Proinsias MacAirt
Encyclopedia
Proinsias MacAirt (1922 – 8 January 1992) was an Irish
republican
activist and long-serving member of various stripes of the Irish Republican Army
.
, MacAirt first became involved in republicanism as a boy when he joined the Fianna Éireann
. His first imprisonment was in 1942 when the youthful MacAirt was sent to jail for illegal drilling. MacAirt was later interned
during the Irish Republican Army
's Border Campaign of 1956 to 1962.
(PIRA) and their political arm Provisional Sinn Féin. Indeed in early 1970 his Padraig Pearse cumann
, which he set up in the Clonard area of the Falls Road, was the first branch of Provisional Sinn Féin established in Belfast and proved central to the growth of the dissident party in the city. In August 1970 MacAirt was appointed editor of the Belfast-based Republican News
, succeeding Jimmy Steele who had died soon after being appointed editor. Despite his advancing age MacAirt also became involved in the gun battles that raged between the republicans from Falls and loyalists
from the neighbouring Shankill Road. As a consequence MacAirt became one of the leaders of the nascent PIRA in Belfast. MacAirt was publicly named as a leading republican by General Anthony Farrar-Hockley
who had commanded the British Army
present during the clashes and with whom MacAirt had held failed negotiations at the scene of conflict. He served as Adjutant to Billy McKee
, who was first commander of the Provisional IRA Belfast Brigade
. According to Brendan Hughes
MacAirt's Kane Street home doubled as Belfast Brigade headquarters at this early stage in the movement's history.
On 15 April 1971 MacAirt, along with Billy McKee, was arrested by the British Army
when found in possession of a hand gun. Both men were sentenced under the Explosive Substances Act 1883
and sent to Crumlin Road Gaol. In the prison the two men were recognised as the leaders of the republican prisoners, a role held by Gusty Spence
on the loyalist side. MacAirt and McKee co-operated informally with Spence in order to maintain order until they agreed to establish an official Camp Council. The make-up of this group saw MacAirt and McKee representing the PIRA, Spence and an associate identified only as "Robert" representing the Ulster Volunteer Force and Ned McCreery
and James Craig
as Ulster Defence Association
delegates, with members of the Official IRA
and Irish National Liberation Army
eventually added.
Although a new generation of leaders emerged in the PIRA and Sinn Féin MacAirt remained an influential veteran. He was close to Danny Morrison and Tom Hartley
and helped to ensure the removal of Seán Caughey
from the editorship of Republican News in 1975 and his replacement by Morrison.
President Gerry Adams
delivered the graveside oration at his funeral, describing him as "a radical in the Connolly
tradition".
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...
activist and long-serving member of various stripes of the Irish Republican Army
Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army was an Irish republican revolutionary military organisation. It was descended from the Irish Volunteers, an organisation established on 25 November 1913 that staged the Easter Rising in April 1916...
.
Early years
A native of BelfastBelfast
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...
, MacAirt first became involved in republicanism as a boy when he joined the Fianna Éireann
Fianna Éireann
The name Fianna Éireann , also written Fianna na hÉireann and Na Fianna Éireann , has been used by various Irish republican youth movements throughout the 20th and 21st centuries...
. His first imprisonment was in 1942 when the youthful MacAirt was sent to jail for illegal drilling. MacAirt was later interned
Internment
Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people, commonly in large groups, without trial. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the meaning as: "The action of 'interning'; confinement within the limits of a country or place." Most modern usage is about individuals, and there is a distinction...
during the Irish Republican Army
Irish Republican Army (1922–1969)
The original Irish Republican Army fought a guerrilla war against British rule in Ireland in the Irish War of Independence 1919–1921. Following the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty on 6 December 1921, the IRA in the 26 counties that were to become the Irish Free State split between supporters and...
's Border Campaign of 1956 to 1962.
Founding the PIRA
Having retired at some earlier point MacAirt returned to the republican movement in 1969, throwing his lot in with the newly established Provisional Irish Republican ArmyProvisional 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...
(PIRA) and their political arm Provisional Sinn Féin. Indeed in early 1970 his Padraig Pearse cumann
Cumann
A cumann is the lowest local unit or branch of a number of Irish political parties. The term cumann may also be used to describe a non-political association....
, which he set up in the Clonard area of the Falls Road, was the first branch of Provisional Sinn Féin established in Belfast and proved central to the growth of the dissident party in the city. In August 1970 MacAirt was appointed editor of the Belfast-based Republican News
Republican News
Republican News was a longstanding newspaper/magazine published by Sinn Féin. Following the split in physical force Irish republicanism in the late 1960s between the Officials and the Provisionals Republican News was a longstanding newspaper/magazine published by Sinn Féin. Following the split in...
, succeeding Jimmy Steele who had died soon after being appointed editor. Despite his advancing age MacAirt also became involved in the gun battles that raged between the republicans from Falls and loyalists
Ulster loyalism
Ulster loyalism is an ideology that is opposed to a united Ireland. It can mean either support for upholding Northern Ireland's status as a constituent part of the United Kingdom , support for Northern Ireland independence, or support for loyalist paramilitaries...
from the neighbouring Shankill Road. As a consequence MacAirt became one of the leaders of the nascent PIRA in Belfast. MacAirt was publicly named as a leading republican by General Anthony Farrar-Hockley
Anthony Farrar-Hockley
General Sir Anthony Heritage Farrar-Hockley GBE, KCB, DSO & Bar, MC , affectionately known as 'Farrar the Para' , was a British soldier and a military historian who distinguished himself in a number of British conflicts...
who had commanded the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
present during the clashes and with whom MacAirt had held failed negotiations at the scene of conflict. He served as Adjutant to Billy McKee
Billy McKee
Billy McKee is an Irish republican and was a founding member and former leader of the Provisional Irish Republican Army .-Early life:McKee was born in Belfast in the early 1920s, and joined the Irish Republican Army in 1939. During the Second World War, the IRA carried out a number of armed...
, who was first commander of the Provisional IRA Belfast Brigade
Provisional IRA Belfast Brigade
The Belfast Brigade of the Provisional IRA was the largest of the organisation's command areas, based in the city of Belfast. Founded in 1969, along with the formation of the Provisional IRA, it was historically organised into three battalions; the First Battalion based in the...
. According to Brendan Hughes
Brendan Hughes
Brendan Hughes , also known as "The Dark", was an Irish republican and former Officer Commanding of the Belfast Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army...
MacAirt's Kane Street home doubled as Belfast Brigade headquarters at this early stage in the movement's history.
On 15 April 1971 MacAirt, along with Billy McKee, was arrested by the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
when found in possession of a hand gun. Both men were sentenced under the Explosive Substances Act 1883
Explosive Substances Act 1883
The Explosive Substances Act 1883 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It makes it illegal to use -- or conspire or intend to use -- any explosive substance to cause an explosion likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property, whether or not any explosion actually takes...
and sent to Crumlin Road Gaol. In the prison the two men were recognised as the leaders of the republican prisoners, a role held by Gusty Spence
Gusty Spence
Augustus Andrew "Gusty" Spence was a leader of the Ulster Volunteer Force and a leading loyalist politician. One of the first UVF members to be convicted of murder, Spence was a senior figure in the organisation for over a decade but later renounced violence and joined the Progressive Unionist...
on the loyalist side. MacAirt and McKee co-operated informally with Spence in order to maintain order until they agreed to establish an official Camp Council. The make-up of this group saw MacAirt and McKee representing the PIRA, Spence and an associate identified only as "Robert" representing the Ulster Volunteer Force and Ned McCreery
Ned McCreery
Edward "Ned" McCreery was a Northern Irish loyalist. A leading member of the Ulster Defence Association , he was notorious for the use of torture in his killings...
and James Craig
James Craig (loyalist)
James Pratt "Jim" Craig was a Northern Irish loyalist, who served as a fund-raiser for the Ulster Defence Association and sat on its Inner Council. He also ran a large protection racket from west Belfast's Shankill Road area, where he lived...
as Ulster Defence Association
Ulster Defence Association
The Ulster Defence Association is the largest although not the deadliest loyalist paramilitary and vigilante group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 and undertook a campaign of almost twenty-four years during "The Troubles"...
delegates, with members of the Official IRA
Official IRA
The Official Irish Republican Army or Official IRA is an Irish republican paramilitary group whose goal was to create a "32-county workers' republic" in Ireland. It emerged from a split in the Irish Republican Army in December 1969, shortly after the beginning of "The Troubles"...
and 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....
eventually added.
Later activity
MacAirt was involved in the talks held between republicans and clergymen from various Protestant churches held at Feakle on 12 December 1974. Whilst the talks produced little MacAirt was one of those who maintained contact with the clergymen. Indeed on 19 January 1975 one of the ministers, Rev William Arlow of the Irish Council of Churches, even introduced MacAirt and his ally Jimmy Drumm to British government officials Michael Oatley and James Allan in an attempt to have the republican greivances heard.Although a new generation of leaders emerged in the PIRA and Sinn Féin MacAirt remained an influential veteran. He was close to Danny Morrison and Tom Hartley
Tom Hartley
Tom Hartley is a historian and Irish republican politician.Hartley grew up in the Falls Road area of Belfast and became a republican activist in the late 1960s. In 1970, he was imprisoned in the Crumlin Road gaol for ten months for riotous behaviour; he was again imprisoned in 1978...
and helped to ensure the removal of Seán Caughey
Seán Caughey
Seán Caughey was an Irish republican, and later monarchist, activist.Based in Belfast, Caughey was the secretary of the local branch of the Gaelic League, He was the founding secretary of the Northern Ireland Council for Civil Liberties, on which he represented the "Six County Election...
from the editorship of Republican News in 1975 and his replacement by Morrison.
Death
MacAirt died in 1992 at the age of 70. Sinn FéinSinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
President Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams is an Irish republican politician and Teachta Dála for the constituency of Louth. From 1983 to 1992 and from 1997 to 2011, he was an abstentionist Westminster Member of Parliament for Belfast West. He is the president of Sinn Féin, the second largest political party in Northern...
delivered the graveside oration at his funeral, describing him as "a radical in the Connolly
James Connolly
James Connolly was an Irish republican and socialist leader. He was born in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh, Scotland, to Irish immigrant parents and spoke with a Scottish accent throughout his life. He left school for working life at the age of 11, but became one of the leading Marxist theorists of...
tradition".