Pádraig McKearney

Pádraig Oliver McKearney (December 1954 – May 1987), was a Marxist oriented Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteer. He was killed in a Special Air Service (SAS) ambush with 7 other IRA men at Loughgall, County Armagh in May 1987.

Background

McKearney was raised in Moy, County Tyrone in a staunchly Irish republican family. Both his grandfathers had fought in the Irish Republican Army in the Irish War of Independence, his maternal grandfather in the south County Roscommon, and his paternal grandfather in east Tyrone.cite book | last = Moloney | first = Ed | authorlink = Ed Moloney | title = A Secret History of the IRA | publisher = Penguin Books | year = 2002 | pages = p. 307 | doi = | isbn = 0-141-01041-X]

Pádraig McKearney was educated at local primary schools in Collegeland and Moy, and went on to St. Patrick's Academy in Dungannon. However his education was interrupted by the outbreak of the conflict known as The Troubles. He joined the Provisional IRA and left school after he 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 being assembled.

In December 1973, he was arrested again and later sentenced to seven years for possession of a rifle. He was imprisoned in Long Kesh and later in Magilligan prison. During this period of incarceration his younger brother Seán, also an IRA volunteer, was killed on active service on 13 May 1974.cite web | title = An Index of Deaths from the Conflict in Ireland (1974) | author = Malcolm Sutton | url = http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/sutton/chron/1974.html | publisher = "CAIN"] Pádraig was released in 1977 but was sentenced to 14 years in August 1980 after being caught by the SAS with a loaded sten gun along with fellow IRA man Gerard O'Callaghan. [ [http://www.eliteukforces.info/special-air-service/history/northern-ireland/part2/ The SAS in Northern Ireland] ] That same year Pádraig's older brother Tommy, who was sentenced to life imprisonment, nearly died on hunger strike after refusing food for 53 days.

On 25 September 1983 McKearney took part in the Maze Prison escape along with 37 other prisoners. At the beginning of 1984 he returned on active service in his native east Tyrone with the Provisional IRA East Tyrone Brigade. He advocated the commencement of the "third phase" of the armed struggle, the 'strategic defensive', in which the Royal Ulster Constabulary, Ulster Defence Regiment and British Army would be denied all support in selected areas following repeated attacks on their basesfn|1. His views were very close to those of Jim Lynagh, an IRA commander from County Monaghan, who devised a Maoist guerrilla strategy adapted to Irish conditions with the intent of creating liberated zones.

In 1985 Patrick Kelly became commander of the Provisional IRA East Tyrone Brigade and it was under his leadership that this strategy started becoming reality. Secluded Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) bases were attacked and destroyed and building contractors who tried to repair them were targeted and sometimes killed. Prime examples of this policy were the destructions of Ballygawley RUC barracks in December 1985 and The Birches RUC barracks in August 1986. [cite book | last = Moloney | first = Ed | authorlink = Ed Moloney | title = A Secret History of the IRA | publisher = Penguin Books | year = 2002 | pages = p. 314 | doi = | isbn = 0-141-01041-X] Padraig McKearney was a key architect in many of these attacks and he soon became one of the most experienced guerrilla fighters in the IRA.

McKearney was killed in an ambush by the SAS on 8 May 1987 during an attack on Loughgall RUC barracks which also claimed the lives of seven of his comrades: Jim Lynagh, Patrick Kelly, Declan Arthurs, Seamus Donnelly, Tony Gormley, Eugene Kelly, and Gerry O'Callaghan. [cite web | title = An Index of Deaths from the Conflict in Ireland (1987) | author = Malcolm Sutton | url = http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/sutton/chron/1987.html | publisher = "CAIN"] He was buried in his hometown of Moy, 13 years to the day after his brother Sean died on IRA active service.

Footnote

fnb|1 The "Third Phase" in Provisional IRA thinking represented an escalation of the conflict in Northern Ireland with eventual aim of using 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 the interception of 150 tonnes of Libyan weaponry aboard the "Eksund" ship, this strategy was never carried out. (See also: Provisional IRA arms importation and Provisional IRA campaign 1969-1997)

ee also

*The Troubles in Loughgall

References

ources

*Ed Moloney, Secret History of the IRA
*Derek Dunne, Out of the Maze
*Peter Taylor, Provos The IRA and Sinn Féin

External links

* [http://www.freewebs.com/rsfeasttyrone/mckearneymccaughey.htm Padraig McKearney's biography]
* [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ira/readings/family.html Article on the McKearney family]
* [http://www.iol.ie/~saoirse/2000/mar00/saoirse6.htm#4 Kevin McKearney's obituary in Saoirse]