John Joe Rice (19 June 1893 – 24 July 1970) was an Irish
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Gri ...
politician who served as a
Teachta Dála
A Teachta Dála ( , ; plural ), abbreviated as TD (plural ''TDanna'' in Irish, TDs in English), is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas (the Irish Parliament). It is the equivalent of terms such as ''Member of Parli ...
(TD) for the
Kerry South constituency from 1957 to 1961.
Early life
He was born in
Cork
Cork or CORK may refer to:
Materials
* Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product
** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container
***Wine cork
Places Ireland
* Cork (city)
** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...
in 1893, but raised in the town land of Kilmurry near
Kenmare
Kenmare () is a small town in the south of County Kerry, Ireland. The name Kenmare is the anglicised form of ''Ceann Mara'', meaning "head of the sea", referring to the head of Kenmare Bay.
Location
Kenmare is located at the head of Kenmare Ba ...
,
County Kerry
County Kerry ( gle, Contae Chiarraí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. The population of the co ...
. He was the son of George Rice, a draper's assistant, and Ellen Rice (née Ring). After national school he became a clerk with the
Great Southern and Western Railway
The Great Southern and Western Railway (GS&WR) was an Irish gauge () railway company in Ireland from 1844 until 1924. The GS&WR grew by building lines and making a series of takeovers, until in the late 19th and early 20th centuries it was the ...
company working at stations in Kenmare, Killorglin, and Killarney.
Revolution and Civil War
Rice joined the
Irish Volunteers
The Irish Volunteers ( ga, Óglaigh na hÉireann), sometimes called the Irish Volunteer Force or Irish Volunteer Army, was a military organisation established in 1913 by Irish nationalists and republicans. It was ostensibly formed in respons ...
in 1913. At the outbreak of the
Irish War of Independence
The Irish War of Independence () or Anglo-Irish War was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and British forces: the British Army, along with the quasi-mil ...
, he became Officer Commanding of the 5th Battalion of the Kerry No. 2 Brigade, a unit he would also command during the
Irish Civil War
The Irish Civil War ( ga, Cogadh Cathartha na hÉireann; 28 June 1922 – 24 May 1923) was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United ...
, where they fought as part of the
Anti-Treaty IRA
The 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty ( ga , An Conradh Angla-Éireannach), commonly known in Ireland as The Treaty and officially the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was an agreement between the government of the ...
.
TD for Kerry South
After the civil war he continued to be active in the IRA and Sinn Féin. He attended IRA executive meetings (1923) and was involved in attempts to reorganise the IRA (1924). He was a delegate to the Sinn Féin
ardfheis
or ''ardfheis'' ( , ; "high assembly"; plural ''ardfheiseanna'') is the name used by many Irish political parties for their annual party conference. The term was first used by Conradh na Gaeilge, the Irish language cultural organisation, for i ...
in 1926, opposing the proposal of
Éamon de Valera
Éamon de Valera (, ; first registered as George de Valero; changed some time before 1901 to Edward de Valera; 14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975) was a prominent Irish statesman and political leader. He served several terms as head of governm ...
that abstention be a matter of policy rather than principle. He was elected as a Sinn Féin
TD for the
Kerry South constituency at the
1957 general election.
He did not take his seat in the Dáil due to the Sinn Féin policy of
abstentionism
Abstentionism is standing for election to a deliberative assembly while refusing to take up any seats won or otherwise participate in the assembly's business. Abstentionism differs from an election boycott in that abstentionists participate in ...
. He was one of four Sinn Féin TDs elected at the
1957 general election, the others being
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 ...
,
John Joe McGirl
John Joe McGirl (25 March 1921 – 8 December 1988) was an Irish republican, a Sinn Féin politician, and a former chief of staff of the Irish Republican Army (IRA).
Biography
Anti-Treaty IRA
Born and raised in Ballinamore, County Leitrim, M ...
and
Eighneachán Ó hAnnluain
Éighneachán Ó hAnnluain (; 1933 – 14 December 1994; sometimes spelled ''Éineachán'') was an Irish Sinn Féin politician. He was elected as a Teachta Dála (TD) at the 1957 general election for the Monaghan constituency. He was one of fou ...
. During his time as a TD, he campaigned against the Special Powers Act, which granted the Irish state extra abilities to deal with and punish suspected members of the IRA.
He was defeated at the
1961 general election.
Expulsion from Sinn Fein
In 1966, he and fellow Kerry Republican
John Joe Sheehy were expelled from Sinn Féin, as were many others, by the new
Marxist-Leninist party leadership that had recently come into power. This move both foreshadowed and fuelled
the split in 1969/1970 of both the IRA and Sinn Féin, which led to the creation of the Marxist-Leninist
Official IRA
The Official Irish Republican Army or Official IRA (OIRA; ) was an Irish republican paramilitary group whose goal was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and create a "workers' republic" encompassing all of Ireland. It emerged ...
and the more traditional but still left-wing
Provisional IRA
The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, fa ...
, and in parallel
Sinn Féin – The Workers' Party and "Provisional" Sinn Féin. Rice gave his support to the Provisionals.
Family
His sister, Rosalie Rice, was a member of
Cumann na mBan
Cumann na mBan (; literally "The Women's Council" but calling themselves The Irishwomen's Council in English), abbreviated C na mB, is an Irish republican women's paramilitary organisation formed in Dublin on 2 April 1914, merging with and d ...
during the 1916
Easter Rising
The Easter Rising ( ga, Éirí Amach na Cásca), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the a ...
and was arrested for sending a telegram alerting the
Irish Republican Brotherhood
The Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB; ) was a secret oath-bound fraternal organisation dedicated to the establishment of an "independent democratic republic" in Ireland between 1858 and 1924.McGee, p. 15. Its counterpart in the United States ...
(IRB) in America to the rising. His cousins Eugene and Timothy Ring were members of the IRB and were also involved with the telegram. His grandfather, Timothy Ring, was a Fenian who fought in the uprising. Two of his cousins were members of the
Royal Irish Constabulary
The Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC, ga, Constáblacht Ríoga na hÉireann; simply called the Irish Constabulary 1836–67) was the police force in Ireland from 1822 until 1922, when all of the country was part of the United Kingdom. A separate ...
who would both later help the republican side during the
Irish revolutionary period
The revolutionary period in Irish history was the period in the 1910s and early 1920s when Irish nationalist opinion shifted from the Home Rule-supporting Irish Parliamentary Party to the republican Sinn Féin movement. There were several wa ...
.
He died on 1 July 1970.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rice, John Joe
1893 births
1970 deaths
Irish Republican Army (1919–1922) members
Irish Republican Army (1922–1969) members
Members of the 16th Dáil
Politicians from County Kerry
Sinn Féin TDs (post-1923)