"Enemy of the Empire" by Eamon McGuire

Book launch by senior South Armagh Brigade Volunteer

Enemy of the Empire
Life as an International Undercover IRA Activist
by Eamon McGuire

Described by the CIA as the chief technical officer of the IRA, Eamon McGuire was involved in undercover activity for over twenty years. He is the only person ever extradited from the Republic to the USA for political activities.

The exotic, colourful and secretive life of the CIA's most-wanted IRA man.

Purchase from Amazon.co.uk

Purchase from O'Brien Books

'My biggest achievement was the capacity of farmers’ sons in South Armagh particularly to adapt to new technology'

'Looking back, my life was like riding on the wind with death travelling at speed not far behind.'

'In 1992 my life had taken an unusual but possibly predictable turn. One morning I was working as an aircraft engineer in Mozambique, that night I was in solitary confinement in Pretoria prison in South Africa. Here the isolation was broken only by the action of food being pushed through a hatch in the door twice a day. To remain healthy, it became essential to find a means of occupying the mind. When I was able to get writing paper I started to record the things I remembered to slow down the brain-storming process going on in my head.'

'This book is a product of those sheets of paper that were written from memory in prison. It takes the reader on a journey through various countries and events that took place during the last sixty years of the twentieth century, from my childhood days in Ulster, military service, working on contract in British colonies and emerging nations, and involvement in the conflict in Northern Ireland.'

Written in prison in South Africa, Ireland and the United States, "Enemy of the Empire" is an overview of an exotic, colourful and secretive life. A trained aviation engineer, up-to-date with the latest technology, Eamon McGuire worked in countries that were extricating themselves from the last bonds of empire such as Kenya and Malaysia. His mission was to keep ahead of the British army in terms of weapons and detection by procuring and designing systems. His activities forced him to go on the run, hiding in remote parts of Africa and eventually ending up in war - torn Mozambique. He was captured by the CIA in South Africa and subsequently spent several years in various prisons where he started to write what became the basis of this book.

From a Sunday Times - October 08, 2006 story.

One of the IRA’s technical experts has revealed he used the deserts of Bahrain to test equipment for use in South Armagh.

By day, Eamon McGuire was a senior engineer with Aer Lingus. In his spare time he bought equipment and designed bombs, landmines, rockets and technology to attack the British army in South Armagh.

McGuire, 69, who spent six years in jail, claims in his autobiography that he and an IRA team “forced the British army off the ground and into the air” in South Armagh.

The book, the first to be written by a senior IRA operative, has been cleared by McGuire’s colleagues. “I got permission for it from the South Armagh Brigade,” he said. “I showed them the manuscript. Nobody asked for changes.”

Following his extradition to America in 1992, he was described by the CIA as the IRA’s chief technical officer. “The Americans would claim that I killed more than anyone else. I would accept that,” he said.

McGuire, from Castleblayney, first learnt about mechanics in the Curragh military camp as an Irish Air Corps apprentice in the 1950s. One of his first jobs was with British European Airways at Heathrow and he received training on the avionic system of the British Aircraft Corporation’s VC10.

After the outbreak of the Troubles in 1969, McGuire put his expertise at the disposal of the IRA. Working for Gulf Aviation in Bahrain, he tested equipment in the desert.

“You could put equipment on British Army communications bases to see how it stood up to bombardment,” he said. “I used their communications and radiation systems to check out our gear against it.”

McGuire says he also mingled with British Army personnel stationed in Jufair and Muharak to pick up information. “In Bahrain, the SAS were all around me. I discussed with them their modus operandi and how they protected themselves. That was how we were able to fight them on equal terms in South Armagh. There were 10 men lost on our side, I don’t know how many they lost. They only admitted to half their losses, and that was 50 soldiers with 3,000-4,000 injured.”

McGuire boasts that the IRA won “hands down” in South Armagh, out-killing British forces by 15:1. He admits indirect responsibility for the Warrenpoint atack in 1979, in which 18 British soldiers died. “I didn’t make the bombs, I wasn’t an engineer on the ground after the early 1970s,” he said.

McGuire also says he was involved with the IRA bomb attacks in Britain in the early 1990s, even though he was in prison in America. “My biggest achievement was the capacity of farmers’ sons in South Armagh particularly to adapt to new technology,” he said. “Bombs constructed there were brought to London. I was involved in the evolution of the training and manufacturing to do that.”

McGuire joined Aer Lingus in 1978. He was posted to the Bahamas and visited Florida, where technical products were produced. He says he worked as close to America as he could, because that was where the high technology the IRA needed was created.

But in 1989 one of his comrads discovered FBI agents putting a listening device into his car. This gave them enough evidence to wind up his activities.

McGuire went on the run in Ireland and Africa, but was betrayed in Mozambique and arrested by South African police. He was extradited to America and jailed.