Former IRA Volunteer renews call for reconciliation based on Truth Recovery and says Northern Ireland conflict a ‘total waste’ of life.

Interview with former OIRA and PIRA member Brendan Hughes to be shown on BBC2’s Spotlight programme on Wednesday and Thursday evening

In it he renews plea for reconciliation based on ‘a truth-telling body to aid reconciliation’ made in interviews given to the Belfast Telegraph and Irish News in September 2021. (These are reprinted below this release.)

He was one of several former combatants to indicate that he would participate in the type of Truth Recovery Process we have been proposing for the past six years.

Tomorrow night in the first part of a a wide ranging interview on the BBC’s Spotlight programme Brendan Hughes will say the conflict was a "total waste" of life. A former leading member of the IRA who plotted bank robberies and jail breaks, he said that being condemned to die made him realise what the group's own victims had gone through.

Originally from County Tyrone, he said he believed the IRA intended to make him one of the Disappeared after a death sentence was passed on him in 1975 for carrying out unauthorised actions, including armed robbery for personal gain.

"Suddenly you realise the position that other people were in, the position that you had been putting people in all these years, that there was a threat over their very existence.

He said that, "The disappearing of people is a war crime. It should never have happened."

Brendan Hughes was involved in several robberies on behalf of the IRA in the early 1970s and survived assassination attempts on him.

He tried to steal more money to buy his way out of the death sentence but was subsequently arrested by Gardaí and sentenced to 20 years.

Helicopter rescue

Speaking to Spotlight, he is to detail the planning of a helicopter hijacking which saw three leading republican prisoners, Seamus Twomey, Kevin Mallon and J B O’Hagan escape from Mountjoy Prison in the Republic by helicopter in 1973. Hughes subsequently wrote a book ‘Up Like a Bird’ with journalist Douglas Dalby about his experiences. It was published in 2021.

Hughes also took part in a film, 'Those Who Want Me Dead'.

"I'm telling my story to tell people who I am, what I am and where I am today; and where I am today, I would not do any of those things," he said.

"I'm not prepared to lift one finger in a violent way ever again. Never will.

"I see war as the most futile and destructive thing that man ever created."

Hughes, who is in his late 70s, offered an apology to those impacted by his actions during the Troubles.

He said he had come to realise the long-term adverse implact he had on the lives of "ordinary, innocent and decent people" and is prepared to talk about the conflict "in the right forum"

The former IRA leader said he wanted to engage with a truth commission to give victims answers about the 30-year conflict in Northern Ireland.

"It wasn't worth leaving one family without a father or a brother or a sister.

"It was a total waste, absolute total waste of energy, of life, of resources," he said.

His interview for Spotlight comes amid government efforts to repeal the controversial Legacy Act.

Introduced by the previous Conservative government, the legislation introduced a ban on inquests and civil actions related to incidents during the conflict in Northern Ireland.

It had also sought to offer a conditional amnesty for people suspected of Troubles-related crimes in exchange for co-operating with a new Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR).

The High Court in Belfast later ruled that parts of the legislation, including amnesties, would be in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The British Government is appealing elements of the High Court decision.

The truth is ‘first requisition’ for reconciliation

The Legacy Act has been criticised by victims groups and political parties in Northern Ireland.

Hughes said he would engage with such a body - if there were no repercussions for doing so.

"I'm prepared to sit down with anyone, anytime, anywhere and talk about this – in the right forum.

"If the victims say that's the forum and there's no repercussions for anyone for doing this, that's where I want to be.

"The first requisition for reconciliation is truth," he said.

A number of victims' groups and political parties in Northern Ireland objected to the Legacy Act.

They argued that the Act denied justice to those bereaved and injured during the Troubles, with some calling for the ICRIR to be scrapped.

The Government previously said the commission would continue its operations, but new legislation would be brought forward to "reform and strengthen" the ICRIR's "independence, powers and accountability".

His interview is being broadcast in ‘The Disappeared’ by Spotlight on BB2 NI at 11pm on Wednesday and 10 pm on Thursday.

Both episodes are available now on BBC iPlayer.

‘There will be no reconciliation until the truth is revealed’

Connla Young, Irish News, September 21st, 2021

Founding PIRA member says he would take part in Troubles truth forum.

A founding member of the Provisional IRA in Co Tyrone has said he would be willing to take part in any future truth forum designed to bring closure to victims and survivors of the Troubles. Brendan Hughes, a former Officer Commanding in east Tyrone, was one of the organisation’s most trusted members in the 1970s.

After helping to establish the Provos in Tyrone he went on to become a leading member and ran a secret unit answering directly to the group’s leadership.

Known for his skills as an organiser, he masterminded the audacious 1973 breakout from Mountjoy Prison in Dublin when three senior IRA figures escaped in a hijacked helicopter.

He later fell foul of elements within the IRA’s then leadership after he carried out several armed robberies for personal gain. The Tyrone man served three separate stretches in prison totalling more than 22 years.

In a frank interview with The Irish News to coincide with the publication of a new book about his secret life inside the IRA, Up Like a Bird – the rise and fall of an IRA commander, Mr Hughes spoke about his own regrets and willingness to help others find peace.

As the IRA’s campaign grew in intensity and support throughout the 1970s so too did the reputation of its East Tyrone Brigade and those involved with it.

Joined PIRA after internment

Mr Hughes, a member of the Official IRA who shifted allegiance to the fledgling Provisional movement on the morning internment was introduced in 1971, climbed through the ranks of the organisation eventually taking on a role with General Headquarters as a director of intelligence.

At the height of his activity he says he turned down a seat on the IRA’s ruling Army Council.

The veteran republican was eventually sidelined by the organisation in the mid-1970s after taking part in robberies for his own benefit – an action he deeply regrets. Now aged 74, Mr Hughes recently returned to Tyrone to talk about his life in the IRA. And it appears old habits die hard.

Arriving at the appointed meeting place early, the former IRA man is perched at an upstairs window giving him a clear view of all comings and goings. In relaxed mood, he sips on a latte and casually recounts how the building next door was once blown up by a determined IRA man after an earlier failed attempt.

He goes on to explain how after several years of operating with the Provos he eventually became battle weary and wanted a break with his wife and children. Having stepped away from the frontline for a time he asked the republican movement for some money to be with his family.

After being offered just £300 by a senior IRA man he took matters into his own hands by carrying out a robbery for personal gain netting an unexpected £130,000. The operation was a major breach of IRA rules.

“All I wanted was £3,000 or £4,000 just to get out and not to have to worry for three or four months and then to come back and start fresh,” he said. “I didn’t do it to get rich, I did it to get a break,” he said.

“What you would normally call good luck was in fact bad luck. It would equally be one of the biggest regrets of my life, if not the biggest one.

“At the time people lost respect for me. Respect is earned, that was the worst part of it, I let a lot of people down.”

Mr Hughes says the only property he ever owned was a small house in Belfast acquired in the years after he was married. After carrying out the ‘homer’ heist he was forced to go ‘on the run’ and at one stage was wanted by state forces on both sides of the border as well as his former IRA comrades, who he believes were going to kill him.

Looking back Mr Hughes believes the Provos had a right to “sanction” him over the affair but with a wry smile suggests the sentence passed was extreme. “The IRA were entitled to sanction me, I broke the rules,” he said.

“But having said that, summary execution was a stiff penalty for one robbery.

“After all, they had taken up to £60,000 from that robbery.”

He said that the Provisionals have never officially approached him to establish his version of events and explained how he had tried to “find another way around” the problem but was arrested before a chance arose.

Mr Hughes, who describes himself as a republican, said he is now firmly in favour of pursuing a united Ireland through peaceful means. “I’m unapologetically in favour of peace,” he said.

“I have heard eloquent words spoken and have spoken eloquent words over graves.

“When you have delivered a folded flag to a widow with empty eyes flanked by two or three children –who would want to go back to that?”

He believes Irish unity can now be achieved through the ballot box. “I can’t support violence,” he said.

“In my opinion we are just one more vote away from what everybody was fighting for so why would we start killing people or sending our children out to kill people when we can do it with a vote? It does not seem logical.”

Regrets

Looking back on his time in the IRA he reveals that he has personal regrets, although he is reluctant to discuss them in detail.

“I have serious regrets but it’s not the time to talk about it,” he said.

“If you are in charge of a unit and have a life in the palm of your hand and you have to make a decision – I made a few bad ones and some of the bad ones I would not want to talk about and I do regret.”

He confides that he has reservations about what was ultimately achieved during his years as an active republican. “If on the morning of internment I had walked out the door and met someone and they had said ‘here is what you will achieve and here’s what it is going to cost you’ - I would have made my lunch up and gone to work,” he said.

“But having said that I can’t say I regret that I had an opportunity to defend my community and I would do it again.

“I am not sure what we achieved was it worth one life never mind thousands of lives?”

He said he would urge any young person thinking of joining a paramilitary group to reconsider. “The minute he joins an organisation he opens a door and steps through it and he may never step back,” he said.

“All I would ask him to do is think.

Labouring under an illusion

“Before I joined the ‘Ra I used to say ‘I would have loved to be about in the second world war’ – I know some of these young people say it [the Troubles] missed them, ‘I wish I had been about’.

“They are labouring under an illusion, they should not step through that door.

“I’m not criticising them, that’s how I look at it, that’s how they should look at it.”

Reconciling with Protestant community

Mr Hughes, who describes himself as being “addicted to politics” believes unionists can be persuaded to consider a united Ireland. “If we put as much effort into reconciling with the Protestant community as bombing and shooting them I think we might get somewhere at this stage,” he said.

While opposed to the British government’s current legacy plans, which include a defacto

amnesty for participants in the Troubles, Mr Hughes is in favour of a truth forum and would

be willing to play his part. “I would be the first in line,” he said.

“If anyone wanted to know anything about what I was involved in I would be there.

“Everybody should come out and say ‘we did it and that’s why we did it’.”

He also spoke about his commitment to reconciliation.

“I feel very strongly about truth and reconciliation because there will be no reconciliation

until the truth is revealed,” he said.

“It is only when we can come to terms with the truth that you can reconcile your differences

with other people.

“It was a dirty little colonial war and nobody came out winners.”

“It cost everybody something, it’s been an unsatisfactory end to the whole thing.”

Former IRA man Hughes questions if terror campaign was worth one life

Christopher Leebody, Belfast Telegraph, September 2021

A former member of the IRA has questioned if the terror campaign during the Troubles was “worth one life”, as he called for the implementation of a truth forum.

Brendan Hughes, a 74-year-old former commander and founding member of the Provisional IRA in Co Tyrone, said he didn’t regret taking part in the decades-long conflict to “defend my community” but did question what was achieved.

Mr Hughes was a prominent member in the IRA during the 1970s, masterminding a 1973 breakout of three senior figures in the organisation from Mountjoy Prison in Dublin.

Speaking to The Irish News, Hughes also said he made “a few bad” decisions he does regret and now hopes for the establishment of a truth-telling body to aid reconciliation.

The Tyrone man served three separate stretches in prison totalling more than 22 years.

The veteran republican was sidelined by the IRA in the mid-1970s after taking part in robberies for his own benefit, a breach of IRA rules.

During the interview, Mr Hughes said he is now committed to peace and politics and persuading unionists of the benefits of a future united Ireland.

“If you are in charge of a unit and have a life in the palm of your hand and you have to make a decision — I made a few bad ones and some of the bad ones I would not want to talk about and I do regret,” he told the newspaper.

“When you have delivered a folded flag to a widow with empty eyes flanked by two or three children — who would want to go back to that?

“If on the morning of internment I had walked out the door and met someone and they had said. ‘Here is what you will achieve and here’ and ‘what it is going to cost you’ I would have made my lunch up and gone to work.

Defended community

“But having said that I can’t say I regret that I had an opportunity to defend my community and I would do it again.

“I am not sure what we achieved was it worth one life never mind thousands of lives?”

In July Secretary of State Brandon Lewis set out a package of measures to deal with the legacy of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, including a statute of limitations on prosecutions and an end to civil actions and inquests.

The proposals have been criticised by all Stormonts Executive parties, as well as the Irish government and victims’ groups.

Mr Hughes said in his view a truth forum should be set up, adding he would be “first in line” to play his part.

“If anyone wanted to know anything about what I was involved in I would be there,” he added. “Everybody should come out and say ‘we did it and that’s why we did it’.

“I feel very strongly about truth and reconciliation because there will be no reconciliation until the truth is revealed.

“It is only when we can come to terms with the truth that you can reconcile your differences with other people.

“It was a dirty little colonial war and nobody came out winners.”

Former IRA commander says conflict was ‘total waste’ of life

Mark Robinson, Irish News, March 4th, 2025

A FORMER IRA commander has said that the armed conflict was a ‘total waste’ of life and that the group’s practice of ‘disappearing’ individuals constituted a war crime.

Brendan Hughes was a founding member of the Provisional IRA in his native Co Tyrone in the 1970s.

After helping to plot jail breakouts and robberies to fund the group, the IRA passed a death sentence on him in 1975 for carrying out an armed robbery for personal gain.

He says he attempted to steal more money to buy his way out of the threat but was later caught and jailed by for 20 years in the Republic.

Speaking to the BBC in a two part Spotlight documentary special, Hughes said that the conflict was a ‘total waste’ of life.

“It wasn’t worth leaving one family without a father or a brother or a sister,” he said.

“It was a total waste, absolute total waste of energy, of life, of resources.”

He added that he feared the group would make him one of the Disappeared – those who were abducted, murdered and secretly buried.

“Suddenly you realise the position that other people were in, the position that you had been putting people in all these years, that there was a threat over their very existence,” he said.

“I didn’t want to be disappeared. I never agreed with that.

“The disappearing of people is a war crime. It should never have happened.”

Hughes said that he would be willing to take part in a truth commission to provide answers for the families of victims, provided there was amnesty.

“The first requisition for reconciliation is truth,” he said.

The Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) was announced as part of the UK government’s controversial legacy act.

Those who cooperated with the commission would receive a conditional amnesty, but the body has been opposed by victims and politicians.

While the new Labour government announced it was scrapping the legislation, there are plans to ‘reform and strengthen’ the ICRIR.

The disappearing of people is a war crime. It should never have happened