ruairí Ó Brádaigh
Ruairí Ó Brádaigh
Ruairí Ó Brádaigh is an Irish republican. He is a former chief of staff of the Irish Republican Army , former president of Sinn Féin and former president of Republican Sinn Féin.-Early life:...

. In spite of their differences McGlinchy was respected amongst the Provisional IRA for his service record. The oration was delivered by Bernadette McAliskey. During the oration she described journalists, particularly from the Sunday Independent
Sunday Independent
The Sunday Independent is a broadsheet Sunday newspaper published in Ireland by Independent News and Media plc. The newspaper is edited by Aengus Fanning, and is the biggest selling Irish Sunday newspaper by a large margin ; average circulation of 291,323 between June 2004 and January 2005,...

, who had claimed that McGlinchy was involved in criminality as:

Song

McGlinchey is the subject of the songs "Paddy Public Enemy Number One" by Shane MacGowan
Shane MacGowan
Shane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan is an Irish musician and singer, best known as the original singer and songwriter of The Pogues.-History:...

 of The Pogues
The Pogues
The Pogues are a Celtic punk band, formed in 1982 and fronted by Shane MacGowan. The band reached international prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. MacGowan left the band in 1991 due to drinking problems but the band continued first with Joe Strummer and then with Spider Stacy on vocals before...

 and "Hands up Trousers Down" by The Irish Brigade. The former charts McGlinchey's life from his teens through to his eventual killing in a phonebox while the latter references his theft and use of Garda
Garda
Garda may refer to:* An Garda Síochána, the national police of the Republic of Ireland* Lake Garda, a lake in northern Italy.* Garda , a commune on the shores of the Italian Lake Garda in the province of Verona....

 uniforms.

External links

  • Obituary, The Independent
    The Independent
    The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...

    , 12 February 1994
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