John Joe McGirl

John Joe McGirl (25 March 1921 – 8 December 1988) was an Irish republican, and former chief of staff of the Irish Republican Army.

Born and raised in Ballinamore, County Leitrim, McGirl became involved with the IRA in the 1940s. In 1946, he was arrested along with Cathal Goulding and ten others and was sentenced to 12 months in prison for IRA membership.

McGirl participated in the IRA Border Campaign. In January 1957, McGirl was tried and convicted at Ballinamore courthouse and jailed in Mountjoy Prison.

Although a prisoner, he was elected a Sinn Féin TD for the Sligo-Leitrim constituency in the March 1957 Irish general election, topping the poll with 7,007 votes (a 15.71 percent share). Running on an abstentionist ticket, he refused to recognise the authority of Dáil Éireann and would not have taken his seat had it been possible for him to do so. He did not retain his seat at the 1961 election and his share of the vote was halved and he received only 2,487 votes (a 7.28 percent share).

In November 1957, he delivered the oration at the funerals of some of the "Edentubber Martyrs" - four IRA men who were killed when a bomb they were preparing accidentally exploded.

In 1962, he served on the committee which founded St. Felim’s College, Ballinamore.

When the IRA split in 1969, between "Official IRA" and "Provisional IRA" factions, McGirl sided with the Provisionals, who were committed to launching an armed campaign against British rule in Northern Ireland.

In 1974, he was interned in Northern Ireland.

McGirl contested the February 1982 and 1987 general elections. In the former contest, he received 2,772 votes (6.07 percent) and in the latter, 2,627 votes (a 5.75 share). McGirl served as vice-president of Sinn Féin. At the 1986 Sinn Féin Ard Fheis, McGirl supported the moves of Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness to drop the policy of abstentionism, greatly angering his contemporaries Ruairí Ó Brádaigh and Dáithí Ó Conaill.

McGirl was a publican, undertaker and bicycle-repairer ["George Rowley: A Memoir - ISBN 1-906018-02-2] in Ballinamore and was elected a Sinn Féin councillor to Leitrim County Council, serving chairperson of that body. He was a member of the council at the time of his death. After his death, a monument was erected to McGirl in his native town of Ballinamore. It is located on the bridge crossing the Shannon-Erne Waterway.

His son, Liam McGirl, was elected a member of Leitrim County Council in 1999 but resigned before completing his term. A nephew, Francis McGirl, was charged but acquitted of the murder of Lord Mountbatten, who was killed by the IRA when his boat was bombed off the Sligo coast in 1979.

References

* [http://electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?id=2623 Election Ireland entry on John Joe McGirl]