Seamus Twomey | |
|---|---|
 Photograph of Twomey taken in 1972 during an IRA Press Conference | |
| Native name | Séamus Ó Tuama |
| Nickname | Thumper |
| Born | (1919-11-05)5 November 1919 Lower Falls,Belfast, Ireland |
| Died | 12 September 1989(1989-09-12) (aged 69) Mater Hospital,Dublin, Ireland |
| Buried | |
| Allegiance | Irish Republic |
| Branch | Fianna Éireann(1936–1937) Irish Republican Army(1937–1969) |
| Rank | Volunteer(1937–early 1970s) Officer Commanding(early 1970s–1973) |
| Unit | Belfast Brigade |
| Battles / wars | The Troubles |
| Spouse | Rosie McCotter |
Seamus Twomey (Irish:Séamus Ó Tuama; 5 November 1919 – 12 September 1989[1]) was anIrish republican activist, militant, and twicechief of staff of theProvisional IRA.
Born inBelfast on Marchioness Street in the historic Pound Loney district of theLower Falls.[2] Twomey lived at 6 Sevastopol Street in the Clonard area, also in the Lower Falls. Known as "Thumper" owing to his short temper and habit of banging his fist on tables, he received little education and was abookmaker's (bookie's) 'runner'. Seamus's father was avolunteer in the 1920s.[2] In Belfast he lived comfortably with his wife, Rosie, whom he married in 1946. Together they had sons and daughters.
He began his involvement with the militant youth organisation,Fianna Éireann, in 1936 before joining theIrish Republican Army in 1937.[3] He was interned inNorthern Ireland during the 1940s on the prison shipAl Rawdah and later inCrumlin Road Gaol in Belfast.[2] Rosie McCotter, his wife, was also held prisoner at the women prison,Armagh Jail.[2] He opposed theleft-wing shift ofCathal Goulding in the 1960s, and in 1968, helped set up the breakawayAndersonstown Republican Club (later theRoddy McCorley Society).[4]
In 1969, he was prominent in the establishment of theProvisional IRA.[5] By 1972, he wasOfficer Commanding of theProvisional IRA's Belfast Brigade when it launched its bombing campaign of the city, includingBloody Friday when nine people were killed. During the 1970s, the leadership of the Belfast Brigade of the IRA was largely in the hands of Twomey,Billy McKee andIvor Bell.
In March 1973, Twomey was first appointedIRA Chief of Staff after the arrest ofJoe Cahill. On 1 September 1973, he was arrested by theGarda Síochána in a farmhouse nearCarrickmacross[6] and was replaced after his conviction in an October trial. Three weeks later, on 31 October 1973, the IRA organised thehelicopter escape of Twomey and his fellow IRA membersJ.B. O'Hagan andKevin Mallon, when an active service unithijacked and forced the pilot at gun-point to land thehelicopter in the training yard ofMountjoy Prison.[7] After his escape, he returned to his membership ofIRA's Army Council.
By June/July 1974, Twomey was IRA Chief of Staff for a second time. He took part in theFeakle talks between the IRA and Protestant clergymen in December 1974. In the IRA truce which followed in 1975, Twomey was largely unsupportive and wanted to fight on in what he saw as "one big push to finish it once and for all".[8]
IRA informerSean O'Callaghan claims that on 5 January 1976, Twomey andBrian Keenan gave the go-ahead for the sectarianKingsmill massacre, when 10 unarmedUlster Protestant workmen were executed by the Provisional IRA in retaliation for a rash of loyalist killings of Catholics in the area. It was Keenan's view, O'Callaghan claims, that "The only way to knock the nonsense out of the Prods is to be 10 times more savage".[9]
Twomey was dedicated to paramilitarism as a means of incorporating Northern Ireland into theRepublic of Ireland. In an interview with French television on 11 July 1977, he declared that although the IRA had waged a campaign for seven years at that point, it could fight on for another 70 against the British state in Northern Ireland and in England.[10] Twomey supported thebombing of wealthy civilian targets, which he justified on class lines. On 29 October 1977, for example, a no-warning bomb at an Italian restaurant inMayfair killed one diner and wounded 17 others. Three more people were killed in similar blasts inChelsea and Mayfair the following month. Twomey said: "By hitting Mayfair restaurants, we were hitting the type of person that could bring pressure to bear on the British government".[11]
In December 1977, he was captured inSandycove,Dublin by theGarda Síochána, who had been tipped off by Belgian police about a concealed arms shipment, to be delivered to a bogus company with an address in the area. They swooped on a house in Martello Terrace to discover Twomey outside in his car, wearing his trademark dark glasses. After a high-speed pursuit, he was recaptured in the centre of Dublin. The Gardaí later found documents in his possession outlining proposals for the structural reorganisation of the IRA according to theclandestine cell system. Twomey's arrest ended his tenure as IRA chief of staff as he was imprisoned inPortlaoise Prison until 1982.[12] In the 1986 split overabstentionism, Twomey sided with theGerry Adams leadership and remained with the Provisionals.
After a long illness from a heart condition,[13] Twomey died inMater Hospital in Dublin on 12 September 1989.[3][13] He was buried in the family plot inMilltown Cemetery, Belfast.[14] His funeral was attended by about 2,000 people.[citation needed]
The helicopter touched down in the centre of the compound outside D-Wing, where political prisoners had been exercising. Upon landing, Séamus Twomey, Chief of Staff of the IRA, JB O'Hagan, Quartermaster of the IRA, and Kevin Mallon, an IRA activist since the 1950s campaign, ran forward and boarded the aircraft.
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