Billy McKee
Encyclopedia
Billy McKee is an Irish republican
and was a founding member and former leader of the Provisional Irish Republican Army
(PIRA).
in the early 1920s, and joined the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in 1939. During the Second World War, the IRA carried out a number of armed actions in Northern Ireland
known as the Northern Campaign
. McKee was arrested and imprisoned in Crumlin Road Gaol until 1946 for his role in this campaign. In 1956, the IRA embarked on another armed campaign against the existence of the Northern Ireland
polity, known as the Border Campaign
. McKee was again arrested and interned
for the duration of the campaign. He was released in 1962.
Upon release, he became Officer Commanding
(OC) of the IRA's Belfast Brigade. However he resigned this position in 1963, after a dispute with other republicans when McKee acceded to a Royal Ulster Constabulary
(RUC) demand that he not fly an Irish tricolour during a republican march. He was succeeded by Billy McMillen
.
As the 1960s went on, McKee drifted away from the IRA. He grew very disillusioned with the organisation's increasing emphasis on Marxist socialism
and reformist politics over "armed struggle". McKee was a devout Roman Catholic, who attended Mass
daily. As a result, he was very uncomfortable with what he felt were "communist" ideas creeping into the Republican movement.
nationalists
, Protestant loyalists
, and the RUC. McKee was highly critical of the IRA's failure to defend Catholic areas during these disturbances. On 14 August 1969 McKee, Joe Cahill
and a number of other republicans occupied houses at Kashmir Street in an effort to fight off the RUC and loyalists. However, being poorly armed, they failed to prevent Catholic Bombay Street and parts of Cupar Street and Kashmir Street being burned out.
In the aftermath of the riots, McKee accused Billy McMillen, the IRA's Belfast commander, and the Dublin-based IRA leadership, of having failed to provide arms, planning or manpower to defend Catholic streets. On 22 September, McKee and a number of other IRA men, arrived armed at a meeting called by McMillen and tried to oust him as head of the Belfast IRA. They did not succeed, but announced that they would no longer be taking orders from the IRA leadership in Dublin. In December of that year, the IRA split into the Provisional IRA which was composed of traditional militarists like McKee, and the Official IRA
which was composed of the remnants of the pre-split Marxist leadership and their followers. McKee sided with the Provisionals and sat on the first Provisional Army Council
in September 1970.
. From the start, there was intermittent feuding between McKee's men and his former comrades in the Official IRA, as they vied for control of nationalist areas. However, the Provisionals rapidly gained the upper hand, due to their projection of themselves as the most reliable defenders of the Catholic community.
McKee himself contributed greatly to this image by an action he undertook on 27 June 1970. Rioting broke out in the Ardoyne
area of north Belfast after an Orange Order parade
, and three Protestants were killed in gun battles between the Provisional IRA and loyalists. In response, loyalists prepared to attack the vulnerable Catholic enclave of Short Strand
in east Belfast. When McKee heard about this, he drove to Short Strand with some men and weapons and took up position at St Matthew's Church. In the ensuing five hour gun battle, McKee was wounded and one of his men was killed, along with at least four Protestants.
On 15 April 1971 McKee, along with Proinsias MacAirt
, was arrested by the British Army
when found in possession of a hand gun. He was charged and convicted for possession of the weapon and imprisoned in Crumlin Road, and Joe Cahill took over as OC of the Belfast Brigade.
In 1972, McKee led a hunger strike protest in an effort to win recognition of IRA prisoners as political prisoners. Republicans who were interned already had special status, but those convicted of crimes in the normal way were not. When McKee was close to death, William Whitelaw conceded Special Category Status
which, although not officially awarding political status, was tacit recognition of the political nature of the incarceration.
McKee was released on 4 September 1974 and resumed his position as OC of the Belfast Brigade. At this time the PIRA called a ceasefire and McKee was involved, with Ruairí Ó Brádaigh
in secret peace talks in Derry
with the Northern Ireland Office
. He was also involved in talks with Protestant clergy in Feakle, County Clare
in December 1974, where he voiced his desire to end the violence.
However, in the same period, McKee authorised a number of sectarian attacks on Protestants as well as renewed attacks on rival republicans in the Official IRA. For this he was heavily criticised by a group of PIRA activists grouped around Gerry Adams
.
in 1977, effectively forcing him out of the leadership of the organisation. McKee's health suffered in this period and he did not resume his IRA activities. He later joined Republican Sinn Fein
in 1986.
In more recent years McKee, Brendan Hughes
and Tommy McKearney
were critical of the Belfast Agreement
and of the reformist politics of Sinn Féin
.
Irish Republicanism
Irish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic.In 1801, under the Act of Union, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
and was a founding member and former leader of the Provisional Irish Republican Army
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
(PIRA).
Early life
McKee was born in BelfastBelfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
in the early 1920s, and joined the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in 1939. During the Second World War, the IRA carried out a number of armed actions in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
known as the Northern Campaign
Northern Campaign (IRA)
Northern Campaign is a term used to describe attacks involving volunteers of the Irish Republican Army during the Second World War between September 1942 and December 1944. It was a plan conceived by the then IRA Northern Command to launch attacks within Northern Ireland during this period...
. McKee was arrested and imprisoned in Crumlin Road Gaol until 1946 for his role in this campaign. In 1956, the IRA embarked on another armed campaign against the existence of the Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
polity, known as the Border Campaign
Border Campaign (IRA)
The Border Campaign was a campaign of guerrilla warfare carried out by the Irish Republican Army against targets in Northern Ireland, with the aim of overthrowing British rule there and creating a united Ireland.Popularly referred to as the Border Campaign, it was also referred to as the...
. McKee was again arrested and interned
Internment
Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people, commonly in large groups, without trial. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the meaning as: "The action of 'interning'; confinement within the limits of a country or place." Most modern usage is about individuals, and there is a distinction...
for the duration of the campaign. He was released in 1962.
Upon release, he became Officer Commanding
Officer Commanding
The Officer Commanding is the commander of a sub-unit or minor unit , principally used in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. In other countries, the term Commanding Officer is applied to commanders of minor as well as major units.Normally an Officer Commanding is a company, squadron or battery...
(OC) of the IRA's Belfast Brigade. However he resigned this position in 1963, after a dispute with other republicans when McKee acceded to a Royal Ulster Constabulary
Royal Ulster Constabulary
The Royal Ulster Constabulary was the name of the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2000. Following the awarding of the George Cross in 2000, it was subsequently known as the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC. It was founded on 1 June 1922 out of the Royal Irish Constabulary...
(RUC) demand that he not fly an Irish tricolour during a republican march. He was succeeded by Billy McMillen
Billy McMillen
Billy McMillen was an Irish republican activist and an officer of the Official Irish Republican Army...
.
As the 1960s went on, McKee drifted away from the IRA. He grew very disillusioned with the organisation's increasing emphasis on Marxist socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
and reformist politics over "armed struggle". McKee was a devout Roman Catholic, who attended Mass
Mass (liturgy)
"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...
daily. As a result, he was very uncomfortable with what he felt were "communist" ideas creeping into the Republican movement.
IRA split
During the Northern Ireland riots of August 1969, severe rioting broke out in Belfast between Irish CatholicIrish Catholic
Irish Catholic is a term used to describe people who are both Roman Catholic and Irish .Note: the term is not used to describe a variant of Catholicism. More particularly, it is not a separate creed or sect in the sense that "Anglo-Catholic", "Old Catholic", "Eastern Orthodox Catholic" might be...
nationalists
Irish nationalism
Irish nationalism manifests itself in political and social movements and in sentiment inspired by a love for Irish culture, language and history, and as a sense of pride in Ireland and in the Irish people...
, Protestant loyalists
Ulster loyalism
Ulster loyalism is an ideology that is opposed to a united Ireland. It can mean either support for upholding Northern Ireland's status as a constituent part of the United Kingdom , support for Northern Ireland independence, or support for loyalist paramilitaries...
, and the RUC. McKee was highly critical of the IRA's failure to defend Catholic areas during these disturbances. On 14 August 1969 McKee, Joe Cahill
Joe Cahill
Joe Cahill was a prominent Irish republican and former chief of staff of the Provisional Irish Republican Army .- Background :In May 1920, Cahill was born in Divis Street in West Belfast, Ireland, where his parents had been neighbours of the Scottish-born Irish revolutionary James Connolly.Cahill...
and a number of other republicans occupied houses at Kashmir Street in an effort to fight off the RUC and loyalists. However, being poorly armed, they failed to prevent Catholic Bombay Street and parts of Cupar Street and Kashmir Street being burned out.
In the aftermath of the riots, McKee accused Billy McMillen, the IRA's Belfast commander, and the Dublin-based IRA leadership, of having failed to provide arms, planning or manpower to defend Catholic streets. On 22 September, McKee and a number of other IRA men, arrived armed at a meeting called by McMillen and tried to oust him as head of the Belfast IRA. They did not succeed, but announced that they would no longer be taking orders from the IRA leadership in Dublin. In December of that year, the IRA split into the Provisional IRA which was composed of traditional militarists like McKee, and the Official IRA
Official IRA
The Official Irish Republican Army or Official IRA is an Irish republican paramilitary group whose goal was to create a "32-county workers' republic" in Ireland. It emerged from a split in the Irish Republican Army in December 1969, shortly after the beginning of "The Troubles"...
which was composed of the remnants of the pre-split Marxist leadership and their followers. McKee sided with the Provisionals and sat on the first Provisional Army Council
IRA Army Council
The IRA Army Council was the decision-making body of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, more commonly known as the IRA, a paramilitary group dedicated to bringing about the end of the Union between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom. The council had seven members, said by the...
in September 1970.
Provisional IRA
McKee became the first OC of the Provisional IRA Belfast BrigadeProvisional IRA Belfast Brigade
The Belfast Brigade of the Provisional IRA was the largest of the organisation's command areas, based in the city of Belfast. Founded in 1969, along with the formation of the Provisional IRA, it was historically organised into three battalions; the First Battalion based in the...
. From the start, there was intermittent feuding between McKee's men and his former comrades in the Official IRA, as they vied for control of nationalist areas. However, the Provisionals rapidly gained the upper hand, due to their projection of themselves as the most reliable defenders of the Catholic community.
McKee himself contributed greatly to this image by an action he undertook on 27 June 1970. Rioting broke out in the Ardoyne
Ardoyne
Ardoyne is an Irish nationalist, working class and mainly Catholic district in north Belfast, Northern Ireland. It gained notoriety due to the large number of incidents during "The Troubles". It is home to approximately 20,000 inhabitants...
area of north Belfast after an Orange Order parade
Orange walk
Orange walks are a series of parades held annually by members of the Orange Order during the summer in Northern Ireland, to a lesser extent in Scotland, and occasionally in England, the Republic of Ireland, and throughout the Commonwealth...
, and three Protestants were killed in gun battles between the Provisional IRA and loyalists. In response, loyalists prepared to attack the vulnerable Catholic enclave of Short Strand
Short Strand
The Short Strand is a mainly-nationalist area in east Belfast, surrounded by a mainly-unionist area. It is within the townland of Ballymacarret and sits on the east bank of the River Lagan in County Down.-Security issues:...
in east Belfast. When McKee heard about this, he drove to Short Strand with some men and weapons and took up position at St Matthew's Church. In the ensuing five hour gun battle, McKee was wounded and one of his men was killed, along with at least four Protestants.
On 15 April 1971 McKee, along with Proinsias MacAirt
Proinsias MacAirt
Proinsias MacAirt was an Irish republican activist and long-serving member of various stripes of the Irish Republican Army.-Early years:...
, was arrested by the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
when found in possession of a hand gun. He was charged and convicted for possession of the weapon and imprisoned in Crumlin Road, and Joe Cahill took over as OC of the Belfast Brigade.
In 1972, McKee led a hunger strike protest in an effort to win recognition of IRA prisoners as political prisoners. Republicans who were interned already had special status, but those convicted of crimes in the normal way were not. When McKee was close to death, William Whitelaw conceded Special Category Status
Special Category Status
In July 1972, William Whitelaw, the British government's Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, granted Special Category Status to all prisoners convicted of Troubles-related offences...
which, although not officially awarding political status, was tacit recognition of the political nature of the incarceration.
McKee was released on 4 September 1974 and resumed his position as OC of the Belfast Brigade. At this time the PIRA called a ceasefire and McKee was involved, with Ruairí Ó Brádaigh
Ruairí Ó Brádaigh
Ruairí Ó Brádaigh is an Irish republican. He is a former chief of staff of the Irish Republican Army , former president of Sinn Féin and former president of Republican Sinn Féin.-Early life:...
in secret peace talks in Derry
Derry
Derry or Londonderry is the second-biggest city in Northern Ireland and the fourth-biggest city on the island of Ireland. The name Derry is an anglicisation of the Irish name Doire or Doire Cholmcille meaning "oak-wood of Colmcille"...
with the Northern Ireland Office
Northern Ireland Office
The Northern Ireland Office is a United Kingdom government department responsible for Northern Ireland affairs. The NIO is led by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and is based in Northern Ireland at Stormont House.-Role:...
. He was also involved in talks with Protestant clergy in Feakle, County Clare
Feakle, County Clare
Feakle is a village in County Clare, Ireland. Its population in 2006 was 122. It neighbours Lough Derg and the towns of Tulla and Scarriff. Feakle is famous for its traditional music festival.-History:...
in December 1974, where he voiced his desire to end the violence.
However, in the same period, McKee authorised a number of sectarian attacks on Protestants as well as renewed attacks on rival republicans in the Official IRA. For this he was heavily criticised by a group of PIRA activists grouped around Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams is an Irish republican politician and Teachta Dála for the constituency of Louth. From 1983 to 1992 and from 1997 to 2011, he was an abstentionist Westminster Member of Parliament for Belfast West. He is the president of Sinn Féin, the second largest political party in Northern...
.
Later life
A faction led by Adams managed to get McKee voted off the Army CouncilIRA Army Council
The IRA Army Council was the decision-making body of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, more commonly known as the IRA, a paramilitary group dedicated to bringing about the end of the Union between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom. The council had seven members, said by the...
in 1977, effectively forcing him out of the leadership of the organisation. McKee's health suffered in this period and he did not resume his IRA activities. He later joined Republican Sinn Fein
Republican Sinn Féin
Republican Sinn Féin or RSF is an unregisteredAlthough an active movement, RSF is not registered as a political party in either Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland. minor political party operating in Ireland. It emerged in 1986 as a result of a split in Sinn Féin...
in 1986.
In more recent years McKee, Brendan Hughes
Brendan Hughes
Brendan Hughes , also known as "The Dark", was an Irish republican and former Officer Commanding of the Belfast Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army...
and Tommy McKearney
Tommy McKearney
Tommy McKearney is an Irish republican, socialist, and former hunger striker and volunteer of the Provisional Irish Republican Army.-Background:McKearney was born into a family with a long republican tradition...
were critical of the Belfast Agreement
Belfast Agreement
The Good Friday Agreement or Belfast Agreement , sometimes called the Stormont Agreement, was a major political development in the Northern Ireland peace process...
and of the reformist politics of Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
.