Tomás Mac Giolla

Infobox Politician| name = Tomás Mac Giolla
nationality =Irish

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office =Teachta Dála (TD)
term_start =November 1982
term_end =1992
vicepresident =
predecessor =
successor =
birth_date =Birth date and age|df=yes|1924|01|25
birth_place =Nenagh, County Tipperary, Ireland
death_date =
death_place =
constituency =Dublin West
party =The Workers Party
spouse =May McLoughlin
religion =
order2 =Lord Mayor of Dublin
term_start2 =1993
term_end2 =1994
president =
predecessor2 =
successor2 =|

Tomás Mac Giolla (born 25 January 1924) is an Irish politician. He is a former Teachta Dála (TD) and a current member of the Central Executive Committee of the Workers' Party of Ireland.

Born Thomas Gill, he was born in Nenagh, County Tipperary, Ireland. His uncle T. P. Gill was an Member of Parliament (MP) and member of the Irish Parliamentary Party of Charles Stewart Parnell. Tomás's father Robert also stood unsuccessfully for election on a number of occasions. His mother was Mary (neé Hourigan).

Mac Giolla was educated at the local national school in Nenagh before completing his secondary education at St. Flannan's College, Ennis, County Clare. It was while at St. Flannan's that he changed over to using the Irish language version of his name. He won a scholarship to University College Dublin where he qualified with a BA degree, followed by a B.Comm.

In his early life Mac Giolla was an active republican. He joined Sinn Féin and the Irish Republican Army (IRA) around 1950. He was interned by the Irish government during the IRA Border campaign of 1956 to 1962. He also served a number of prison sentences in Mountjoy Prison, Dublin.

In 1961, Mac Giolla unsuccessfully contested the Tipperary North constituency in the 1961 General Election for Sinn Féin.

In 1962 he became president of Sinn Féin and was one of the people who successfully pushed the party to the left during the 1960s. In 1969 Sinn Féin split and Mac Giolla remained leader of Official Sinn Féin. It was also in 1962 that Tomás married May McLoughlin who was also an active member of Sinn Féin and Cumann na mBan, the women's section of the IRA.

In 1977 the party changed its name to "Sinn Féin the Workers Party" and in 1982 it became simply The Workers Party. In the November 1982 general election Mac Giolla was elected to Dáil Éireann for his party. In 1988 he retired as party leader and was succeeded by Proinsias De Rossa.

After the departure of six Workers Party TDs to form the new Democratic Left party in 1992, Mac Giolla was the sole member of the Workers Party in the Dáil. He lost his Dáil seat in the general election later that year by a margin of just 59 votes.

In 1979, Mac Giolla was elected to Dublin Corporation for the Ballyfermot ward. He was re-elected as Alderman in 1985 and was again elected in 1991. He served as Lord Mayor of Dublin from 1993 to 1994 and remained a member of Dublin Corporation until 1998.

A qualified accountant, Mac Giolla was employed by the Irish Electricity Supply Board from 1947 until he went into full time politics in 1977.

Now in his eighties Mac Giolla continues to be active and recently was a member of the group which campaigned to save No. 16 Moore Street in Dublin city centre where the surrender of Padraig Pearse was completed. He also served on the Dublin '98 committee to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the 1798 Rebellion.

References

*Oireachtas-database

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