1. Seamus Costello was a leader of Official Sinn Fein and the Official Irish Republican Army and latterly of the Irish Republican Socialist Party and the Irish National Liberation Army.
19 Facts About Seamus Costello
1. 2.
Seamus Costello argued for a combination of socialist politics on economic issues and traditional physical force Irish republicanism.
3.
Seamus Costello is best remembered for the founding of the IRSP and the INLA.
4.
Seamus Costello was a victim of a feud with his former comrades in the Official IRA.
5.
Seamus Costello left school at 15 and became a mechanic and later car salesman in Dublin.
6.
Seamus Costello was arrested in Glencree, County Wicklow, in 1957 and sentenced to six months in Mountjoy Prison.
7.
Seamus Costello was particularly inspired by his studies of the Vietnamese struggle for independence.
8.
Seamus Costello became a member of the escape committee which engineered the successful escapes of Ruairi O Bradaigh and Daithi O Conaill, among others.
9.
Seamus Costello eventually reached the rank of Adjutant-General of the IRA.
10.
In 1964 Seamus Costello was sent to the recently opened Chinese embassy in Paris to seek assistance from the Chinese government.
11.
Seamus Costello strongly supported the movement's left-wing orientation of these years, especially its emphasis on grassroots political activism.
12.
Seamus Costello helped found a strong tenants' association in Bray, and became involved with the credit union movement and various farmers' organisations.
13.
Seamus Costello was elected to both Bray Urban District Council and Wicklow County Council in 1966.
14.
Seamus Costello served as vice-president of Official Sinn Fein and as a staff officer in the Official IRA.
15.
Seamus Costello was opposed to the 1972 ceasefire and started to clash openly with the leadership, in particular with Eoin O Murchu.
16.
Seamus Costello stood again in the 1974 local elections and topped the poll for the Wicklow County Council and the Bray Urban District Council.
17.
In July 1976 Seamus Costello was replaced as INLA chief-of-staff by South Derry man Eddy McNicholl, although he still wielded considerable influence within the movement, retaining his position as chairman of the IRSP.
18.
Seamus Costello is the only leader of an Irish political party killed to date.
19.
Seamus Costello's funeral was attended by Ruairi O Bradaigh, the then president of Sinn Fein, Michael O'Riordan of the Communist Party of Ireland, Bernadette McAliskey and local Wicklow TDs Liam Kavanagh, Ciaran Murphy and Godfrey Timmins.