Tommy McKearney

Tommy McKearney (b. 1952, Moy, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland) is an Irish Republican, and former hunger striker and volunteer within the Provisional Irish Republican Army.cite book | last = Taylor | first = Peter | authorlink = Peter Taylor (Journalist) | title = Provos The IRA & Sinn Féin | publisher = Bloomsbury Publishing | date = 1997 | pages = pp. 100-102 | doi = | isbn = 0-7475-3818-2 ] [cite book | last = Taylor | first = Peter | authorlink = | title = Families At War | publisher = BBC | date = 1989 | pages = p. 160 | doi = | isbn = 0-563-20787-6]

Background

McKearney was born into a family with a long republican tradition. Both his grandfathers had fought in the Irish Republican Army in the Irish War of Independence, his maternal grandfather Tom Murray was an Adjutant General in the North Roscommon Brigade. [cite book | last = English | first = Richard | authorlink = | title = Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA | publisher = Pan Books | date = 2004 | pages = p. 129 | doi = | isbn = 0-330-49388-4 ] McKearney has lost three of his brothers during the Troubles. Sean was killed by his own bomb in 1974, Pádraig was killed by the SAS in Loughgall in 1987, and Kevin, a non-paramilitary, was killed by Loyalists in 1992 while working in the family's butcher shop.cite web | title = One of 'the unmanageables' | author = Fiona Foster | url = http://web.archive.org/web/20070416105146/http://irelandsown.net/mckearney.htm | publisher = "Living Marxism" | date = April, 1994 | accessdate = 2007-09-27]

IRA membership

On 9 August 1971, the day internment without trial was introduced, McKearney received his A-level results."Provos The IRA & Sinn Féin", p. 100.] McKearney had hoped to study at Queen's University Belfast and become a teacher but his results were not good enough to secure entry. McKearney describes the introduction of internment as "the straw that broke the camel's back" and decided to join the IRA, becoming a member of the East Tyrone Brigade.cite web | last = Lister | first = David | title = Why the PIRA Will go On | url= http://www.irelandsown.net/willpira.html | date = 11 February, 2003 | accessdate = 2007-02-19 ] ["Provos The IRA & Sinn Féin", p. 101.] He became the brigade's Officer Commanding during the mid seventies. On 19 October, 1977 he was arrested and charged with the murder of Stanley Adams, a postman and part-time Ulster Defence Regiment member. McKearney was interrogated for seven days under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, and claims to have been ill-treated while in custody. McKearney later received a life sentence with a recommended minimum term of twenty years for the murder of Adams, after a statement which he never signed was accepted by the court on the word of a Royal Ulster Constabulary Inspector. ["Provos The IRA & Sinn Féin", pp. 206-207.]

Hunger strike

McKearney was involved in the blanket and dirty protests, then took part in the 1980 hunger strike, along with fellow IRA members Brendan Hughes, Raymond McCartney, Tom McFeeley, Sean McKenna, Leo Green, and Irish National Liberation Army member John Nixon. ["Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA", p. 193.] Prior to commencing the hunger strike, McKearney told his mother and father:

McKearney spent 53 days on hunger strike, from 27 October to 18 December, and according to a doctor had only a few hours left to live when the strike was called off. ["Provos The IRA & Sinn Féin", pp. 232-234.]

Release

McKearney was released from prison in 1993, having served 16 years of his sentence, and joined up with Republican Sinn Féin. [cite book | last = O'Brien | first = Brendan | authorlink = Brendan O'Brien (Irish journalist) | title = Long War: The IRA & Sinn Féin | publisher = The O'Brien Press | date = 1999 | pages = p. 153 | doi = | isbn = 0-86278-606-1] In 2003 he appeared in the BBC documentary "Life After Life" with former Ulster Volunteer Force prisoner Billy Mitchell. [cite web | title = Life after the NI conflict | author = Mark Simpson | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/2989050.stm | publisher = "BBC News" | date = 13 June, 2003 | accessdate = 2007-02-19] He now works as a freelance journalist, edits the publication Fourthwrite, and is an organiser for the Independent Workers Union of Ireland. [cite web | title = Sinn Féin: time to move on | author = Tommy McKearney | url = http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2006/02/05/story11568.asp | publisher = "The Sunday Business Post" | date = 5 February, 2006 | accessdate = 2007-02-19]

References

External links

* [http://www.tommymckearney.com/ Official site]
* [http://www.union.ie/ Independent Workers Union]