Joseph Edward "Joe" MacManus (often incorrectly spelt Joe McManus) (Irish Seosamh Mac Mághnais), (May 23 1970 – February 5 1992, was a volunteer in the Sligo Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army. MacManus was killed on active service during a shoot-out after an ambush in Mulleek near Belleek, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland.^[6]

Background

MacManus was born in Harlesden, north-west London, which at the time had a large Irish community.^{[citation needed]} His father, Seán MacManus, a native of Gubaveeney, near Blacklion, County Cavan, had moved to London in the 1960s to find work. There he met and married Helen McGovern, a native of Glenfarne, County Leitrim. In 1976, the family returned to Ireland to live in the working-class Maugheraboy area of Sligo town so that the boys could be educated in Ireland.^[7]

MacManus was educated to primary level at Scoil Ursula Primary School, Strandhill Road, Sligo and St. John's Marist Brothers National School, Temple Street, Sligo to secondary level at Summerhill College and at third level at Sligo RTC. MacManus enjoyed socialising and sporting activities especially football and played soccer for local junior teams Collegians and Corinthians and also Gaelic football for both Saint Mary's GFC of Maugheraboy and Coolera GFC of Strandhill. He was also a supporter of Arsenal Football Club.^[1]

Joseph MacManus' father, Seán MacManus, who at the time was a leading republican later became Mayor of Sligo. He was the secretary of the County Sligo anti H-Block Committee in the 1980s.

This was the first Sinn Fein Mayor in the Republic of Ireland since the beginning of the The Troubles in 1969. His father was also involved in the negotiations leading to the Good Friday Agreement. Joe's younger brother, Chris, is a Sinn Féin Councillor for Sligo Borough Council, and is also a member of Sinn Féin's national executive, the Ard Comhairle.^[8][9]

Paramilitary activity

In 1987, MacManus attended the funeral of Jim Lynagh, one of those killed in the Loughall ambush. After attending this funeral MacManus became determined to become active within Irish republicanism.^{[citation needed]}In 1988, at the age of 18, MacManus joined the IRA's Sligo Brigade.^[1]

In 1991, MacManus joined a Ballyshannon-based active service unit which replaced the disbanded West Fermanagh Brigade. Initially, MacManus carried out minor operations including moving munitions between arms dumps, passing intelligence between operatives and attending training camps in the region.^[10]

On 2 February 1992, MacManus and the rest of his unit, James Hughes, Conor O'Neill and Noel Magee, met at a safe house in Ballyshannon, County Donegal to make final arrangement for an operation which was to take place later in the following week.

Mulleek ambush

On 3 February, MacManus and his unit crossed the border and took over the house of farmer Pat Loughran. The hostage, Loughran, was ordered to lure Eric Glass, a UDR soldier and part-time Fermanagh District Council dog warden, to his home on the pretence that his dog had attacked a family member.^[6]

Glass, a former member of the B-Specials, arrived at the farmhouse on the morning of 5 February. When he arrived at the gate of the farmhouse he was ambushed by the unit and ordered to get out of his van. The unit opened fire on Glass, then reached for his handgun, which he always had ready and loaded and placed on the passenger seat of the van. A gun battle ensued in which Glass was badly injured: his thigh bone was shattered and the bone partially penetrated his skin. Glass managed to fight off his attackers, killing MacManus in the process.^[6]

The trial of Noel Magee which followed the attack made Irish legal history as - for the first time since the Criminal Law Jurisdiction Act 1976 had been enacted - three judges of the Republic of Ireland's top security, non-jury Special Criminal Court crossed the border into Northern Ireland on 25 October 1992 to hear evidence in the trial of Noel Magee, who had been charged with the attempted murder of Glass.^[6] Magee, a native of Leggs, County Fermanagh, was jailed for 11.5 years in Dublin following his conviction in 1992. [1] ^{[dead link]} Magee was released in 1998 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement which resulted from the Northern Ireland peace process.^[6]

Two other IRA men involved in the attack , James Hughes and Conor O'Neill, were found hiding in a ditch after the attack and jailed. They were released by the Republic of Ireland under the Good Friday Agreement^[11]

Monument issue

In 2002, a dispute resulted after a monument to Joe MacManus and fellow volunteers Antoine Mac Giolla Bhrighde and Kieran Fleming was sited close to the place where Protestant workmen William Hassard and Frederick Love were killed by the IRA in 1988.^[12][13][14]

A Sinn Féin spokesman stated that "The families of Ciaran Fleming, Joseph McManus and Antoine Mac Giolla Bhrighde, the three IRA men commemorated by the monument, had given the go-ahead for the structure to be moved".^[15]

Legacy

The Sligo West Ward Cumann of Sinn Féin is named the Joseph MacManus Cumann in honour of MacManus and there is an annual lecture given in his name which has been addressed by Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, Pat Doherty, Pearse Doherty, Aengus O Snodaigh and Gerry Adams in recent years.^[16][17][18]

See also

• Kevin Coen
• Martin Savage

References

• Olivier Schmidt. "INTELLIGENCE". NY Transfer News Collective. Retrieved 20 July. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
• Unknown. "Notices". An Phoblacht. Retrieved 2 February. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
• "An Priombhothar". "Bundoran Honours 1981 Hungerstrikers". Saorise 32. Retrieved 2 April. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
• Unknown. "Row erupts over IRA memorial". BBC News. Retrieved 19 March. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
• Malcom Sutton. "Index of Deaths from the Conflict of Ireland". CAIN Web Service.
• Rosie Cowan. "Republicans make conciliatory move over IRA memorial". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 July. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
• Martin Breen. "Irish cops have spy in IRA". Newshound/News of the World. Retrieved 29 May. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
• Michelle McDonagh. "Roll Of Honour". Irelands Own. Retrieved 14 November. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
• Jonathan Olley. "Castles of Northern Ireland" (PDF). Cold Type. Retrieved 2 October. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
• Reporter. "Heavy schedule for new NI Secretary". UTV. Retrieved 29 January. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)

Sources

• Kevin Toolis, Rebel Hearts, p. 333-65
• Piaras F. MacLochlainn, Last Words, p. 19-22