Tomás Mac Giolla | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Teachta Dála | |
| In office November 1982 – November 1992 | |
| Constituency | Dublin West |
| Lord Mayor of Dublin | |
| In office 4 June 1993 – 9 June 1994 | |
| Preceded by | Gay Mitchell |
| Succeeded by | John Gormley |
| Leader of the Workers' Party | |
| In office 14 October 1962 – 11 February 1988 | |
| Preceded by | New office |
| Succeeded by | Proinsias De Rossa |
| President of Sinn Féin | |
| In office 9 March 1962 – 30 February 1970 | |
| Preceded by | Paddy McLogan |
| Succeeded by | Ruairí Ó Brádaigh |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Thomas Gill (1924-01-25)25 January 1924 Nenagh,County Tipperary, Ireland |
| Died | 4 February 2010(2010-02-04) (aged 86) Beaumont, Dublin, Ireland |
| Political party | Workers' Party |
| Other political affiliations | Sinn Féin(1950–1970) |
| Spouse | |
| Relations | T. P. Gill (uncle) |
| Education | St. Flannan's College |
| Alma mater | University College Dublin |
Tomás Mac Giolla (Irish pronunciation:[ˈt̪ˠʊmˠaːsˠmˠəkˈɟɪl̪ˠə]; bornThomas Gill; 25 January 1924 – 4 February 2010) was an IrishWorkers' Party politician who served asLord Mayor of Dublin from 1993 to 1994,Leader of the Workers' Party from 1962 to 1988 andPresident of Sinn Féin from 1962 to 1970. He served as aTeachta Dála (TD) for theDublin West constituency from 1982 to 1992.[1]
He was born Thomas Gill inNenagh,County Tipperary.[2] His uncleT. P. Gill was aMember of Parliament (MP) and member of theIrish Parliamentary Party ofCharles Stewart Parnell. Tomás's father Robert Paul Gill, an engineer and architect,[3] also stood unsuccessfully for election on a number of occasions. His mother was Mary Hourigan.
Mac Giolla was educated at the local national school in Nenagh before completing his secondary education atSt. Flannan's College,Ennis,County Clare. While at St. Flannan's, he changed to using the Irish language version of his name. He won a scholarship toUniversity College Dublin where he qualified with aBachelor of Arts degree, followed by a degree in Commerce.
A qualified Accountant, Mac Giolla was employed by the IrishElectricity Supply Board (ESB) from 1947 until he went into full-time politics in 1977.
In his early life Mac Giolla was an activerepublican. He joinedSinn Féin and theIrish Republican Army (IRA) around 1950. He was interned by thegovernment of Ireland during the 1956–62 IRAborder campaign. He also served a number of prison sentences inMountjoy Prison, Dublin.
In 1961, he married May McLoughlin who was also an active member of Sinn Féin as well as ofCumann na mBan, the women's section of the IRA. She died on 24 March 2018.[4]
At the1961 general election, Mac Giolla unsuccessfully contested theTipperary North constituency forSinn Féin.
In 1962, he becamepresident of Sinn Féin, and was part of the leadership that moved the party to the left during the 1960s.
In 1970, Sinn Féin split and Mac Giolla remained leader ofOfficial Sinn Féin, with a faction led byRuairí Ó Brádaigh initially known as Provisional Sinn Féin. Initially, Mac Giolla's approach to his former comrades in the Provisional movement was one of conciliation, though over time, bitterness emerged. He was firm in his belief that the rise of the Provisionals was largely due to support from elements within Fianna Fáil. As violence in Northern Ireland escalated, Mac Giolla reiterated that theOfficial IRA (OIRA) favoured mass popular resistance, but would resort to "retaliatory" military action when deemed necessary. In contrast, he condemned the Provisionals' armed struggle, labelling it both counterproductive and sectarian. This stance sometimes led to confusion.[2]
After the OIRA killed Unionist Northern Ireland SenatorJohn Barnhill, Mac Giolla initially blamed British agents. However, the Officials later admitted and defended the operation as a necessary retaliation against repression. FollowingBloody Sunday on 30 January 1972 the OIRA bombed the headquarters of theParachute Regiment. This resulted in the deaths of seven people, including five female cleaners. Mac Giolla expressed shock at the attack and attributed it to an ineffective bomb maker. The question of how far the OIRA should go in using armed force was one of the issues that led to the ceasefire in May 1972, which Mac Giolla fully supported. The Officials argued that the violence was deepening sectarian divisions and preventing unity between workers. In a speech at Carrickmore, County Tyrone, in July 1972, Mac Giolla stated that "the Irish revolution … demands the support of the Protestant working class," asserting that the violence of August 1969 had been carried out not by ordinary Protestants against Catholics, but by the B Specials and some members of theOrange Order. He also claimed that the Provisional IRA's campaign was pushing Protestants towards reaction. By 1978, Mac Giolla was asserting that "the Provos are engaged in a war against the Irish people … can anyone say that the atrocities of the infamous Black and Tans were any worse?" This sharp criticism of the Provisional IRA became a defining feature of Mac Giolla's rhetoric and that of his party.[2]
In 1969 he attended and spoke at a march in opposition to the Vietnam War in Dublin.[5]
In November 1973 Tomás Mac Giolla addressed theWorld Congress of Peace Forces in Moscow, at a time when the Officials were becoming increasingly associated with Eastern Bloc socialism. While Mac Giolla had previously criticised the Soviet system, he never fully explained when or why his stance changed. He later suggested that Cuba would be a more suitable model for Ireland than the Eastern European states. Despite his prominent role, Mac Giolla was not the primary architect of these ideological shifts within the party. His more traditional republican outlook continued to cause unease among some members. As president of Official Sinn Féin, however, Mac Giolla played a crucial role in steering the party towards electoral politics, a process that was further solidified in 1977 when the party added "The Workers' Party" to its name. His popularity among the rank and file helped ease concerns within the movement, particularly for those who viewed the name change as a further departure from its republican roots. In 1982 the party became simply theWorkers' Party.[2]
Mac Giolla was elected toDublin City Council representing theBallyfermotlocal electoral area in 1979 and at every subsequent local election until he retired from the council in 1997.
In theNovember 1982 general election Mac Giolla was elected toDáil Éireann for his party.[6] In 1988, he stepped down as party leader and was succeeded byProinsias De Rossa. He served asLord Mayor of Dublin from 1993 to 1994,[7] the first Workers' Party councillor to serve as Lord Mayor, and remained a member ofDublin Corporation until 1998.
While president he was regarded as a mediator between theMarxist–Leninist wing headed bySeán Garland and thesocial democratic wing of Proinsias De Rossa. At the 1992 specialArdfheis he voted for the motion to abandondemocratic centralism and to re-constitute the party much as theItalian Communist Party became theDemocratic Party of the Left.[citation needed] However the motion failed to reach the required two-thirds majority and after the departure of six Workers' Party TDs led by De Rossa to form the newDemocratic Left party in 1992, Mac Giolla was the sole member of the Workers' Party in theDáil. He lost his Dáil seat at thegeneral election later that year by a margin of just 59 votes toLiam Lawlor ofFianna Fáil.[6] In 1999, Mac Giolla wrote to the chairman of theFlood Tribunal calling for an investigation into revelations that former Dublin Assistant City and County ManagerGeorge Redmond had been the official supervisor at the election count in Dublin West and was a close associate of Liam Lawlor. In 2003, Redmond was convicted of corruption by a Dublin court but subsequently had his conviction quashed due to conflicting evidence.
In his eighties, Mac Giolla continued to be active and was a member of the group which campaigned to prevent the demolition of No. 16 Moore Street in Dublin city centre, where the surrender after theEaster Rising was completed. He also served on the Dublin '98 committee to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the1798 Rebellion.
He died inBeaumont Hospital in Dublin on 4 February 2010 after a long illness.[8][9]
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | President of Sinn Féin 1962–1970 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by Split in party | President of the(Official) Sinn Féin/Workers' Party 1970–1988 | Succeeded by |
| Civic offices | ||
| Preceded by | Lord Mayor of Dublin 1993–1994 | Succeeded by |