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Irish boxing legend Barry McGuigan carried a gun due to threat of IRA

Catholic boxer married to a Protestant woman reveals there was a price on his head

CATHY HAYES,

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Friday, June 3, 2011, 7:55 AM

Updated Friday, June 3, 2011, 7:55 AM

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Barry McGuigan

Photo by Darren Kidd/Press Eye

At the height of ‘The Troubles’ in Northern Ireland Barry McGuigan ‘The Clones Cyclone’ was the new featherweight boxing champion. In his new autobiography he has revealed that undercover police officers issued him with a gun for his own protection.

McGuigan fought with a dove of peace on his shorts and united fans from the North and South. He even sparked the cross-border slogan “Leave the Fighting to McGuigan”. The former boxer admits that the day he was handed a firearm is burnt into his memory.

“I was told there was a plot to kidnap me…Security forces on both sides of the border were keeping an eye on me. It came at a time when people were disappearing and not long after the kidnapping of the racehorse Shergar. So I was issued with a gun and the police taught me how to shoot it.”

Speaking to The Mirror he said “I couldn’t hit a barn door! I was terrible. It was really funny...but at the same time deadly serious. I had plain clothes police guys travelling with me everywhere for a while in case I was nabbed.

“My suspicion is it was all about ransom – attempting to raise money for terrorist activities. But I think the terrorists then realized that because of my popularity and non-political stance, kidnapping me had the potential to backfire.

“Perhaps that’s why – thank God – the threat never materialized. Now, when I look back at some of the things I did and the statements I was making, I was very lucky to come through it unscathed.”

McGuigan (50) is now a columnist with the Mirror and a boxing commentator. He was born in 1961 in Clones, a Monaghan Cavan border town.

Although his grandfather had been an IRA captain in the 1920 McGuigan said “I always promoted peace and reconciliation. It was important to make a statement of neutrality.”

McGuigan still feels passionately about promoting reconciliation in Ireland. Last year he was honored with the UN Inspiration Award for Peace.

U2’s Bono was asked to sum up McGuigan’s achievements for the cover of his book. It reads “At a dark hour in Ireland Barry McGuigan’s spirit shone a light towards peace. Barry’s not only a champion, he’s a hero.”
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FallsRNat | Jun 17, 2011, 03:43 PM EDT

you can't run away from the truth & the latest polls from 2 respected universities, we are sick of the RA in all of its clothes whether it be OIRA, PIRA, CIRA or RIRA The survey, which was conducted between October and December last year, found just 33% of Catholics wanted Irish unity on the long term. More than half of Catholics said they would prefer to stay in the UK, a view shared by 90% of Protestants

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seanomelbourne | Jun 14, 2011, 07:47 PM EDT

The RA as you call it was formed in 1919 as the army of the republic it was constituted by the 1st.Dail Harry Boland I think was the minister for defense.As for the rest of your post it's not worth a comment except it is all about self justification.

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FallsRNat | Jun 14, 2011, 01:32 PM EDT

seano - like a lot of other people u are suckered into the RA bullsh*t, my family traces back there were RA background to the 1890s, the PIRA didn't delivewr anything, they fought to remove the 'brits' from Ulster, unfortunately what they forgot to tell everybody was that meant over 1 million people of british descent, nobody amongst the irish nationalist peoples North or South thought that would ever happen & they were proved right. You talk as if you were there, i was & so was my family, my uncle was in the OIRA & then briefly for PIRA, but got fed up with the behind their scenes bigotry, as he said he wasn't swapping one partisan state for another. The standard of living wasn't provided by the armalite, PIRA were losing at the end, they couldn't even protect us from the loyalists, it's lucky the peace talks came, as that allowed them a get out clause, get your ass over here, talk to real people & you'll find out the truth.

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seanomelbourne | Jun 13, 2011, 08:16 PM EDT

Falls if you want to return to pre 1969 where nationalists were treated as 2nd. class citizens fine.Sub standard housing/health services/forced ghetto living/menial job prospect.Living in fear if you raised your hand in protest.Beaten by orange mobs or the B specials in peaceful demonstrations while the RUC looked on laughing and pointing at the demonstrators writhing in pain on the ground. Or the mirthful grins from your friends in the RUC pointing and laughing when peaceful demonstrators were thrown off bridges.The people pleaded with the irish government to help them and were given the cold shoulder and the IRA answered the call.The standard of living now enjoyed by nationalist was won out of the barrel of a gun, a mighty aramalite. Go spend your Queens shilling on some red,white and blue bunting.BTW when they called out "hey Paddy"in the mess how did you respond?

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FallsRNat | Jun 13, 2011, 01:18 PM EDT

seano - please tell me & the rest of the nationalist population what was achieved by the armed campaign for a UI, which was always PIRA's line in the sand. The Humes/Adams document was even kicked into touch by FF as they couldn't see the point of holding 'free & fair democratic elections, when 1 side was asking that the other's government should act as persuaders for a UI'

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seanomelbourne | Jun 12, 2011, 09:29 PM EDT

If you cannot see what was gained by the armed struggle I cannot help you

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FallsRNat | Jun 12, 2011, 06:19 PM EDT

seano - aah, you'll great business, sitting here today with the Fallsters outside the Fort Bar, reading your replies, u should be on the stage mate. So what if SF believe in a UI, their armed campaign last from 1969 & where did it get us, no nearer a UI & 3000 people dead, the majority murdered by the Republican movement, they may pay lip service to a UI, but even the Baron's pissed off south of the border. McGuiness et al have taken the Queen's shilling like me, but on a much greater scale & are jointly running Ulster from within the UK, was the Troubles worth it, of course not. Will CIRA etc win, of course not, the brits outlasted PIRA, there outlast the new RA. Sleeping with the enemy well that's your viewpoint, but I'm a little confused, surely you must include PIRA/PSF in your analogy as after all, they surrendered their ultimate goal of a UI to take up residences in both Stormont & the Dail - whoever said 'money talks' hit the proverbial button.

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seanomelbourne | Jun 10, 2011, 07:53 PM EDT

I call for the extension of what war? Your making it up as you write.Sinn Fein's platform is based on a united Ireland.You are the agent of cheap shots.If your conscience is bothering you about sleeping with the enemy don't take it out on me,have a good luck in the mirror.I did not compromise my beliefs for monetary gain.It was you who took the queens shilling.

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FallsRNat | Jun 10, 2011, 07:03 PM EDT

for all of the snide little cheap shots, you & your family ran away to live in another british statelet, where HMQ is still loved. You should join the Taliban & merge them with CIRA/RIRA, a sad bunch of dwindling losers who can't accept any other way, apart from their own. The remnants of the RA still believe in 'ourselves alone', even the Baron has jettisoned that principle. Peace is about making compromises, always be better then war, though of course its easy for you to sit there 10,000 miles calling for an extension to a war. You do sleep with the enemies of the Irish people who voted overwhelmingly North & South of the border for the GFA.

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seanomelbourne | Jun 09, 2011, 08:10 PM EDT

I think I will join the Taliban they are offering more money than the Irish army.I saw my father out of work for 6months but he would not debase himself and join the enemy instead he took his family to Australia.There are many choices in life and sleeping with the enemy is not one of them.

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FallsRNat | Jun 08, 2011, 12:53 PM EDT

seano - just because i'm a NI RC doesn't mean that I blindly follow one cause, I joined the BA because it was better than being out of work & I got a qualification as a HGV driver out of it & saw the world free of charge. Is it true that a protestant who marries a catholic is barred from the Orange order, I don't know, i've never really thought about it. I am not selective in my condemnation, I 'm just telling you the facts about PIRA. It is a fact that they killed more catholics than the BA, loyalist paramilitaries & RUC put together. Yes most people around the Falls do vote for the shinners, but that's really to do with grassroots levels, they are good at getting out to meet the people. But you have to take it all in context, the shinners get 56% of the nationalist vote in NI & yet only 44% of nationalists want to live in a UI with 40% happy to live in the UK. What we seem to have is a crisis of confidence in the south, the support for the dissidents is mainly from Dublin & Louth. PIRA in Armagh have tried to recruit the old timers, but 99% of them recognise that there's no future in an armed campaign. Eventually it will fizzle out, don't underestimate the nothern catholics wish for peace, RIRA, CIRA may carry out murders, but there is an unprecendented amount of cooperation going on between our community & the security forces.

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seanomelbourne | Jun 07, 2011, 07:55 PM EDT

Is it not strange Falls that the majority of nationalist voters vote Sinn Fein and do not condemn the defenders of their homes during "The Troubles".As sirpeter said show us the evidence. As far as having a protestant wife my late wife (RIP) was a protestant so what!. And BTW why is a protestant who marries a Catholic forbidden to join the Orange order.You are very selective in your condemnation of what is right or wrong.Unfortunately I believe you have a crisis of conscience trying to justifying why you joined the british army and balancing that with your nationalist upbringing

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FallsRNat | Jun 07, 2011, 02:38 PM EDT

just wait, your see for yourself, no collusion, let's start with the Lynch/Harney/Haughey show, money for support for NI RC defence, yeah, my uncle from very involved in that, they bought weapons to use in the future armed campaign. He was heavily involved in the civil rights marches that were commandeered by OIRA/PIRA. He never said why he turned his back on PIRA, maybe he saw into the future & no end to a bloody sectarian campaign. He knew the Baron when he was a wee lad, he says he was in PIRA & I believe him. You know sirpeter, 1 of my best friends was a provie, we agreed that if we met on the streets whilst i was in the BA, then no quarter would be given, that's just a fact of life. The 1 thing that would've happened (not that I was wanted it), was that if i had been injured etc, there would have been a payback, it is an odd thing, but in the North it's like Afghanistan, families seek revenge, especially members of the republican kind. When i was in the army, i met a lot of ulsterman, at the end they out killed the RA, they will do it again, their working class are so disenfranchised from the peace process that I fear that 1 dissident bomb causing protestant casualties, will unleash a wave of violence not seen since their response to the Shankill bombing.

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sirpeter | Jun 07, 2011, 02:08 PM EDT

FallsRNat.I couldn't find any information that the IRA targeted Barry.Seamus show me the evidence or forever hold your peace.You know full well Northern Ireland's middle name is the collusion statlet."Ourselves alone" will be running the whole of Ireland soon.400,000 votes for Sinn Fein this year Seamus and rising fast.Sinn Fein are doing very well aren't they Seamus? Considering they couldn,t even get on radio a few years back.

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FallsRNat | Jun 07, 2011, 12:52 PM EDT

so why was McGuigan targeted, he had a protestant wife, aah so PIRA were sectarian after all, sirpeter, the Baron, seanomelbourne & the rest of the 'ourselves alone' brigade need to start supplying answers to these questions before the Breen/Buchanan Garda/PIRA collusion tribunal results are out. Collusion - oh yes, do the brits have proof, oh yes. Tut, tut, much more too come on collusion in the IR/PIRA relationships about Garda/PIRA/INLA/Irish Army & more importantly FF govts. It's going too shock many people on how involved the south was in this dirty war. The brits will be loving it if the Finucane emquiry starts, there be more relevations about exactly what he was up too & how he was actively involved in PIRA's campaign, how he was targeted by RC members of 1st the UVF & then UDA - i mean you did know sirpeter that there were RCs in these loyalist organisations & 1 of the UVF's top gunmen was a roman catholic!

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