Dáithí Ó Conaill
1938 -- 1991

Dáithí Ó Conaill achieved much during his short life. Born in Cork in 1938 he joined the Republican Movement at 17 years of age. On January 1, 1957 he was second-in-command of the Patrick Pearse Column which carried out the raid on Brookeborough Barracks in which Sean South and Fergal O'Hanlon were killed. He was arrested by Free State forces and imprisoned in Mountjoy Jail and later interned in the Curragh. In September 1958 he escaped along with Ruairí Ó Brádaigh.

During an engagement with the British Crown Forces he was shot and badly injured and later captured. On recovery he received an eight-year sentence and remained in Belfast Jail until he was released unconditionally in September 1963.

When the Nationalist people in the Six Counties were under attack in 1969 he was one of those who organised the Republican Movement until it was in a position to take on the might of the British Army.

In 1970 he travelled to New York and was instrumental in establishing Irish Northern Aid. He was the architect of the ÉIRE NUA policy and worked closely with Fr James McDyer in Glencolumcille, County Donegal while teaching there.

He was one of the Republican leaders who met with representatives of the British government in London in 1972 to try to end British occupation in London in 1972 to try to end British occupation. He played a leading role in the truce negotiations into which the Republican leadership forced the British on two occasions between 1972 and '75. While on the run he was prominent in arranging the Feakle talks with Protestant clergymen. He was again imprisoned in 1975 and during his term of imprisonment undertook a 47-day hunger strike. Following his release he was active in the National H-Block/Armagh Committee.

His extraordinary political awareness in identifying the way forward was seen by his proposal that Bobby Sands contest the Westminster elections for Fermanagh/South Tyrone during the 1981 Hunger Strike.

In 1986 he opposed the move by some in Sinn Féin to take their seats in Leinster House and accept the Free State. He and other Republicans reorganised as Republican Sinn Féin.

Deeply concerned by the ongoing loss of life in his country and the suffering of those in prison he wrote his final document Towards a Peaceful Ireland shortly before his death. His many qualities, such as sincerity, sense of humour, great personal courage and concern for other people will ensure that he is remembered and loved by all who were privileged to know him.

-- Graveside Oration, 1992

Mise Éire
Sine mé ná Chailleach Béara
Mór mo ghlóir
Mór mo rug Cúchulainn cróga
Mór mo náire
Mo chlann féin do dhíol a máthair
Mise Éire
Uaigní mé na an Chailleach Béara

"We believe in the establishment of a National
Parliament representative of the people of Ireland
In an Ireland where social justice is a reality
and not a political catch-cry
In an Ireland where our language and culture
enhance our life and are not objects of scorn and derision
In an Ireland where past dissensions are a
forgotton memory and Irish people, irrespective of creed, live in peace and prosperity."

-- Dáithí Ó Conaill, Bodenstown oration, 1970

Republican SINN FÉIN