Brief Biography:

Joe Cahill became involved with the Republican movement at an early age and joined the Irish Republican Army (IRA). In 1942 Cahill was reprieved, having been sentenced to death along with four others for the killing a member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). Released from prison in 1949 he was then interned following the resumption of an IRA campaign in 1956. His period of internment ended in 1961 but as with other Republican activists during the rest of the 1960s, he grew increasingly disillusioned with the policies and direction of the then leadership. With the outbreak of widespread civil unrest in Northern Ireland in 1969 Cahill joined in efforts to revive the Republican movement and when it split, he helped to establish the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) in Belfast. It is alleged that he also went onto serve as its Chief of Staff and in 1973 was sentenced to three years by a court in Dublin for attempting to smuggle arms from Libya.

Increasing ill-health saw him released in 1975 and for a time he kept a lower profile whilst beginning to associate himself with Sinn Féin (SF), later serving terms as its General Secretary and Treasurer. As the Republican movement sought to develop its political base in the 1980s he emerged as a key ally of Gerry Adams, then President of Sinn Féin (SF), and supported the efforts to establish SF as a major electoral force. Thus at the 1986 SF Ard Fheis Cahill gave one of the key addresses as to why the party should abandon its traditional policy of not taking its seats in the Dáil. With developments in the 'Peace Process' in the early 1990s he again came to prominence when he was given a visa to visit the United States of America just before the declaration of an IRA ceasefire in August 1994. Since then he has continued to give his full support to the strategy followed by the SF leadership in terms of backing the 1998 Good Friday Agreement (GFA) and the subsequent decision by SF to take their seats in a new Northern Ireland Assembly.

Book References:

Anderson, Brendan. (2002), Joe Cahill: A Life in the IRA. Dublin: O'Brien Press.
Bell, J. Bowyer. (1979), The Secret Army: The IRA 1916-1979. New Brunswick: Transaction.
Coogan, Tim. Pat. (1993), The IRA. London: Harper Collins.
Elliott, Sydney., and Flackes, W.D. (1999), Northern Ireland: A Political Directory 1968-1999. Belfast: Blackstaff Press.
Kelley, Kevin. (1983), The Longest War: Northern Ireland and the IRA. Dingle, Brandon Books.

Web Sources:

[Entry written by B.Lynn - 28 March 2003]