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Joe Cahill

1. Lead Section
   1. Joe Cahill (Irish: Seosamh Ó Cathail 19 May 1920 – 23 July 2004) was a prominent figure in the Irish Republican movement in Northern Ireland. He joined a junior-republican movement, Na Fianna Eireann, in 1937 and the following year, joined the Irish Republican Army. In 1969, Cahill was a key figure in the founding of the Provisional Irish Republican Army. During his time in the Provisional IRA, Cahill helped import weapons and raise financial support. He served at the Chief of Staff in 1972, but was arrested the following year whenever a ship importing weapons was intercepted. After his release, he continued to serve on the IRA Army Council and lead all financial dealings for Sinn Fein. In the 1990s, the IRA and Sinn Fein began to work on seeking peace. Cahill served on the council that called a cessation om July 21, 1996.  Cahill attended several of the talks that finally lead to the Good Friday Agreement on April 10, 1998. Shortly after the agreement was made, Cahill resigned as treasurer of Sinn Fein. To honor his service, he was made honorary Vice President for life. 
   2. Cahill served as the Republican movement in Ireland his entire life. He is regarded as a strong leader and one of the longest-serving political activists in Ireland of any political party.
      1. Background
         1.  On May 19, 1920, Cahill was born above his father’s small printing shop at 60 Divis Street in West Belfast. Cahill was the first child in a family of eleven siblings born to Joseph and Josephine Cahill. Both of his parents supported Republicanism. His father was involved with the Irish National Volunteers and would print republican material at his print shop. Joseph Senior applied to be a part of the Irish Republican Army but was asked to remain in the print business as his way of assisting the Republican Movement. He was arrested in 1932 for printing illegal material but was acquitted for his crimes. Cahill’s childhood was marked by hardship. Belfast was in turmoil with British occupation, rationed rood and scare jobs and Cahill’s family was very poor. Cahill’s grandparents where neighbors of the Scottish-born Irish socialist and Easter Rising leader James Connolly, who co-founded the Irish Citizens Army. The Connolly’s and Cahill’s were family friends as a result. 2. Cahill was educated at then located on Barrack Street. At age 14 he left school to assist in the print shop. Soon after, he joined the Catholic Young Men's Society, which campaigned on social issues with a focus on eradicating moneylenders from working-class areas of Belfast, as they often charged usurious interest rates. At the age of seventeen, Cahill then joined Na Fianna Eireann, a republican-orientated Scouting movement. Na Fianna Eireann was regarded as the “Junior Irish Republican Army”.
2. Early Paramilitary Career
   1. The following year in 1938, at the age of 18, Cahill joined the local Clonard-based ‘C’ Company of the Belfast Brigade of the Irish Republican Army. By 1942, Cahill was serving as second in command. That year, during an anniversary march for Easter Rising by the IRA, Cahill got into a shoot out with five other IRA men against four Royal Ulster Constabulary Officers. Several men were wounded and Constable Patrick Murphy was killed. Cahill and four of the other men spent time in the Belfast prison where they were interrogated daily. Tom Williams, the sixth IRA man who was charged, had spent time in Royal Victorian Hospital due to his injuries. It was there that he made a statement taking full responsibility for killing Constable Patrick Murphy. All six men were found guilty and sentenced to death in August of 1942. The men’s legal team managed to suspend the execution date after the verdict. An appeal campaign began and 207,000 signatures were collected. The United States State Department and the Vatican also supported the campaign. As a result, the men’s sentences were changed to life in prison, except for Tom Williams who was executed. The IRA declared a formal ceasefire in 1945. Afterward, republican prisoners began to be released. Cahill, Perry, Oliver, Cordner and Simpson, the five men who had be sentenced to life in prison, became free men in October of 1949. 2.Following his release from prison, Cahill got a job at the Harland and Wolff shipyards in Belfast. It was at the shipyards where he was said to have contracted the disease asbestosis. Asbestosis was later one of the causes of his death. 3. In 1953, Cahill had an accident on the job when he was hit on the head with a scaffolding and spent time recovering in a convalescent home. When he was well, he traveled to Leixlip near Dublin to visit his aunt. It was there that he met Annie Magee. Joe and Annie were married on April 2,1956 in St John’s Church on Falls Road in Belfast. Together they had had seven children. Annie was said to be his best friend. 4. The IRA launched a new campaign in 1956. The IRA Border campaign attacked ten targets in six counties. Bridges, courthouses and boarder roads were damaged. By 1957, three RUC officers and seven republicans had been killed during the campaign. Cahill was arrested and interned in January of 1957 with several other republicans. It was that year that Cahill’s first son was born. They named his Thomas after Tom Williams. Cahill was released from internment in April of 1961.
3. Founding of the Provisional IRA
   1. Following his release from prison, Cahill was disappointed at the direction of the IRA. They had give up armed struggle and desired seats in elections. Failed campaigns led to the IRA becoming weak and disorganized. Cahill resigned from the IRA around 1962.
   2. In August of 1969, intense rioting broke out in northern Ireland, the most violent being in Belfast. The 1969 Northern Ireland riots displaced 1800 families from their homes. It was a humiliation to the IRA and made evident that they could not protect their people. The slogan ‘IRA: I Ran Away’ was painted on walls all over Belfast. The riots were said to be the beginning of “the troubles” in Ireland
   3. In 1970, a convention was held where it was suggested the IRA take on a new name. The Provisional IRA was created and an executive council of twelve men were elected. Of the executive members, they elected seven men to serve as the Provisional Army Council, one of whom was Joe Cahill. Cahill also served as the second-in-command to Billy McKee for the OC Belfast Battalion.
4. Provisional IRA Activities
   1. 1.     In April 1971, after the arrest and imprisonment of Billy McKee, Cahill became the commander of the Provisional IRA Belfast Brigade. It was during this period that the Provisional IRA campaign got off the ground in the city. Cahill authorized the beginning of the IRA's bombing campaign as well as attacks on British troops and the RUC. He based himself in a house in Andersonstown and toured the city, coordinating IRA activity. The British army mounted Operation Demetrius, designed to arrest the IRA's leaders, which only intensified violence in the north. MacStoifain, the Chief-of-Staff, called on Cahill to act as the Deputy Chief of Staff. 2.     The troubles continued violently with 497 being killed in 1972. They had taken up a car bombing campaign. In March 1972, Cahill was part of an IRA delegation that held direct talks with the British Labour Party leader  Harold Wilson. Wilson desired a permanent ceasefire and the Provisional IRA leadership desired the British to leave Northern Ireland. Although the IRA called a three-day ceasefire for the talks, no permanent end to violence was agreed upon. 3.     On July 21, 1972, the event, which was referred to as “Bloody Friday”, shook Belfast. The Belfast branch of the Provisional IRA had planned one of their largest attacks, with twenty car bombs planted across the city. They had warned police about every location, but two detonated early and killed nine people. 130 people were injured. Cahill noted that the IRA leadership was mortified and immediately banned car bombs. 4.     In was in November of 1972 that Sean MacStiofain was arrested in Dublin by Gardaí and charged with IRA membership. He was imprisoned for six months and Cahill stepped up as the Provisional IRA’s Chief of Staff. 5.     Cahill planned to travel to Libya in 1973 to bring back weapons for the Provisional IRA.He began having communication the Libyan dictatorship of Muammar al-Gaddafi, who admired the work of the IRA. Cahill and four others traveled from Ireland to Tripoli incognito to meet with al-Gaddafi in person. He had a good understanding of the situation in Northern Ireland and wanted to help reunite the country. He agreed to send short-arms, assault rifles, general-purpose machine guns and explosives on a ship called the Claudia. They decided the safest way back for the IRA men was on the ship, so they set sail with the cargo. Whenever they came close to Northern Ireland, they had trouble contacting their men over radio. Three ships of the Irish Naval Service intercepted the ship in Waterford. They had kept a close eye on the operation the entire time and even had a submarine track the Claudia in the Mediterranean. Cahill was arrested and sentenced to three years imprisonment by the Irish Special Criminal Court on March 21, 1973. Cahill stated at his trial that, "If I am guilty of any crime, it is that I did not succeed in getting the contents of the Claudia into the hands of the freedom fighters in this country". 6.     In his two years at Mountjoy prison in Portlaoise, he received word that his mother had died. He was granted 48 hours of parole for her funeral but told that it would likely not be recognized in the north. Unable to go to her funeral, Cahill was deeply saddened. His family traveled south to see him on parole before he went back. In prison, the republicans prisoners went a hunger strike to be granted better conditions and be recognized as political prisoners. Eamonn MacThomais and Cahill lead the charge and had every request granted by the governor. The hunger strike took a toll on Cahill’s health and he was transferred to a hospital in Dublin due to severe chest pain. He was returned to the prison but in January of 1975, he was released on health grounds. 7.     Upon his release, Cahill began to help rebuild Sinn Fein and was voted to be the treasurer. Cahill was sent to the United States a number of times to raise support in major cities. On one particular trip on behalf on Sinn Fein in 1984, he was deported from the United States for illegal entry (see Provisional IRA arms importation). He served on the IRA Army Council as late as the 1990s. Cahill began to realize the potential of the Republican movement becoming political rather than an armed struggle. In 1985, he spoke at the party's Ard Fheis in favor of republicans contesting elections and taking seats in the Dublin parliament, the Dáil and urged republicans to consider peace.
5. Peace Process
   1. Cahill was a prominent figure in the peace talks that lead to the Good Friday Agreement in the 1990s. In 1994, a controversial but central aspect of the IRA's ceasefire was the granting of a limited visa by then United States President Bill Clinton to Cahill, in the face of opposition by John Major's government, for the purpose of trying to win support for the new Sinn Féin peace strategy from Irish American IRA supporters. Cahill served on the council that called a cessation on July 21, 1996. Gerry Adams, Sinn Fein leader, led the charge in negotiating the Good Friday Agreement. In return for Sinn Fein’s electorate being granted writes and entitlements, a comprise was made. It was made official on April 10, 1998. Shortly after the Agreement was signed, Cahill retired from treasurer of Sinn Fein and was made honorary life Vice President.
6. Death
   1. 1. Cahill died on July 23 at age 84 in Belfast at his Anderstown home. He had been diagnosed with asbestosis, which he likely developed while working at the Harland & Wolff shipyards in his twenties. He had also had heart complications and was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1989. An Irish republican flute band in Glasgow is named after Cahill. His funeral was a grand event at the Republican plot of the Milltown Cemetery. The Tricolor placed on Joe Cahill’s coffin matched that of his former comrade, Tom Williams.
7. References
8. Bibliography
   1. "Joe Cahill Laid to Rest." 2004.Irish America, Oct, 10. http://argo.library.okstate.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/211212852?accountid=4117.
   2. Joe Cahill: A Life in the IRA, Brendan Anderson, The O'Brien Press, Dublin, 2002
   3. The Secret History of the IRA, Ed Moloney, W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 2002
   4. The Guardian, Obituary: Joe Cahill, https://www.theguardian.com/news/2004/jul/26/guardianobituaries.northernireland
   5. Maria McGuire, To take arms: A Year in the Provisional IRA, 1973, 36
   6. The Provisional Irish Republican Army and the morality of terrorism, Timothy Shanahan, Edinburgh University Press, 2009