Ó Brádaigh met Patsy in Roscommon on the weekend of November 20–22. On the 22nd, they paid their respects to the headmaster of their school, who had passed away. After the service they were walking out of the church gounds and past the local Garda barracks when a group of police officers approached Ruairí. A detective sergeant told him that he suspected Ó Brádaigh was “in possession of information" and arrested him under Section 30 of the Offenses Against the State Act. As they entered the police station, Ruairí noticed that Patsy, who was pregnant, looked pale. He was asked twenty-four standard questions, including questions on his movements since the wedding. He remained silent and was held overnight. Patsy returned to her flat.
The next evening, with Ó Brádaigh in the Roscommon Garda station, the Roscommon Vocational Education Committee met and considered Patsy’s request for a temporary full-time job. The chief executive officer, Mr. Ó Meiscill, informed the committee that the minister for education had rejected her request but had sanctioned her for a part-time position. The committee agreed to hire her. Ó Meiscill also informed the committee that Ruairí’s salary was budgeted for the upcoming school year, indicating that his job was being held for him. Although he was being held in Roscommon Garda Station, the committee made public its support for Ó Brádaigh. Members of the committee represented a variety of political approaches, including Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, and independents. The local Protestant minister was a member of the committee. Irrespective of their own politics, and the Ó Brádaighs’ politics, committee members respected Ruairí and Patsy as people and as educators.
On Friday, November 27th, Ó Brádaigh was driven from Mountjoy to Ballymahon, Longford, where he again faced charges under the Offenses Against the State Act (for failing to answer questions). A large crowd, carrying signs that read, “Release Our T.D.” and “Stop This Collaboration with England,” stood outside the courthouse. Inside, Ó Brádaigh refused to recognize the court but reserved the right to cross-examine witnesses and make a statement. A detective sergeant testified that he had arrested Ó Brádaigh “under orders.” Ó Brádaigh used this to charge that Fianna Fáil was using the Offenses Against the State Act to “to silence me as a public representative.” He asked rhetorically if he had been stopped and questioned only because the authorities knew he would refuse to answer and therefore be subject to imprisonment. The response: he was found guilty and sentenced to six months in Mountjoy.
In Mountjoy, he experienced the low point of this period of his life. In early December, a letter arrived from his mother with the news that Patsy had suffered a miscarriage. The news hit him hard; in jail, he could not comfort his wife. He had been an idealistic newlywed filled with dreams about his future family. Distressed, he cried in his cell. In and of itself, prison was not a problem. Given the times, Ó Brádaigh had expected rearrest and knew how to cope with prison life. But being unable to help Patsy was hard. It was the only thing in the course of his early career as a Republican that truly upset him. A high point of his stay was Sein Mac Eoin’s statement that while he disagreed with Ó Brádaigh’s ppolitics, his credentials as a T D representing a particular viewpoint could not be questioned. Mac Eoin added that while Ó Brádaigh had appeared publicly in several places, he had been arrested at a private funeral. Another positive was that when he was released, on May 26th, 1960, he was met by his Aunt Margaret rather than a tap on the shoulder and internment. On the way to Longford they were met by crowds in Ballinalack, Rathowen, and Mostrim and then escorted into Longford town by a band and fleet of cars for an enthusiastic public meeting.
The stay in Mountjoy had not deterred him. On Sunday, May 29th, following a Longford-Dublin football match, Ó Brádaigh addressed more than 2,000 people attending a Sinn Féin rally in Mullingar. When he was heckled by a plainclothes police officer, who kept shouting “Up Dev [de Valera]" and “Up Mac Eoin,” the chairman of the rally informed the crowd of the heckler’s occupation; the officer moved out of the crowd. Ó Brádaigh thanked those present for their support and thanked the Longford District Urban Council and the Granard Town commissioners, who had publicly protested against his arrest and imprisonment. Most important, he commented on a resolution that had been passed by Roscommon County Council while he was in Mountjoy. As an amendment to a motion “deploring the continued operation of the Offenses Against the State Act,” the resolution called for the four Sinn Féin TDs to take their seats in Leinster House. It was rejected by Sinn Féin at the time. Now out of prison, Ó Brádaigh also rejected the resolution. In his comments, he explained why he opposed participation in Leinster House and said that he would continue to uphold the policy that the electorate of Longford-Westmeath had endorsed: “I will sit only in an all-Ireland Parliament.”
Sinn Féin rally in Longford, probably the May 1960 rally welcoming Ó Brádaigh home after his release from Mountjoy Prison. Ó Brádaigh family collection.
Ruairl Ó Brádaigh is a remarkably consistent person. The position he took that day on participation in Leinster House is the position he holds today. To him, participation in Leinster House was (and is) illogical at its most fundamental level. He told the crowd, “Sinn FCin aims at abolishing both the Leinster House and Stormont Parliaments, and substituting for them an All-Ireland Republican Parliament. How could Sinn FCin contribute towards the abolition of the 26-County Parliament by sitting in it and actually consolidating it?” In electing him, his constituents had endorsed his abstentionism. Even though he was a TD, he had been accosted on the street, arrested, and sent to jail simply because he refused to compromise his principles and recognize the authority of the 26-county state. The Roscommon resolution was asking the Sinn FCin TDs to “[albandon your principles and programme and do as we do; surrender, then you may be immune from arrest and imprisonment.” Ó Brádaigh wanted no part of this kind of quid pro quo: “I refuse to become a party politician of the 26-County brand, and will continue to uphold the policy which the electorate of Longford-Westmeath have endorsed. I will sit only in an AllIreland Parliament and will continue to strive to make such an institution a living reality.” For Ó Brádaigh, participation in Leinster House would only delay the Republic of Wolfe Tone. His proof lay in the actions of Leinster House politicians, who seemed more interested in maintaining the status quo than in ending partition or helping the people of Ireland. “Your elected representative has gone to jail and he has returned. What good has his imprisonment done to this country or the people of this country?" he asked. “Has one person been placed in employment as a result; has one family been stopped from closing its house-if it had one-and emigrating to England or America? No good has been done to anyone, but the British Government has been appeased and the Border has been guaranteed.”
When he was arrested, Ó Brádaigh was replaced as adjutant general. An IRA convention had been organized for late spring, and he was released from Mountjoy in time to attend the general headquarters unit convention, which was held about ten days before the general convention. At the unit convention, he was selected as a delegate to the general convention. The general convention was held in June in County Meath and attracted more than 100 delegates. At the start, Ó Brádaigh was elected to chair the convention. As it had been for McLogan the year before, it was not an easy job. In 1959, the Curragh issue had dominated the convention. In 1960, the big issue was whether or not to continue the campaign. The Cork unit put forth a motion to end the campaign; Frank Skuse argued “that the campaign stood no chance of success, that its continuation would only further weaken the movement and prevent the early release of prisoners in English jails, that it was time to call a halt, hold on to any gains and conserve the remaining resources of the movement.” Sehn Cronin, who had spent the year reorganizing the IRA, strongly opposed the motion. Cronin believed the army was in a position to repeat the successes of December 1956 and early 1957. Ó Brádaigh also opposed the motion, but as he saw it, his job was to run the convention, not to publicly support one or another argument-to “put the facts on the table and let’s make an assessment of it.” Cronin responded to Skuse’s argument by calling it “pure vituperation" and called for continuing support for the campaign. Tony Magan then criticized the campaign, sarcastically commenting that it was never meant to be a series of incidents along the border. Cronin, upset,