Million Little Gods (talk | contribs) Removing unreliable sources, and sources that do not cover what is mentioned in the article. See my talk page. |
2a01:b340:82:4c19:b1b7:e26f:aedf:3ff8 (talk) Fixed transcription Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit |
||
(351 intermediate revisions by more than 100 users not shown) | |||
Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{Short description|Member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army}} |
|||
<!-- Please do not remove or change this AfD message until the issue is settled -->{{#ifeq:{{FULLPAGENAME}}|Special:Undelete| |{{#if:{{{nosubst|}}}|<div style="display:none;">}} {{#ifeq:{{NAMESPACE}}||{{#switch:{{NAMESPACE}}|= |#default={{error:wrong namespace}}<div style="display:none;">}}|{{error:not substituted|AFD}}<div style="display:none;">}}}} {{#if:{{{nosubst|}}}|</div></div>}} |
|||
{{EngvarB|date=October 2013}} |
|||
<div class="boilerplate metadata" id="afd" style="margin: 0 5%; padding: 0 7px 0px 7px; background: #EDF1F1; border: 1px solid #999999; text-align: left; font-size:95%;"> |
|||
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2013}} |
|||
'''This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedia's [[Wikipedia:Deletion policy|deletion policy]][[Template:Afd|.]]'''<br /> |
|||
{{Infobox military person |
|||
You may share your thoughts on the matter at '''[[Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/{{{1|Antoine MacGiolla Bhrighde}}}|this article's entry]]''' on the [[Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion|Articles for deletion]] page.<br /> |
|||
|name= '''Antoine Mac Giolla Bhrighde''' |
|||
Please improve the article if possible, but the article must not be blanked, and this notice must not be removed, until the discussion is closed. For more information, particularly on merging or moving the article during the discussion, read the [[Wikipedia:Guide to deletion|guide to deletion]].<br/> |
|||
|birth_date= {{birth date|1957|08|29|df=yes}} |
|||
---- |
|||
|death_date= {{death date and age|1984|12|02|1957|08|29|df=yes}} |
|||
<small>''[[Template:AfD footer|Steps to list an article for deletion]]: <nowiki>{{</nowiki>subst:afd}} • [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?action=edit&preload=Template:Afd2+starter&editintro=Template:Afd3+starter&title=Wikipedia:Articles+for+deletion/{{PAGENAMEE}} Preloaded debate] ''OR'' <nowiki>{{</nowiki>subst:afd2|pg={{PAGENAME}}|cat=|text=}} <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> • <nowiki>{{</nowiki>subst:afd3|pg={{PAGENAME}}}} [{{SERVER}}{{localurl:Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Log/{{CURRENTYEAR}}_{{CURRENTMONTHNAMEGEN}}_{{CURRENTDAY}}|action=edit}} log] |
|||
|birth_place= [[Desertmartin]], [[County Londonderry]], Northern Ireland |
|||
</small></div> |
|||
|death_place= [[Kesh, County Fermanagh]], Northern Ireland |
|||
{{#ifeq:{{NAMESPACE}}||{{#switch:{{NAMESPACE}}|= |#default=</div>}}|</div>}} |
|||
|caption= |
|||
{{{category|[[Category:Articles for deletion]]}}} |
|||
|nickname= |
|||
<!-- End of AfD message, feel free to edit beyond this point --> |
|||
|allegiance= [[Provisional Irish Republican Army]] |
|||
'''Antoine MacGiolla Bhrighde''' (([[English language|English]] '''Tony''' or '''Anthony MacBride''' (also mispelt [[McBride]]), born [[29 August|August 29]] [[1957]] – [[2 December|December 2]] [[1984]]), was a [[Provisional Irish Republican Army]] member from Desertmartin, [[County Londonderry]], [[Northern Ireland]]. He was shot and killed in an armed confrontation with British troops in 1984.<ref>[http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/sutton/chron/1984.html CAIN Index of Deaths]</ref><ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,3967742-99819,00.html She said too much]</ref> |
|||
|serviceyears= – 1984 |
|||
|rank= |
|||
|commands= |
|||
|unit= |
|||
|battles= [[The Troubles]] |
|||
|awards= |
|||
|laterwork= |
|||
}} |
|||
'''Antoine Mac Giolla Bhrighde''' ({{IPA-ga|mˠək ˈɟɪl̪ˠə ˈvʲɾʲiːdʲə|lang}} 29 August 1957 – 2 December 1984), English '''Tony''' or '''Anthony MacBride''' (also misspelled ''McBride''), was a [[Provisional Irish Republican Army]] (IRA) [[Volunteer (Irish republican)|volunteer]] from [[Desertmartin]], [[County Londonderry]], Northern Ireland.<ref name="Tírghrá">{{cite book | title = Tírghrá | publisher = National Commemoration Centre | year = 2002 | isbn = 0-9542946-0-2 | page = 265}}</ref> He was shot dead by the British Army in 1984 whilst engaged in an attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary.<ref name="s84">{{cite web | title = CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths | author = Malcolm Sutton | url = http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/sutton/chron/1984.html | publisher = [[CAIN]] | access-date = 29 May 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | title = She said too much | author = Tony Geraghty | url = http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,140752,00.html | newspaper = [[The Guardian]] | date = 26 February 2000 | access-date = 29 May 2007}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref> |
|||
==Background== |
==Background== |
||
Mac Giolla Bhrighde was the eldest son of Frank and Nora MacBride.<ref name="Tírghrá"/> He had two sisters, Marie and Patricia and three brothers, Damian, Lughaidh and [[Oistín MacBride|Oistín]]. |
|||
⚫ | |||
⚫ | The MacBride family moved from their South Londonderry home to the Knock Road, [[Belfast]], in 1964. It was then that Mac Giolla Bhrighde was introduced to [[Physical force Irish republicanism|physical force republicanism]] by his maternal grandmother, also called Nora, who was involved in the [[Irish War of Independence]] in the 1920s.<ref name="Tírghrá"/> |
||
⚫ | The MacBride family later moved to Killowen Street, which is located in a predominantly [[ |
||
⚫ | The MacBride family later moved to Killowen Street, which is located in a predominantly [[Ulster loyalism|loyalist]] area of east Belfast. The family home was subjected to a number of attacks from loyalists. The attacks came in the form of window breaking and an attempted bombing but culminated in 1972 with the shooting of Mac Giolla Bhrighde and his father Frank.<ref name="Tírghrá"/> |
||
==Military career== |
|||
⚫ | Immediately after the shooting the family moved to [[Newtownards]], [[County Down]] and in the mid |
||
In May 1972, two loyalist gunmen called to the MacBride family's door and Nora MacBride, who was carrying a baby at the time, went to answer the door. The men duped Mrs. MacBride into opening the door by stating that they were looking for Frank, a building contractor, and were seeking work. When the door was opened the gunmen then saw Frank coming down the narrow hallway to see who was at the door. They opened fire shooting Frank in the shoulder, hand and thighs, then Antoine came out from a side room to protect his father and was shot in the leg. Frank MacBride was hit by 12 bullets and never recovered from the attack, dying 17 months later.<ref>{{cite news | title = Four Derry Volunteers killed in action – Remembering the Past | author = Shane Mac Thomáis | url = http://www.anphoblacht.com/news/detail/7677 | newspaper = [[An Phoblacht]] | date = 2 December 2004 | access-date = 29 May 2007}}</ref><ref name="ir">{{cite web|title=Family's hurt at IRA monument |url=http://www.impartialreporter.com/archive/2002-03-21/news/story3281.html |publisher=[[Impartial Reporter]] |date=21 March 2002 |access-date=29 May 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928055521/http://www.impartialreporter.com/archive/2002-03-21/news/story3281.html |archive-date=28 September 2007 |url-status=dead |df=dmy }}</ref><ref name="murray">{{cite book | last = Murray | first = Raymond | title = The SAS in Ireland | publisher = The Mercier Press | year = 1993 | pages = 320–321 | isbn = 0-85342-991-X}}</ref> |
|||
⚫ | |||
Whilst seriving in the Irish Army, MacGiolla Bhrighde also became a [[Volunteer (republican)|Volunteer]] in the South Derry Brigade of the [[Provisional Irish Republican Army]]. He was involved in a number of of operations as part of an [[ASU|Active Service Unit]] which operated throughout the rural [[County Londonderry]] area. |
|||
== |
==Irish Army== |
||
⚫ | Immediately after the shooting the family moved to [[Newtownards]], [[County Down]], and in the mid-1970s Mac Giolla Bhrighde left [[Northern Ireland]] to join the [[Irish Army]] in the [[Republic of Ireland]]. The McBride family then moved again, this time returning to their native [[County Londonderry]]. Mac Giolla Bhrighde served in the Irish Army for less than a year before being court-martialed for desertion and was dishonourably discharged.<ref name="murray"/> |
||
In [[1979]], while on leave from the Irish Army and secretly holding dual members of the the [[PIRA]] and the [[Irish Army]], MacGiolla Bhrighde was captured by [[RUC]] officers while attempting to smuggle weapons into Northern Ireland. He was detained at [[Strabane]] RUC barracks and was later imprisoned for three years for this operation.<ref>[A Secret History of the IRA'', [[Ed Moloney]], 2002. 9PB) ISBN 0-393-32502-4 (HB) ISBN 0-71-399665-X]</ref> |
|||
⚫ | |||
===Hard line republicanism=== |
|||
After dismissal from the [[Irish Army]], Mac Giolla Bhrighde joined the South Derry Brigade of the IRA, and was active in rural areas of [[County Londonderry]]. In 1979 he was stopped by [[Royal Ulster Constabulary]] officers near [[Magherafelt]] while in possession of a rifle, and was detained at [[Strabane]] police station, being subsequently imprisoned for three years.<ref name="murray"/> |
|||
MacGiolla Bhrighde, according to PIRA sources quoted by journalist [[Ed Moloney]] was noted for his hard line militarist republicanism. He is reputed to have backed a plan to form full time guerrilla units or "flying columns" based in the Republic, which would carry out four or five large scale attacks in the north a year. |
|||
He was noted for his hard line militarism in the early 1980s, and supported a strategy of forming full-time IRA guerrilla units or [[flying column]]s based in the Republic, which would carry out four or five large-scale attacks across the border into [[Northern Ireland]] a year, retreating back across the border into the Republic of Ireland after each attack, to deny British Forces the chance for fully engaging them. |
|||
This |
This strategy was espoused by the militant [[Provisional IRA East Tyrone Brigade]] led by [[Padraig McKearney]] and [[Jim Lynagh]], who wanted an escalation of the conflict to what they termed [[total war]]. They were opposed by [[Kevin McKenna (Irish republican)|Kevin McKenna]], the IRA Chief of Staff, and by the republican leadership based around [[Gerry Adams]], on the grounds that actions of that scale were too big a risk and unsustainable. The IRA leadership wanted a smaller scale campaign of attrition, supplemented by political campaigning by [[Sinn Féin]].<ref name="em">{{cite book | last = Moloney | first = Ed | author-link = Ed Moloney | title = A Secret History of the IRA | publisher = [[Penguin Books]] | year = 2002 | pages = 313–314 | isbn = 0-14-101041-X}}</ref> |
||
===Norwegian link=== |
===Norwegian link=== |
||
After his release from prison Mac Giolla Bhrighde, who had made a number of friends and contacts in [[Norway]], became involved in providing information for the [[Irish republican]] cause throughout [[Scandinavia]].<ref name="Tírghrá"/><ref name="tpc">{{cite book | last = Coogan | first = Tim | author-link = Tim Pat Coogan | title = The I.R.A. | publisher = [[HarperCollins]] | year = 2000 | isbn = 0-00-653155-5 | page = [https://archive.org/details/ira00timp/page/530 530] | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/ira00timp/page/530 }}</ref> |
|||
==Kesh ambush and death== |
==Kesh ambush and death== |
||
After returning from a trip to Norway, in the early hours of Sunday morning on 2 December 1984 Mac Giolla Bhrighde and [[Ciaran Fleming]] stole a [[Toyota]] van in [[Pettigo]], [[County Donegal]], in the Republic of Ireland. The van was then loaded with 9 beer kegs, each containing 100 lbs of low explosives, which they drove across the border into [[Northern Ireland]] to [[Kesh, County Fermanagh|Kesh]], a village in the north of [[County Fermanagh]]. At the Drumrush Lodge Restaurant, just outside Kesh, they planted a landmine in a lane leading to the restaurant and wired up a device which was connected to an observation point. Having set this ambush, a hoax call was made to the Royal Ulster Constabulary to lure the [[British Army]] to the restaurant on the pretence that there was a firebomb planted within it. After a while Mac Giolla Bhrighde saw a Royal Ulster Constabulary police vehicle approaching the restaurant, and gave the detonation code word "one", however, on switching the electric trigger the mine failed to detonate. There was another car parked in the car park which Mac Giolla Bhrighde believed contained civilians, and he left the stolen van from which he was observing to warn them to leave the area.<ref name="mcnab">{{cite book | last = McNab | first = Andy | author-link = Andy McNab | title = Immediate Action | publisher = Corgi Adult | year = 1996 | pages = 225–233 | isbn = 0-552-14276-X}}</ref> |
|||
MacGiolla Bhrighde observed a [[RUC]] patrol car approaching the restaurant and gave the detonation code word "one", however, the mine failed to explode. There was another car parked in the car park which MacGiolla Bhrighde believed to contain civilians, he got out of the van from which he was observing the scene to warn the civilian car to leave the area.<ref>["Immediate Action", [[Andy McNab]] PB) ISBN 0-55214-276-X]</ref> |
|||
===Conflicting accounts of his death=== |
===Conflicting accounts of his death=== |
||
According to the republican sources, when he approached the car |
According to the republican sources, when he approached the car two [[Special Air Service]] (SAS) soldiers got out and ordered him to halt and drop his gun. Mac Giolla Bhrighde, who was unarmed, informed the SAS of this and then one of the SAS men stepped forward and shot him on his left side. After which he was then handcuffed and shot dead.<ref name="Tírghrá"/><ref>{{cite book | last = Collins | first = Frank | title = Baptism of Fire: The Astonishing True Story of a Man of God | publisher = Corgi | year = 1998 | isbn = 0-552-14582-3}}</ref> However, according to [[Conflict Archive on the Internet|CAIN]], there was a gun battle at the scene of the attempted bombing between a number of IRA men and British troops, in which Mac Giolla Bhrighde was killed in the exchange of fire. A British Army soldier, [[Sergeant]] [[Alistair Slater|Al Slater]], of the [[Special Air Service]] was killed in the fire-fight. [[Charles "Nish" Bruce]] served with [[Alistair Slater|Al Slater]] on this operation. His autobiography, ''Freefall'', under the pseudonym ''Tom Read'', accounts in detail the exchange of fire and the respective deaths of both Slater and Mac Giolla Bhrighde.<ref>Tom Read, Freefall, Pages 158–166 (Little Brown, Edition 1, 1998). {{ISBN|0-316-64303-3}}.</ref> Mac Giolla Bhrighde's companion [[Ciarán Fleming]] drowned in the swollen Bannagh River as he fled the scene attempting to escape Crown forces pursuit.<ref name="s84"/><ref name="mcnab"/><ref>''The SAS in Ireland'', p. 276.</ref> |
||
The British Army officially listed Slater as a member of the [[Parachute Regiment (United Kingdom)|Parachute Regiment]], however, an obituary appeared in the SAS magazine, ''Mars & Minerva'', stating that Slater was a member of 7 Troop (Free Fall) 'B' Squadron of the SAS.<ref>''Mars & Minerva'', Special Air Service Regimental Journal Magazine, Issue 7, Volume 2 1995</ref> |
|||
However, according to [[Conflict Archive on the Internet|CAIN]], there was a gun battle at the scene of the attempted bombing, between the a number of PIRA men and British troops in which Mac Giolla Bhrighde was killed. British soldier Alistair Slater was also killed in the exchange of fire and MacGiolla Bhrighde's companion [[Kieran Fleming]] was drowned in the swolen Bannagh River as he tried to get away..<ref>["Immediate Action", [[Andy McNab]] PB) ISBN 0-55214-276-X]</ref><ref>[http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/sutton/chron/1984.html CAIN]</ref> |
|||
== |
==Memorial== |
||
In 2002 |
In 2002 a controversy occurred when a memorial to Mac Giolla Bhrighde, Fleming and [[Joe MacManus]] was sited close to the place where [[Protestant]] workmen William Hassard and Frederick Love were killed by the IRA in 1988.<ref name="ir"/><ref>{{cite news|title=Northern News |author=Aileen McGurk |url=http://www.emigrant.ie/article.asp?iCategoryID=177&iArticleID=5892 |newspaper=The Irish Emigrant |date=22 July 2002 |access-date=30 May 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927004701/http://www.emigrant.ie/article.asp?iCategoryID=177&iArticleID=5892 |archive-date=27 September 2007 |url-status=dead |df=dmy }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | title = Republicans make conciliatory move over IRA memorial | author = Rosie Cowan | url = https://www.theguardian.com/uk_news/story/0,3604,758714,00.html | newspaper = The Guardian | date = 20 July 2002 | access-date = 29 May 2007}}</ref> A Sinn Féin spokesman stated that "The families of Ciaran Fleming, Joseph McManus and Antoine Mac Giolla Bhrighde, the three IRA men commemorated by the monument, had given the go-ahead for the structure to be moved".<ref>{{cite web|title=Family's relief at plans to remove IRA monument |url=http://www.impartialreporter.com/archive/2002-03-21/news/story3281.html |publisher=Impartial Reporter |date=25 July 2002 |access-date=30 May 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928055521/http://www.impartialreporter.com/archive/2002-03-21/news/story3281.html |archive-date=28 September 2007 |url-status=dead |df=dmy }}</ref> |
||
==Legacy== |
|||
A Sinn Fein spokesman stated that "The families of [[Ciaran Fleming]], [[Joseph McManus]] and Antoine MacGiolla Bhrighde, the three IRA men commemorated by the monument, had given the go-ahead for the structure to be moved".<ref>[http://www.impartialreporter.com/archive/2002-07-25/news/story4021.html Family’s relief at plans to remove IRA monument]</ref> |
|||
The [[Republican Sinn Féin]] party branch in Glenade, [[County Leitrim]] is known as the ''Kieran Fleming/Tony McBride Cumann'' after Kieran Fleming and Antoine Mac Giolla Bhrighde.<ref>{{cite web | title = Letitia Branley | url = http://www.iol.ie/~saoirse/1999/oct99/saoirse5.htm | publisher = SAOIRSE Irish Freedom | date = October 1999 | access-date = 30 May 2007 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304200726/http://www.iol.ie/~saoirse/1999/oct99/saoirse5.htm | archive-date = 4 March 2016 | url-status = dead }}</ref> |
|||
== |
==See also== |
||
The [[Republican Sinn Fein]] party branch in Glenade, [[County Leitrim]] is named Kieran Fleming/Tony McBride Cumann after Kieran Fleming and Antoine MacGiolla Bhrighde. |
|||
On [[January 29]], [[2007]], Luighaidan MacGiolla Bhrighde, the younger brother of Antoine MacGiolla Bhrighde is a current member of Sinn Fein and voted against giving the leadership the power to participate in the province's policing and justice structures at the extraordinary conference, or Ard Fheis, in Dublin.<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,,2001019,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=1 Historic vote ends Sinn Féin's long battle with the police service in Northern Ireland]</ref> |
|||
⚫ | |||
<references/> |
|||
== See also == |
|||
*[[The Troubles in Kesh]] |
*[[The Troubles in Kesh]] |
||
{{PIRA}} |
|||
⚫ | |||
⚫ | |||
{{Reflist}} |
|||
⚫ | |||
[[Category:Northern Irish Roman Catholics|Macgiolla Bhrighde, Antoine]] |
|||
⚫ | |||
[[Category:People from County Londonderry|Macgiolla Bhrighde, Antoine]] |
|||
⚫ | |||
⚫ | |||
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mac Giolla Bhrighde, Antoine}} |
|||
{{NI-bio-stub}} |
|||
⚫ | |||
{{paramilitary-bio-stub}} |
|||
⚫ | |||
[[Category:Deaths by firearm in Northern Ireland]] |
|||
[[Category:Irish Army soldiers]] |
|||
[[Category:Paramilitaries from Belfast]] |
|||
⚫ | |||
⚫ | |||
⚫ | |||
[[Category:Republicans imprisoned during the Northern Ireland conflict]] |
Revision as of 17:00, 13 October 2023
Antoine Mac Giolla Bhrighde | |
---|---|
Born | Desertmartin, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland | 29 August 1957
Died | 2 December 1984 Kesh, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland | (aged 27)
Allegiance | Provisional Irish Republican Army |
Years of service | – 1984 |
Battles/wars | The Troubles |
Antoine Mac Giolla Bhrighde (Irish: [mˠək ˈɟɪl̪ˠə ˈvʲɾʲiːdʲə] 29 August 1957 – 2 December 1984), English Tony or Anthony MacBride (also misspelled McBride), was a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteer from Desertmartin, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland.[1] He was shot dead by the British Army in 1984 whilst engaged in an attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary.[2][3]
Background
Mac Giolla Bhrighde was the eldest son of Frank and Nora MacBride.[1] He had two sisters, Marie and Patricia and three brothers, Damian, Lughaidh and Oistín.
The MacBride family moved from their South Londonderry home to the Knock Road, Belfast, in 1964. It was then that Mac Giolla Bhrighde was introduced to physical force republicanism by his maternal grandmother, also called Nora, who was involved in the Irish War of Independence in the 1920s.[1]
The MacBride family later moved to Killowen Street, which is located in a predominantly loyalist area of east Belfast. The family home was subjected to a number of attacks from loyalists. The attacks came in the form of window breaking and an attempted bombing but culminated in 1972 with the shooting of Mac Giolla Bhrighde and his father Frank.[1]
In May 1972, two loyalist gunmen called to the MacBride family's door and Nora MacBride, who was carrying a baby at the time, went to answer the door. The men duped Mrs. MacBride into opening the door by stating that they were looking for Frank, a building contractor, and were seeking work. When the door was opened the gunmen then saw Frank coming down the narrow hallway to see who was at the door. They opened fire shooting Frank in the shoulder, hand and thighs, then Antoine came out from a side room to protect his father and was shot in the leg. Frank MacBride was hit by 12 bullets and never recovered from the attack, dying 17 months later.[4][5][6]
Irish Army
Immediately after the shooting the family moved to Newtownards, County Down, and in the mid-1970s Mac Giolla Bhrighde left Northern Ireland to join the Irish Army in the Republic of Ireland. The McBride family then moved again, this time returning to their native County Londonderry. Mac Giolla Bhrighde served in the Irish Army for less than a year before being court-martialed for desertion and was dishonourably discharged.[6]
Paramilitary activities
After dismissal from the Irish Army, Mac Giolla Bhrighde joined the South Derry Brigade of the IRA, and was active in rural areas of County Londonderry. In 1979 he was stopped by Royal Ulster Constabulary officers near Magherafelt while in possession of a rifle, and was detained at Strabane police station, being subsequently imprisoned for three years.[6]
He was noted for his hard line militarism in the early 1980s, and supported a strategy of forming full-time IRA guerrilla units or flying columns based in the Republic, which would carry out four or five large-scale attacks across the border into Northern Ireland a year, retreating back across the border into the Republic of Ireland after each attack, to deny British Forces the chance for fully engaging them. This strategy was espoused by the militant Provisional IRA East Tyrone Brigade led by Padraig McKearney and Jim Lynagh, who wanted an escalation of the conflict to what they termed total war. They were opposed by Kevin McKenna, the IRA Chief of Staff, and by the republican leadership based around Gerry Adams, on the grounds that actions of that scale were too big a risk and unsustainable. The IRA leadership wanted a smaller scale campaign of attrition, supplemented by political campaigning by Sinn Féin.[7]
Norwegian link
After his release from prison Mac Giolla Bhrighde, who had made a number of friends and contacts in Norway, became involved in providing information for the Irish republican cause throughout Scandinavia.[1][8]
Kesh ambush and death
After returning from a trip to Norway, in the early hours of Sunday morning on 2 December 1984 Mac Giolla Bhrighde and Ciaran Fleming stole a Toyota van in Pettigo, County Donegal, in the Republic of Ireland. The van was then loaded with 9 beer kegs, each containing 100 lbs of low explosives, which they drove across the border into Northern Ireland to Kesh, a village in the north of County Fermanagh. At the Drumrush Lodge Restaurant, just outside Kesh, they planted a landmine in a lane leading to the restaurant and wired up a device which was connected to an observation point. Having set this ambush, a hoax call was made to the Royal Ulster Constabulary to lure the British Army to the restaurant on the pretence that there was a firebomb planted within it. After a while Mac Giolla Bhrighde saw a Royal Ulster Constabulary police vehicle approaching the restaurant, and gave the detonation code word "one", however, on switching the electric trigger the mine failed to detonate. There was another car parked in the car park which Mac Giolla Bhrighde believed contained civilians, and he left the stolen van from which he was observing to warn them to leave the area.[9]
Conflicting accounts of his death
According to the republican sources, when he approached the car two Special Air Service (SAS) soldiers got out and ordered him to halt and drop his gun. Mac Giolla Bhrighde, who was unarmed, informed the SAS of this and then one of the SAS men stepped forward and shot him on his left side. After which he was then handcuffed and shot dead.[1][10] However, according to CAIN, there was a gun battle at the scene of the attempted bombing between a number of IRA men and British troops, in which Mac Giolla Bhrighde was killed in the exchange of fire. A British Army soldier, Sergeant Al Slater, of the Special Air Service was killed in the fire-fight. Charles "Nish" Bruce served with Al Slater on this operation. His autobiography, Freefall, under the pseudonym Tom Read, accounts in detail the exchange of fire and the respective deaths of both Slater and Mac Giolla Bhrighde.[11] Mac Giolla Bhrighde's companion Ciarán Fleming drowned in the swollen Bannagh River as he fled the scene attempting to escape Crown forces pursuit.[2][9][12]
The British Army officially listed Slater as a member of the Parachute Regiment, however, an obituary appeared in the SAS magazine, Mars & Minerva, stating that Slater was a member of 7 Troop (Free Fall) 'B' Squadron of the SAS.[13]
Memorial
In 2002 a controversy occurred when a memorial to Mac Giolla Bhrighde, Fleming and Joe MacManus was sited close to the place where Protestant workmen William Hassard and Frederick Love were killed by the IRA in 1988.[5][14][15] A Sinn Féin spokesman stated that "The families of Ciaran Fleming, Joseph McManus and Antoine Mac Giolla Bhrighde, the three IRA men commemorated by the monument, had given the go-ahead for the structure to be moved".[16]
Legacy
The Republican Sinn Féin party branch in Glenade, County Leitrim is known as the Kieran Fleming/Tony McBride Cumann after Kieran Fleming and Antoine Mac Giolla Bhrighde.[17]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f Tírghrá. National Commemoration Centre. 2002. p. 265. ISBN 0-9542946-0-2.
- ^ a b Malcolm Sutton. "CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths". CAIN. Retrieved 29 May 2007.
- ^ Tony Geraghty (26 February 2000). "She said too much". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 May 2007. [dead link]
- ^ Shane Mac Thomáis (2 December 2004). "Four Derry Volunteers killed in action – Remembering the Past". An Phoblacht. Retrieved 29 May 2007.
- ^ a b "Family's hurt at IRA monument". Impartial Reporter. 21 March 2002. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 29 May 2007.
- ^ a b c Murray, Raymond (1993). The SAS in Ireland. The Mercier Press. pp. 320–321. ISBN 0-85342-991-X.
- ^ Moloney, Ed (2002). A Secret History of the IRA. Penguin Books. pp. 313–314. ISBN 0-14-101041-X.
- ^ Coogan, Tim (2000). The I.R.A.. HarperCollins. p. 530. ISBN 0-00-653155-5.
- ^ a b McNab, Andy (1996). Immediate Action. Corgi Adult. pp. 225–233. ISBN 0-552-14276-X.
- ^ Collins, Frank (1998). Baptism of Fire: The Astonishing True Story of a Man of God. Corgi. ISBN 0-552-14582-3.
- ^ Tom Read, Freefall, Pages 158–166 (Little Brown, Edition 1, 1998). ISBN 0-316-64303-3.
- ^ The SAS in Ireland, p. 276.
- ^ Mars & Minerva, Special Air Service Regimental Journal Magazine, Issue 7, Volume 2 1995
- ^ Aileen McGurk (22 July 2002). "Northern News". The Irish Emigrant. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 30 May 2007.
- ^ Rosie Cowan (20 July 2002). "Republicans make conciliatory move over IRA memorial". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 May 2007.
- ^ "Family's relief at plans to remove IRA monument". Impartial Reporter. 25 July 2002. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 30 May 2007.
- ^ "Letitia Branley". SAOIRSE Irish Freedom. October 1999. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 30 May 2007.