Several people are reported to have served as Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army (Irish: Ceann Foirne Óglaigh na hÉireann) in the organisations bearing that name. Due to the clandestine nature of these organisations, this list is not definitive.
Chiefs of Staff of the Irish Republican Army (1917–1922)[edit]
a.^ Some noted Irish and British historians, including Ed Moloney, author of A Secret History of the IRA, have claimed that Gerry Adams has been part of the IRA leadership. Adams has always denied IRA membership, let alone being chief of staff.[46]
b.^ Although he admitted in his lifetime to IRA membership, he denied ever being Chief of Staff
Chiefs of Staff of the Official Irish Republican Army (1969–present)[edit]
a.^ Hanley and Millar (2010) wrote: Goulding was "replaced by Garland after an Army Council vote in summer 1976. Long dismissive of the IRA's titles and formal military structure, Garland was reluctant to adopt the title of Chief of Staff; but he was now undoubtedly in charge".
Chiefs of Staff of the Continuity Irish Republican Army (1986–present)[edit]
^ abMaryann Gialanella V, Portrait of a Revolutionary. General Richard Mulcahy and the Founding of the Irish Free State, Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1992. ISBN0-8131-1791-7
^ abMeda Ryan, The Real Chief: Liam Lynch, Cork: Mercier, 2005. ISBN1-85635-460-1
^J. Bowyer Bell, The Secret Army: The IRA, Somerset: Transaction Publishers, 1997. Magan's tenure ended with his arrest in Dublin. The IRA adjutant-general as well as members of the Army Council were also arrested. See Dáil DebatesArchived 2011-06-06 at the Wayback Machine, 6 November 1957.
^Robert W. White, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh: The Life and Politics of an Irish Revolutionary, Bloomington/Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2006, ISBN0-253-34708-4, pp. 85–6.
^Named as such by prominent republican, Owen Carron, in a letter entitled Deireadh Seachtaine John Joe McGirl, An Phoblacht/Republican News, 31 July 1997. See also: J. Bowyer Bell, The Secret Army: The IRA, Somerset: Transaction Publishers, 1997, p. 322.
^By his own admission, see Saoirse interview Revolt in the North 1956-62Archived 2005-04-05 at the Wayback Machine. See also: Robert W. White, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh: The Life and Politics of an Irish Revolutionary, Bloomington/Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2006, ISBN0-253-34708-4, p. 89.
^Robert W. White, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh: The Life and Politics of an Irish Revolutionary, Bloomington/Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2006, ISBN0-253-34708-4, p. 98.]
^Robert W. White, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh: The Life and Politics of an Irish Revolutionary, Bloomington/Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2006, ISBN0-253-34708-4, pp. 98–9, 114.]
^Robert W. White, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh: The Life and Politics of an Irish Revolutionary, Bloomington/Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2006, ISBN0-253-34708-4, pp. 114.]
^White, Robert (2017). Out of the Ashes: An Oral History of the Provisional Irish Republican Movement. Merrion Press. pp. 64–65. ISBN9781785370939.
^Hanley, Brian; Millar, Scott (2010). The Lost Revolution: The Story of the Official IRA and the Workers' Party. Penguin Books. p. 145. ISBN978-0141028453.
^Cusack, Jim (30 November 2014). "The Provos and its 'loony chief' who still dictate to SF". Irish Independent. Retrieved 12 November 2019. It is said he was brought onto the Army Council in the 1990s by Brian Keenan, the hard-line IRA Chief of Staff among whose policies was the genocide of Protestants living in Border areas
^"Mastermind of IRA bombing campaigns who became the organisation's negotiator over decommissioning". The Telegraph. 21 May 2008. Retrieved 12 November 2019. After the IRA resumed its truce in 1997, Sinn Fein helped negotiate a 1998 peace accord that proposed the total disarmament of the IRA by mid-2000. Keenan, who replaced Thomas "Slab" Murphy as the IRA's chief of staff in 1998, quickly ruled out this prospect, arguing that the group would disarm only in co-operation with a future all-Ireland government...the onset of cancer which forced (Keenan) to step down from the Army Council in 2002.
^Hanley, Brian; Millar, Scott (2010). The Lost Revolution: The Story of the Official IRA and the Workers' Party. Penguin Books. pp. 149–150, 332. ISBN978-0141028453.
^Hanley, Brian; Millar, Scott (2010). The Lost Revolution: The Story of the Official IRA and the Workers' Party. Penguin Books. p. 332. ISBN978-0141028453.