"In a very real sense, Ruairi O Bradaigh can... be said to be
the last, or one of the last Irish Republicans. Studies of the
Provisional movement to date have invariably focused more on the
Northerners and the role of people like Gerry Adams and Martin
McGuinness. But an understanding of them is not possible without
appreciating where they came from and from what tradition they have
broken. Ruairi O Bradaigh is that tradition and that is why this
account of his life and politics is so important." from the
foreword by Ed Moloney, author of A Secret History of the IRA
Since the mid-1950s, Ruairi O Bradaigh has played a singular
role in the Irish Republican Movement. He is the only person who
has served as chief of staff of the Irish Republican Army, as
president of the political party Sinn Fein, and to have been
elected, as an abstentionist, to the Dublin parliament. Today, he
is the most prominent and articulate spokesperson of those Irish
Republicans who reject the peace process in Northern Ireland. His
rejection is rooted in his analysis of Irish history and his belief
that the peace process will not achieve peace. Instead it will
support the continued partition of Ireland and result in continued,
inevitable, conflict.
The child of Irish Republican veterans, O Bradaigh has led IRA
raids, been arrested and interned, escaped and been "on the run,"
and even spent a period of time on a hunger strike. An articulate
spokesman for the Irish Republican cause, he has at different times
been excluded from Northern Ireland, Britain, the United States,
and Canada. He was a key figure in the secret negotiation of a
bilateral IRA-British truce. His "Notes" on these negotiations
offer special insight to the 1975 truce, the IRA cease-fires of the
1990s, and the current peace process in Ireland.
O Bradaigh has been a staunch defender of the traditional
Republican position of abstention from participation in the
parliaments in Dublin, Belfast, and Westminster. When Sinn Fein
voted to recognize these parliaments in 1970, he led the walkout of
the party convention and spearheaded the creation of Provisional
Sinn Fein. He served as president of Provisional Sinn Fein until
1983, when he was forced from the position by his successor, Gerry
Adams. In 1986, with Adams as its president, Provisional Sinn Fein
recognized the Dublin parliament. O Bradaigh led another walkout
and later became president of Republican Sinn Fein, a position he
still holds."
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