Seán Mac Stíofáin

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Seán Mac Stíofáin (born John Edward Drayton Stephenson; 17 February 1928 – 18 May 2001) was an English-born Irish republican who served as the first chief of staff of the Provisional IRA, a position he held between 1969 and 1972. Born in London to an English father and a mother of reputed Ulster Protestant descent, he attended Catholic schools before serving in the Royal Air Force. He joined the Irish republican movement in London in the late 1940s and was imprisoned in England in 1953 for his part in an arms raid on a school armoury. On his release in 1959, he settled in Ireland, rose through the ranks of the IRA, and was among the leading figures behind the organisation's split in December 1969, emerging as chief of staff of the newly formed Provisionals. A committed "physical-force" republican and devout Catholic, he oversaw the escalation of IRA violence during the early years of the Troubles, including the Bloody Friday bombings of July 1972, and led the Provisional delegation that...

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