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Tom Maguire 1892 - 1993
Tribute from George Harrison, New York.
 The
death of Comdt-General Tom Maguire took place on July 5, 1993 at age
101 in Castlebar, County Mayo, ending a life of uncompromising
loyalty to the ideal of a free and independent Irish Republic; an
Ireland totally free from all the shackles and tentacles of the
monster octopus of British imperialism and its cancerous off springs
of sectarianism and puppet parliaments.
Much
has been written of General Maguire since he passed on to join his
old comrades in the Valhalla of Ireland’s heroic dead. Those who
have remained true to the legacy he has passed on will try to
produce a memorial booklet dealing with the crucial issues he faced
during his near century of struggle.
Starting
out as a Volunteer in Cross, Co Mayo, he was appointed OC South Mayo
Brigade and led the flying column in the Kilfall and Tourmakeady
ambushes where he was seriously wounded.
He was later
appointed to the rank of OC, 2nd Western Division, Irish Republican
Army by Cathal Brugha, and Minister for Defence at the time. He was
then elected Sinn Féin TD for South Mayo.
In 1921
he strongly opposed the treaty of surrender and when civil war broke
out he became the leading loyal Republican figure in the west of
Ireland and a member of the executive of the IRA. He was captured in
October 1922 by Free State forces and interned in Athlone. General
Maguire was one of six men set aside for execution in January 1923…
five of them died before Free State firing squads. In April 1923 his
younger brother Seán, a mere youth of 17 years, was executed with
five others in Tuam Workhouse. The firing squads were busy… This was
one of the dirtiest of their many acts of infamy.
General
Maguire escaped Athlone in June 1923 and was never recaptured. He
remained staunch and true to the ideals and principles he espoused
in his youth and which led his brother and many of his comrades to
early graves. To some of us who grew up in Mayo and followed him
into the arena of antiimperialist struggle he was a legend and an
almost god-like figure.
In the 1930
General Maguire and the surviving members of the Second Dáil Éireann
delegated authority to the Army Council of the IRA. And in December
1969, during an internal crisis in the Irish Republican Movement, he
recognised the Provisional IRA as the legitimate successor to the
1938 body.
He journeyed
to the United States more than once and reaffirmed his unwavering
commitment to the ideal of his youth.
In 1976
his fellow Mayoman Frank Stagg died while on hunger strike in an
English dungeon and his mortal remains were seized by Free State
forces in a cowardly and obscene act of state brutality.
General
Maguire delivered the eulogy at his symbolic funeral in February
1976. 4 During yet another critical internal conflict in the Irish
Republican Movement, General Maguire disagreed with the IRA decision
to support Sinn Féin taking seats and to enter Leinster House. He
issued the following statement which speaks for itself:
“There
is no difference between entering the partition parliament of
Leinster House and entering a partition parliament of Stormont.
“I
speak as the sole surviving Teachta Dála of the Second Dáil Éireann
and as the sole surviving member of the Executive of the Second Dáil
Éireann. “In December 1969, as the sole surviving member of the
Executive of the Second Dáil Éireann,
I recognised
the Provisional Army Council, which remained true to the Irish
Republic as the lawful Army of the Thirty-two County Irish Republic.
“I do not
recognise the legitimacy of any Army Council styling itself the
Council of the Irish Republican Army which lends support to any
person or organisation styling itself as Sinn Féin and prepared to
enter the partition parliament, and in doing so broke faith and
betrayed the trust placed in their predecessors in 1969
. “The Irish
Republic, proclaimed in arms in Easter Week 1916 and established by
the democratic majority vote of the people in the general election
of 1918, has been defended by Irish Republics for several
generations. Maby have laid down their lives in that defence. Many
others have suffered imprisonment and torture, I am confident that
the Cause so nobly served will yet triumph.
“Dated
the 22nd day of October, 1986.” Tom Maguire was the last survivor of
the Second Dáil and the last person to hold the rank of ComdtGeneral
in the Irish Republican Army. He was patron of Sinn Féin Poblachtach
and took a keen interest in the organisation right up to his death.
At a suitable time General Maguire will be remembered in this city.
May the green sod of his native Mayo rest lightly over him and may
his heroic and unconquered spirit rest in eternal peace. | 
