Ruairí Brugha

Ruairí Brugha (Irish pronunciation: [ˈɾˠuərʲiː bˠɾˠuː]; 15 October 1917 – 31 January 2006) was an Irish Republican and IRA volunteer who became a Fianna Fáil politician, serving as a Teachta Dála (TD), senator and Member of the European Parliament (MEP).

He was born in Dublin, the son of Cathal Brugha, who was Minister for Defence in the first Dáil and was killed in 1922 during the Civil War; his mother Caitlín Brugha (née Kingston) was an anti-Treaty TD from 1923 to 1927. The family home, a refuge for republicans, was often raided by the successive authorities whom the Brughas opposed: first the Royal Irish Constabulary, then British soldiers and Auxiliaries, followed by the forces of the Irish Free State.

Brugha was educated at Rockwell College and in Coláiste Mhuire, and joined the IRA at the age of 16. When IRA members were interned at the outbreak of World War II, he went on the run. He was eventually arrested in 1940 and interned at the Curragh for the duration of The Emergency. While on parole for health reasons he met Máire MacSwiney, the only child of Lord Mayor of Cork Terence MacSwiney who died while on hunger strike in 1920, and they married in 1945.

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