Press Release/Preas Ráiteas
Ruairí Ó Brádaigh – a towering figure of Irish
Republicanism
Statement by Des Dalton, President, Republican Sinn
Féin, on the death on June 5 of Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, Patron and former President,
Republican Sinn Féin
Ruairí Ó Brádaigh was a towering figure of Irish
Republicanism in the latter half of the 20th century. He came to embody the
very essence of the Republican tradition, setting the very highest standards of
commitment, duty, honour and loyalty to the cause of Irish freedom.
Since 1950 he served at every level of the Republican
Movement, and from 1956 took on the onerous responsibilities of national
leadership with only a short interval, up to the present day. Ruairí was a man
of immense capability both as a politician and as a soldier. He holds the
unique distinction of serving as President of Sinn Féin, Chief of Staff of the
Irish Republican Army and from 1957 to 1961 as a TD, representing
Longford/Westmeath.
At critical junctures in the history of the Republican
Movement, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, along with his close friend and comrade, the late
Dáithí Ó Conaill, manned the gap against the forces of reformism who sought to
convert a revolutionary movement of national liberation into a mere
constitutional political party, first in 1969/70 and once again in 1986.
For Ruairí the essential principles of Irish freedom
were clear and marked the political course to be followed. He dismissed any
cult of the personality, warning always of the inherent dangers of following
merely the man or woman over the cause of Irish national independence. At a
time when our sense of identity is being steadily eroded, when our people are
discouraged from taking pride in their history or culture Ruairí Ó Brádaigh was
a tireless champion of the Irish language viewing it as the cornerstone of our
unique identity as a nation.
Like Pádraig Mac Piarais he believed in an Ireland that
was: ‘not only free but Gaelic as well; not only Gaelic but free as well’.
As an Irish Republican he believed passionately in
Theobald Wolfe Tone’s vision of substituting the denominations of Protestant,
Catholic and Dissenter with the common name of Irish man and Irish woman.
He played a leading role in formulating the ÉIRE NUA
proposals for a four-province Federal Ireland, which was based on the
principles of true decentralisation of decision-making with full particatpory
democracy involving all sections of the Irish people as trust founders of a New
Ireland. Such a democratic template would provide the Unionist minority with a
New Ireland with real political power and decision-making. He was among the
Republican leaders who met representatives of loyalism and unionism at Feakle,
Co Clare in 1974 and later strongly supported the MacBride/Boal talks, which
were eventually sabotaged by a 26-County Government Minister.
Such was Ruairí’s commitment to the principles of a
non-sectarian and pluralist Ireland that he and Dáithí Ó Conaill stepped down
from the positions of President and Vice President respectively of Sinn Féin
when ÉIRE NUA was dropped as a policy document to further the agenda of a reformist
clique operating within the Republican Movement in the early 1980s.
For Ruairí Ó Brádaigh there could be no temporising on
the issue of British rule in Ireland. Drawing on the lessons of Irish history
he recognised that it constituted the root cause of conflict and injustice for
the Irish people. In opposing the 1998 Stormont Agreement he rightly viewed it
as a flawed document serving only to copper-fasten British Rule while also
institutionalising sectarianism, thereby further deepening the sectarian
divide. Ruairí Ó Brádaigh’s analysis has since been bourne out by a number of
independent studies which have shown an increase in sectarianism in the Six
Counties in the years since 1998. The economically and politically oppressed
and partitioned Ireland is far removed from the vision of a New Ireland, which
inspired Irish Republicans such as Ruairí Ó Brádaigh.
In an introduction to the biography of Ruairí Ó Brádaigh
written by Professor Robert White, the journalist Ed Moloney described Ruairí
as the “last, or one of the last Irish Republicans”. Whilst the tribute was
well intentioned the case is quite different. It is because of the life’s work
of Ruairí Ó Brádaigh that he is not the last Republican but has rather ensured
the continuity of Irish Republicanism, passing on the torch to succeeding
generations.
We in Republican Sinn Féin are proud to remember him as
our President and later our Patron, as a man of great intellect, coupled with
great humanity and empathy for the oppressed both in Ireland and
internationally. We salute his memory and pledge our resolve to honour him by
continuing his work, guided by the same principles and maintaining the same
high standards of integrity, truth and that marked Ruairí Ó Brádaigh as man and
patriot. We extend our profound sympathies to his wife Patsy, and the Ó
Brádaigh family. Ar dheis dé go raibh a anam dílis.
Críoch/Ends
Biography: Ruairí Ó Brádaigh
1932: Born
in Longford.
1950: Joined Sinn Féin
1951: Joined the Irish Republican Army.
1955: OC Arborfield arms raid.
1956: 2 o/c Teeling Column, South Fermanagh.
1957: Elected in Longford-Westmeath Sinn Féin TD to All-Ireland parliament.
1958: Escaped with Dáithí Ó Conaill from Curragh Camp.
1958-9 and 1960-62: IRA Chief of Staff.
1966: Republican candidate in Fermanagh-South Tyrone.
1970-83: President of Sinn Féin.
1987 to date: President of Republican Sinn Féin.
2009-2013: Patron of Republican Sinn Féin.
Married to Patsy, six children: Mait, Ruairí Óg, Conor, Deirdre, Ethne, Colm,
grandchildren and great-grandchild. He was a secondary teacher by
profession.
