Seán McCool
| Seán McCool | |
|---|---|
| Died | 1 May 1949 |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Known for | IRA membership |
Seán McCool (Irish: Seán MacCumhaill) (died 1 May 1949) was a prominent Irish Republican and a former chief of staff of the Irish Republican Army. Imprisoned on numerous occasions, both North and South of the border, he embarked on a number of hunger strikes. He stood as a candidate for Clann na Poblachta before leaving the party as a result of their decision to go into government with Fine Gael.
McCool was described by Peadar O'Donnell as "...deeply read but very much the IRA man". He was also prominent within the GAA in his native County Donegal and the current home ground of the Donegal GAA, MacCumhaill Park, is named in his honour.
McCool, based in Donegal, took the Republican side during the Irish Civil War. At the end of the War he was sentenced and held as a prisoner of the Free State in either Finner Camp or Drumboe Castle.
McCool was present at the 2nd Drumboe martyrs commemoration for the execution of IRA volunteers Lieut. Dan Enright, Comdt. Gen. Charlie Daly, Brig. Comdt. Sean Larkin, and Lieut. Timothy O'Sullivan in 1923.
By 1927 Peadar O'Donnell, the IRA leader, had begun a campaign to use social agitation on the issue of Land Annuities, where small farmers in the republic were being taxed to pay for land brought by the British government in the preceding century. McCool was one of O'Donnell's earliest supporters and by now was in charge of the East Donegal IRA.
In September 1926 McCool's IRA unit raided the offices of a landlord's agent in Donegal, taking away all records. On 19 February 1927 he was one of four men arrested in connection with the raid. Before the trial, the prisoners went on hunger strike for a week. McCool, and his co-accused, which included Peadar O'Donnell's younger brother Barney, received a sentence of six months imprisonment. which McCool served in Mountjoy Prison where he would have been a prisoner at the same time as Seán MacBride
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