Seán South

Seán South was born in Limerick, where he was educated at Sexton Street Christian Brothers School, later working as a clerk in a local wood-importing company called McMahon's.{{citation needed|date=July 2009}} He was a member of a number of organisations, including Clann na Poblachta (who he worked for during the 1948 election), Sinn Féin, the Gaelic League and the Legion of Mary. In Limerick he founded the local branch of Maria Duce,{{cite web |url=https://dib.cambridge.org/viewFullScreen.do?filename=a8195 |title=South (Sabhat), Seán |last=White |first=Lawrence William |website=Dictionary of Irish Biography |access-date=22 November 2020 }} a rabidly conservative and anti-Semitic Roman Catholic organisation led by Father Denis Fahey, where South also edited both {{lang|ga|An Gath}} and {{lang|ga|An Giolla}}. While not a member, South is also suggested by some, though disputed by others, to have been associated with the fascist Ailtirí na hAiséirghe political party, whose members he met through the Irish language organisations {{lang|ga|Craobh na hAiséirghe}} (a branch of the Gaelic League) and {{lang|ga|Glún na Buaidhe}}, which coexisted and cooperated with Ailtirí na hAiséirghe.{{cite web |url=http://www.limerickcity.ie/media/olj%2044%20082%20Schools%20of%20Corruption.pdf |title='Schools of Corruption' The Context of Seán South's Anti-Semitism |last=Gannon |first=Seán |access-date=22 November 2020|archive-date=31 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201231221630/http://www.limerickcity.ie/media/olj%2044%20082%20Schools%20of%20Corruption.pdf|url-status=live }} The historian R.M. Douglas stated there was "no evidence" South had connections to Ailtiri na hAiséirghe{{cite book |last=Douglas |first=RM |author-link= |date=2009 |title=Architects of the Resurrection: Ailtirí na hAiséirghe and the Fascist 'New Order' in Ireland |url= |location= |publisher= |page=286 |isbn=}} while South's 1964 biographer Mainchin Seoighe believed he was a member.{{cite book |last=Seoighe |first=Mainchín |author-link= |date=1964 |title=Maraíodh Seán Sabhat aréir |url= |location= |publisher= |page= |isbn=}}{{cite news |last= |first= |date=5 January 2017 |title=Why no public outcry at Gerry Adams paying homage to the notorious fascist thug Sean South? |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/columnists/nelson-mccausland/why-no-public-outcry-at-gerry-adams-paying-homage-to-the-notorious-fascist-thug-sean-south-35342545.html |work=Belfast Telegraph |location= |access-date=26 July 2022 |quote=South's biographer Mainchin Seoighe also states that he was a member of the fascist party Ailtiri na hAiseirighe, and he was certainly a sympathiser.}}

He had received military training as a lieutenant of the Irish army reserve, the Local Defence Force, which would later become {{lang|ga|An Fórsa Cosanta Áitiúil}}, before he became a volunteer in the Irish Republican Army.

Being a member of An Réalt (the Irish-speaking chapter of the Legion of Mary),{{cite book |last=Bishop, Patrick & Mallie, Eamonn |title=The Provisional IRA |publisher=Corgi Books |year=1987 |isbn=0-552-13337-X |page=42}} South was a devout Catholic and a conservative, even by the standards of the day.Brian Hanley and Scott Millar (2009), The Lost Revolution: The Story of the Official IRA and The Workers' Party, p.14 It was at a meeting of An Réalt that he met his only serious girlfriend, Máire de Paor. She was a schoolteacher from Limerick and was a great lover of the Irish language.Des Fogarty (2006), Seán South of Garryowen, p.32 He was also a member of the Knights of Columbanus.{{cite book |last1=Haddick-Flynn |first1=Kevin |title=The Backward Glance: A Miscellany of Irish History, Politics and Culture |page=17}}

In 1949, South wrote a series of letters to his local newspaper, the Limerick Leader. These letters condemned Hollywood films for what South regarded as their immoral messages. South accused these films of promoting a "stream of insidious propaganda which proceeds from Judeo-Masonic controlled sources, and which warps and corrupts the minds of our youth."David Hannigan, "Spiders under the Stone". Fortnight, No. 314 (Feb., 1993), pp. 34-35Ian S. Wood, Britain, Ireland and the Second World War. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 2010 {{ISBN|9780748630011}} (p.204) South also claimed that the American film industry was controlled by "Jewish and Masonic executives dictating to Communist rank and file." In his letters, South also denounced Irish trade unions, and praised the activities of Senator Joseph McCarthy in the United States. In other writings in later years, South quoted material from A. K. Chesterton, a member of the British Union of Fascists and the founder of the League of Empire Loyalists, which later merged with British National Party in 1967 to become the National Front.

On New Year's Day 1957, 14 IRA volunteers crossed the border into County Fermanagh{{cite web |url=http://www.edentubber50th.com/pages/south.php |title=Sean South |website=Edentubber Martyrs 50th Anniversary |accessdate=2009-05-21 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091115191715/http://www.edentubber50th.com/pages/south.php |archive-date=2009-11-15 }} Edentubber Martyrs Fiftieth Anniversary to launch an attack on a joint RUC/B Specials barracks at Moane's Cross in Altawark townland near Cooneen, six miles from Brookeborough. During the attack a number of volunteers were injured, two fatally. South and Fergal O'Hanlon died of their wounds as they were making their escape. Their bodies were brought into an old sandstone barn by their comrades. The stone from the barn was used to build a memorial at the site.{{cite web |url=http://www.anphoblacht.com/news/detail/31334 |title=Roslea remembers its martyrs |first=Laura |last=Friel |date=8 October 1998 |newspaper=An Phoblacht |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110526103600/http://www.anphoblacht.com/news/detail/31334 |archive-date=May 26, 2011 |url-status=dead}} The site is located at the intersection of Cooneen Road and Teiges Hill Road about six miles northwest of Rosslea.

South's funeral was held on 5 January 1957 and drew massive crowds numbering in the thousands, including members of the clergy and the Mayor of Limerick City Ted Russell.{{cite book |last1=Horgan |first1=John |title=Sean Lemass: The Enigmatic Patriot |date=1997 |publisher=Gill & Macmillan}}{{cite book |title=The Irish Border: History, Politics, Culture |date=1999 |publisher=Liverpool University Press |page=113}}{{cite book |last1=Haddick-Flynn |first1=Kevin |title=The Backward Glance: A Miscellany of Irish History, Politics and Culture |date=2022 |page=35}}

South's legacy remains a controversial and contested issue, particularly in Northern Ireland where South died. In 2019, Ulster Unionist Party MLA Rosemary Barton denounced Martin Kenny of Sinn Féin for praising South's legacy at an annual memorial held for South in Limerick. Barton suggested South's 1957 raid on the Brookeborough barracks was a terrorist act and called South "a well-known fascist and an anti-Semite".{{cite news |date=10 January 2019 |title=Row over claims legendary IRA man was Nazi sympathiser |url=https://fermanaghherald.com/2019/01/row-over-claims-legendary-ira-man-was-nazi-sympathiser/ |work=The Fermanagh Herald |access-date=22 November 2020}} Each year in Limerick Sinn Féin organise a commemoration of South with Limerick Sinn Féin councillor John Costelloe saying "for a man to come up from Limerick and take on the might of the British Empire took some guts...we should honour our heroes".{{cite web |title=Limerick councillor seeks to honour Sean South in his home city |date=17 May 2021 |publisher=Limerick Leader |url=https://www.limerickleader.ie/news/home/633537/limerick-councillor-seeks-to-honour-sean-south-in-his-home-city.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210517071256/https://www.limerickleader.ie/news/home/633537/limerick-councillor-seeks-to-honour-sean-south-in-his-home-city.html |archive-date=2021-05-17 }}

The Limerick City cumann of Official Sinn Féin was named after South.{{Cite book |title = INLA Deadly Divisions |author= Holland and McDonald |date = 2016}}

In 2025, Irish republican and historian Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc condemned South as a fascist and stated that South was not someone the Republican movement should commemorate.{{cite podcast |host=Hugh Linehan |date=23 April 2025 |title=How the Dublin Riots can be traced back to the Blueshirts |url=https://open.spotify.com/episode/6wYqUrxYXEpmVdlwcNhEcy?si=74b91f1847464988 |work=Inside Politics |publisher=Irish Times |time=40:00 |access-date=}}

The attack on the barracks inspired two popular rebel songs: "Seán South of Garryowen" and "The Patriot Game".[http://www.edentubber50th.com/pages/south.php Ruan O'Donnell, Professor of History at the University of Limerick] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091115191715/http://www.edentubber50th.com/pages/south.php |date=2009-11-15}}

• "Sean South", also known as "Sean South of Garryowen", written by Sean Costello to the tune of another republican ballad "Roddy McCorley"{{Cite web|url=http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/6673|title = Roddy McCorley (March) on the Session| date=20 January 2007 }} and made famous by the Wolfe Tones.
• South is also mentioned in the Rubberbandits' song "Up Da Ra", which pokes fun at the concept of armchair republicanism using the literary device of the unreliable narrator.{{cite web |url=https://genius.com/Rubberbandits-up-the-ra-lyrics |title=Rubberbandits - Up Da Ra |website=Genius}}
• There is a plaque dedicated to him outside his birthplace on Henry Street, Limerick.[http://www.limerickleader.ie/news/local-news/196692/Limerick-commemorations-mark-the-death-of.html Limerick commemorations mark the death of Sean South]

File:South and ohanlon.jpg

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Category:1928 births

Category:1957 deaths

Category:Antisemitism in Ireland

Category:Catholicism and far-right politics

Category:Christian fascists

Category:Deaths by firearm in Northern Ireland

Category:Far-right politics in Ireland

Category:Irish Republican Army (1922–1969) members

Category:Irish fascists

Category:Irish language activists

Category:People from Limerick (city)

Category:People shot dead by law enforcement officers in the United Kingdom