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Antoine MacGiolla Bhrighde ((English Anthony MacBride, born 29 August 1957 – 2 December 1984) was a Provisional Irish Republican Army member from Desertmartin, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. He was shot and killed in an armed confrontation with British troops in 1984.

Background

MacGiolla Bhrighde was the oldest son of Frank and Nora MacBride. The MacBride family moved from there Derry home to the Knock Road, Belfast in 1964. It was then that MacGiolla Bhrighde was introduced to physical force republicanism by his maternal grandmother, also called Nora, who was involved in the Irish War of Independence in the 1920s.

The McBride family later moved to Killowen Street, which is located in a Loyalist area of East Belfast. The family home was subjected to a number of attacks from sectarian mobs. The attacks came in the form of window breaking and an attempted bombing but culminated in 1972 with the shooting of MacGiolla Bhrighde and his father Frank. His father, who was hit by 12 bullets, never recovered from the attacked and died some 17 months later.

Military career

Immediately after the shooting the family moved to Newtownards, County Down and in the mid-1970s MacGiolla Bhrighde left Northern Ireland to join the regular Irish Army of the Republic of Ireland and the McBride family moved again, this time returning to their native County Londonderry. MacGiolla Bhrighde excelled quickly in the Irish Army and received a commendation for bravery whilst serving there.

Paramilitary career

After serving in the Irish Army, MacGiolla Bhrighde also became a member of the South Derry Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army. He was involved in a number of of operations as part of an Active Service Unit (ASU) that operated in rural County Londonderry.

In 1979, while on leave from the Irish Army, MacGiolla Bhrighde was captured by RUC officers while attempting to smuggle weapons into Northern Ireland. He was detained at Strabane RUC barracks and was later imprisoned for three years for this operation.

MacGiolla Bhrighde, according to IRA sources quoted by journalist Ed Moloney was noted for his hard line militarist republicanism. He is reputed to have backed a plan to form full time guerrilla units or "flying columns" based in the Republic, which would carry out four or five large scale attacks in the north a year.

This approach was espoused by the militant Provisional IRA East Tyrone Brigade led by Padraig McKearney and Jim Lynagh, who wanted an escalation of the conflict to what they termed "total war". They were opposed by Kevin McKenna, the PIRA Chief of Staff and by the republican leadership based around Gerry Adams, on the grounds that actions on that scale were too big a risk and unsustainable. The PIRA leadership wanted a smaller scale campaign of attrition, supplemented by politcal campaigning by Sinn Fein

Upon release MacGiolla Bhrighde, who had made a number of friends and contacts in Norway, became involved in providing information for the Irish republican cause throughout Scandinavia. After returning from Norway in November 1984, MacGiolla Bhrighde along with fellow PIRA member, Kieran Fleming, undertook their final operation.

Kesh ambush and death

On Sunday morning, 2 December 1984, MacGiolla Bhrighde and Fleming stole a Toyota van in Pettigo, County Donegal and the van was then loads with 9 beer kegs, each containing 100lbs of explosives. They then crossed the border and travelled to Kesh, County Fermanagh. At the Drumrush Lodge Restaurant, just outside the town, they planted a landmine in a lane leading to the restaurant and wired up a device which was connected to an observation point. From there a hoax call was was made in order to lure the British Army to the resturant on the pretence that there was a firebomb planted within the resturant.

MacGiolla Bhrighde observed a RUC patrol car approaching the restaurant and gave the detonation code word "one", however, the mine failed to explode. There was another car parked in the car park which MacGiolla Bhrighde believed to contain civilians, he got out of the van from which he was observing the scene to warn the civilian car to leave the area.

According to the republican sources, when he approached the car, two Special Air Service soldiers got out and commanded him to halt and drop his gun. MacGiolla Bhrighde, who was unarmed, informed the SAS of this and then one of the SAS men stepped forward and shot him on his left side. He was then cuffed and shot dead.

However according to the CAIN chronology of the conflict, there was a gun battle at the scene of the attempted bombing, between the two IRA men and British troops in which Mac Giolla Bhrighde was killed. British soldier Alistair Slater was also killed in the exchange of fire and MacGiolla Bhrighde's companion, Kieran Fleming, was drowned as he tried to get away .

Monument issue

In 2002, a row erupted when a monument to MacGiolla Bhrighde, Fleming and Sligo Volunteer Joe MacManus was sited close to the place where Protestant workmen William Hassard and Frederick Love were killed by the IRA in 1988.

References

1. CAIN Index of Deaths
2. Antoine MacGiolla Bhrighde
3. She said too much
4. Four Derry Volunteers killed in action
5. The Impartial Reporter
6. I nDíl Chuimhne
7. p.265
9. Ed Moloney, The Secret History of the IRA, p313-314
10. p.530
11. p.265
12. p.265,
13. http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/sutton/chron/1984.html
14. Northern News
15. The Impartial Reporter
16. Republicans make conciliatory move over IRA memorial

See also

• The Troubles in Kesh

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• 1957 births
• 1984 deaths
• Natives of County Londonderry
• Northern Irish Roman Catholics
• People convicted on terrorism charges
• People from Belfast
• People killed by security forces
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