Pádraig Oliver McKearney (18 December 1954 – 8 May 1987) was aProvisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) paramilitary. He was killed during aBritish Army ambush at Loughgall, County Armagh in May 1987, aged 32. He had 15 years of service as anIRA Volunteer when he was shot dead atLoughgall, making him one of the most experienced IRA Volunteers ever killed by British forces.[1]
Pádraig McKearney was raised inMoy, County Tyrone, in a staunchlyIrish republican family. Both his grandfathers had fought in theIrish Republican Army during theIrish War of Independence, his maternal grandfather in southCounty Roscommon and his paternal grandfather in eastCounty Tyrone.[2] He was educated at local Catholic schools inCollegeland and Moy, and later went toSt Patrick's Academy, Dungannon.
He joined theProvisional IRA and was first arrested in 1972 on charges of blowing up the post office in Moy. He spent six weeks on remand, but was released due to insufficient evidence. In December 1973 he was arrested again and later sentenced to seven years for possession of a rifle. He was imprisoned inLong Kesh and later inMagilligan prison. During this time, a younger brother, Seán, also an IRA paramilitary, was killed on 13 May 1974.[2][3] He was released in 1977 but was sentenced to 14 years in August 1980 after being caught by the British Army with a loadedsten gun along with another IRA member Gerard O'Callaghan.[4] That same year an older brother,Tommy McKearney, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of an off-dutyUlster Defence Regiment soldier who worked as a postman in 1977,[5] nearly died onhunger strike after refusing food for 53 days. Another brother, Kevin, and an uncle, Jack McKearney, were both murdered by Loyalist paramilitaries in revenge attacks upon the family.[6]
On 25 September 1983 McKearney took part in theMaze Prison escape along with 37 other prisoners. At the beginning of 1984 he rejoined IRA activity in his native East Tyrone with theProvisional IRA East Tyrone Brigade. He advocated the commencement of the "third phase" of the armed struggle, the 'strategic defensive', in which theRoyal Ulster Constabulary,Ulster Defence Regiment andBritish Army would be denied all support in selected areas following repeated attacks on their bases.1 In 1985Patrick Kelly became commander of theProvisional IRA East Tyrone Brigade and it was under his leadership that this strategy was pursued. Remote Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) bases were attacked and destroyed, and building contractors who tried to repair them were targeted and sometimes murdered, as occurred with the attack on theBallygawley police station in December 1985, which killed two policemen, andThe Birches police station in August 1986.[7]
McKearney was shot dead by theSpecial Air Service on 8 May 1987 during an IRA attack that he was taking part in uponLoughgall police station, which also claimed the lives of seven other IRA members.[8] His body was buried at his hometown of Moy.
^1 The "Third Phase" in Provisional IRA thinking represented an escalation of the conflict in Northern Ireland with the eventual aim of using more conventional warfare by taking and holding "liberated zones" along the border. Due to a number of factors, including the loss of experienced activists at Loughgall and theinterception of 120 tonnes of Libyan weaponry aboard theEksund ship, this strategy was never carried out. (See also:Provisional IRA arms importation andProvisional IRA campaign 1969-1997.)
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