Maria Gatland
Maria Gatland (born Maria McGuire 1948, Dublin, Ireland) is a councillor in the London Borough of Croydon for the Conservative Party, who has represented the South Croydon ward since 2018. From 2002 to 2018 she was a Conservative councillor for the Croham ward. She is also a former Croydon Council cabinet member for education, a post she resigned after controversy due to being a former member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army.[1]
Early life
Gatland was born Maria McGuire, to a middle-class family, and lived in the suburb of Churchtown, Dublin. She was one of four siblings (two brothers and a sister).[1] She was educated at St. Anne's Primary and Secondary Schools, Milltown, Dublin and then University College Dublin, where she studied English language and literature.[1]
IRA involvement
McGuire became a member of the Provisional IRA in July 1971. Three months later, in October 1971, she accompanied Dáithí Ó Conaill (a leader of the Republican movement, also known as David O'Connell) to the European continent on an arms buying expedition.[2] The expedition came to nothing because it was reported in the British press, and Ó Conaill and McGuire abandoned the mission. She and Ó Conaill had an affair during this trip, although he was married. She, Ó Conaill, and Ó Conaill's wife had a difficult discussion about the issues involved shortly after they returned to Ireland.[1][3][4]
Provisional IRA bomb attacks in Belfast, on 21 July 1972 (known as Bloody Friday) killed seven civilians and two soldiers, and left 130 injured. McGuire subsequently decided to leave the Provisional IRA. She was told by the British authorities that if she did so she would receive Special Branch protection. In the late summer of 1972 she appeared in London and wrote a series of articles for The Observer,[5] went into hiding, and wrote a book about her experiences in the organisation called To Take Arms: A Year in the Provisional IRA which was published in 1973.[1][6] In it she was hostile to Seán Mac Stíofáin, IRA Chief of Staff at the time she was a member, but remained sympathetic to Ó Conaill, and wished him success in internal struggles against Mac Stíofáin in the Republican movement.[3]
Political career
In 2002, Maria Gatland was elected as a member of the Conservative Party to Croydon Council as a councillor for Croham ward and in 2006 became Croydon's cabinet member for education. She says that she never hid her IRA past.[1] When the Conservative Party found out about her past she stepped down as a council cabinet member in early December 2008.[6] At the same time Gatland was suspended by the party, but in following month, January 2009, she was accepted back to the Tory fold.[7] She was subsequently re-elected as a councillor in the 2010 and 2014 local elections.
Personal life
Around 1986 McGuire moved to Croydon where she met and married her late husband Mervyn Gatland, who ran a garden maintenance business. Gatland has said that at this time she was very fragile and had two breakdowns.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g McKittrick, David (6 December 2008). "Maria Gatland: From terrorist to Tory". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
- ^ Coogan, Tim (2002). The IRA. New York: St. Martins Press. p. 433. ISBN 0-312-29416-6.
- ^ a b McGuire, Maria (1973) To Take Arms: A Year in the Provisional IRA, Macmillan. ISBN 978-0333145067
- ^ Melaugh, Dr Martin. "CAIN: Events: Bloody Friday – Northern Ireland Office News-sheet on 'Bloody Friday'". cain.ulst.ac.uk.
- ^ Smith, Colin (7 December 2008). "How I brought the Provos' girl with a gun in from the cold". The Observer. p. 36. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
- ^ a b Myers, Kevin (5 December 2008). Was it fair Gatland had to resign because of her past IRA links?, Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
- ^ Truman, Peter (14 January 2009). "IRA Councillor welcomed back to Tory bosom". Croydon Guardian. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
Further reading
- Brown, David (6 December 2008). "IRA glamour girl who gave up terror and turned herself into a loyal Tory", The Times. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
- v
- t
- e
- Anti-Treaty IRA
- Sinn Féin
- Republican News
- An Phoblacht
- The Green Book
- The Troubles (Timeline)
- Haughey arms crisis
- IRA campaign
- Chronology of Provisional IRA actions
- Arms importation
- Weaponry
- Barrack buster
- Improvised tactical vehicles
- Mountjoy Prison helicopter escape
- Blanket protest
- Dirty protest
- HM Prison Maze
- Anti H-Block
- 1981 Irish hunger strike
- Maze Prison escape
- Armalite and ballot box strategy
- Punishment attacks
- Disappeared
- Smithwick Tribunal
- Northern Ireland peace process
- Good Friday Agreement
(Volunteers)
- Paddy Agnew
- Martina Anderson
- Declan Arthurs
- Thomas Begley
- Ivor Bell
- Patricia Black
- Charles Breslin
- Edward Butler
- Paul Butler
- Joe Cahill
- Liam Campbell
- Fergal Caraher
- Malachy Carey
- Owen Carron
- Gerard Casey
- Carál Ní Chuilín
- Gabriel Cleary
- Peter Cleary
- Kevin Coen
- Eamon Collins
- Eddie Copeland
- Marion Coyle
- Gerard Davison
- Matt Devlin
- Hugh Doherty
- Joe Doherty
- Kieran Doherty
- Martin Doherty
- Pat Doherty
- Colin Duffy
- Rose Dugdale
- Dessie Ellis
- Mairéad Farrell
- William Fleming
- Kieran Fleming
- Bernard Fox
- Angelo Fusco
- Michael Gaughan
- John Francis Green
- Dessie Grew
- George Harrison
- Brendan Hughes
- Francis Hughes
- Martin Hurson
- Pearse Jordan
- Brian Keenan
- Gerry Kelly
- John Kelly
- Patrick Joseph Kelly
- Sean Kelly
- Jim Lynagh
- Proinsias Mac Airt
- Breandán Mac Cionnaith
- Antoine Mac Giolla Bhrighde
- Joseph MacManus
- Seán Mac Stíofáin
- Patrick Magee
- Paul Magee
- Donna Maguire
- Larry Marley
- Paul Marlowe
- Leo Martin
- Alex Maskey
- Pearse McAuley
- Daniel McCann
- Fra McCann
- Jennifer McCann
- Raymond McCartney
- Martin McCaughey
- Raymond McCreesh
- Joe McDonnell
- Séamus McElwaine
- Thomas McElwee
- Brendan McFarlane
- Tom McFeely
- Gerry McGeough
- Pat McGeown
- John Joe McGirl
- Martin McGuinness
- Pádraig McKearney
- Tommy McKearney
- Billy McKee
- Kevin McKenna
- Laurence McKeown
- Michael McKevitt
- Thomas McMahon
- Jackie McMullan
- Martin Meehan
- Ian Milne
- Arthur Morgan
- Danny Morrison
- Conor Murphy
- Thomas "Slab" Murphy
- Kieran Nugent
- Ruairí Ó Brádaigh
- Ed O'Brien
- Dáithí Ó Conaill
- Éamonn O'Doherty
- Joe B. O'Hagan
- Siobhán O'Hanlon
- Rita O'Hare
- Diarmuid O'Neill
- Dolours Price
- Marian Price
- Liam Quinn
- Paddy Quinn
- Billy Reid
- Bobby Sands
- Seán Savage
- Pat Sheehan
- Frank Stagg
- Jimmy Steele
- Bobby Storey
- Gerard Tuite
- Seamus Twomey
- Roy Walsh
- Séanna Walsh
Supergrasses
killings
- Jeffery Stanford Agate
- Johnathan Ball
- Anthony Berry
- Robert Bradford
- Joe Bratty
- Matthew Burns
- Martin Cahill
- Eamon Collins
- Raymond Elder
- Gerard Evans
- Christopher Ewart-Biggs
- Joseph Fenton
- Billy Fox
- Maurice Gibson
- Ian Gow
- Heidi Hazell
- Donald Kaberry
- Andrew Kearney
- Baroness Brabourne
- William "Frenchie" Marchant
- Martin McBirney
- Jerry McCabe
- Robert McConnell
- Jean McConville
- Columba McVeigh
- Ross McWhirter
- Stephen Melrose
- Lord Mountbatten
- Lenny Murphy
- Robert Nairac
- Thomas Oliver
- Tim Parry
- Paul Quinn
- Robert Seymour
- Robert McCartney (allegedly)
- Joseph Rafferty (allegedly)
- Ray Smallwoods
- Sammy Smyth
- Nick Spanos
- James Stronge
- Norman Stronge
- Richard Sykes
- Stephen Tibble
- Sammy Ward
- Michael Willetts