Death of Tomás Mac Giolla

[stonethrower]

RIP. He made Dublin his home, but originally a good Tipp man.

I always remember him on the old black and white TV as a kid during the early 1980s, particularly during the 3 elections in 1981/82. Always appeared to be a man of convictions.

[Podolski1.5]

Funeral Arrangements for Tomás Mac Giolla

Tomas MacGiolla. Died February 4th 2010, in Beaumont Hospital, Dublin.

Former TD, Dublin Lord Mayor 1993-94, City Councillor.

President Sinn Fein / Workers Party 1962 - 1988

Menber of Workers' Party Ard Comhairle

Greatly admired and respected. Loyal follower of Tone and Connolly.

Deeply regretted by his wife Maire, sister Evelyn, brothers in law and sisters in law, nieces and nephews, comrades and friends in the Workers' Party, and numerous friends in Ireland and internationally.


The remains of Comrade Tomas Mac Giolla, former President of the Workers Party, will be brought to Ballyfermot Civic Centre, Ballyfermot Road, Dublin, tomorrow, Saturday, February 6th, at 2pm. His body will repose there from 2.00pm - 9.00pm on Saturday and from 10.30am - 5.00pm on Sunday.

There will be a Tribute Ceremony at the Civic Centre in Ballyfermot at 12.30pm on Monday, February 8th. Immediately afterwards Tomas's remains will be brought to Palmerstown Cemetery, County Dublin, for burial.

[Johnny]

I always had a genuine regard for Mac Giolla on a personal level.

I'll always remember two cracking quotes from him - both of which were on the RTÉ News, if my memory serves me well:

1) "You are referring to once erstwhile comrades of ours who have gone over to the fleshpots of Fine Gael.....", when asked his opinion on DL entering the Rainbow Coalition.

2) "They sold their souls for bags of coal and free drink up in Finches.....", in reference to the Dublin West electorate returning the hood Lawlor as TD.

An honest poiltician of personal integrity, who unfortunately belonged to a despicable political/paramilitary outfit.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh sé / RIP.

[Podolski1.5]

My favourite quite from Tomás was about the "merger" of Labour and DL which went roughly - "Democratic Left have been absorbed into Labour, it's like dropping an aspirin into a glass of water, one big fizz and it's gone"

[Concerned Irishman]

He did the State some service, that cannot be denied. RIP Comrade.

[Catalpa]

He did the State some service, that cannot be denied. RIP Comrade.

er ..please explain that one?

[Garibaldy]

er ..please explain that one?

I take it that someone as well informed as yourself Catapla is aware of the origins of the beef tribunal in questions asked in the Dáil by Tomás. It was the first crack in the wall of silence about the corruption of the political elite that Tomás and The Workers' Party had been exposing since the United Irishman had turned its attention to TACA in the late 1960s.

[Catalpa]

I take it that someone as well informed as yourself Catapla is aware of the origins of the beef tribunal in questions asked in the Dáil by Tomás. It was the first crack in the wall of silence about the corruption of the political elite that Tomás and The Workers' Party had been exposing since the United Irishman had turned its attention to TACA in the late 1960s.

Nice One so...

[TheOneTruth]

Anyman who was disliked by Eoghan Harris gets my respect RIP.

[mutley]

Yes factual and that is all very well at a personal level

- but you do know that he and his Party were your bitter (and sometimes bloody) enemies for decades?

PSF have pretty well adopted (or at least pay lip service to) nearly all that he advocated?

Why then didn't you listen to him back in 1969 and save yourselves (and others)all that bother B4 ending up in the same boat?

Well Said Catalapa

I doubt it. Turning guns on former comrades, approving of touting to the occupation forces, adopting un-digested the characture of socialism made by the Soviet hierarchs, abandoning the national liberation struggle to the provos...The list could go on and on.

He didnt create the spilt (the spilt was over absentionism which the Provies dropped anyway in 1986 and the Official IRA remained both bigger than the Provos and engaged fighting the Brits for a few years after...) and he always believed in Irish national liberation (though he had a strange way of showing it).

Thought you might be interested in this

forth | 1969 and all that

Slugger O'Toole

The IRA split in December 1969 and Sinn Féin a month later. The December 1969 split saw the formation of a ‘provisional’ army council of the IRA, from which the name the ‘Provisional IRA’ would eventually emerge. In response, the other wing began referring to itself as the Official IRA.

So far, so what? Well, in an interview published today in the Irish Daily Mail, Mac Giolla claimed that the split was a result of the intervention of just one man: Seamus Costello. Costello, who was part of the left-leaning reformist group would later himself walk out and form the Irish Republican Socialist Party and its military wing, the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) which, it was reported today, has now disarmed. (1)

According to Mac Giolla, in the interview conducted by Jason O’Toole, the IRA was ready to postpone its support for the various parliaments in order to avert a damaging split.

“We had ensured that the split didn’t occur on the vote to enter Leinster House and Westminster parliaments. If [Ruairí] Ó Brádaigh didn’t win that vote they were all ready to walk out. Let’s put it this way, Ó Brádaigh was allowed to win that vote. We ensured they didn’t lose the vote to make sure there was no walk-out. But as soon as that was over, Seamus Costello called for a motion of no confidence in the IRA and Ó Brádaigh stood up and they all walked out. That’s what Costello did to ensure the split.” (2)