Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army explained

Several people are reported to have served as Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army in the organisations bearing that name. Due to the clandestine nature of these organisations, this list is not definitive.

Chiefs of Staff of the Irish Republican Army (1917–1922)

ImageName Assumed positionLeft positionSource
Cathal Brugha27 October 191723 March 1918[1]
Richard Mulcahy23 March 191815 January 1922[2]
Eoin O'Duffy15 January 1922July 1922
From this point on, this lineage diverts to Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces

a. Chairman of the Resident Executive

Chiefs of Staff of the (anti-Treaty) Irish Republican Army (1922–1969)

ImageName Assumed positionLeft positionSource
Liam Lynch (1st time)26 March 192218 June 1922[3]
Joe McKelvey18 June 192230 June 1922[4]
Liam Lynch (2nd time)30 June 192210 April 1923
Frank Aiken20 April 192312 November 1925[5]
Andrew Cooney12 November 1925July 1926[6]
Maurice (Moss) Twomey1926 (acting)
1927 (official)		June 1936[7]
Seán MacBrideJune 19361937[8] [9]
Tom Barry19371937
Mick Fitzpatrick19371938[10]
Seán Russell1938April 1939[11] [12]
Stephen HayesApril 193930 June 1941[13]
Pearse Kelly (aka Paul Kelso)194127 November 1941[14]
Seán HarringtonAft. November 194110 February 1942 [15]
Seán McCool10 February 1942 14 August 1942[16]
March 1942 May 1942[17] [18]
Hugh McAteer19 July 194212 October 1942[19]
Charlie KerinsOctober 194216 June 1944[20]
Position vacant for some months16 June 19441944
Harry White19441945[21]
Patrick Fleming1 March 19451947?[22]
Willie McGuinness19471948?[23]
Tony Magan (1st time)November 19486 July 1957[24]
Richard BurkeJanuary 1957May 1957[25]
Tony Magan (2nd time)May 19576 July 1957 [26]
Seán Cronin (1st time)July 1957 (acting)
11 November 1957 (official) 		October 1958[27]
John Joe McGirlOctober 195824 October 1958[28]
Ruairí Ó Brádaigh (1st time)24 October 1958Late May 1959[29]
Seán Cronin (2nd time)Late May 1959June 1960[30]
Ruairí Ó Brádaigh (2nd time)Summer 19607 September 1962[31]
Cathal Goulding7 September 1962December 1969[32]

At an IRA General Army Convention held at Knockvicar House in Boyle, County Roscommon in December 1969, the IRA split into two factions, the majority Official IRA and the minority Provisional IRA.[33] [34]

Chiefs of Staff of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (1969–2005)

ImageName Assumed positionLeft positionSource
Seán Mac StíofáinDecember 196919 November 1972[35]
Joe CahillNovember 1972March 1973[36]
Seamus Twomey (1st time)March 1973June 1973
Éamonn O'DohertyJune 1973June/July 1974[37]
Seamus Twomey (2nd time)June/July 1974December 1977
Gerry Adams3 December 197718 February 1978[38] [39] [40] [41] [42]
Martin McGuinness1978Autumn 1982
Ivor BellAutumn 1982September 1983
Kevin McKennaSeptember 1983October 1997
Thomas "Slab" MurphyOctober 19971998
Brian Keenan19982002 or May 2008[43] [44]
Unnamed Belfast ResidentMay 2008 (?)Incumbent[45]
a. Some noted Irish and British historians, including Ed Moloney, author of A Secret History of the IRA, have claimed that Gerry Adams has been part of the IRA leadership. Adams has always denied IRA membership, let alone being chief of staff.[46]

b. Although he admitted in his lifetime to IRA membership, he denied ever being Chief of Staff

Chiefs of Staff of the Official Irish Republican Army (1969–present)

ImageName Assumed PositionLeft PositionSource
Cathal GouldingDecember 1969Summer 1976[47]
Sean GarlandSummer 1976[48]

a. Hanley and Millar (2010) wrote: Goulding was "replaced by Garland after an Army Council vote in summer 1976. Long dismissive of the IRA's titles and formal military structure, Garland was reluctant to adopt the title of Chief of Staff; but he was now undoubtedly in charge".

Chiefs of Staff of the Real Irish Republican Army (1997–present)

ImageName Assumed PositionLeft PositionSource
Michael McKevitt19982002[50]
Aidan O'Driscoll[51]

See also

Notes and References

  1. [Aengus Ó Snodaigh]
  2. Maryann Gialanella V, Portrait of a Revolutionary. General Richard Mulcahy and the Founding of the Irish Free State, Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1992.
  3. Meda Ryan, The Real Chief: Liam Lynch, Cork: Mercier, 2005.
  4. Paul V. Walsh, The Irish Civil War, 1922-1923
  5. Henry Boylan, A Dictionary of Irish Biography, Dublin: Gill & Macmillan, 1998.
  6. "Student Radicals ", in: High Ball, February 2002.
  7. Brian Hanley, The IRA: 1926-36, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2002.
  8. https://dib.cambridge.org/viewReadPage.do?articleId=a5109&searchClicked=clicked&quickadvsearch=yes Dictionary of irish Biography
  9. Seán MacBride That Day's Struggle. A Memoir, ed. Caitríona Lawlor, Dublin: Currach Press, 2005.
  10. Book: Hanley, Brian . 2002 . The IRA, 1923-1936 . Dublin . Four Courts Press . 18 .
  11. Book: Bowyer Bell, J.. The Secret Army: The IRA. registration. Transaction Publishers. 1997. 159. 1-56000-901-2.
  12. Book: Coogan, Tim Pat. The I.R.A.. St. Martin's Griffin. 2002. 134. 978-0312294168.
  13. http://www.oireachtas-debates.gov.ie/D/0091/D.0091.194307070012.html Dáil Debates
  14. Book: Thorne, Kathleen . 2019 . Echoes of Their Footsteps . Oregon . Generation Organization . 436 . 978-0-692-04283-0.
  15. The Irish Press, 07 March 1942
  16. Thorne, Pg. 279
  17. [Tim Pat Coogan]
  18. Web site: The IRA Chief of Staff who was "unbought, unconquered, and unpurchasable to the last". Hegarty-Thorne. Kathleen. 25 July 2019. IrishCentral.com. 27 November 2019.
  19. Thorne, Pgs. 297-298
  20. Thorne, Pgs. 301-302
  21. Thorne, Pgs.319-320
  22. J. Bowyer Bell, The Secret Army: The IRA, Somerset: Transaction Publishers, 1997.
  23. J. Bowyer Bell, The Secret Army: The IRA, Somerset: Transaction Publishers, 1997. . See also "Bodenstown: IRA GHQ reorganised", Saoirse, June 1997.
  24. J. Bowyer Bell, The Secret Army: The IRA, Somerset: Transaction Publishers, 1997.
  25. http://www.rsf.ie/saoirse/current/may07.jpg "Arrests, Collaboration, Victimisation"
  26. J. Bowyer Bell, The Secret Army: The IRA, Somerset: Transaction Publishers, 1997. Magan's tenure ended with his arrest in Dublin. The IRA adjutant-general as well as members of the Army Council were also arrested. See Dáil Debates, 6 November 1957.
  27. Robert W. White, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh: The Life and Politics of an Irish Revolutionary, Bloomington/Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2006,, pp. 85–6.
  28. Named as such by prominent republican, Owen Carron, in a letter entitled Deireadh Seachtaine John Joe McGirl, An Phoblacht/Republican News, 31 July 1997. See also: J. Bowyer Bell, The Secret Army: The IRA, Somerset: Transaction Publishers, 1997, p. 322.
  29. By his own admission, see Saoirse interview Revolt in the North 1956-62 . See also: Robert W. White, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh: The Life and Politics of an Irish Revolutionary, Bloomington/Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2006,, p. 89.
  30. Robert W. White, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh: The Life and Politics of an Irish Revolutionary, Bloomington/Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2006,, p. 98.
  31. Robert W. White, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh: The Life and Politics of an Irish Revolutionary, Bloomington/Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2006,, pp. 98–9, 114.
  32. Robert W. White, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh: The Life and Politics of an Irish Revolutionary, Bloomington/Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2006,, pp. 114.
  33. Book: White, Robert. Out of the Ashes: An Oral History of the Provisional Irish Republican Movement. Merrion Press. 2017. 64–65. 9781785370939.
  34. Book: Hanley. Brian. Millar. Scott. The Lost Revolution: The Story of the Official IRA and the Workers' Party. Penguin Books. 2010. 145. 978-0141028453.
  35. Confirmed by Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, see "Outstanding IRA leader and giant of a man in the Republican Movement", and "Seán Mac Stíofáin -- a tribute", Saoirse, June 2001. See also: Ed Moloney, A Secret History of the IRA, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 2003.
  36. Ed Moloney, A Secret History of the IRA, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 2003.
  37. [Ed Moloney]
  38. Book: Bowyer Bell, J.. The Secret Army: The IRA. Transaction Publishers. 1997. 1-56000-901-2. 520.
  39. Book: Bishop, Patrick & Mallie, Eamonn. The Provisional IRA. Corgi Books. 1987. 0-552-13337-X. 315.
  40. Broth of a boy - President Clinton recognizes Sinn Féin. National Review. 24 October 1994. 2007-02-19. dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20081009203611/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n20_v46/ai_15905959. 9 October 2008.
  41. Book: Taylor, Peter. Peter Taylor (journalist). Provos The IRA & Sinn Féin. Bloomsbury Publishing. 1997. 0-7475-3818-2. 201.
  42. Ed Moloney, A Secret History of the IRA, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 2003. . Adams denies he was Chief of Staff at any time. "IRA Expert Ed Moloney to Speak On Campus Nov. 20", Boston Chronicle, 14 November 2002.
  43. News: Cusack. Jim. 30 November 2014 . The Provos and its 'loony chief' who still dictate to SF. Irish Independent. 12 November 2019. It is said he was brought onto the Army Council in the 1990s by Brian Keenan, the hard-line IRA Chief of Staff among whose policies was the genocide of Protestants living in Border areas.
  44. News: . 21 May 2008. Mastermind of IRA bombing campaigns who became the organisation's negotiator over decommissioning.. The Telegraph. 12 November 2019. After the IRA resumed its truce in 1997, Sinn Fein helped negotiate a 1998 peace accord that proposed the total disarmament of the IRA by mid-2000. Keenan, who replaced Thomas "Slab" Murphy as the IRA's chief of staff in 1998, quickly ruled out this prospect, arguing that the group would disarm only in co-operation with a future all-Ireland government...the onset of cancer which forced (Keenan) to step down from the Army Council in 2002..
  45. News: Cusack. Jim. 30 November 2014. The Provos and its 'loony chief' who still dictate to SF. Irish Independent. 12 November 2019. It is understood the current 'Chief' assumed the role on Brian Keenan's death in May 2008 and is very much in his vein of thinking..
  46. http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/rvp/pubaf/chronicle/v11/n14/moloney.html "IRA Expert Ed Moloney to Speak On Campus Nov. 20"
  47. Book: Hanley. Brian. Millar. Scott. The Lost Revolution: The Story of the Official IRA and the Workers' Party. Penguin Books. 2010. 149–150; 332. 978-0141028453.
  48. Book: Hanley. Brian. Millar. Scott. The Lost Revolution: The Story of the Official IRA and the Workers' Party. Penguin Books. 2010. 332 . 978-0141028453.
  49. "CIRA bomb adds to growing crisis in the peace process ", Irish Examiner, 7 July 2000.
  50. Book: Horgan, John . Divided We Stand: The Strategy and Psychology of Ireland's Dissident Terrorists . 2013-03-07 . OUP USA . 978-0-19-977285-8 . 102 . en.
  51. News: Former chief of staff of Real IRA shot and killed in Cork city . 2023-08-28 . The Irish Times . en.

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