Tomás Mac Giolla
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Tomás MacGiolla (born 1924) is a former Irish member of parliament (TD) and a current member of the Central Executive Committee of The Workers' Party of Ireland.
Tomás MacGiolla (formerly Thomas Gill) was born on 25 January 1924 in Nenagh, County Tipperary, Ireland. His uncle T.P. Gill was an MP and member of the Irish Parliamentary Party of Charles Stewart Parnell. Tomás's father Robert also stood unsuccessfully for election on a number of occasions. His mother was Mary (néé Hourigan).
MacGiolla was educated at the local national school in Nenagh before completing his secondary education at St. Flannan's College, Ennis, County Clare. He won a scholarship to University College Dublin where he qualified with a BA degree, followed by a B.Comm.
In his early life MacGiolla was an active republican. He joined Sinn Féin and the IRA around 1950. He was interned by the Irish government during the IRA Border campaign of 1956 to 1962. He also served a number of prison sentences in Mountjoy Prison, Dublin.
In 1961, MacGiolla unsuccessfully contested the Tipperary South constituency in the 1961 General Election for Sinn Féin.
In 1962 he became president of Sinn Féin and was one of the people who successfully pushed the party to the left during the 1960s. In 1969 Sinn Féin split and MacGiolla remained leader of Official Sinn Féin. It was also in 1962 that Tomás married May McLoughlin who was also an active member of Sinn Féin and Cumann na mBan, the women's section of the IRA.
In 1977 the party changed its name to Sinn Féin the Workers Party and in 1982 it became simply The Workers Party. In 1982 Mac Giolla was elected to Dáil Éireann for his party. In 1988 he retired as party leader and was succeeded by Proinsias De Rossa.
After the departure of six Workers Party TDs to form the new Democratic Left party in 1992, Mac Giolla was the sole member of the Workers Party in the Dáil. He lost his Dáil seat in the general election later that year by a margin of just 59 votes.
MacGiolla had been elected to Dublin Corporation in 1979. He served as Lord Mayor of Dublin from 1993 to 1994 and remained a member of Dublin Corporation until 1999.
A qualified accountant, MacGiolla was employed by the Irish Electricity Supply Board from 1947 until he went into full time politics in 1977.
This page incorporates information from the Oireachtas Members Database
