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Lieutenant General Tadhg O'Neill- RIP

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  • Lieutenant General Tadhg O'Neill- RIP

    Former Defence Forces Chief of Staff Tadhg O'Neill dies

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Irish Independent
    Thursday September 17 2009

    The former Defence Forces Chief of Staff, , died at a hospital in Dublin today.

    The 82-year-old was an Artillery Officer, who served as Chief of Staff from February 1986 to October 1989.

    His distinguished career also included service with the United Nations in the Congo, Lebanon and Cyprus.

    He is survived by his wife Emer and daughters Orla, Niamh and Emer.

    The Defence Forces has offered the family its most sincere condolences.

    The removal will take place from Peamount Hospital, Rathcoole to the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Clondalkin for 5.30pm tomorrow.

    Funeral mass will be on Saturday at 11am, followed by burial at Newlands Cemetery with full military honours

    I had the pleasure of running into him once in COllins Barracks on Leb Training- I crashed my brand new mountain bike into his staff car as he was leaving the Bks-

    My bike was a right off and his lovely new car was scratched- he got the driver to bring me to Bricins and told BSM McPhilips that I wasnt to be charged-

    If he had smelt my breath I would have been a civy- SMithwicks and Bycycles dont mix-

    He was good to me and he cant be to bad if he named his daughters after Naval Vessels

    or was it the other was around-


    RIP
    Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
    Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
    The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere***
    The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
    The best lack all conviction, while the worst
    Are full of passionate intensity.

  • #2
    R.i.p
    Covid 19 is not over ....it's still very real..Hand Hygiene, Social Distancing and Masks.. keep safe

    Comment


    • #3
      May he + Rest In Peace +

      Sympathy and Condolences to his Family & Friends.

      Comment


      • #4
        Rip

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        • #5
          R.i.p

          Comment


          • #6
            Rip

            as was said a true gentleman
            My co in 2 far and in AHQ.He would always stop to chat on square in corridor or even on the South Circular road. His wife i don’t know if she is still with us is a true lady and that’s hard to say about officers wives when they lived in mc kee, always tea and goodies for the lads on the lawn ( working for him) and never forgot his Batman.
            QS
            Last edited by FMolloy; 18 September 2009, 11:39.

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            • #7
              Rest In Peace Sir.

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              • #8
                May he Rest In Peace
                Lock and load

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                • #9
                  Rip
                  I probably am wrong, sorry about that!!!

                  Please PM me to correct me.

                  But, not if I state an opinion, only if I state something as truth!!!

                  I have bad opinions but I stick by them!!!

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                  • #10
                    Rest in Peace

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                    • #11
                      rip

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                      • #12
                        r.i.p.
                        Bohs till I die

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Sargents 3 View Post
                          as was said a true gentleman
                          My co in 2 far and in AHQ.He would always stop to chat on square in corridor or even on the South Circular road. His wife i don’t know if she is still with us is a true lady and that’s hard to say about officers wives when they lived in mc kee, always tea and goodies for the lads on the lawn ( working for him) and never forgot his Batman.
                          QS
                          Batman ?!!??

                          May he rest in peace
                          "Well, stone me! We've had cocaine, bribery and Arsenal scoring two goals at home. But just when you thought there were truly no surprises left in football, Vinnie Jones turns out to be an international player!" (Jimmy Greaves)!"

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Irish Times 26/09/09 Obituaries

                            Former Defence Forces chief of staff who played key role in UN missions


                            LIEUT GEN TADHG O'NEILL: LIEUT GEN Tadhg O’Neill, who has died aged 82, was a former Defence Forces chief of staff. An artillery officer, he served at home and overseas on a number of UN missions.

                            After serving in 1960 with the 32nd Battalion in the Congo – the first Irish UN peacekeeping force – he did a tour of duty in Cyprus. In the 1980s, he served in Lebanon, first as senior operations officer and later as military assistant to the force commander of the UN interim force in Lebanon (Unifil).

                            O’Neill was born in Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny, in 1926. He entered the cadet school at the Curragh in 1946. Commissioned two years later, his career started with the Southern Command in Ballincollig, Co Cork. He spent some years in Kildare and at McKee Barracks, Dublin. He later served in Army headquarters before being appointed officer of the 2nd Field Artillery Regiment at McKee Barracks in April 1981.

                            On promotion to colonel, O’Neill was appointed commanding officer of the 2nd Brigade, Collins Barracks, Dublin, in May 1983. He was appointed second-in-command and executive officer of the Western Command in September 1983 and promoted to brigadier general in 1984.

                            O’Neill became chief of staff in January 1986. Later that year, in an address to an FCA summer camp in Co Clare, he condemned the “murderous obscenities” of the IRA and said Sinn Féin and the IRA were “one and the same thing”. He also condemned the IRA’s threat to kill anyone doing work for the North’s security forces. Calling for extra finance for the FCA, he said men who served in the force “would not get into the clutches of Sinn Féin or the IRA”.

                            In response, Sinn Féin issued a statement which alleged that O’Neill was attempting to “justify the introduction of internment”.

                            O’Neill travelled to Lebanon in 1986 following confrontations between Unifil troops and the Israeli-backed militia. He had a “full and frank exchange of views” with his Israeli opposite number.

                            In 1987, O’Neill and other officers lobbied the government to establish a review body to examine its defence policy. This followed an article in Jane’s Military Review describing Irish policy as a “parasitic neutrality” whereby Ireland relied on the Nato umbrella for its external defence while declining to contribute to that defence.

                            In spring 1989, four Irish soldiers were killed within a month while on duty in south Lebanon.

                            O’Neill went to Lebanon to review the situation on behalf of the government. He consulted the Unifil military police and had talks with the Amal militia and Israeli army. He made a point of visiting every military post occupied by Irish troops, and witnessed two spontaneous demonstrations by Arab villagers in support of the presence of the Irish battalion.

                            On his instructions, new security measures were put in place. Arising from his report, the government renewed the mandate of the Irish component of Unifil.

                            O’Neill retired in 1989. His wife, Émer, and daughters, Émer, Niamh and Orla, survive him.

                            Tadhg O’Neill: born October 16th, 1926; died September 17th, 2009
                            "Fellow-soldiers of the Irish Republican Army, I have just received a communication from Commandant Pearse calling on us to surrender and you will agree with me that this is the hardest task we have been called upon to perform during this eventful week, but we came into this fight for Irish Independence in obedience to the commands of our higher officers and now in obedience to their wishes we must surrender. I know you would, like myself, prefer to be with our comrades who have already fallen in the fight - we, too, should rather die in this glorious struggle than submit to the enemy." Volunteer Captain Patrick Holahan to 58 of his men at North Brunswick Street, the last group of the Four Courts Garrison to surrender, Sunday 30 April 1916.

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Truck Driver View Post
                              Batman ?!!??

                              May he rest in peace
                              His servant if you will..

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