Seamus Quaid (16 November 1937 – 13 October 1980) was an Irish police officer of the

Garda Síochána (; meaning "the Guardian(s) of the Peace") is the national police and security service of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is more commonly referred to as the Gardaí (; "Guardians") or "the Guards". The service is headed by the Garda Commissio ...

(Garda 13497), killed in the line of duty by the IRA. He was a native of

County Limerick County Limerick () is a western Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Reg ...

, and became a member of the

Wexford Wexford ( ; archaic Yola dialect, Yola: ''Weiseforthe'') is the county town of County Wexford, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the ...

hurling team in October 1958. In 1960, Quaid was a part of the County Wexford team that won the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship. In January 1972, IRA member Peter Rogers escaped from HMS ''Maidstone'', a

prison ship A prison ship, is a current or former seagoing vessel that has been modified to become a place of substantive detention for convicts, prisoner of war, prisoners of war or civilian internees. Some prison ships were hulk (ship type), hulked. W ...

moored in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. Fleeing south across the border into the Republic of Ireland, Rogers settled and married in

County Wexford County Wexford () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. Named after the town of Wexford, it was ba ...

. Remaining an active IRA member, an incident occurred on 13 October 1980, where Rogers fired upon two policemen, Garda Quaid and Garda Lyttleton, while they were attempting to detain him. Lyttleton managed to escape but Quaid was wounded and died within fifteen minutes. Rogers was sentenced to death, later commuted to forty years imprisonment, but was eventually released under the terms of the

Belfast Agreement The Good Friday Agreement (GFA) or Belfast Agreement ( or ; or ) is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April (Good Friday) 1998 that ended most of the violence of the Troubles, an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland since the la ...

. Rogers claimed in 2014, that the 1980 incident which resulted in Garda Quaid's death had occurred shortly after attending a meeting in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

with

Gerry Adams Gerard Adams (; born 6 October 1948) is a retired Irish Republican politician who was the president of Sinn Féin between 13 November 1983 and 10 February 2018, and served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for Louth from 2011 to 2020. From 1983 to 19 ...

and

Martin McGuinness James Martin Pacelli McGuinness (; 23 May 1950 – 21 March 2017) was an Irish republican politician and statesman for Sinn Féin and a leader within the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) during The Troubles. He was the deputy First Minist ...

, to which Rogers was summoned because of his reluctance to move explosives to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

for a bombing campaign. In 2014,

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( ; ; ) is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The History of Sinn Féin, original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffit ...

held their

Ard Fheis or ( , ; 'high assembly'; plural ) is the name used by many Irish political parties for their annual party conference. Usage Among the parties who use the term or are: * * * * Irish Republican Socialist Party * * Green Party * Republica ...

(annual party conference) at the Wexford Opera House, which contained a plaque in memory of Garda Quaid. The Quaid family criticised Sinn Féin's decision to hold its conference in the opera house, believing the decision was a slap in the face of the family. The family then removed the plaque from the opera house before the conference, and declined to respond to apologies offered by McGuinness, or offers to meet him.McGuinness apologises to Quaid family
Irishtimes.com; accessed 12 December 2014.

References

External links

Cain.ulst.ac.uk

Rte.ie

Thejournal.ie

Talkofthetown.ie

Irishecho.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quaid, Seamus 1937 births 1980 deaths Deaths by firearm in the Republic of Ireland Garda Síochána officers killed in the line of duty Police officers from County Limerick People killed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army Seamus Terrorism deaths in Ireland 1980 murders in the Republic of Ireland Murder victims from County Limerick People murdered in the Republic of Ireland

See also

References

External links