Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army

Not to be confused with Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces (Ireland).

Several people are reported to have served as Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army (Irish: Ceann Foirne Óglaigh na hÉireann) in the organisations bearing that name. Due to the clandestine nature of these organisations, this list is not definitive.

Chiefs of Staff of the Irish Republican Army (1917–1922)

Further information: Irish Republican Army (1919–1922)

Image	Name	Assumed position	Left position	Source
	Cathal Brugha[a]	27 October 1917	23 March 1918	[1]
	Richard Mulcahy	23 March 1918	15 January 1922	[2]
	Eoin O'Duffy	15 January 1922	July 1922	[2]

From this point on, this lineage diverts to Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces

a. ^{^} Chairman of the Resident Executive

Chiefs of Staff of the (anti-Treaty) Irish Republican Army (1922–1969)

Further information: Irish Republican Army (1922–1969)

Image	Name	Assumed position	Left position	Source
	Liam Lynch (1st time)	26 March 1922	18 June 1922	[3]
	Joe McKelvey	18 June 1922	30 June 1922	[4][dubious – discuss]
	Liam Lynch (2nd time)	30 June 1922	10 April 1923
	Frank Aiken	20 April 1923	12 November 1925	[5]
	Andrew Cooney	12 November 1925	July 1926	[6]
	Maurice (Moss) Twomey	1926 (acting) 1927 (official)	June 1936	[7]
	Seán MacBride	June 1936	1937[8]	[9]
	Tom Barry	1937	1937	[3]
	Mick Fitzpatrick	1937	1938	[10]
	Seán Russell	1938	April 1939	[11][12]
	Stephen Hayes	April 1939	30 June 1941	[11][12][13]
	Pearse Kelly (aka Paul Kelso)	1941	27 November 1941	[14]
	Seán Harrington	Aft. November 1941	10 February 1942	[15]
	Seán McCool	10 February 1942 [15]	14 August 1942	[16]
	Eoin McNamee	c. March 1942	c. May 1942	[17][18]
	Hugh McAteer	19 July 1942	12 October 1942	[19]
	Charlie Kerins	October 1942	16 June 1944	[20]
	Position vacant for some months	16 June 1944	1944
	Harry White	1944	1945	[21]
	Patrick Fleming	1 March 1945	1947?	[22]
	Willie McGuinness	1947	1948?	[23]
	Tony Magan (1st time)	November 1948	6 July 1957	[24]
	Richard Burke	January 1957	May 1957	[25]
	Tony Magan (2nd time)	May 1957	6 July 1957	[26]
	Seán Cronin (1st time)	July 1957 (acting) 11 November 1957 (official)	October 1958	[27]
	John Joe McGirl	October 1958	24 October 1958	[28]
	Ruairí Ó Brádaigh (1st time)	24 October 1958	Late May 1959	[29]
	Seán Cronin (2nd time)	Late May 1959	June 1960	[30]
	Ruairí Ó Brádaigh (2nd time)	Summer 1960	7 September 1962	[31]
	Cathal Goulding	7 September 1962	December 1969	[32]

At an IRA General Army Convention held at Knockvicar House in Boyle, County Roscommon in December 1969, the IRA split into two factions, the majority Official IRA and the minority Provisional IRA.^[33][34]

Chiefs of Staff of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (1969–2005)

Further information: Provisional Irish Republican Army

Image	Name	Assumed position	Left position	Source
	Seán Mac Stíofáin	December 1969	19 November 1972	[35]
	Joe Cahill	November 1972	March 1973	[36]
	Seamus Twomey (1st time)	March 1973	June 1973	[36]
	Éamonn O'Doherty	June 1973	June/July 1974	[37]
	Seamus Twomey (2nd time)	June/July 1974	December 1977	[36]
	Gerry Adams[a]	3 December 1977	18 February 1978	[38][39][40][41][42]
	Martin McGuinness[b]	1978	Autumn 1982	[36]
	Ivor Bell	Autumn 1982	September 1983	[36]
	Kevin McKenna	September 1983	October 1997	[36]
	Thomas "Slab" Murphy	October 1997	1998	[36]
	Brian Keenan	1998	2002 or May 2008	[43][44]
	Unnamed Belfast Resident	May 2008 (?)	Incumbent	[45]

a. ^{^} Some noted Irish and British historians, including Ed Moloney, author of A Secret History of the IRA, have claimed that Gerry Adams has been part of the IRA leadership. Adams has always denied IRA membership, let alone being chief of staff.^[46]

b. ^{^} Although he admitted in his lifetime to IRA membership, he denied ever being Chief of Staff

Chiefs of Staff of the Official Irish Republican Army (1969–present)

Further information: Official Irish Republican Army

Image	Name	Assumed Position	Left Position	Source
	Cathal Goulding	December 1969	Summer 1976	[47]
	Sean Garland[a]	Summer 1976		[48]

a. ^{^} Hanley and Millar (2010) wrote: Goulding was "replaced by Garland after an Army Council vote in summer 1976. Long dismissive of the IRA's titles and formal military structure, Garland was reluctant to adopt the title of Chief of Staff; but he was now undoubtedly in charge".

Chiefs of Staff of the Continuity Irish Republican Army (1986–present)

Further information: Continuity Irish Republican Army

Image	Name	Assumed Position	Left Position	Source
	Dáithí Ó Conaill	1986	1991	[49]

Chiefs of Staff of the Real Irish Republican Army (1997–present)

Further information: Real Irish Republican Army

Image	Name	Assumed Position	Left Position	Source
	Michael McKevitt	1998	2002	[50]
	Aidan O'Driscoll			[51]

See also

• Irish Republican Army
• IRA Quartermaster General
• IRA Director of Intelligence

References

1. Aengus Ó Snodaigh, "IRA Convention meets", An Phoblacht/Republican News, 11 May 2000.
2. Maryann Gialanella V, Portrait of a Revolutionary. General Richard Mulcahy and the Founding of the Irish Free State, Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1992. ISBN 0-8131-1791-7
3. Meda Ryan, The Real Chief: Liam Lynch, Cork: Mercier, 2005. ISBN 1-85635-460-1
4. Paul V. Walsh, The Irish Civil War, 1922-1923 Archived 2006-05-08 at the Wayback Machine
5. Henry Boylan, A Dictionary of Irish Biography, Dublin: Gill & Macmillan, 1998.
6. "Student Radicals Archived 2005-09-28 at the Wayback Machine", in: High Ball, February 2002.
7. Brian Hanley, The IRA: 1926-36, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2002. ISBN 1-85182-721-8
8. Dictionary of irish Biography
9. Seán MacBride That Day's Struggle. A Memoir, ed. Caitríona Lawlor, Dublin: Currach Press, 2005. ISBN 1-85607-929-5
10. Hanley, Brian (2002). The IRA, 1923-1936. Dublin: Four Courts Press. p. 18.
11. Bowyer Bell, J. (1997). The Secret Army: The IRA. Transaction Publishers. p. 159. ISBN 1-56000-901-2.
12. Coogan, Tim Pat (2002). The I.R.A. St. Martin's Griffin. p. 134. ISBN 978-0312294168.
13. Dáil Debates Archived 2008-10-09 at the Wayback Machine, 7 July 1943.
14. Thorne, Kathleen (2019). Echoes of Their Footsteps. Oregon: Generation Organization. p. 436. ISBN 978-0-692-04283-0.
15. The Irish Press, 07 March 1942
16. Thorne, Pg. 279
17. Tim Pat Coogan, The IRA A History, Niwot: Roberts Rinehart Publishers, 1993. ISBN 1-879373-67-X
18. Hegarty-Thorne, Kathleen (25 July 2019). "The IRA Chief of Staff who was "unbought, unconquered, and unpurchasable to the last"". IrishCentral.com. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
19. Thorne, Pgs. 297-298
20. Thorne, Pgs. 301-302
21. Thorne, Pgs.319-320
22. J. Bowyer Bell, The Secret Army: The IRA, Somerset: Transaction Publishers, 1997. ISBN 1-56000-901-2
23. J. Bowyer Bell, The Secret Army: The IRA, Somerset: Transaction Publishers, 1997. ISBN 1-56000-901-2. See also "Bodenstown: IRA GHQ reorganised", Saoirse, June 1997.
24. J. Bowyer Bell, The Secret Army: The IRA, Somerset: Transaction Publishers, 1997.
25. "Arrests, Collaboration, Victimisation" Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine, in Saoirse, May 2007, p. 16
26. J. Bowyer Bell, The Secret Army: The IRA, Somerset: Transaction Publishers, 1997. Magan's tenure ended with his arrest in Dublin. The IRA adjutant-general as well as members of the Army Council were also arrested. See Dáil Debates Archived 2011-06-06 at the Wayback Machine, 6 November 1957.
27. Robert W. White, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh: The Life and Politics of an Irish Revolutionary, Bloomington/Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2006, ISBN 0-253-34708-4, pp. 85–6.
28. Named as such by prominent republican, Owen Carron, in a letter entitled Deireadh Seachtaine John Joe McGirl, An Phoblacht/Republican News, 31 July 1997. See also: J. Bowyer Bell, The Secret Army: The IRA, Somerset: Transaction Publishers, 1997, p. 322.
29. By his own admission, see Saoirse interview Revolt in the North 1956-62 Archived 2005-04-05 at the Wayback Machine. See also: Robert W. White, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh: The Life and Politics of an Irish Revolutionary, Bloomington/Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2006, ISBN 0-253-34708-4, p. 89.
30. Robert W. White, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh: The Life and Politics of an Irish Revolutionary, Bloomington/Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2006, ISBN 0-253-34708-4, p. 98.]
31. Robert W. White, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh: The Life and Politics of an Irish Revolutionary, Bloomington/Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2006, ISBN 0-253-34708-4, pp. 98–9, 114.]
32. Robert W. White, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh: The Life and Politics of an Irish Revolutionary, Bloomington/Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2006, ISBN 0-253-34708-4, pp. 114.]
33. White, Robert (2017). Out of the Ashes: An Oral History of the Provisional Irish Republican Movement. Merrion Press. pp. 64–65. ISBN 9781785370939.
34. Hanley, Brian; Millar, Scott (2010). The Lost Revolution: The Story of the Official IRA and the Workers' Party. Penguin Books. p. 145. ISBN 978-0141028453.
35. Confirmed by Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, see "Outstanding IRA leader and giant of a man in the Republican Movement", and "Seán Mac Stíofáin -- a tribute", Saoirse, June 2001. See also: Ed Moloney, A Secret History of the IRA, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 2003. ISBN 0-14-101041-X
36. Ed Moloney, A Secret History of the IRA, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 2003. ISBN 0-14-101041-X
37. Ed Moloney, A Secret History of the IRA, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 2003. ISBN 0-14-101041-X. Confirmed in obituary, Saoirse, December 1999.
38. Bowyer Bell, J. (1997). The Secret Army: The IRA. Transaction Publishers. p. 520. ISBN 1-56000-901-2.
39. Bishop, Patrick & Mallie, Eamonn (1987). The Provisional IRA. Corgi Books. p. 315. ISBN 0-552-13337-X.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
40. "Broth of a boy - President Clinton recognizes Sinn Féin". National Review. 24 October 1994. Archived from the original on 9 October 2008. Retrieved 19 February 2007.
41. Taylor, Peter (1997). Provos The IRA & Sinn Féin. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 201. ISBN 0-7475-3818-2.
42. Ed Moloney, A Secret History of the IRA, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 2003. ISBN 0-14-101041-X. Adams denies he was Chief of Staff at any time. "IRA Expert Ed Moloney to Speak On Campus Nov. 20" Archived 2006-09-12 at the Wayback Machine, Boston Chronicle, 14 November 2002.
43. Cusack, Jim (30 November 2014). "The Provos and its 'loony chief' who still dictate to SF". Irish Independent. Retrieved 12 November 2019. It is said he was brought onto the Army Council in the 1990s by Brian Keenan, the hard-line IRA Chief of Staff among whose policies was the genocide of Protestants living in Border areas
44. "Mastermind of IRA bombing campaigns who became the organisation's negotiator over decommissioning". The Telegraph. 21 May 2008. Retrieved 12 November 2019. After the IRA resumed its truce in 1997, Sinn Fein helped negotiate a 1998 peace accord that proposed the total disarmament of the IRA by mid-2000. Keenan, who replaced Thomas "Slab" Murphy as the IRA's chief of staff in 1998, quickly ruled out this prospect, arguing that the group would disarm only in co-operation with a future all-Ireland government...the onset of cancer which forced (Keenan) to step down from the Army Council in 2002.
45. Cusack, Jim (30 November 2014). "The Provos and its 'loony chief' who still dictate to SF". Irish Independent. Retrieved 12 November 2019. It is understood the current 'Chief' assumed the role on Brian Keenan's death in May 2008 and is very much in his vein of thinking.
46. "IRA Expert Ed Moloney to Speak On Campus Nov. 20" Archived 2006-09-12 at the Wayback Machine, Boston Chronicle, 14 November 2002.
47. Hanley, Brian; Millar, Scott (2010). The Lost Revolution: The Story of the Official IRA and the Workers' Party. Penguin Books. pp. 149–150, 332. ISBN 978-0141028453.
48. Hanley, Brian; Millar, Scott (2010). The Lost Revolution: The Story of the Official IRA and the Workers' Party. Penguin Books. p. 332. ISBN 978-0141028453.
49. "CIRA bomb adds to growing crisis in the peace process Archived 2007-05-09 at the Wayback Machine", Irish Examiner, 7 July 2000.
50. Horgan, John (7 March 2013). Divided We Stand: The Strategy and Psychology of Ireland's Dissident Terrorists. OUP USA. p. 102. ISBN 978-0-19-977285-8.
51. "Former chief of staff of Real IRA shot and killed in Cork city". The Irish Times. Retrieved 28 August 2023.