Seán Mac Stíofáin (1928-2001) was an IRA commander, a founding member of the Provisional IRA and its first chief of staff. He was born John Stephenson in London, the son of Protestant parents. Stephenson claimed Irish ancestry on his mother’s side, though the validity of this is uncertain. He left school at 16, working as a labourer and converting to Catholicism. Stephenson also served in the Royal Air Force during World War II, working as a storeman. After the war, Stephenson became involved and obsessed with Irish Republicanism. He joined the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in 1949 and helped organise an IRA unit in London. In 1953, Stephenson led a raid that stole rifles and mortars from a cadet school armoury in Essex. He was stopped randomly by police, arrested and sentenced to eight years in prison. Stephenson served more than three years behind bars, using this time to learn Irish Gaelic. Released in 1956, he married an Irish woman, moved to Dublin and changed his name to Seán Mac Stíofáin (the Gaelic form of his birth name). Mac Stíofáin gradually ascended through the ranks of the IRA, becoming its director of intelligence. The outbreak of the Troubles in 1969 opened up divisions in the IRA over strategy and tactics. While Cathal Goulding and other leaders wanted to use violence carefully, Mac Stíofáin and his supporters urged open warfare with the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). In August 1969, Mac Stíofáin led a raid on the RUC station at Crossmaglen, in defiance of IRA orders. In December, Mac Stíofáin and four others formed a Provisional Army Council. This splinter group became the nucleus of the Provisional IRA. Mac Stíofáin became the Provisional IRA’s first chief of staff. He also oversaw its rearming and the escalation of its military campaign in Northern Ireland. In July 1972, Mac Stíofáin represented the Provisional IRA in secret talks with the British government in London. When these talks collapsed he ordered an increase in Provisional IRA operations, beginning with the mass bombing of Belfast on July 21st 1972. Mac Stíofáin remained in charge until November 1972, when a controversial television interview led to his arrest, imprisonment and removal from the Provisional IRA leadership. Mac Stíofáin was released the following year but was no longer prominent in the Provisional IRA. He spent the rest of the 1970s working for a Sinn Fein newspaper. Mac Stíofáin died in May 2001. By Alpha history dot com
@@____________5402 I agree. We can get trapped in anger and we will find a vehicle to use in order to release the anger, but unfortunately the power we feel from anger can take over and trick us into thinking that violence is genuine strength.
@@noodlyappendage6729 It’s the Anglo Saxon royal family who wield the control which is the source of the oppression of the Celtic culture as well as Marxists who label any cultural pride as ‘racist’.
This man attended my grandfather's funeral in 1994. My grandfather was Eugene (Terry) Laverty who came from ardoyne but moved to navan co.meath where he spent most of his life.
Imagine having a moral argument about hundreds of years of occupation and repression and blaming the people for resisting. Are you funking mad my friend?
@heracliusthebased Even though the UK has diplomatic relationships with the vast majority of world governments. Nice try, but you shinnerbots aren't the majority you like to imagine you are.
The hole world watching women children being killed Britain didn't try help leave it doomed if do doomed if don't India Pakistan was split in half for same reason religious reasons
So before intervention women children died differents is army came made easier to pass blame the brits fault a century ago still pissed off my great grandmother was one Henry 8th wifes i will never forgive the tudor period or the Germans for ww1 or ww2 or usa for cuba Mexico the French for half Europe Africa
I read the book you recommended a couple of years ago by Ed Moloney, you were right it's a great read probably the best on the subject yet written. I can't help but conclude Tyronne came in for special treatment and that human intelligence played a continued part from 87 onwards. I doubt it was a large number of well-placed sources more likely just one or two who remained in place. I don't really buy the Peter Taylor line about the informant being part of the Loughgall team I suspect that was disinformation designed to confuse. My guess would be the informant(s) was high up the chain of command and not necessarily based in Tyronne. Oh, and I can't see why it should be Stakeknife as he shouldn't have known the details of forthcoming ops.
DeValera wasn't even born in Ireland. But this isn't so rare, nationalist groups appear very often among the diaspora. A more modern example are some Muslims in Europe becoming more religiously conservatives than the people living in the countries of their ancestors.
@@WarpDoomer neither was MacStiofan ( Stephenson )He was born in London.Both his parents where English . But his mother was of Irish decent .... Protestant Irish from East Belfast apparently
Because of inmigration which was partially caused by British treatment of Irish people ... in Ireland . People felt in order to prosper they had no other choice other than to move abroad , but they clearly still had strong ties to Ireland and harboured a dislike ( to put it mildly ) of the British establishment , which is then passed on to their offspring.
No he doesn’t. He’s nothing but a murderous coward. The man who planned and carried out the events of bloody Friday. Bombs planted all around the city of Belfast with the intention of killing innocent people so he could be taken seriously. They even called in hoax bomb alerts to tie up police and army resources so they couldn’t get to help the innocent victims of the real bombs in time. Of course, you being a fan of that rancid club In the east end of glasgow automatically makes you think you are some big bad republican. Grow up.
Except garvaghy road,Crumlin and ormeau road. The police service. The policing board.stormont. Education. Nearly all council boards. The flag protest.the sea border. Yup yous havnt lost a thing 😂😂😂
@@Yourballixwe still have parades. Police service mainly protestant, stormonts not running. Union flag flys on designated days, Ireland flag never flys. Currency still pounds stirling. Majority population want to be in u.k.. Majority Irish people can't be bothered learning their own language. the planters are here to stay. So yes. NO SURRENDER!
Republicans and nationalists realised 30 years ago that the strategy outlined by the likes of this man had failed. Now Unionists must do the same. They must come to the painful reality that the republican movement outflanked them, out thought them, out manoeuvred them and have essentially destroyed the unionist position via the power of reality over any gun. And that reality is the utterly untenable, economically defunct, and morally bankrupt position that the British Government finds itself in by continuing to maintain Northern Ireland as part of the UK. And in my opinion, the UK government has been of this opinion since at least the 1980’s. A united Ireland is inevitable. But it won’t happen for at least another 10 or 20 years. These things move slowly. This is the “long war” after all. In that time I hope that republicans continue on the road map they set in the mid-90’s and 1:47 continue to treat unionists with respect and the culture to which they hold dear.
The working classes don’t suffer. Or maybe I am just lucky. I work short hours for good pay and can eat what I want, go where I want, enjoy life. London scaffolder
I’m Irish and I live in Canada. I just want to point out Britain colonized most of the world and tortured and slaved many different peoples. Ireland was constantly targeted by Britain and the people were their peasants. Everyone thinks Ireland was wrong for rebelling against Britain, the winners of the war tell the story. Irish people defended themselves from people who tried to harm them, Britain won that’s why everyone looks at Britain’s as the good guys, because Britain told the story. My dad moved to Canada at 5 because of the troubles in Northern Ireland particularly British soldiers killing civilians. It’s messed up open your eyes.
So? James Connolly was born in Scotland, Tom Clarke was born in England. Doesn't matter where one is born, you could be from the moon for all I'd care, so long as you're willing to fight against imperialism, and for the national liberation of Ireland and indeed, any country.
@@fayesf9628 Perhaps so. But Stephenson's wholesale adoption of a nationality, culture, language (including a fake Irish one) could lead to an accusation of serious plastic-paddyism.
@@maltesetony9030 I feel like a the Ryan Tubridys, Leo Varadkars, Denis O’Briens and Michael Martins of the world are more of Plastic Paddy’s than people like MacStíofáin. He spoke the language and put himself at massive personal risk to defend the Irish people from the threat of British Imperialism.
Being English and loving Ireland I am wondering if the information we were getting through MSM about the IRA was true. What is the truth about the IRA? I understand that Ireland was very badly treated by the British and for that I am truly sorry. I cannot find anything which lays out the TRUE and real facts. Can anyone help in that regard?
Just sad all round, my dream is for ireland to reunite with the uk by choice not force, even if it’s merely ceremonially, whereby they retain their own gov, they were occupied against will and had every right to resist, uk gov lacked respect for ireland
@@patrickmclaughlin2960 YOU Brits? You think I personally have anything to do with British politics? You think I support what this country has done in Ireland? That started hundreds of years ago. And yet 'you Irish' voted to be a part of the EU. Work that one out matey. You're a fool.
@@Armed-Forever The UK government has always lacked respect for everyone, including its own people and it will never change unless ALL governments are dissolved and the criminals brought to justice. The Irish government are no different, they are traitors too.
He was a legend within the movement.I believe a soldier should wear his uniform and fight with honour.I don’t agree with planting bombs or hurting civilians there is no excuse it brings disgrace to the cause you fight for diminishing the cause even if your enemy fights dirty.I’m glad a peace agreement has been made enough lives have been lost.
I'll remind people the IRA shot a 6 month old baby in a car on the Dutch border. I don't care what side you take, that will never be and can never be justified by the cowards that did it. Ever. Supporting people who do that is a reflection on the person you are.
And there's a very long list of atrocities committed by British soldiers as well. I'm sure you have the same opinion for anybody that shows any sympathy towards the British armed forces.
Don't forget the thousands killed in Iraq and Afghanistan and all the other countries Britain has invaded. Or are these all lawful killings of innocent children?
I'll fully accept that no child should be killed, absolutely including Francis Rowntree. An absolute tragedy. The circumstances and the Mens Rea in these two examples are different. I'll accept your example and no doubt we could both argue both sides of the coin all day. What we probably can agree on is the unacceptable death of any child. Nobody normal wants to see any kids hurt. They're just kids, and it should sadden us all when it happens.
It was the provisional government of Ireland who agreed to the creation of Northern Ireland in 1922. It was also the catholic/republicans who called British soldiers to the streets of Belfast. Do not believe the twisted history the IRA/Sinn Fein spout
I am an old Kernowyon, as a young man, I would not join the Army, even though doing so was my dream as a boy at primary school. No way under God's heaven would I join a force of armed men and invade another Celtic Nation. My family are not English, we are Cornish, the Irish are our cousins. My Pappy Francie and Granny Alice Lily were beautiful people, they were proud Irish and I am deeply proud to be related to them. The English Crown have enough territory, but the German in them is never sated. Kernow is in ruins now. Only our rivers run free. These are my words, if you do not like them, I suggest you re'th kyjyewgh hwi 😊
Oh dear. Cornwall wouldn't last a week if it became independent. The royal family are British. Typical socialist response to them- calling them German when the last foreign-born monarch was George II.
@@gabrielchovan-spence4215 TH-cam comments is hardly a place to debate seriously. So I simplify to extreme and claim that there is no way to present socialism in a way that would make me accept it.
@@jonkka3 you and your fellow workers reap the rewards of your labor and have a say in the business that controls your livelihood. Instead of a few individuals who own all the capital getting almost all that you produce. Would that sway you at all?
@@gabrielchovan-spence4215 I don't think YOU understand what socialism really is. It is communism light...it is the door to the house which is communism. And communism never is good for the people...only those in power
I was born in 1966 in one of the most Republican estates in West Belfast, knew nothing but the troubles and supported the Provisionals for years. How wrong I was, I am sorry to say it was the biggest waste of time and lives. looking back most of the IRA were just egoist, want to be hard men, pseudo criminals, full f touts and self interests, double agents and spooks, many couldn't keep their mouths shut for five minutes, some were genuine but few of them. at the end when the Republican movement realised it was a lost cause and accepted the British terms of surrender, they stamped down on other Republicans who disagreed or just wanted debate on the peace process, they intimidated, shot, and expelled Republicans who would not give up just to administer English rule and law in Ireland,
@@anthonym3351 Yes, the IRA campaign had nothing to do with Nationalist rights but to reignite the old unfinished war with the British. It was totally counter productive and Nationalists right would have came eventually.
@@anthonym3351 Yes, It would have came. The IRA took their own way using the civil rights cause as an excuse to start the old war, the helped bring down Sunningdale that could have started the process of civil rights.
Sir when you need help many will go. I thought you voted against leaving ENGLAND,.. Many Irish settle here in South West of United States I have Nephews and Cousins of Irish decent. We will go to fight alongside you no matter the consequences. Mexico has many Irish from the evil Civil War.
News reporters still asking the same questions to victims of occupation, to this day. Its exactly the same as we speak. Nothing had changed. This man could be a palestinian and if you xlosed your eyes and listened to the way the reporter asks questions.
@@BelfastIsRed for "pong".........is that your new north Korean leader 😆 you've been saying the same thing for 100 years and are to thick to realise you'll be saying it in 100 more, thick as mince 🤣🇬🇧👍
Last time I heard you were all in a recession, your healthcare system collapsed, your economy lost 4% of GDP per year and your migrant crisis is worse than ever. Delicious.
TO ALL THE BRITISH SOLDIERS THAT WENT TO win A PEACE! NOT A WAR IN IRELAND, THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE.REGARDING OTHER ISSUES. HEBREWS. 9.27.KJV.🙏🙏❤👍🇬🇧
@@OllieGrigg Maybe they should of pulled out altogether then,and protect the main land,let you Irish sort it out amongst yourselfs ,with help from the bankers of course. Hebrews.9.27kjv.🙏🙏❤👍🇬🇧
@@OllieGrigg bs. Irish down south was torturing, starving, burning and killing Prods. Aided by the Irish Gov and Catholic Church.. Pre 1920. The newly created Northern Ireland seen an exodus of 40,000 prods. It saved many lives.
@@h.m.b.s.5747load of horse 💩. No matter what was happening in Ireland at any stage or at any time. It is no business of the English. Colonise countries is all the English do, they have always done it. No one’s fault for what happened in 20th century except the English.
It's the first time I actually see Mac Stíofáin/Stephenson and I'm disappointed. I had expected a kind of Che Guevara - and what do I see: a plump, rotund figure in a cardigan with bad teeth... And he doesn't talk Irish, he is faux Irish and he even has a faux surname. Not very convincing.... And that's the sort of men people were afraid of.
Do you think that the way one looks or what one's name is or how one speaks has any bearing whatsoever on what that person believes in or is capable of doing? (it's a rhetorical question btw).
@@mrjcfpants Born in England, his only claim to Irishness lay in the fact that his great-grandmother (!) was Irish. His father was English and his mother was from Bethnal Green. He then changed his name to make it sound "Irish". Cathal Goulding remarked upon him: "Sean's problem,' he once told me, 'is that he spends all his time going around trying to prove to everybody that he's as Irish as they are, and in the IRA he had to show that he was more VIOLENT than the rest. He (...) believes physical force is the only answer." And to think that such a man was the kingpin of the IRA... No, such "converts", such wannabes give me the creeps.
@@iansoutryer3189 Can I ask what I myself would be according to your view of McStiofan as a supposed plastic Irishman / cardboard republican. I was born in London to an Irish mum and English dad, moved to Ireland when I was a wee boy living with my republican Granda and Irish speaking Granny and have lived in a nationalist area in the North after that up until today which has shaped my viewpoint and life. I always thought Sean was what's called London Irish - in that he had parents or one parent directly from Ireland, a bit like Shane McGowan from the pogues and not a great grandmother as you say? There were alot of men and women involved in the 1916 Easter rising who were born in England, Wales & Scotland none of them were "creeps wanna bes or converts" as you put it as they faught and died for what they and I believe in 👍✌️
Seán Mac Stíofáin (1928-2001) was an IRA commander, a founding member of the Provisional IRA and its first chief of staff. He was born John Stephenson in London, the son of Protestant parents. Stephenson claimed Irish ancestry on his mother’s side, though the validity of this is uncertain. He left school at 16, working as a labourer and converting to Catholicism. Stephenson also served in the Royal Air Force during World War II, working as a storeman. After the war, Stephenson became involved and obsessed with Irish Republicanism. He joined the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in 1949 and helped organise an IRA unit in London.
In 1953, Stephenson led a raid that stole rifles and mortars from a cadet school armoury in Essex. He was stopped randomly by police, arrested and sentenced to eight years in prison. Stephenson served more than three years behind bars, using this time to learn Irish Gaelic. Released in 1956, he married an Irish woman, moved to Dublin and changed his name to Seán Mac Stíofáin (the Gaelic form of his birth name).
Mac Stíofáin gradually ascended through the ranks of the IRA, becoming its director of intelligence. The outbreak of the Troubles in 1969 opened up divisions in the IRA over strategy and tactics. While Cathal Goulding and other leaders wanted to use violence carefully, Mac Stíofáin and his supporters urged open warfare with the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). In August 1969, Mac Stíofáin led a raid on the RUC station at Crossmaglen, in defiance of IRA orders. In December, Mac Stíofáin and four others formed a Provisional Army Council. This splinter group became the nucleus of the Provisional IRA.
Mac Stíofáin became the Provisional IRA’s first chief of staff. He also oversaw its rearming and the escalation of its military campaign in Northern Ireland. In July 1972, Mac Stíofáin represented the Provisional IRA in secret talks with the British government in London. When these talks collapsed he ordered an increase in Provisional IRA operations, beginning with the mass bombing of Belfast on July 21st 1972.
Mac Stíofáin remained in charge until November 1972, when a controversial television interview led to his arrest, imprisonment and removal from the Provisional IRA leadership. Mac Stíofáin was released the following year but was no longer prominent in the Provisional IRA. He spent the rest of the 1970s working for a Sinn Fein newspaper. Mac Stíofáin died in May 2001. By Alpha history dot com
Sounds like a man who just wants to commit violence for a cause he’s not necessarily a part of
@@____________5402 I agree. We can get trapped in anger and we will find a vehicle to use in order to release the anger, but unfortunately the power we feel from anger can take over and trick us into thinking that violence is genuine strength.
@@____________5402 No. He fought to defend his race, my race. The Celtic race from Anglo oppression.
What on Earth are you talking about? “Anglo Oppression”? Lol. The vast majority of people in England are of “Celtic” stock anyway.
@@noodlyappendage6729 It’s the Anglo Saxon royal family who wield the control which is the source of the oppression of the Celtic culture as well as Marxists who label any cultural pride as ‘racist’.
This man attended my grandfather's funeral in 1994.
My grandfather was Eugene (Terry) Laverty who came from ardoyne but moved to navan co.meath where he spent most of his life.
They are nice provisional Ira but yes I think some people take advantage of nice.
Imagine having a moral argument about hundreds of years of occupation and repression and blaming the people for resisting. Are you funking mad my friend?
The same insane reasons Zionists use. Totally deranged
💯
The IRA weren't a legitimate resistance movement, they were fanatics on the same level as ISIS
Anglotards are the living definition of the "surprised Pikachu face" meme. They can't seem to understand why half of the world wants them dead lmfao
@heracliusthebased Even though the UK has diplomatic relationships with the vast majority of world governments. Nice try, but you shinnerbots aren't the majority you like to imagine you are.
British soldiers should never have been in the north of Ireland.
Ok so what would your solution been then leave it alone anarchy lawlessness sit back watch people killing each other
The hole world watching women children being killed Britain didn't try help leave it doomed if do doomed if don't India Pakistan was split in half for same reason religious reasons
@@chrisferns5352 it only exasperated the situation.
So before intervention women children died differents is army came made easier to pass blame the brits fault a century ago still pissed off my great grandmother was one Henry 8th wifes i will never forgive the tudor period or the Germans for ww1 or ww2 or usa for cuba Mexico the French for half Europe Africa
Leave it alone let martial law prevail like African nations appeals to un Britain blamed for not assisting civil war
Interviewer: you think there is a political advantage to British troops being killed?
Chad: yes
Good man.
i back the union i want ireland to rejoin the uk, but by choice not force, sad but dead british troops is fair in war
@@Armed-Forever piss right off with that.
@@UnrepentantFenian you hate us? don’t you have ancestry on the mainland?
@@Armed-Forever yes it has to be democratic. its not really war its essentially territorial over which sect of the same religion wins.
The honesty and almost innocence in this man. He didn’t want to fight. He had to fight.
Like a man should.
I mean ofc what do u want him to say?
Very articulate responses, he was a top man 🇮🇪
Weres the full interview?
I read the book you recommended a couple of years ago by Ed Moloney, you were right it's a great read probably the best on the subject yet written. I can't help but conclude Tyronne came in for special treatment and that human intelligence played a continued part from 87 onwards. I doubt it was a large number of well-placed sources more likely just one or two who remained in place. I don't really buy the Peter Taylor line about the informant being part of the Loughgall team I suspect that was disinformation designed to confuse. My guess would be the informant(s) was high up the chain of command and not necessarily based in Tyronne. Oh, and I can't see why it should be Stakeknife as he shouldn't have known the details of forthcoming ops.
@@Sean-zg4iy bandit country South armagh was a good read
Goofy ahh pfp
The last bit of the interview was kinda based though
This guy actually served in the RAF.
Why do so many Irish Republican leaders have Irish mothers and non-Irish fathers? e.g. MacStiofan, Pearse, DeValera?
DeValera wasn't even born in Ireland. But this isn't so rare, nationalist groups appear very often among the diaspora. A more modern example are some Muslims in Europe becoming more religiously conservatives than the people living in the countries of their ancestors.
@@WarpDoomer Or Unionists more British.
@@WarpDoomer neither was MacStiofan ( Stephenson )He was born in London.Both his parents where English . But his mother was of Irish decent .... Protestant Irish from East Belfast apparently
Because of inmigration which was partially caused by British treatment of Irish people ... in Ireland . People felt in order to prosper they had no other choice other than to move abroad , but they clearly still had strong ties to Ireland and harboured a dislike ( to put it mildly ) of the British establishment , which is then passed on to their offspring.
Mothers are a bad influence
He sounds and looks like a young Harold Wilson, minus the pipe.
😊
I wonder what he would have to say about what is happening in Ireland today?
This man speaks sense
No he doesn’t. He’s nothing but a murderous coward. The man who planned and carried out the events of bloody Friday. Bombs planted all around the city of Belfast with the intention of killing innocent people so he could be taken seriously. They even called in hoax bomb alerts to tie up police and army resources so they couldn’t get to help the innocent victims of the real bombs in time. Of course, you being a fan of that rancid club In the east end of glasgow automatically makes you think you are some big bad republican. Grow up.
@Correct by default Check your privilege.
@Correct by default die
NO SURRENDER
Except garvaghy road,Crumlin and ormeau road. The police service. The policing board.stormont. Education. Nearly all council boards. The flag protest.the sea border. Yup yous havnt lost a thing 😂😂😂
Boris did it for you.
ERIN GO BRAH
@@Yourballixwe still have parades. Police service mainly protestant, stormonts not running. Union flag flys on designated days, Ireland flag never flys. Currency still pounds stirling. Majority population want to be in u.k.. Majority Irish people can't be bothered learning their own language. the planters are here to stay. So yes.
NO SURRENDER!
Republicans and nationalists realised 30 years ago that the strategy outlined by the likes of this man had failed.
Now Unionists must do the same.
They must come to the painful reality that the republican movement outflanked them, out thought them, out manoeuvred them and have essentially destroyed the unionist position via the power of reality over any gun.
And that reality is the utterly untenable, economically defunct, and morally bankrupt position that the British Government finds itself in by continuing to maintain Northern Ireland as part of the UK. And in my opinion, the UK government has been of this opinion since at least the 1980’s.
A united Ireland is inevitable. But it won’t happen for at least another 10 or 20 years. These things move slowly. This is the “long war” after all.
In that time I hope that republicans continue on the road map they set in the mid-90’s and 1:47 continue to treat unionists with respect and the culture to which they hold dear.
Working classes will never be free even under a United Ireland. The damage has been done. Working classes continue to suffer in Britain and Ireland.
The working classes don’t suffer. Or maybe I am just lucky. I work short hours for good pay and can eat what I want, go where I want, enjoy life. London scaffolder
@@billybrand9976 yes but you own the company 👍
Absolute class aul fella
😂😂🇮🇪🇮🇪
I’m Irish and I live in Canada. I just want to point out Britain colonized most of the world and tortured and slaved many different peoples. Ireland was constantly targeted by Britain and the people were their peasants. Everyone thinks Ireland was wrong for rebelling against Britain, the winners of the war tell the story. Irish people defended themselves from people who tried to harm them, Britain won that’s why everyone looks at Britain’s as the good guys, because Britain told the story. My dad moved to Canada at 5 because of the troubles in Northern Ireland particularly British soldiers killing civilians. It’s messed up open your eyes.
You don’t know history.
@@DingleDangle66
He knows better than you
@@everythingsfine1395 Definitely not.
@@DingleDangle66
Definitely yes
@@everythingsfine1395 seems like you're an ignorant person
Sean MacStiofain was English, not Irish.
His real name was John Stephenson.
He had one Irish grandparent.
So? James Connolly was born in Scotland, Tom Clarke was born in England. Doesn't matter where one is born, you could be from the moon for all I'd care, so long as you're willing to fight against imperialism, and for the national liberation of Ireland and indeed, any country.
Traitor. Murdering his own people, hopefully there’s a hell for these kind.
@@maxmccann5323 . . . . & worse for the English imperialists, too, one hopes.
@@fayesf9628 Perhaps so. But Stephenson's wholesale adoption of a nationality, culture, language (including a fake Irish one) could lead to an accusation of serious plastic-paddyism.
@@maltesetony9030 I feel like a the Ryan Tubridys, Leo Varadkars, Denis O’Briens and Michael Martins of the world are more of Plastic Paddy’s than people like MacStíofáin.
He spoke the language and put himself at massive personal risk to defend the Irish people from the threat of British Imperialism.
well said
Being English and loving Ireland I am wondering if the information we were getting through MSM about the IRA was true. What is the truth about the IRA? I understand that Ireland was very badly treated by the British and for that I am truly sorry. I cannot find anything which lays out the TRUE and real facts. Can anyone help in that regard?
Just sad all round, my dream is for ireland to reunite with the uk by choice not force, even if it’s merely ceremonially, whereby they retain their own gov, they were occupied against will and had every right to resist, uk gov lacked respect for ireland
@@Armed-Forever I agree. But isn't Ireland now occupied by the EU? Ireland certainly isn't a Republic but they can still be reunited.
@@tubemonks If you Brits weren't around then yes Ireland can be united.Until the Brits are still around,then no
@@patrickmclaughlin2960 YOU Brits? You think I personally have anything to do with British politics? You think I support what this country has done in Ireland? That started hundreds of years ago. And yet 'you Irish' voted to be a part of the EU. Work that one out matey. You're a fool.
@@Armed-Forever The UK government has always lacked respect for everyone, including its own people and it will never change unless ALL governments are dissolved and the criminals brought to justice. The Irish government are no different, they are traitors too.
Is that ELON MUSK IN 1972?
He has not aged a DAY😀😀😀
He was a legend within the movement.I believe a soldier should wear his uniform and fight with honour.I don’t agree with planting bombs or hurting civilians there is no excuse it brings disgrace to the cause you fight for diminishing the cause even if your enemy fights dirty.I’m glad a peace agreement has been made enough lives have been lost.
our day will come!!!
No peace until then, United Ireland shall reign
❤
Well that worked out well for you Mr McStinking.
Sounds English, did he grow up in England?
Yes
Walthamstow
Plastic paddy
John Stephenson. One Irish grandparent.
@Will Carson Yes. You have to love these plastic paddies!
Dudes rock
Any ra in Ireland nowadays?Or probably bought out like most?
I supported provisional for a while myself. Very socialist. Loved it.
What an absolute fud.
I'll remind people the IRA shot a 6 month old baby in a car on the Dutch border. I don't care what side you take, that will never be and can never be justified by the cowards that did it. Ever. Supporting people who do that is a reflection on the person you are.
And there's a very long list of atrocities committed by British soldiers as well. I'm sure you have the same opinion for anybody that shows any sympathy towards the British armed forces.
Just tell me when the British Army unlawfully shot a child?
@@timketton9531 Francis Rowntree
Don't forget the thousands killed in Iraq and Afghanistan and all the other countries Britain has invaded. Or are these all lawful killings of innocent children?
I'll fully accept that no child should be killed, absolutely including Francis Rowntree. An absolute tragedy. The circumstances and the Mens Rea in these two examples are different. I'll accept your example and no doubt we could both argue both sides of the coin all day. What we probably can agree on is the unacceptable death of any child. Nobody normal wants to see any kids hurt. They're just kids, and it should sadden us all when it happens.
Was he the one who assassinated Lord Mountbatte
His boat had a hole in it
No his name was mcmahon I was in the big house with him in the 90s
Good for him
no it was one of the boys he molested at the school
Seán Mac Stiofáin- Mac the Knife!!!
It was the provisional government of Ireland who agreed to the creation of Northern Ireland in 1922.
It was also the catholic/republicans who called British soldiers to the streets of Belfast.
Do not believe the twisted history the IRA/Sinn Fein spout
United ireland is coming baby
I am an old Kernowyon, as a young man, I would not join the Army, even though doing so was my dream as a boy at primary school. No way under God's heaven would I join a force of armed men and invade another Celtic Nation. My family are not English, we are Cornish, the Irish are our cousins. My Pappy Francie and Granny Alice Lily were beautiful people, they were proud Irish and I am deeply proud to be related to them. The English Crown have enough territory, but the German in them is never sated. Kernow is in ruins now. Only our rivers run free. These are my words, if you do not like them, I suggest you re'th kyjyewgh hwi 😊
Oh dear. Cornwall wouldn't last a week if it became independent. The royal family are British. Typical socialist response to them- calling them German when the last foreign-born monarch was George II.
Well said my friend
Ok but did he condem hamas?
?
How incongruous....A plump middle aged man wearing a cardigan in his living Room discussing politely over a cup of tea the murdering of soldiers
They're the most dangerous mate ... !
Police officers sipping tea with the British army discussing murdering Irish people in their own country
The Brits thought nothing of murdering innocent Irish men, women and children
@European Pride Occupying nothing. Operating in a part of their own country...duh.
@@gazzanorth4373 go home planter.
Read proverbs wicked ways are a abomination to the lord. In the bible.
When and when can you trust the RIC,,,or whatever you call them? It's a sad state of affairs. But that's the Effing truth.
Where's the lie?
Socialism - the greatest lie ever
@@jonkka3 where’s the lie? I don’t think you understand what socialism is.
@@gabrielchovan-spence4215 TH-cam comments is hardly a place to debate seriously. So I simplify to extreme and claim that there is no way to present socialism in a way that would make me accept it.
@@jonkka3 you and your fellow workers reap the rewards of your labor and have a say in the business that controls your livelihood. Instead of a few individuals who own all the capital getting almost all that you produce. Would that sway you at all?
@@gabrielchovan-spence4215 I don't think YOU understand what socialism really is. It is communism light...it is the door to the house which is communism. And communism never is good for the people...only those in power
in sostanza: un LeStiofainte...
Well, it got them out of the house.
I was born in 1966 in one of the most Republican estates in West Belfast, knew nothing but the troubles and supported the Provisionals for years. How wrong I was, I am sorry to say it was the biggest waste of time and lives. looking back most of the IRA were just egoist, want to be hard men, pseudo criminals, full f touts and self interests, double agents and spooks, many couldn't keep their mouths shut for five minutes, some were genuine but few of them. at the end when the Republican movement realised it was a lost cause and accepted the British terms of surrender, they stamped down on other Republicans who disagreed or just wanted debate on the peace process, they intimidated, shot, and expelled Republicans who would not give up just to administer English rule and law in Ireland,
Yes but would the nationalists have the rights today without the troubles?
@@anthonym3351 Yes, the IRA campaign had nothing to do with Nationalist rights but to reignite the old unfinished war with the British. It was totally counter productive and Nationalists right would have came eventually.
@@jimcazador6057 Eventually- like a Brexit benefit.
@@anthonym3351 Yes, It would have came. The IRA took their own way using the civil rights cause as an excuse to start the old war, the helped bring down Sunningdale that could have started the process of civil rights.
@@jimcazador6057 it's just that every global conflict involves the British, if people fight back they are called terrorists
Sir when you need help many will go.
I thought you voted against leaving ENGLAND,.. Many Irish settle here
in South West of United States I have
Nephews and Cousins of Irish decent.
We will go to fight alongside you no matter the consequences. Mexico has many Irish from the evil Civil War.
It’s not to leave England, it’s to leave the UNITED KINGDOM, silly yank
Ireland hated Britain ie England probably why so many settled England like America.kinda like new Yorkers moving arab state don't u think
9/11 tought you nothing.
State of yer chin mate
He was hiding a bomb in that chin
How can he be a chief of staff ffs i wouldnt lwt him clean toilets
Ha
Might look like a fool has good military brain
@@seanlinnane8311 true yes and i reckon some of the early provisionals where the better organised
Bless
💚💚💚💚💚💚🍀🍀🍀🍀
News reporters still asking the same questions to victims of occupation, to this day. Its exactly the same as we speak. Nothing had changed. This man could be a palestinian and if you xlosed your eyes and listened to the way the reporter asks questions.
Last I heard Northern Ireland was still British 😁🇬🇧🇬🇧
HUNS OUT 🇮🇪
Well with shin fein as the biggest political party in Northern Ireland it won’t be for long
@@BelfastIsRed for "pong".........is that your new north Korean leader 😆 you've been saying the same thing for 100 years and are to thick to realise you'll be saying it in 100 more, thick as mince 🤣🇬🇧👍
Last time I heard you were all in a recession, your healthcare system collapsed, your economy lost 4% of GDP per year and your migrant crisis is worse than ever. Delicious.
@@seankavanagh7625 Ireland is set for 1 million migrants per year
Как вступить туда?
Man speaks sense🤡🤡
Bro his reamon musk!!
Why!!!
I shall name him..... Elon whiskey
and what hes on tv whats your point
Whisky*
Are you kidding me? The brits were low in acrtistic attempts then😊
🇮🇪 ✝️ 🇮🇪
Cowards
Free Ireland
TO ALL THE BRITISH SOLDIERS THAT WENT TO win A PEACE! NOT A WAR IN IRELAND, THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE.REGARDING OTHER ISSUES. HEBREWS. 9.27.KJV.🙏🙏❤👍🇬🇧
British soldiers didn’t help the peace, they made the situation worse
@@OllieGrigg Maybe they should of pulled out altogether then,and protect the main land,let you Irish sort it out amongst yourselfs ,with help from the bankers of course. Hebrews.9.27kjv.🙏🙏❤👍🇬🇧
@@lloydwalden3541 British caused the issue in the first place, the unionist community in ni was moved there in the first place to create colonialism
@@OllieGrigg bs. Irish down south was torturing, starving, burning and killing Prods. Aided by the Irish Gov and Catholic Church.. Pre 1920. The newly created Northern Ireland seen an exodus of 40,000 prods. It saved many lives.
@@h.m.b.s.5747load of horse 💩. No matter what was happening in Ireland at any stage or at any time. It is no business of the English. Colonise countries is all the English do, they have always done it. No one’s fault for what happened in 20th century except the English.
Go home then
It's in the past Fu.... Off ❤️
Read Mathew 7.17
Potato 🥔
💣🚘 bomb
Treaty?🥺
Yer ma
🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️
Evil
shalom
Garda special branch agent.
Really?
100% Celtic BVLL Provo
The devils son
It's the first time I actually see Mac Stíofáin/Stephenson and I'm disappointed. I had expected a kind of Che Guevara - and what do I see: a plump, rotund figure in a cardigan with bad teeth... And he doesn't talk Irish, he is faux Irish and he even has a faux surname. Not very convincing.... And that's the sort of men people were afraid of.
Do you think that the way one looks or what one's name is or how one speaks has any bearing whatsoever on what that person believes in or is capable of doing? (it's a rhetorical question btw).
@@mrjcfpants No, I just described my disappointment.
And he's not even Irish...despite his assumed name. So he is bit of a fake act.
@@iansoutryer3189 well his life and his history proved that he was very much not a fake.
@@mrjcfpants Born in England, his only claim to Irishness lay in the fact that his great-grandmother (!) was Irish. His father was English and his mother was from Bethnal Green. He then changed his name to make it sound "Irish".
Cathal Goulding remarked upon him: "Sean's problem,' he once told me, 'is that he spends all his time going around trying to prove to everybody that he's as Irish as they are, and in the IRA he had to show that he was more VIOLENT than the rest. He (...) believes physical force is the only answer."
And to think that such a man was the kingpin of the IRA... No, such "converts", such wannabes give me the creeps.
@@iansoutryer3189 Can I ask what I myself would be according to your view of McStiofan as a supposed plastic Irishman / cardboard republican. I was born in London to an Irish mum and English dad, moved to Ireland when I was a wee boy living with my republican Granda and Irish speaking Granny and have lived in a nationalist area in the North after that up until today which has shaped my viewpoint and life. I always thought Sean was what's called London Irish - in that he had parents or one parent directly from Ireland, a bit like Shane McGowan from the pogues and not a great grandmother as you say? There were alot of men and women involved in the 1916 Easter rising who were born in England, Wales & Scotland none of them were "creeps wanna bes or converts" as you put it as they faught and died for what they and I believe in 👍✌️
Yup. Based.
When its white man vs white man
🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪
He looks like Elon musk
Evil
freedom fighters
@@james4319 did the civillian population carry out the bloody sunday attack?
@@james4319 your just as bad as the taliban, isis, and Al quadar you bring shame to the Irish and Catholics
@@joecoe8452 Oppression breeds resistance
@@joecoe8452 The IRA were Republican They were political not religious you idiot.