Mac Giolla was educated at the local national school in Nenagh before completing his secondary education at St. Flannan's College, Ennis, County Clare. While at St. Flannan's, he changed to using the Irish language version of his name. He won a scholarship to University College Dublin where he qualified with a Bachelor of Arts degree, followed by a degree in Commerce.
A qualified Accountant, Mac Giolla was employed by the Irish Electricity Supply Board (ESB) from 1947 until he went into full-time politics in 1977.
In 1961, he married May McLoughlin who was also an active member of Sinn Féin as well as of Cumann na mBan, the women's section of the IRA. She died on 24 March 2018.[4]
Political career
1960s
Seán Garland (right) with Tomás MacGiolla, May 2008
In 1962, he became president of Sinn Féin, and was part of the leadership that moved the party to the left during the 1960s.
In 1970, Sinn Féin split and Mac Giolla remained leader of Official Sinn Féin, with a faction led by Ruairí Ó Brádaigh initially known as Provisional Sinn Féin. Initially, Mac Giolla's approach to his former comrades in the Provisional movement was one of conciliation, though over time, bitterness emerged. He was firm in his belief that the rise of the Provisionals was largely due to support from elements within Fianna Fáil. As violence in Northern Ireland escalated, Mac Giolla reiterated that the Official IRA (OIRA) favoured mass popular resistance, but would resort to "retaliatory" military action when deemed necessary. In contrast, he condemned the Provisionals' armed struggle, labelling it both counterproductive and sectarian. This stance sometimes led to confusion.[2]
After the OIRA killed Unionist Northern Ireland Senator John Barnhill, Mac Giolla initially blamed British agents. However, the Officials later admitted and defended the operation as a necessary retaliation against repression. Following Bloody Sunday on 30 January 1972 the OIRA bombed the headquarters of the Parachute Regiment. This resulted in the deaths of seven people, including five female cleaners. Mac Giolla expressed shock at the attack and attributed it to an ineffective bomb maker. The question of how far the OIRA should go in using armed force was one of the issues that led to the ceasefire in May 1972, which Mac Giolla fully supported. The Officials argued that the violence was deepening sectarian divisions and preventing unity between workers. In a speech at Carrickmore, County Tyrone, in July 1972, Mac Giolla stated that "the Irish revolution … demands the support of the Protestant working class," asserting that the violence of August 1969 had been carried out not by ordinary Protestants against Catholics, but by the B Specials and some members of the Orange Order. He also claimed that the Provisional IRA's campaign was pushing Protestants towards reaction. By 1978, Mac Giolla was asserting that "the Provos are engaged in a war against the Irish people … can anyone say that the atrocities of the infamous Black and Tans were any worse?" This sharp criticism of the Provisional IRA became a defining feature of Mac Giolla's rhetoric and that of his party.[2]
In 1969 he attended and spoke at a march in opposition to the Vietnam War in Dublin.[5]
1970s
In November 1973 Tomás Mac Giolla addressed the World Congress of Peace Forces in Moscow, at a time when the Officials were becoming increasingly associated with Eastern Bloc socialism. While Mac Giolla had previously criticised the Soviet system, he never fully explained when or why his stance changed. He later suggested that Cuba would be a more suitable model for Ireland than the Eastern European states. Despite his prominent role, Mac Giolla was not the primary architect of these ideological shifts within the party. His more traditional republican outlook continued to cause unease among some members. As president of Official Sinn Féin, however, Mac Giolla played a crucial role in steering the party towards electoral politics, a process that was further solidified in 1977 when the party added "The Workers' Party" to its name. His popularity among the rank and file helped ease concerns within the movement, particularly for those who viewed the name change as a further departure from its republican roots. In 1982 the party became simply the Workers' Party.[2]
While president he was regarded as a mediator between the Marxist–Leninist wing headed by Seán Garland and the social democratic wing of Proinsias De Rossa. At the 1992 special Ardfheis he voted for the motion to abandon democratic centralism and to re-constitute the party much as the Italian Communist Party became the Democratic Party of the Left.[citation needed] However the motion failed to reach the required two-thirds majority and after the departure of six Workers' Party TDs led by De Rossa 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 at the general election later that year by a margin of just 59 votes to Liam Lawlor of Fianna Fáil.[6] In 1999, Mac Giolla wrote to the chairman of the Flood Tribunal calling for an investigation into revelations that former Dublin Assistant City and County Manager George Redmond had been the official supervisor at the election count in Dublin West and was a close associate of Liam Lawlor. In 2003, Redmond was convicted of corruption by a Dublin court but subsequently had his conviction quashed due to conflicting evidence.
In his eighties, Mac Giolla continued to be active and was a member of the group which campaigned to prevent the demolition of No. 16 Moore Street in Dublin city centre, where the surrender after the Easter Rising was completed. He also served on the Dublin '98 committee to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the 1798 Rebellion.
^"Gill, Robert Paul". Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720–1940, Irish Architectural Archive. Archived from the original on 19 October 2013. Retrieved 24 March 2013.
