Seán MacBride was an Irish Clann na Poblachta politician who served as Minister for External Affairs from 1948 to 1951, Leader of Clann na Poblachta from 1946 to 1965 and Chief of Staff of the IRA from 1936 to 1937. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1947 to 1957.
Seán Mac Eoin was an Irish Fine Gael politician and soldier who served as Minister for Defence briefly in 1951 and from 1954 to 1957, Minister for Justice from 1948 to 1951, and Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces from February 1929 to October 1929. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1921 to 1923, and from 1929 to 1965.
Ruairí Ó Brádaigh was an Irish republican political and military leader. He was Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) from 1958 to 1959 and again from 1960 to 1962, president of Sinn Féin from 1970 to 1983, and president of Republican Sinn Féin from 1987 to 2009.
The IRA Army Council is the decision-making body of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, a paramilitary group dedicated to bringing about independence to the whole island of Ireland and the end of the Union between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. The Council had seven members, said by the British and Irish governments to have included Gerry Adams, the president of Sinn Féin. The Independent Monitoring Commission declared in 2008 that the council was "no longer operational or functional," but that it had not dissolved.
Thomas Bernardine Barry was a prominent guerrilla leader in the Irish Republican Army (IRA) during the Irish War of Independence, serving as the commander of the 3rd West Cork Flying Column. During the Irish Civil War, he was a leader of the Anti-Treaty IRA, and its chief of staff in the 1930s.
Cronin, derived from the Irish surname Ó Cróinín which originated in County Cork, and the Old Irish word crón, meaning saffron-colored. The Cronin family have been prominent in politics and the arts in Ireland, the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom since the nineteenth century.
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.
Seán Russell was an Irish republican who held senior positions in the IRA until the end of the Irish War of Independence, and was chief of staff from c. 1938 to April 1939. It was under Russell's leadership that the IRA began the Sabotage Campaign, in which the group began bombing civil, economic and military infrastructure in the United Kingdom, primarily England, between 1939 and 1940. Following this, Russell actively collaborated with the Germans, personally spending 3 months training in Germany in the use of explosives. Russell died returning to Ireland aboard a Kriegsmarine U-boat following a sudden stomach illness and was subsequently buried at sea.
The border campaign was a guerrilla warfare campaign carried out by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) against targets in Northern Ireland, with the aim of overthrowing British rule there and creating a united Ireland. It was also referred to as the "resistance campaign" by some Irish republican activists. The campaign was a military failure, but for some of its members was justified as it kept the IRA engaged for another generation.
The Irish Republican Army of 1922–1969, an anti-Treaty sub-group of the original Irish Republican Army (1919-1922), fought against the Irish Free State in the Irish Civil War, and its successors up to 1969, when the IRA split again into the Provisional IRA and Official IRA. The original Irish Republican Army fought a guerrilla war against British rule in Ireland in the Irish War of Independence between 1919 and 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 opponents of the Treaty. The anti-Treatyites, sometimes referred to by Free State forces as "Irregulars", continued to use the name "Irish Republican Army" (IRA) or in Irish Óglaigh na hÉireann, as did the organisation in Northern Ireland which originally supported the pro-Treaty side. Óglaigh na hÉireann was also adopted as the name of the pro-Treaty National Army, and remains the official legal title of the Irish Defence Forces.
Dáithí Ó Conaill was an Irish republican, a member of the IRA Army Council of the Provisional IRA, and vice-president of Sinn Féin and Republican Sinn Féin. He was also the first chief of staff of the Continuity IRA, from its founding in 1986 until his death in 1991. He is credited with introducing the car bomb to Northern Ireland.
Cathal Goulding was Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army and the Official IRA.
Seamus Twomey was an Irish republican activist, militant, and twice chief of staff of the Provisional IRA.
The Irish Republican Army was a guerrilla army that fought the Irish War of Independence against Britain from 1919–1921. It saw itself as the legitimate army of the Irish Republic declared in 1919. The Anglo-Irish Treaty, which ended this conflict, was a compromise which abolished the Irish Republic, but created the self-governing Irish Free State, within the British Empire. The IRA was deeply split over whether to accept the Treaty. Some accepted, whereas some rejected not only the Treaty but also the civilian authorities who had accepted it. This attitude eventually led to the outbreak of the Irish Civil War in late June 1922 between pro- and anti-Treaty factions.
Joseph McKelvey was an Irish Republican Army officer who was executed during the Irish Civil War. He participated in the anti-Treaty IRA's repudiation of the authority of the Dáil in March 1922 and was elected to the IRA Army Executive. In April 1922 he helped command the occupation of the Four Courts in defiance of the new Irish Free State. This action helped to spark the civil war, between pro- and anti-Treaty factions. McKelvey was among the most hardline of the anti-Treaty republicans and briefly, in June 1922, became IRA Chief of Staff.
Twomey is an Irish Gaelic clan based most prominently in what is today County Cork. The paternal ancestors of the clan are of the Corcu Loígde; the Twomey clan originated from Donnchadh na Tuaima who was himself a member of the O'Leary family. The Twomey family motto is "fortis undis et armis" which translates to 'strong waves and arms'.
Seán McCool was a prominent Irish Republican and a former chief of staff of the Irish Republican Army. Imprisoned on numerous occasions, both North and South of the border, he embarked on a number of hunger strikes in order to secure release. During the 1930s, McCool was one of the few socialists to remain in the IRA after the Republican Congress's decision to split. He stood as a candidate for the Irish Republican party Clann na Poblachta before leaving them as a result of their decision to go into government with Fine Gael.
Seán Mac Stíofáin was an English-born chief of staff of the Provisional IRA, a position he held between 1969 and 1972.
Seán Harrington (1915–1978) was an Irish republican who later became Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army.
