On weekends, southern Republicans, including Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, went north in support of Sinn Ftin’s campaign. The Sinn Féin candidates, who were abstentionists, pledged to take their seats only in an All-Ireland Parliament and received more than 150,000 votes. Two IRA prisoners from the Omagh raid, Phil Clarke for Fermanagh-South Tyrone and Tom Mitchell for Mid-Ulster, were elected. This was a slap in the face to the Stormont and British governments and set off maneuvering to overturn the elections. As convicted felons, Clarke and Mitchell were not eligible to hold their seats. Clarke’s opponent filed a petition and was declared the victor. The Irish Times commented that only Sinn Féin welcomed the petition, for it allowed the party to claim that the majority of voters in Fermanagh-South Tyrone were disenfranchised. Mitchell’s situation was less clear cut. His opponent did not file a petition and the seat was declared vacant. In an August 1955 by-election, Mitchell won again and his margin of victory increased. A petition was filed and Mitchell was disqualified, but further investigation led to the disqualification of the Unionist candidate. In a second by-election, a Nationalist Party candidate entered the contest and split the Nationalist vote, and a Unionist was elected.
Sinn Féin also stepped up its activity in the south. In June 1955, a number of candidates contested the 26-county local elections, and not as abstentionists. The party adopted the view that participation in a County Council was not tantamount to recognizing the state. There would be County Councils in the All-Ireland Republic and participating in them offered Sinn Féin members an opportunity to serve constituents and build the political side of the Republican Movement. Among those working for Paddy Ruane, a candidate for the Galway County Council, was a young Republican from Milltown, Frank Glynn, and Ruairí Ó Brádaigh. Glynn remembers Ó Brádaigh as someone who “never took no for an answer.” When people complained that something was not getting done, Ó Brádaigh’s view was that the person should “just get out and do it.” Ó Brádaigh “led from the front.” Sinn Ftin’s efforts in Galway were successful, and Ruane was one of seven Sinn Ftiners elected to county or city councils.
North and south in the mid-1950s, Sinn Ftin, the IRA, and Irish Nationalism in general were on the rise. Southern politicians were concerned but took no direct action against Republicans. In the north, the Stormont government saw trouble brewing and acted. In July 1955, Nationalists in Newtownbutler organized the County Fermanagh Feis, an annual festival celebrating Irishness. The feis was an affront to those who claimed Northern Ireland for Britain. That the prime organizer of the feis, Canon Tom Maguire, was joined on a platform in the feis field by TomLs Mac CurtLin of Sinn Féin and the IRA demonstrated that the feis was a cultural and political event. It was a day filled with clashes with the RUC. Stormont had banned any parades or processions associated with the event. Following Mass, a group of people wearing white shirts with green armbands and carrying a banner with a picture of Patrick Pearse, the 1916 leader, set off for the field. A group of about twenty police officers tried to stop them, and the two groups fought for 300 yards, until the marchers folded their banner and were allowed to proceed unhindered. About an hour later, police arrested a man at the railway station next to the field, and part of the crowd responded by stoning the police. The police countered with pressure hoses but were met with a hail of stones, which drove them back from the field. Outfitting themselves with steel helmets, the police drew their batons and charged. The melee ended when Canon Maguire left the platform and called for peace. He was sprayed by water cannons. The RUC later issued a statement that they were simply enforcing an order prohibiting processions.
Around this time, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh moved into the IRA leadership. In June 1955, the IRA convention met at a hall in Parnell Square, Dublin. The delegates were enthusiastic. Arms raids had raised the IRA’S profile. The votes for Sinn Féin in Northern Ireland were amazing. The Clarke and Mitchell elections showed the hypocritical nature of democracy in Northern Ireland and demonstrated a large amount of support for the Republican cause. The local elections in the Twenty-Six Counties showed that Sinn Féin had a smaller but still significant constituency there. The movement was building itself into something formidable. At least it seemed that way to the delegates. The leadership had recognized Ó Brádaigh’s commitment and his competence, and as a complement to his responsibilities as a training officer in Roscommon he had been attached to IRA general headquarters as a staff officer. At the convention, he was elected to the IRA’S Executive. He was also placed in charge of an IRA raid in Britain.
In late 1954, Frank Skuse, who was from West Cork, was serving with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers of the British Army. He sent word to the IRA that he was willing to help arrange a raid. Tony Magan turned the case over to Charlie Murphy, who visited Skuse in Wales. They determined that a raid in Wales was not feasible, but when Skuse was transferred to Arborfield, which is not far from London, Murphy paid him another visit and began planning a raid. Because of problems with previous raids in Britain, Magan bypassed IRA members in London and created a special seven-man team. Murphy, who was a logical choice to lead the raid, was deemed too valuable to risk. Magan, recognizing his talents, selected Ó Brádaigh as the commanding officer for the special operation.
Ó Brádaigh was briefed by Magan and Murphy, and in July he traveled to London and met with Skuse. Skuse, who was serving at a British base at Blandford, arranged for Ó Brádaigh and himself to tour the Arborfield base, posing as off-duty members of the British Army. When he first met Ó Brádaigh, Skuse was disappointed. Murphy was outgoing, flamboyant. Ó Brádaigh was quiet, reserved. He was also a potential security problem; Ó Brádaigh laughed too much, thought Skuse. During the initial tour of Arborfield they came across Irish Army officers in uniform who were attending a training school. Ó Brádaigh joked that they would get credit for the raid, prompting Skuse to caution him. Yet over the next several weeks, he found Ó Brádaigh’s sense of humor contagious and learned that he was a meticulous soldier and someone he could trust. Ó Brádaigh carefully checked every detail of the camp, every routinethe times of local pubs, the soldiers’ drinking habits, the local bus schedules, the names and times of films at local theaters, and so forth.
Back in Dublin, Ó Brádaigh organized a special training course for those involved in the raid. Maps, drawings, and photographs were pored over. Nothing was taken for granted. As far as he was concerned, there was no such thing as a dumb question, from him or anyone else. Each volunteer was given detailed instructions on how to travel to England, how they would meet up, and what they would do on the raid. A group of them traveled to England in early August to make final arrangements. They rented a dilapidated shop in London; the arms were to be stored there and later shipped to Ireland. Ó Brádaigh and a few others familiarized themselves with the roads by driving from the shop to Arborfield and back several times. On one trip, they gave hitchhiking British soldiers a lift to the barracks. Discreetly, they asked the soldiers questions about their surroundings. On Thursday, August 11, 1955, the rest of the raiding party arrived and registered in a London hotel.
The raiders had detailed information on Arborfield, to the point that they knew the numbers of the keys for the armory and the magazine. In discussing the plans with Magan, Ó Brádaigh asked what he should do if the keys were not where they were supposed to be. Magan told him to get a “jemmy" and go straight into the lock. On the morning of the 12th, Ó Brádaigh visited a tool shop in North London. He picked up various instruments for the raid, including a hacksaw and spare blades, and asked the man behind the counter for a jemmy. Picking up on Ó Brádaigh’s accent, the shopkeeper was amused. He laughed and turned to his apprentice, saying, “Paddy wants a jemmy.” Ó Brádaigh replied that he needed it for “bursting bales or opening wooden containers, that type of thing.” “Ah,” the shopkeeper replied, “what you want is a case opener.”“Yes,” Ó Brádaigh agreed, he wanted a case opener. The shopkeeper produced two, one big, one small, and asked, “Which of them, now?" Ó Brádaigh pointed to the big one. “Ah,” said the shopkeeper, “I thought so.” He