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Republican Sinn Féin

Republican Sinn Féin or RSF (Sinn Féin Poblachtach) is an Irish republican political party in Ireland. RSF claims to be heirs of the Sinn Féin party founded in 1905; the party took its present form in 1986 following a split in Sinn Féin. RSF members take seats when elected to local government in the Republic of Ireland, but do not recognise the validity of the Partition of Ireland. It subsequently does not recognise the legitimacy of the parliaments of Northern Ireland (Stormont) or the Republic of Ireland (Leinster House), so the party does not register itself with them.

The party emerged around the supporters of Ruairí Ó Brádaigh and Dáithí Ó Conaill. As Irish republican legitimists, they rejected the reformism of Gerry Adams and other members of Sinn Féin who supported abandoning the policy of abstentionism from the Oireachtas and accepting the legality of the Republic of Ireland. They support the Éire Nua policy which allows for devolution of power to provincial governments. RSF holds that the Irish Republic proclaimed in 1916 legally continues to exist, and that the Continuity Irish Republican Army Council is its de jure government.

The organisation views itself as representing "true" or "traditional" Irish republicanism, while in the mainstream media the organisation is portrayed as a political expression of "dissident republicanism". Republican Sinn Féin rejects the Good Friday Agreement and the Anglo-Irish Treaty; as part of this they assert that Irish republicans have the right to use militant means to "defend the Irish Republic" and considers the Continuity Irish Republican Army (IRA) to be the legitimate army of the Irish Republic, and the Continuity IRA Army Council its legal government.

History
The modern origins of the party date from the mid 1980s. The decision to form, reorganise or reconstitute, as its supporters see it, the organisation was taken in response to Gerry Adams-led Sinn Féin's decision at its 1986 ard fheis to end its policy of abstentionism and to allow elected Sinn Féin Teachtaí Dála (TDs) to take their seats in Leinster House's Dáil Éireann. Those who went on to form RSF opposed this move as it signalled a departure from the traditional republican analysis, which viewed the Dáil as an illegal assembly set up by an act of Westminster. They argued that republicans owed their allegiance to the Irish Republic, maintaining that this state existed de jure and that its authority rested with the IRA Army Council. (See: Irish republican legitimatism)

"With regard to councils, Sinn Féin has always been in the councils and that is as near to the enemy system that we dare to go. Sitting in Leinster House is not a revolutionary activity. Once you go in there, once you sign the roll of the House and accept the institutions of the state, once you accept their rulings, you will not be able to do it according to your rules. You will have to go according to their rules and they can stand up and gang up on you and put you out on the street and keep you out on the street.

And those in Leinster House, who have done everything; the firing-squads, the prison cells, the internment camps, the hunger strikes; the lot and weren't able to break this movement, that they can come and say 'At last, we have them toeing the line, it took us 65 years, but they have come in from the cold, they have come in from the wilderness and we have them now.' Never! That is what I say to you. Never!"

Although it was passed by a two-thirds majority, those who went on to re-organise RSF claimed that the decision to end abstention was invalid under the Sinn Féin constitution, Section 1b of which stated: "No person ... who approves of or supports the candidature of persons who sign any form or give any kind of written or verbal undertaking of intention to take their seats in these institutions, shall be admitted to membership or allowed to retain membership." They pointed out that in their opinion the correct procedure was to drop or amend Section 1b of the constitution in one year, then come back the next year and propose entering Leinster House, when Section 1b was no longer in operation. In protest, they staged a walkout from the ardfheis and reconvened the ardfheis at another venue. RSF subsequently claimed that the delegates who had voted to drop abstentionism had in effect expelled themselves from the party. It is on this basis that RSF views itself as the only party entitled to the name of Sinn Féin and the sole legitimate successor to the original Sinn Féin established in 1905. Supporters of abstentionism also claimed that the vote at the ardfheis was gerrymandered. Journalist Ed Moloney points out that in 1986 the number of votes at the ardfheis, which reflects the size of Sinn Féin, almost doubled from 1985 to 1986, and then reverted to the 1985 level in 1987.

Adams-led Provisional Sinn Féin argued that a previous ardfheis in 1983 amended the constitution so that "no aspect of the constitution and rules be closed to discussion". This was done to enable the ardfheis to debate a motion to allow Sinn Féin candidates to stand in elections to the European Parliament and to take their seats if successful. Some argue that this argument is weakened, by the fact that candidature to the European Parliament had already been debated at the 1978 ardfheis, when a motion to stand candidates in the 1979 European elections was defeated at the Sinn Féin ardfheis. A vote to change abstentionism from a principle to a tactic failed to achieve a two-thirds majority vote in 1985. The results were 181 opposed and 161 in favour.

There is disagreement on the number of people who walked out. Brian Feeney claims that after the vote was passed about 20 members, led by Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, walked out. J. Bowyer Bell, in The Irish Troubles, states that Ó Brádaigh and Dáithí Ó Conaill "and about one hundred others walked out to form Republican Sinn Féin (RSF) at a previously hired hall in a hotel outside Dublin". Whatever the number, that evening, approximately 130 people, including some of the delegates who voted against the motion, reconvened at Dublin's West County Hotel and established RSF. By itself, the RSF Officer Board formed that evening had 6 members, also formed was an organising committee of 15 members. Bell also notes that in response to the split, there was a "flurry of military operations in and around Belfast" by the Provisional IRA during the remainder of the year to show "country militants that the city was not a centre of politics".

At the centre of those who helped to re-organise as Republican Sinn Féin were key people who formed the Provisional IRA and Sinn Féin, including Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, Des Long, Joe O'Neill, Frank Glynn, and Dáithí Ó Conaill. Among those in attendance at the first Bodenstown commemoration, staged by the version of the Continuity Republican Movement which RSF sees itself as forming part of, were four members of the first Provisional IRA Army Council: Ruairí Ó Brádaigh (Longford), Dáithí Ó Conaill (Cork/Dublin), Leo Martin (Belfast), and Paddy Mulcahy (Limerick). Among those present at the West County Hotel when RSF was formed was Billy McKee, an early member of the Provisional IRA Army Council, and the former O/C Belfast Brigade of the Provisional IRA. Another early supporter of RSF was Sean Tracey, a member of the first Provisional IRA Army Council, who later "drifted away" from RSF.

The influence of those who founded Provisional Sinn Féin should not be understated. Of the 20 people on the Sinn Féin Caretaker Executive formed in January 1970, ten were still involved in PSF in 1986. Nine of the ten joined Republican Sinn Féin.

The origins of the party are also described in the documentary "Unfinished Business: The Politics of 'Dissident' Irish Republicans".

Irish sovereignty
Republican Sinn Féin believes that the Irish Republic proclaimed in 1916 during the Irish Republican Brotherhood organised Easter Rising, founded an all-Ireland sovereign state and that the first and second meetings of the Dáil Éireann were the last legitimate sitting governments of Ireland. RSF rejects the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 which led to the creation of the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland as an act of treason and refer to it as the "Treaty of Surrender." The regime sitting in Leinster House is regarded by RSF as being founded as an illegitimate British-puppet state (and latterly a fiefdom of Brussels) analogous to Vichy France during World War II and the assembly at Stormont House as a more overt manifestation of "occupation." It quotes Wolfe Tone who said of an urgent need to "break the connection with England, the never-failing source of all our political evils" in calling for the "complete overthrow of British rule in Ireland".

It also refuses to recognise the validity of the Good Friday Agreement as it argues that the referendum on the agreement did not offer the people of Ireland the choice of living in a united Ireland, and that the referendum was invalid since separate polls were held in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. It also opposes the Northern Ireland Assembly as it believes that this further entrenches British presence in Ireland, and that "those nationalists who took their seats in the new Stormont" were "guilty of treachery to the Irish Republic".

Republican Sinn Féin does not consider the Defence Forces (descended from the pro-Treaty National Army of the Irish Civil War) to be the armed forces of the Irish Republic, rather it claims that the Irish Republican Army is the only organisation that has the right to the title of the Óglaigh na hÉireann. This includes in succession; the Irish Republican Army (1917–22), the Irish Republican Army (1922–69), the Provisional Irish Republican Army (1969–86) and since then the Continuity Irish Republican Army. These organisations are all considered by it to simply be the one Irish Republican Army founded by the merger of the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army.

Foreign affairs
Republican Sinn Féin maintains that Ireland should remain independent of large power blocks and thus is a Eurosceptic party. The people who would go on to found RSF, while they were still members of Provisional Sinn Féin in 1972 opposed Ireland being brought into the European Economic Community, which later became the European Union. RSF in any case does not recognise the Single European Act, Maastricht Treaty, Amsterdam Treaty, Treaty of Nice and Treaty of Lisbon as it applies to Ireland, because these agreements were ratified by what it sees as completely "illegitimate" regimes at Leinster House in Dublin and (for the north) Westminster Palace in London.

In a more general sense, it says there is a "danger of the growing European Union becoming a world superpower in its own right" and that it could be a participant in potential "resource wars" of the 21st century, something it says Ireland cannot support as it would end up "swapping British domination for European domination". It further criticised the EU as taking a "highly centralised political and economic power-bloc" whose decision making is made in what they termed "completely undemocratic institutions"; and that EU bureaucrats work against the interest of small farmers and restructure industry so that the EU centre can prosper at Ireland's expense. Amongst all these issues it said that Ireland's neutrality is under threat.

RSF says that because of Ireland's history as a "colonial possession" it supports other national liberation struggles around the world and "feel[s] a sense of solidarity with all peoples who are struggling for freedom and justice". The party calls itself "internationalist" as it says it recognises that "we all have a common identity as human beings, as members of the great family of peoples [and] we wish to play our role in this wider world community on the basis of equality and respect for the rights of others". In that vein, it supports debt relief for developing countries. It also advocates Ireland's neutrality in avoiding military alliances and power blocs.

Cultural policy
Other policies of the RSF include the separation of church and state and the importance of the Irish language "to the Irish identity". It is also abstentionist as both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland were created by acts of the British Parliament against what it called the "wishes of the Irish people".

Social policy
It stands on a platform of the establishment of social justice based on what it describes as the principles of Irish Republican Socialism, based on the 1916 proclamation of an Irish Republic. This is outlined in the party's social and economic policy document Saol Nua. It also has a policy named Éire Nua ("New Ireland"), which would see the establishment of a 32 county Ireland completely independent of the United Kingdom and set up as a federation of the four Irish provinces.

Leadership
At their reorganisation, the Chairman of Republican Sinn Féin was Dáithí Ó Conaill. At the party's first Ard-Fheis, they elected their first president, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, who had been president of Sinn Féin from 1970 to 1983. He was joined by Dáithí Ó Conaill, another prominent figure in Sinn Féin and the IRA in the 1970s. On 28 September 2009 Ó Brádaigh announced that he was to step down as RSF leader, citing age and health grounds for his decision. On 15 November 2009, he was succeeded by Des Dalton.

On 10 November 2018, Dalton's tenure as president ended after nine years, and Seosamh Ó Maoileoin was announced as the new president of Republican Sinn Féin along with acting vice-presidents Pádraig Garvey and Daire Mac Cionnaith. Líta Ní Chathmhaoil and Dónall Ó Ceallaigh are the general secretaries, and Diarmuid MacDubhghlais and Anthony Donohue are the treasurers. Gearóid Ó Bruachain is the publicity officer.

Splits
In September 2005, a number of cumainn (or branches) and individual members of RSF left the party in protest over the party's treatment of Continuity IRA prisoners held in Portlaoise Prison. As a consequence of this dispute, a number of people resigned from RSF and formed the Concerned Group for Republican Prisoners to raise funds and provide moral support for the former Continuity IRA-aligned prisoners they supported. However a majority of the prisoners chose to return and the organisation as of 2011 is defunct.

In August 2010 it was reported that members of the Limerick cumann were expelled, and had first adopted the name Limerick Independent Republican Organisation, before changing it to Real Sinn Féin, then simply Republican Sinn Féin, and finally Continuity Sinn Féin. In the following years two opposing groups in Limerick, one loyal to local man Joe Lynch, the other loyal to the leadership in Dublin under Des Dalton, claimed to be the "real" Republican Sinn Féin.

Relationship to other republican organisations
RSF sees itself as forming part of a wider Republican Movement with a number of organisations which share a similar or identical ideological and political perspective. These include (but are not limited to) the Continuity IRA, Cumann na mBan, Fianna Éireann, Cabhair and the National Commemoration Committee and the Republican Prisoners Action Group. Across these organisations there is believed to be some level of dual membership with RSF. RSF strenuously rejects the allegation that it is the "political wing" of the Continuity IRA, as it denies any assertion that the latter is its "military wing".

Position of foreign governments
Some foreign governments in the Anglosphere have taken a public position against Republican Sinn Féin; the United States State Department lists the party as a "terrorist organisation" along with the Continuity IRA. The State Department states that the CIRA "is a terrorist splinter group formed in 1994 as the clandestine armed wing of Republican Sinn Féin, which split from Sinn Féin in 1986. 'Continuity' refers to the group's belief that it is carrying on the original Irish Republican Army's (IRA) policy of being the army of the Irish Republic. CIRA's alleged aliases, Continuity Army Council and Republican Sinn Féin, were also designated as FTOs." The British government currently lists the Continuity Army Council and the Irish Republican Army as a "terrorist group" under the Terrorism Act 2000, but does not mention Republican Sinn Féin.

Electoral participation
Though the RSF's policy of abstentionism means that it would not take seats in Dáil Éireann, the Northern Ireland Assembly or the British House of Commons, if elected, it has contested local elections in the Republic and Assembly elections in Northern Ireland in 2007.

First elections
It initially planned to field 23 candidates, including three sitting councillors elected for Sinn Féin in 1985, in the 1989 local government elections in Northern Ireland. However, shortly before the elections, the British Parliament introduced the 'Elected Authorities (Northern Ireland) Act' which required that all prospective candidates sign the following declaration renouncing:

 * "(a) any organisation that is for the time being a proscribed organisation specified in Schedule 2 to the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1978: or
 * (b) acts of terrorism (that is to say, violence for political ends) connected with the affairs of Northern Ireland".

RSF refused to do so on the grounds that such an oath "calls for the public disowning of the Irish Republican Army, Cumann na mBan, Fianna Éireann and a repudiation of the right of the Irish people to use force of arms to end British occupation". Consequently, its candidates did not stand. It is not registered with the Electoral Commission as a political party in Northern Ireland meaning that in elections in Northern Ireland, the party name cannot appear on the ballot paper, and the party cannot make party political broadcasts.

1991 local elections
The results for 1991 are only partially available. A number of other people stood for RSF, including Tomás Ó Curraoin, David Joyce and Frank Glynn in Galway, and Jimmy Kavanagh in Wexford. Two sitting councillors, Joe O'Neill (Bundoran UDC) and Seán Lynch (Longford County Council) were re-elected. Sitting county councillor Frank Glynn lost his seat on Galway County Council which he had held for 24 years.

Among the unsuccessful were Peter Cunningham in South Dublin County Council, Declan Curneen in Leitrim County Council and Joe O'Neill in Donegal County Council.

1999 local elections
In the 1999 local elections in the Republic of Ireland, RSF candidates received 1,390 votes in county/city council elections, and 149 votes urban district council level.

Seán Lynch, of Longford County Council, was reelected. The following were unsuccessful: Joe O'Neill Donegal County Council who also lost his seat on the Bundoran Urban District Council, John MacElhinney Letterkenny Urban District Council, Des Long Limerick City Council, Tomás Ó Curraoin Galway County Council and Geraldine McNamara Tipperary Urban District Council.

2004 local elections
RSF ran seven candidates in the local elections in the Republic of Ireland. The party's only elected representative lost his seat in the elections. Netting a total of 2,403 first preference votes, the RSF share of the total valid poll (1,819,761) was 0.13 per cent. Unsuccessful candidates were Seán Lynch who lost his seat on Longford County Council, Tomás Ó Curraoin Galway County Council, Seán O'Neill Limerick City Council, Mick Ryan Limerick City Council, Des Dalton Kildare County Council, Terence Varian Midleton Town Council and Donal Varian Cobh Town Council.

2007 Northern Ireland Assembly election
It ran six candidates in the 2007 Northern Ireland Assembly election. As the party did not register with the Electoral Commission, the candidates ran as Independents. They were Michael McGonigle East Londonderry, Geraldine Taylor West Belfast, Michael McManus Fermanagh and South Tyrone, Joe O'Neill West Tyrone, Brendan McLaughlin Mid Ulster and Barry Toman Upper Bann.

The six candidates netted a total of 2,522 first preference votes, and their share of the total valid poll (690,313) was 0.37 per cent.

2009 local elections results
Republican Sinn Féin fielded nine candidates in the 2009 Irish local elections. As the party is not registered, the party's candidates were labelled non-party or independents.

One of the candidates was successful—Tomás Ó Curraoin in the Connemara electoral area for Galway County Council, receiving 1,387 votes or 8.4% of the valid poll. The unsuccessful candidates were Seán Lynch Longford County Council, Mick Ryan and Sean O'Neill Limerick City Council, Des Dalton Athy Town Council, Paddy Kenneally Clare County Council, Peter Fitzsimons Kells Town Council, Séamus Ó Suilleabháin Limerick County Council and Pat Barry Bundoran Town Council.

2014 to 2024 local elections results
Republican Sinn Féin Councillor Tomás Ó Curraoin retained his seat in the Connemara electoral area for Galway County Council receiving 1,072 votes (6.36% of the total vote). Pádraig Garvey unsuccessfully ran for election to Kerry County Council receiving 489 votes.

Tomás Ó Curraoin once again retained his seat in the 2019 Galway County Council election, receiving 971 votes (10.8% of the total vote) and being re-elected on the fourth count. Ó Curraoin was also re-elected at the 2024 Galway County Council election, with 974 votes (9.9%).

title: Republican Sinn Féin


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Sergio Panunzio

Sergio Panunzio (20 July 1886 – 8 October 1944) was an Italian theoretician of national syndicalism. In the 1920s, he became a major theoretician of Italian Fascism.

Early life
Sergio Panunzio was born on 20 July 1886 in Molfetta, Italy. He started his political involvement young by associating with syndicalist circles in 1902. From the University of Naples, he obtained two degrees, in jurisprudence in 1908 and in philosophy in 1911.

Career
Panunzio became the head of the Fascist Faculty of Political Sciences at Perugia University in 1928.

Panunzio said that syndicalism is the historical development of Marxism. He pointed to Georges Sorel and Francesco Saverio Merlino as revising Karl Marx to fit the times and emboldening it. He is said to have spearheaded the revisionism that led many syndicalists through interventionism to corporativism and he ostensibly "gave Mussolini's dictatorship a veneer of revolutionary legitimacy".

Panunzio criticized the Soviet state as a "dictatorship over the proletariat, and not of the proletariat". He is quoted as saying, "Moscow bows before the light radiating from Rome. The Communist International no longer speaks to the spirit; it is dead." He opposed the anti-Semitic campaign of 1938. A strong supporter of the state for its own sake, he had a long-running academic dispute with the corporatist Carlo Costamagna regarding the role of fascism.

Death
Panunzio died on 8 October 1944.

Works

 * La Persistenza del Diritto (Discutendo di Sindacalismo e di Anarchismo) [The Persistence of the Right (A Discussion about Syndicalism and Anarchism)] (Pescara: Casa Editrice Abruzzese, 1909).
 * Diritto, forza e violenza; lineamenti di una teoria della violenza. Con prefazione di R. Mondolfo (Bologna, L. Cappelli, 1921)
 * Italo Balbo (Milano, Imperia, 1923)
 * Stato nazionale e sindacati (Milan: Imperia, 1924)
 * Che cos' è il fascismo (Milan: Alpes, 1924)
 * Lo stato fascista (Bologna: Cappelli (publishers), 1925)
 * Il sentimento dello stato (Rome, Libreria del Littorio, 1929)
 * ''Il diritto sindacale e corporativo (programma, concetto, metodo) (Perugia-Venezia: "La Nuova Italia", 1930)
 * Popolo, nazione, stato (esame giuridico) (Firenze, "La Nuova Italia" Editrice, 1933)
 * I sindacati e l'organizzazione economica dell'impero (Roma, Istituto poligrafico dello stato, Libreria, 1938)
 * Sulla natura giuridica dell'impero italiano d'Etiopia (Roma, Istituto poligrafico dello stato, Libreria, 1938)
 * L'organizzazione sindacale e l'economia dell'impero (Roma, Istituto poligrafico dello stato, Libreria, 1939)
 * La Camera dei fasci e delle corporazioni (Roma, Stabilimento arti grafiche Trinacria, 1939)
 * Teoria generale dello stato fascista 2. ed., ampliata ed aggiornata (Padova, CEDAM, Casa editrice dott. A. Milani, 1939)
 * Teoria generale dello stato fascista, 2nd ed., enl. (Padua: CEDAM, 1939)
 * Spagna nazionalsindacalista (Milano, Bietti, 1942)
 * Motivi e metodo della codificazione fascista (Milano, A. Giuffrè, 1943)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Sergio Panunzio


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Steve McNair

Stephen LaTreal McNair (February 14, 1973 – July 4, 2009), nicknamed "Air McNair", was an American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons. He started his first two seasons with the Houston Oilers before the team relocated to Nashville, Tennessee. There, McNair would become the first franchise quarterback of the Tennessee Titans. He also played for two seasons with the Baltimore Ravens.

McNair played college football for the Alcorn State Braves, with whom he won the 1994 Walter Payton Award as the top player in NCAA Division I-AA. He was selected third overall by the Oilers in the 1995 NFL draft, becoming the team's regular starting quarterback in 1997, their first season in Tennessee (though he started six games over the prior two seasons in Houston), and remained the starting quarterback for the Titans through 2005. After the 2005 season, McNair was traded to the Ravens, with whom he played for two seasons before retiring.

McNair appeared in the playoffs four times with the Titans, including their run to Super Bowl XXXIV in 2000, and made his final playoff appearance in 2006 with the Ravens. McNair was selected to the Pro Bowl three times, and was an All-Pro and Co-MVP in 2003. McNair was the first African-American quarterback to win AP NFL MVP and remains, along with Cam Newton, Patrick Mahomes, and Lamar Jackson, only one of four to win the award.

Early life
McNair was born in a small tin-roofed house in Mount Olive, Mississippi, on February 14, 1973. He had four brothers, Fred, Jason, Michael, and Tim. He attended Mount Olive High School as a freshman in the fall of 1987, where he played football, baseball, and basketball in addition to running track. As a junior, McNair led the Mount Olive Pirates to the state championship. McNair also played free safety in high school, and in 1990 alone, he intercepted 15 passes, raising his career total to 30, which tied the mark established by Terrell Buckley at Pascagoula High School. An All-State selection (offense), McNair was named an All-American by Super Prep magazine (defense).

The Seattle Mariners drafted him in the 35th round of the 1991 MLB amateur draft.

College career
McNair was initially offered a full scholarship to the University of Florida to play running back, but wanting to play quarterback, McNair chose Alcorn State University, a Historically Black University which competes in the NCAA's Division I-AA (now known as the Football Championship Subdivision) Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC). In 1992, McNair threw 3,541 yards and 29 touchdowns, and ran in for 10 more scores. The Braves fashioned a record of 7–4, including a last-second victory in their rematch with Grambling. In that contest, McNair returned from an injury and helped Alcorn State, trailing late in the final period, move deep into Tigers' territory. Then, despite a leg injury, he tucked the ball under his arm and dove into the end zone for the winning touchdown. The victory over Grambling helped the Braves qualify for the I-AA playoffs where they faced off against then-Northeast Louisiana, falling 78–27 to the Indians on November 21, 1992. McNair helped Alcorn State to another good year in 1993, as the Braves upped their record to 8–3 while McNair threw for more than 3,000 yards and 30 touchdowns. He was also named First-Team All-SWAC for the third year in a row.

In his senior season, McNair gained 6,281 combined yards rushing (904) and passing (5,377), along with 56 touchdowns. His total offense averages were 571 y/g over 11 games, an all-divisions collegiate per game record. In the process, he surpassed more than a dozen records and was named an All-American. In addition, McNair won the Walter Payton Award as the top I-AA player and finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting behind Rashaan Salaam and Ki-Jana Carter. McNair set career records for the Football Championship Series with 15,010 passing yards, as well as the division record for total offensive yards with 17,305 career yards. McNair's record for career passing, total offensive yards, and total number of plays still stand, but his marks for career passing completions and attempts were eclipsed by Samford quarterback Devlin Hodges in 2018.

He was a member of the fraternity Omega Psi Phi, highlighting his allegiance by tattooing "Omega Man" on his arm.

1995–1996
With the third overall pick in the 1995 NFL draft, the Houston Oilers and new head coach Jeff Fisher selected McNair, making him at the time the highest-drafted African-American quarterback in NFL history and signing him to a seven-year contract. McNair did not see his first action until the last two series of the fourth quarter in a November game versus the Cleveland Browns. Late in the season, he also appeared briefly against the Detroit Lions and New York Jets. In 1996, McNair remained a backup to Chris Chandler until starting a game on December 8 in Week 15 against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

1997 season
McNair's first season as the Oilers' starter in 1997 (the team's first year in Tennessee) resulted in an 8–8 record for the team, which played its home games at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tennessee. McNair's 2,665 passing yards were the most for the Oilers in a season since Warren Moon in 1993, and his 13 interceptions were the fewest for a single season in franchise history. He also led the team in rushing touchdowns with eight and ranked second behind running back Eddie George with 674 yards on the ground, at the time the third-highest total for a quarterback in NFL history.

1998 season
In 1998, McNair set career passing highs with 492 attempts, 289 completions, 3,228 yards, and 15 touchdowns for the Oilers, now playing in Nashville. He also cut his interceptions to ten, helping his quarterback rating climb to 80.1.

1999 season: Super Bowl season
The team officially changed its name from Oilers to Titans for the 1999 season as they debuted a new stadium, Adelphia Coliseum. Early in the season, McNair was diagnosed with an inflamed disk following the Titans' 36–35 win over the Cincinnati Bengals, and needed surgery. In his stead entered Neil O'Donnell, a veteran who had guided the Pittsburgh Steelers to the Super Bowl four years earlier. Over the next five games, O'Donnell led the Titans to a 4–1 record. McNair returned against the St. Louis Rams, and with McNair starting, Tennessee won seven of its last nine games, good for a 13–3 record and second place in the AFC Central.

The Titans opened the playoffs at home against the Buffalo Bills in a Wild Card game, winning on the "Music City Miracle" and eventually advancing to Super Bowl XXXIV in a rematch with the Rams. On the second-to-last play with the Titans facing 3rd down and 5 to go, McNair was hit by two Rams defenders, but he somehow got away and completed a 16-yard pass to Kevin Dyson to gain a 1st down at the Rams' 10-yard line. On the final play of the game, McNair's pass to Dyson was complete, but Dyson was unable to break the plane of the goal line, giving the Rams the win. McNair signed a new six-year contract after the 1999 season worth US$47 million.

2000–2001
McNair played in all sixteen games in 2000 but did not start the first of two annual games against the Steelers. This was because of a sternum injury incurred in a 17–14 win over the Kansas City Chiefs the previous game. Following the Titans’ bye week Neil O'Donnell started against his former team but after O’Donnell threw three picks he was sacked out of the game in the final four minutes. McNair came in and threw a touchdown to Erron Kinney; a missed Steelers field goal attempt resulted in the Titans winning 23–20.

Following a 13–3 season in 2000 which ended in a playoff loss to the Baltimore Ravens, McNair put together his most productive year as a pro in 2001. In 2001, McNair registered career passing highs in yards (3,350), completions (264), touchdowns (21), and quarterback rating (90.2). He was also the team's most effective rusher, tying George for the club lead with five scores. Named to the Pro Bowl for the first time, McNair sat out the game due to a shoulder injury.

2002 season
In 2002, Tennessee finished the regular season 11–5 and reached the playoffs. In the divisional round against the Pittsburgh Steelers, McNair threw for a career postseason high 338 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions, while rushing for 29 yards and another score on the ground. The game had a controversial finish when, after missing a game-winning field goal at the end of regulation time and a second failed kick in overtime was negated because of a controversial running-into-the-kicker penalty on Pittsburgh's Dewayne Washington, kicker Joe Nedney won the game from 26 yards out 2:15 into overtime. Steelers coach Bill Cowher said that he called a timeout before the winning kick took place. McNair and the Titans reached the AFC Championship game but were unable to reach the Super Bowl, losing to the Oakland Raiders 41–24.

Between the 2002 and 2003 seasons, McNair was arrested for DUI and illegal gun possession (in May 2003). His blood alcohol was above 0.10, and a 9-mm handgun was sitting in the front of the car. All charges related to the incident were later dropped.

2003 season: MVP Season
In December of the 2003 season, an injured calf and ankle kept McNair sidelined for two games, though he still finished with the best numbers of his career, including 3,215 passing yards, 24 touchdown passes, just seven interceptions, and a quarterback rating of 100.4. The Titans finished 12–4, the same record as the Colts, but Indianapolis took the AFC South division championship by virtue of its two victories over Tennessee. McNair and Colts quarterback Peyton Manning were named co-NFL MVPs following the 2003 season, which ended for the Titans in a playoff loss to the eventual Super Bowl champion New England Patriots. McNair finished the 2003 season as the league leader in passer rating and became the youngest player in NFL history to pass for 20,000 yards and run for 3,000 yards.

2004–2005
McNair missed the 2004 season's fourth game with a bruised sternum, an injury suffered the previous week against Jacksonville, and played in only five more games that season. In 2005, he played in 14 games because of a back injury.

This series of season-ending injuries prompted the Titans to make the business decision of locking McNair out of team headquarters in the 2006 offseason. The team would not let him rehab in its building because it feared an injury would force the franchise to pay him $23.46 million (his contract had been restructured so often that his salary cap reached a hard-to-manage amount). The Players Association's filed a grievance on his behalf in which an arbitrator ruled that the team violated its contract, opening the possibility for a trade.

Baltimore Ravens
Following the 2005 season, on April 30, 2006, the Titans allowed McNair and his agent, James "Bus" Cook, to speak with the Ravens to try to work out a deal. By May 2006, the Baltimore Sun reported that the Baltimore Ravens were interested in McNair. Speculation was that the Titans might hold onto McNair until the week before training camp in late July if the Ravens didn't come up with a satisfactory trade offer for McNair according to a league source. However, on June 7, 2006, the two teams worked out a deal to send McNair to the Ravens for a 4th-round pick in the 2007 NFL draft. On June 8, McNair flew to Baltimore, passed a physical, and was announced as the newest member of the Ravens.

2006 season
The 2006 season saw McNair start each game for the Ravens, missing only portions of two games. In the week 14 game against the Kansas City Chiefs, McNair threw the longest regular-season touchdown pass in the Ravens' history, an 89-yard touchdown pass to Mark Clayton. McNair led Baltimore to a 13–3 record and an AFC North Championship. He made his first playoff start as a Raven against the Colts on January 13, 2007. McNair completed 18 of 29 pass attempts for 173 yards, no touchdowns, and two interceptions as the Ravens lost, 15–6.

2007 season
On May 9, 2007, McNair was arrested in Nashville for drunk driving even though he was not driving at the time. It is a misdemeanor offense in Tennessee for an owner of a motor vehicle to knowingly allow an intoxicated person to drive the vehicle. McNair was riding in his own pickup truck as a passenger when the police stopped the truck's driver, McNair's brother-in-law, for speeding. The driver failed a field sobriety test and was arrested for DUI; McNair was charged with DUI by consent. The quarterback's charge was dropped on July 10, 2007, when McNair's brother-in-law pleaded guilty to reckless driving.

In 2007, McNair did not play in Week 2 against the Jets in which the Ravens won 20–13. He also did not play the full game in Week 3, however, the game was won by the Ravens, 26–23. McNair missed nine more games during the rest of the season, due primarily to injury, only starting in six games. He announced his retirement following the 2007 season.

Retirement
After thirteen seasons in the NFL, McNair announced his retirement from professional football in April 2008.

In July 2012, McNair was named the 35th greatest quarterback of the NFL's post-merger era, according to Football Nation.

McNair's number was retired by the Titans during a halftime ceremony against the Indianapolis Colts on September 15, 2019.

McNair was inducted into the Black College Football Hall of Fame in 2012 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 2020.

Personal life
McNair was married to Mechelle McNair from June 21, 1997, until his death. He split his time between a farm in Mississippi and Nashville, Tennessee.

McNair had two sons by Mechelle: Tyler and Trenton; and two sons – Steve LaTreal McNair Jr. and Steven O'Brian McNair – by two other women before they married.

McNair earned the nickname "Air McNair" in high school. He opened his own restaurant in Nashville, which he named Gridiron9.

NFL linebacker Demario Davis is his cousin.

Death
On July 4, 2009, McNair was found dead from multiple gunshot wounds, along with the body of a 20-year-old woman named Sahel "Jenni" Kazemi, in a condominium rented by McNair in downtown Nashville. He was 36 years old. Kazemi and McNair had been previously involved with each other romantically. The day of the shooting, text messages between the pair were exchanged proclaiming their love to one another in which Kazemi texted the victim, "u love me" in which McNair replied, "I love you baby." There was also a conversation about financial issues where McNair transferred $2,000 to Kazemi, who claimed she was "stressed" and needed to pay her phone bill. McNair then offered to come over to check on her after she said her chest felt heavy. The night of his death, McNair put his children to bed, then at 11:00 p.m. he texted Kazemi "On my way." McNair, who was believed to have been asleep on the couch when the shooting occurred, was shot twice in the body and twice in the head, with only one of the shots coming from closer than 3 ft. After killing him, Kazemi sat on the couch beside him and shot herself in the temple. The bodies were discovered by McNair's friends Wayne Neely and Robert Gaddy, who called 911. The Nashville police declared McNair's death a murder-suicide, with Kazemi as the perpetrator and McNair as the victim. The 9mm gun used was found under Kazemi's body and later tests revealed "trace evidence of (gunpowder) residue on her left hand. Kazemi had a worsening financial situation and also suspected that McNair was in another extramarital relationship.

Two days before their deaths, Kazemi was pulled over in a black 2007 Cadillac Escalade in Nashville. McNair was in the passenger seat and Vent Gordon, a chef at a restaurant McNair owned, was in the back seat. The vehicle was registered in the names of both McNair and Kazemi. She was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol. McNair was not arrested, instead leaving in a taxi with Gordon, despite Kazemi repeatedly asking the arresting officer to tell McNair to come to the police car to talk to her. However, McNair later bailed Kazemi out of jail. The police later stated that after being released from jail, Kazemi purchased the gun from a convicted murderer she met while looking for a buyer for her Kia.

Titans owner Bud Adams released a statement regarding McNair:

"We are saddened and shocked to hear the news of Steve McNair's passing today. He was one of the finest players to play for our organization and one of the most beloved players by our fans. He played with unquestioned heart and leadership and led us to places that we had never reached, including our only Super Bowl. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family as they deal with his untimely passing."

In a statement to the AP, Ozzie Newsome, executive vice president and general manager of the Baltimore Ravens, stated: "This is so, so sad. We immediately think of his family, his boys. They are all in our thoughts and prayers. What we admired most about Steve when we played against him was his competitive spirit, and we were lucky enough to have that with us for two years. He is one of the best players in the NFL over the last 20 years..."

The Titans held a two-day memorial at LP Field on July 8 and 9, 2009, where fans could pay their last respects to McNair. Highlights of his career were played throughout each day and fans were able to sign books that were later given to the McNair family.

During the 2009 NFL season, every member of the Titans wore a commemorative "9" sticker placed on the back of each helmet to honor McNair. Funeral services were held for McNair at the Reed Green Coliseum on the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi on July 11; he was buried at Griffith Cemetery in Prentiss, Mississippi.

McNair died without a last will and testament, and his assets were frozen pending probate of his estate. On October 15, 2010, it was reported that McNair's widow went to a Nashville judge and asked that at least a portion of the assets be unfrozen for his children's care and expenses until the estate matters were resolved in court. The judge agreed, and each of the four children received $500,000.

title: Steve McNair


text:
Ruairí Ó Brádaigh

Ruairí Ó Brádaigh (born Peter Roger Casement Brady; 2 October 1932 – 5 June 2013) was an Irish republican political and military leader. He was Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) from 1958 to 1959 and again from 1960 to 1962, president of Sinn Féin from 1970 to 1983, and president of Republican Sinn Féin from 1987 to 2009.

Early life
Ó Brádaigh, born Peter Roger Casement Brady, was born into a middle-class republican family in Longford that lived in a duplex home on Battery Road. His father, Matt Brady, was an IRA volunteer who was severely wounded in an encounter with the Royal Irish Constabulary in 1919. His mother, May Caffrey, was a Cumann na mBan volunteer and graduate of University College Dublin, class of 1922, with a degree in commerce. His maternal grandmother was a French-speaking Swiss Lutheran. His father died when he was ten, and was given a paramilitary funeral led by his former IRA colleagues. His mother, prominent as the Secretary for the County Longford Board of Health, lived until 1974. Ó Brádaigh was educated at Melview National School at primary level and attended secondary school at St. Mel's College, leaving in 1950, and University College Dublin, from where he graduated in 1954 with a commerce degree (BComm), like his mother, and certification in the teaching of the Irish language. That year he took a job teaching Irish at Roscommon Vocational School in Roscommon.

Ó Brádaigh was a deeply religious Catholic who refrained from smoking or drinking.

Sinn Féin and the Irish Republican Army
He joined Sinn Féin in 1950. While at university, in 1951, he joined the Irish Republican Army. In September 1951, he marched with the IRA at the unveiling of the Seán Russell monument in Fairview Park, Dublin. A teacher by profession, he was also a Training Officer for the IRA. In 1954, he was appointed to the Military Council of the IRA, a subcommittee set up by the IRA Army Council in 1950 to plan a military campaign against Royal Ulster Constabulary barracks in Northern Ireland.

On 13 August 1955, Ó Brádaigh led a ten-member IRA group in an arms raid on Hazebrouck Barracks, near Arborfield, Berkshire. It was a depot for the No. 5 Radar Training Battalion of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. It was the biggest IRA arms raid in Britain and netted 48,000 rounds of .303 ammunition, 38,000 9 mm rounds, 1,300 rounds for .380 weapons, and 1,300 .22 rounds. In addition, a selection of arms were seized, including 55 Sten guns, two Bren guns, two .303 rifles and one .38 pistol. Most if not all of the weapons were recovered in a relatively short period of time. A van, travelling too fast, was stopped by the police and IRA personnel were arrested. Careful police work led to weapons that had been transported in a second van and stored in London.

The IRA Border Campaign commenced on 12 December 1956. As an IRA General Headquarters Staff (GHQ) officer, Ó Brádaigh was responsible for training the Teeling Column (one of the four armed units prepared for the Campaign) in the west of Ireland. During the Campaign, he served as second-in-command of the Teeling Column. On 30 December 1956, he partook in the Teeling Column attack on Royal Ulster Constabulary barracks in Derrylin, County Fermanagh. RUC Constable John Scally was killed in the attack; Scally was the first fatality of the new IRA campaign. Ó Brádaigh and others were arrested by the Garda Síochána across the border the day after the attack, in County Cavan. They were tried and jailed for six months in Mountjoy Prison for failing to account for their whereabouts. O'Bradaigh was a leading abstentionist, upon his arrest he refused to recognize the authority of the Irish government and refused to renounce violence in exchange for his release.

Although a prisoner, he was elected a Sinn Féin Teachta Dála (TD) for the Longford–Westmeath constituency at the 1957 Irish general election, winning 5,506 votes (14.1%). Running on an abstentionist ticket, Sinn Féin won four seats which went to Ó Brádaigh, Eighneachán Ó hAnnluain, John Joe McGirl and John Joe Rice. They refused to recognise the authority of Dáil Éireann and stated they would only take a seat in an all-Ireland parliament—if it had been possible for them to do so. Ó Brádaigh did not retain his seat at the 1961 Irish general election, and his vote fell to 2,598 (7.61%).

Upon completing his prison sentence, he was immediately interned at the Curragh Military Prison, along with other republicans. On 27 September 1958, Ó Brádaigh escaped from the camp along with Dáithí Ó Conaill. While a football match was in progress, the pair cut through a wire fence and crept from the camp under a camouflage grass blanket and went "on the run". This was an official escape, authorised by the officer commanding of the IRA internees, Tomás Óg Mac Curtain. He was the first Sinn Féin TD on the run since the 1920s.

That October, Ó Brádaigh became the IRA Chief of Staff, a position he held until May 1959, when an IRA Convention elected Sean Cronin as C/S; Ó Brádaigh became Cronin's adjutant general. Ó Brádaigh was arrested in November 1959, refused to answer questions, and was jailed under the Offences against the State Act in Mountjoy. He was released from Mountjoy in May 1960 and, after Cronin was arrested, he again became C/S. Although he has always emphasised that it was a collective declaration, he was the primary author of the statement ending the IRA Border Campaign in 1962. At the IRA 1962 Convention he indicated that he was not interested in continuing as chief of staff.

After his arrest in December 1956, he took a leave from teaching at Roscommon Vocational School. He was re-instated and began teaching again in late 1962, just after he was succeeded by Cathal Goulding in the position of Chief of Staff of the IRA. He remained an active member of Sinn Féin and was also a member of the IRA Army Council throughout the decade.

In the 1966 United Kingdom general election, he ran as an Independent Republican candidate in the Fermanagh and South Tyrone constituency, polling 10,370 votes, or 19.1% of the valid poll. He failed to be elected.

1970–1973
He opposed the decision of the IRA and Sinn Féin to drop abstentionism and to recognise the Westminster parliament in London, the Stormont parliament in Belfast and the Leinster House parliament in 1969/1970. On 11 January 1970, along with Seán Mac Stíofáin, he led the walkout from the 1970 Sinn Féin Ard Fheis (party convention) after the majority voted to end the policy of abstentionism (although the vote to change the Sinn Féin constitution failed as a two-thirds majority was required to do so, whereas the motion only achieved the support of a simple majority of delegates' votes). The delegates who walked out reconvened at the Kevin Barry Hall in Parnell Square, Dublin and established Provisional Sinn Féin.

He was voted chairman of the Caretaker Executive of Provisional Sinn Féin. That October, he formally became president of the party. He held this position until 1983. It is also likely that he served on the Army Council or the executive of the Provisional Irish Republican Army until he was seriously injured in a car accident on 1 January 1984. Among those joining him in Provisional Sinn Féin was his brother, Seán Ó Brádaigh, the first Director of Publicity for Provisional Sinn Féin. Seán Ó Brádaigh continued in this position for almost a decade, when he was succeeded by Danny Morrison, who had been editor of An Phoblacht/Republican News. Sean Ó Brádaigh was the first editor of the paper.

In the 1970s Ó Brádaigh made multiple visits to the Basque Country and considered the Basque independence movement as akin to the Irish situation.

In his presidential address to the 1971 Provisional Sinn Féin Ard Fheis, Ó Brádaigh said that the first step to achieving a United Ireland was to make Northern Ireland ungovernable.

On 31 May 1972 he was arrested under the Offences Against the State Act and immediately commenced a hunger strike. A fortnight later the charges against him were dropped and he was released.

With Dáithí Ó Conaill he developed the Éire Nua policy, which was launched on 28 June 1972. The policy called for a federal Ireland.

On 3 December 1972, he appeared on the London Weekend Television Weekend World programme. He was arrested by the Gardaí again on 29 December 1972 and charged in the newly established Special Criminal Court with Provisional IRA membership. In January 1973 he was the first person convicted under the Offences Against the State (Amendment) Act 1972 and was sentenced to six months in the Curragh Military Prison.

1974–1983
In 1974, he testified in person before the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations regarding the treatment of IRA prisoners in Ireland. He also had a meeting with prominent Irish-American congressman Tip O'Neill. The same year, the State Department revoked his multiple entry visa and have since refused to allow Ó Brádaigh to enter the country. 1975 Federal Bureau of Investigation documents describe Ó Brádaigh as a "national security threat" and a "dedicated revolutionary undeterred by threat or personal risk" and show that the visa ban was requested by the British Foreign Office and supported by the Dublin government. In 1997, Canadian authorities refused to allow him board a charter flight to Toronto at Shannon Airport.

During the May 1974 Ulster Workers' Council strike, Ó Brádaigh stated that he would like to see "a phased withdrawal of British troops over a number of years, in order to avoid a Congo situation".

On 10 December 1974, he participated in the Feakle talks between the IRA Army Council and Sinn Féin leadership and the leaders of the Protestant churches in Ireland. Although the meeting was raided and broken up by the Gardaí, the Protestant churchmen passed on proposals from the IRA leadership to the British government. These proposals called on the British government to declare a commitment to withdraw, the election of an all-Ireland assembly to draft a new constitution and an amnesty for political prisoners.

The IRA subsequently called a "total and complete" ceasefire intended to last from 22 December to 2 January 1975 to allow the British government to respond to proposals. British government officials also held talks with Ó Brádaigh in his position as president of Sinn Féin from late December to 17 January 1975.

On 10 February 1975, the IRA Army Council, which may have included Ó Brádaigh, unanimously endorsed an open-ended cessation of IRA "hostilities against Crown forces", which became known as the 1975 truce. The IRA Chief of Staff at the time was Seamus Twomey, of Belfast. Another member of the Council at this time was probably Billy McKee, of Belfast. Daithi O'Connell, a prominent Southern Republican, was also a member. It is reported in some quarters that the IRA leaders had mistakenly believed they had persuaded the British Government to withdraw from Ireland and the protracted negotiations between themselves and British officials were the preamble to a public declaration of intent to withdraw. In fact, as British government papers now show, the British entertained talks with the IRA in the hope that this would fragment the movement further, and scored several intelligence coups during the talks. It is argued by some that by the time the truce collapsed in late 1975 the Provisional IRA had been severely weakened. This bad faith embittered many in the republican movement, and another ceasefire was not to happen until 1994. In 2005, Ó Brádaigh donated, to the James Hardiman Library of University College, Galway, notes that he had taken during secret meetings in 1975–76 with British representatives. These notes confirm that the British representatives were offering a British withdrawal as a realistic outcome of the meetings. The Republican representatives—Ó Brádaigh, Billy McKee and one other—felt a responsibility to pursue the opportunity, but were also sceptical of British intentions.

In late December 1976, along with Joe Cahill, he met two representatives of the Ulster Loyalist Central Coordinating Committee, John McKeague and John McClure, at the request of the latter body. Their purpose was to try to find a way to accommodate the ULCCC proposals for an independent Northern Ireland with the Sinn Féin's Éire Nua programme. It was agreed that if this could be done, a joint Loyalist-Republican approach could then be made to request the British government to leave Ireland. Desmond Boal QC and Seán MacBride SC were requested and accepted to represent the loyalist and republican positions. For months they had meetings in various places including Paris. The dialogue eventually collapsed when Conor Cruise O'Brien, then Minister for Posts and Telegraphs and vociferous opponent of the Provisional IRA, became aware of it and condemned it on RTÉ Radio. As the loyalists had insisted on absolute secrecy, they felt unable to continue with the talks as a result.

In the aftermath of the 1975 truce, the Ó Brádaigh/Ó Conaill leadership came under severe criticism from a younger generation of activists from Northern Ireland, headed by Gerry Adams, who became a vice-president of Sinn Féin in 1978. By the early 1980s, Ó Brádaigh's position as president of Sinn Féin was openly under challenge and the Éire Nua policy was targeted in an effort to oust him. The policy was rejected at the 1981 Sinn Féin Ard Fheis and finally removed from the Sinn Féin constitution at the 1982 Ard Fheis. At the following year's ard fheis, Ó Brádaigh and Ó Conaill resigned from their leadership positions, voicing opposition to the dropping of the Éire Nua policy by the party.

Leader of Republican Sinn Féin
On 2 November 1986, the majority of delegates to the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis voted to drop the policy of abstentionism if elected to Dáil Éireann, but not the British House of Commons or the Northern Ireland parliament at Stormont, thus ending the self-imposed ban on Sinn Féin elected representatives from taking seats at Leinster House. Ó Brádaigh and several supporters walked out and immediately set up Republican Sinn Féin (RSF); more than 100 people assembled at Dublin's West County Hotel and formed the new organisation. As an ordinary member, he had earlier spoken out against the motion (resolution 162) in an impassioned speech. The Continuity IRA became publicly known in 1996. Republican Sinn Féin's relationship with the Continuity IRA is similar to the relationship between Sinn Féin and the Provisional IRA when Ó Brádaigh was Sinn Féin's president.

Ó Brádaigh believed RSF to be the sole legitimate continuation of the pre-1986 Sinn Féin, arguing that RSF has kept the original Sinn Féin constitution. RSF readopted and enhanced Ó Brádaigh's Éire Nua policy. His party has had electoral success in local elections only, and few at that, although they currently have one elected Councillor in Connemara, County Galway.

He remained a vociferous opponent of the Good Friday Agreement, viewing it as a programme to copperfasten Irish partition and entrench sectarian divisions in the north. He condemned his erstwhile comrades in Provisional Sinn Féin and the Provisional IRA for decommissioning weapons while British troops remain in the country. In his opinion, "the Provo sell-out is the worst yet – unprecedented in Irish history". He has condemned the Provisional IRA's decision to seal off a number of its arms dumps as "an overt act of treachery", "treachery punishable by death" under IRA General Army Order Number 11.

In July 2005, he handed over a portion of his personal political papers detailing discussions between Irish Republican leaders and representatives of the British Government during 1974–1975 to the James Hardiman Library, National University of Ireland, Galway.

Retirement
In September 2009, Ó Brádaigh announced his retirement as leader of Republican Sinn Féin. His successor was Des Dalton. Ruairí Ó Brádaigh was also a long-standing member of the Celtic League, an organization which fosters cooperation between the Celtic people and promotes the culture, identity and eventual self-determination for the people, in the form of six sovereign states, for the Celtic nations - Wales, Cornwall, Brittany, Scotland, Isle of Man and Ireland.

Death
After suffering a period of ill-health, Ó Brádaigh died on 5 June 2013 at Roscommon County Hospital. His funeral was attended by 1,800 mourners including Fine Gael TD Frank Feighan and was policed by the Emergency Response Unit and Gardaí in riot gear, for "operational reasons", a show of force believed to have been to deter the republican tradition of firing a three-volley salute of shots over the final place of rest during the graveyard oration. As a result there was some minor scuffles between gardai and mourners.

Writings

 * Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, What is Irish Republicanism, Dec 1970
 * Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, Restore the means of production to the people, Dec 1970
 * Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, Our people, our future, Dublin 1973
 * Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, Dílseacht – The Story of Comdt General Tom Maguire and the Second (All-Ireland) Dáil, Dublin: Irish Freedom Press, 1997, ISBN 0-9518567-9-0

title: Ruairí Ó Brádaigh


text:
Architecture of Chicago

The buildings and architecture of Chicago reflect the city's history and multicultural heritage, featuring prominent buildings in a variety of styles. Most structures downtown were destroyed by the Great Chicago Fire in 1871 (an exception being the Water Tower).

Chicago's architectural styles include the Chicago School primarily in skyscraper design,  Chicago Bungalows, Two-Flats, and Greystones. The Loop is home to skyscrapers as well as sacred architecture including "Polish Cathedrals". Chicago is home to one of the largest and most diverse collections of skyscrapers in the world.

Skyscrapers
Beginning in the early 1880s, architectural pioneers of the Chicago School explored steel-frame construction and, in the 1890s, the use of large areas of plate glass. These were among the first modern skyscrapers. William LeBaron Jenney's Home Insurance Building was completed in 1885 and is considered to be the first to use steel in its structural frame instead of cast iron. However, this building was still clad in heavy brick and stone. The Montauk Building, designed by John Wellborn Root Sr. and Daniel Burnham, was built from 1882 to 1883 using structural steel. Daniel Burnham and his partners, John Welborn Root and Charles B. Atwood, designed technically advanced steel frames with glass and terra cotta skins in the mid-1890s, in particular the Reliance Building; these were made possible by professional engineers, in particular E. C. Shankland, and modern contractors, in particular George A. Fuller.

Louis Sullivan discarded historical precedent and designed buildings that emphasized their vertical nature. This new form of architecture, by Jenney, Burnham, Sullivan, and others, became known as the "Commercial Style," but was called the "Chicago School" by later historians.

In 1892, the Masonic Temple surpassed the New York World Building, breaking its two-year reign as the tallest skyscraper, only to be surpassed itself two years later by another New York building.

Since 1963, a "Second Chicago School" has emerged from the work of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. The ideas of structural engineer Fazlur Khan were also influential in this movement. He introduced composite construction to tall tubular buildings, which in turn paved the way for the creation of supertall composite buildings such as Petronas Towers and the Jin Mao Building since the 1960s.

Landmarks, monuments and public places

Numerous architects have constructed landmark buildings of varying styles in Chicago. Among them are the so-called "Chicago seven": James Ingo Freed, Tom Beeby, Larry Booth, Stuart Cohen, James Nagle, Stanley Tigerman, and Ben Weese. Daniel Burnham led the design of the "White City" of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition which some historians claim led to a revival of Neo-Classical architecture throughout Chicago and the entire United States. Burnham developed the 1909 "Plan for Chicago" in a Neo-Classical style, although many skyscrapers were built after the Exposition closed, between 1894 and 1899. Louis Sullivan said that the fair set the course of American architecture back by two decades, but his work the Schlesinger and Meyer (later Carson, Pirie, Scott) store was built in 1899—five years after the "White City" and ten years before Burnham's Plan.

Erik Larson's history of the Columbian Exposition, The Devil in the White City, says that the building techniques developed during the construction of the many buildings of the fair were entirely modern, even if they were adorned in a way Sullivan found aesthetically distasteful.

Chicago's public art includes outdoor works by Chagall, Picasso, Miró and Abakanowicz.

City sculptures additionally honor people and topics from the history of Chicago. There are monuments to:

 * Tadeusz Kościuszko by Kazimierz Chodzinski
 * Nicholas Copernicus by Bertel Thorvaldsen
 * Karel Havlíček Borovský by Joseph Strachovsky
 * Pope John Paul II, several different monuments (including by Czesław Dźwigaj)
 * Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk by Albin Polasek
 * Irv Kupcinet by Preston Eugene Jackson
 * Abraham Lincoln by Augustus Saint Gaudens
 * The Heald Square Monument featuring George Washington, Haym Salomon, and Robert Morris by Lorado Taft, (completed by Leonard Crunelle)
 * Christopher Columbus by Carl Brioschi
 * General John A. Logan by Augustus Saint Gaudens
 * Harry Caray by Omri Amrany and Lou Cella
 * Jack Brickhouse by Jerry McKenna
 * A memorial to the Haymarket affair by Mary Brogger
 * A memorial to the Great Northern Migration by Alison Saar

There are also plans to erect a 1:1-scale replica of Wacław Szymanowski's statue of Frédéric Chopin along Chicago's lakefront. in addition to a different sculpture commemorating the artist in Chopin Park.

In the 21st century, Chicago has become an urban focus for landscape architecture and the architecture of public places. 19th-20th century Chicago architects included Burnham, Frederick Olmsted, Jens Jensen and Alfred Caldwell, modern projects include Millennium Park, Northerly Island, the 606, the Chicago Riverwalk, Maggie Daley Park, and proposals in Jackson Park.

Residential architecture
Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie School influenced both building design and the design of furnishings. In the early half of the 20th century, popular residential neighborhoods were developed with Chicago Bungalow style houses, many of which still exist. The two-flat apartment building, along with the larger three- and six-flat buildings, make up 30% of Chicago's housing stock. A two-flat includes two apartments, each of which occupies a full floor, usually with a large bay window and with a grey stone or red brick facade. The apartments typically have the same layout with a large living and dining room area at the front, the kitchen at the back and the bedrooms running down one side of the unit.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's Illinois Institute of Technology campus in Chicago influenced the later Modern or International style. Van der Rohe's work is sometimes called the Second Chicago School.

Preservation
Many organizations, including Preservation Chicago and Landmarks Illinois, promote the preservation of historic neighborhoods and buildings in Chicago. Chicago has suffered from the same problems with sinking property values and urban decline as other major cities. Many historic structures have been threatened with demolition.

Timeline of notable buildings
1836–1900
 * 1836 Henry B. Clarke House
 * 1869 Chicago Water Tower, William W. Boyington
 * 1874 Second Presbyterian Church 1936 S. Michigan, James Renwick 1900 Howard Van Doren ShawSecond_Presbyterian_Church_Chicago_IL.jpg (1874)]]
 * 1877 St. Stanislaus Kostka Church 1327 N. Noble, Patrick Keely
 * 1882–1883 Montauk Building, Daniel Burnham and John Wellborn Root. First building to be called a "skyscraper." (Demolished, 1902)
 * 1885 Home Insurance Building, Chicago School, William Le Baron Jenney (Demolished, 1931)Home Insurance Building.JPG (1885)]]
 * 1885 Palmer Mansion, early Romanesque and Norman Gothic, Henry Ives Cobb and Charles Sumner Frost (Demolished, 1950)
 * 1886 John J. Glessner House, Henry Hobson Richardson
 * 1887 Marshall Field Warehouse, Henry Hobson Richardson (Demolished, 1930)
 * 1888 Rookery Building, Daniel Burnham and John Wellborn Root, 1905 lobby redesign by Frank Lloyd Wright
 * 1889 Monadnock Building, Daniel Burnham and John Wellborn Root
 * 1889 Auditorium Building, Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler.
 * 1889 St. Mary of Perpetual Help Church, Henry Engelbert
 * 1890 and 1894–1895 Reliance Building, Charles B. Atwood of Burnham & Root
 * 1890–1899 Gage Group Buildings, Holabird & Roche with Louis Sullivan
 * 1891 Manhattan Building, William Le Baron Jenney
 * 1892 Masonic Temple, Daniel Burnham and John Wellborn Root (Demolished, 1939)
 * 1892–1893 World's Columbian Exposition, Daniel Burnham, director of WorksLooking_West_From_Peristyle,_Court_of_Honor_and_Grand_Basin,_1893.jpg (1892–93)]]
 * 1893 Palace of Fine Arts, later Museum of Science and Industry, Beaux-Arts, Charles B. Atwood
 * 1893-1898 St. John Cantius Church, Alphonsus Druiding
 * 1894 Tree Studio Building and Annexes, Judge Lambert & Anne Tree via Parfitt Brothers; 1912 annex: Hill and Woltersdorf
 * 1895–1896 Fisher Building (Chicago), D.H. Burnham & Company, Charles B. Atwood
 * 1897 St. Paul Church 2234 S. Hoyne, Henry Schlacks
 * 1897 Chicago Library (now Chicago Cultural Center), Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge
 * 1899 Sullivan Center, Louis Sullivan; 1905–1906, twelve-story south addition, D.H. Burnham & Company

1900–1939:
 * 1902 Marshall Field and Company Building, north State Street building D.H. Burnham & Company, Charles B. Atwood
 * 1903 Holy Trinity Cathedral, Chicago
 * 1905-1906 Holy Trinity Polish Mission, Herman Olszewski and William G. Krieg,
 * 1905 Chicago Federal Building, Henry Ives Cobb
 * 1906 Sears Merchandise Building Tower, George G. Nimmons - William K. Fellows
 * 1907 Marshall Field and Company Building, south State Street building D.H. Burnham & Company, Charles B. Atwood
 * 1909 Robie House, Prairie School, Frank Lloyd WrightFrederick_C._Robie_House.JPG (1909)]]
 * 1910–1911 Eighth Church of Christ, Scientist, Leon E. Stanhope. Designated a Chicago Landmark on June 9, 1993.
 * 1912–1914 St. Adalbert's Church 1650 W.17th street, Henry Schlacks
 * 1912 Medinah Temple North Wabash Avenue
 * 1912 Pulaski Park fieldhouse by Jens Jensen
 * 1914 Navy Pier
 * 1914-1920 St. Mary of the Angels Church 1850 N. Hermitage Ave, Worthmann and Steinbach
 * 1915 Holy Cross Church, Joseph Molitor
 * 1916 Navy Pier Auditorium, Charles Sumner Frost
 * 1917–1920 Michigan Avenue Bridge, Edward H. Bennett
 * 1917-1921 Basilica of St. Hyacinth 3636 West Wolfram Avenue, Worthmann & Steinbach
 * 1919-1924 Wrigley Building, Graham, Anderson, Probst & White
 * 1921 Chicago Theatre, Beaux-Arts, Cornelius W. Rapp and George L. Rapp
 * 1921 Old Chicago Main Post Office, Graham, Anderson, Probst & White
 * 1922 Tribune Tower, neo-Gothic, John Mead Howells and Raymond M. HoodTribune_Tower3.jpg (1922)]]
 * 1924 Soldier Field, Holabird & Roche; extensive renovation 2003, Ben Wood and Carlos Zapata
 * 1925 Uptown Theatre, Cornelius W. Rapp and George L. Rapp
 * 1927 Pittsfield Building, Graham, Anderson, Probst and White
 * 1929 Carbide & Carbon Building, Daniel and Hubert Burnham, sons of Daniel Burnham
 * 1929 Palmolive Building, Art Deco, Holabird & Root
 * 1929 John G. Shedd Aquarium, Graham, Anderson, Probst & White
 * 1930 Chicago Board of Trade Building, Holabird & Root
 * 1930 All Saints Cathedral, J. G. Steinbach
 * 1930 Gateway Theatre Mason Rapp of Rapp & Rapp; extensive renovation 1979 to 1984, "Solidarity Tower" addition in 1985
 * 1930 Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, Ernest A. Grunsfeld Jr.
 * 1931 Merchandise Mart, Graham, Anderson, Probst & White
 * 1930s-1960s Illinois Institute of Technology, including S.R. Crown Hall, Second Chicago School, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
 * 1934 Field Building, Graham, Anderson, Probst & White

1940 to the present:
 * 1940–1942 St. Wenceslaus church, 3400 N. Monticello Ave, McCarthy, Smith and Eppig
 * 860-880_Lake_Shore_Drive.jpg 860–880 Lake Shore Drive, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
 * 1957 Inland Steel Building, Bruce Graham and Walter Netsch, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill,
 * 1964 Marina City, Bertrand GoldbergMarina_City,_Chicago,_Illinois,_Estados_Unidos,_2012-10-20,_DD_01.jpg (1964)]]
 * 1968 Lake Point Tower, John Heinrich and George Schipporeit
 * 1968 Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist. Harry Weese
 * 1969 John Hancock Center, Bruce Graham, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
 * 1973 330 North Wabash, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
 * 1974 Willis Tower, Bruce Graham, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (previously the Sears Tower)
 * 1974 Aon Center, Edward Durrell Stone (earlier names were Standard Oil Building and Amoco Building)
 * 1977 St. Joseph the Betrothed Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
 * 1979-85 James R. Thompson Center, Helmut Jahn
 * 1989 NBC Tower, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
 * 1990 American Medical Association Building, Kenzo Tange
 * 1990 Athletic Club Illinois Center, Kisho Kurokawa
 * 1991 Harold Washington Library Center, Thomas Beeby
 * 1991 Guaranteed Rate Field, Home of the White Sox
 * 1991 Museum of Contemporary Art, Josef Paul Kleihues
 * 1992 77 West Wacker Drive, Ricardo Bofill
 * 2004 Millennium Park, Frank Gehry, Kathryn Gustafson, Anish Kapoor, Jaume Plensa, and others, a showcase for 21st century modernism.
 * 2009 155 North Wacker, Goettsch Partners
 * 2009 Trump International Hotel and Tower, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
 * 2010 Aqua Tower, Studio Gang Architects
 * 2019 NEMA, Rafael Viñoly Architects
 * 2019 One Bennett Park, Robert A.M. Stern Architects
 * 2020 110 North Wacker, Goettsch Partners
 * 2021 St. Regis Chicago, Studio Gang ArchitectsSt._Regis_Chicago.jpg (2021)]]

Styles and schools
Chicago architects used many design styles and belonged to a variety of architectural schools. Below is a list of those styles and schools.

 * American Four-Square
 * Art Deco/Moderne
 * Art Nouveau
 * Arts & Crafts
 * Chateauesque
 * Chicago School (Also called Commercial Style)
 * City Beautiful
 * Classical Revival (also known as Neoclassical architecture)
 * Colonial Revival
 * Craftsman (also known as American Craftsman)
 * Dutch Colonial
 * Eastlake/Stick
 * Edwardian architecture
 * Gothic Revival
 * Greek Revival
 * International (sometimes called Second Chicago School)
 * Italianate
 * Middle Eastern
 * Modern
 * Oriental
 * Postmodern
 * Prairie School
 * Queen Anne
 * Renaissance Revival also known as Neo-Renaissance
 * Romanesque Revival also known as Neo-Romanesque
 * Second Empire
 * Spanish Revival also known as Spanish Colonial Revival
 * Sullivanesque (for style elements and examples see Louis Sullivan)
 * Tudor Revival
 * Workers Cottage

Buildings - a "Top Forty" List
In 2010, Chicago Magazine selected 40 still existing properties for their historical and architectural importance, opening an on-line forum for debate. The top ten chosen were:

 * 1: John Hancock Center, 875 N. Michigan Ave. (1969)
 * 2: Rookery Building, 209 S. LaSalle St. (1885–1888)
 * 3: 860-880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments, (1952)
 * 4: Monadnock Building, 53 W. Jackson Blvd. (1891 and 1893)
 * 5: Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building, 1 S. State St. (1899)
 * 6: S. R. Crown Hall, 3360 S. State St. (1956)
 * 7: Auditorium Building, 430 S. Michigan Ave. (1889)
 * 8: Frederick C. Robie House, 5757 S. Woodlawn Ave. (1909)
 * 9: Farnsworth House (Plano, Illinois), 14520 River Rd., Plano, IL (1951)
 * 10: Sears Tower (now the Willis Tower), 233 S. Wacker Dr. (1974)

title: Architecture of Chicago