Thomas Harte (Irish Republican)

On September 6, 1940 Irish Republican Army (IRA) Capt. Thomas Harte of Lurgan, County Armagh was executed. Three weeks earlier, Capt. Harte was wounded and arrested during a raid of a meeting of senior IRA men in Dublin. Capt. Harte was the first of six IRA members executed by Irish forces in Mountjoy Prison and Portlaoise Prison prisons between 1940 and 1944. IRA Volunteers Patrick McGrath of Dublin and Tom Hunt were also arrested at that time and McGrath was executed with Harte (Tom Hunt had his death sentence commuted). They had been arrested after a gun battle with Garda (police) Special Branch in which Sergeant McKeown and Detective Hyland were shot dead. Detective Brady was also wounded (16 August 1940).[1] The topic of the meeting was reportedly planning to support "Plan Kathleen" which was a notional plan by the Nazis to invade Northern Ireland.[2] Although information is scarce on IRA planning, during this time it was conducting a bombing campaign in England (S-Plan). Harte had been associated with the IRA's operational planning for both plans. In response to the IRA's bombing campaign in England, two bills giving the Government of Eire (the territory formerly known as the Irish Free State) extraordinary powers were introduced in the Dáil (in February 1939). The first of these, called the Treason Act, imposed the death penalty for persons found guilty of treason as defined in Article XXXIX of the Irish Constitution. These Acts provided the legal basis for the execution of both Harte and McGrath.

Volunteer Patrick McGrath (Irish Republican) was a veteran of the 1916 Easter Rising and a bullet remained lodged in his chest from that time. Harte was just 25 years old at the time of his arrest. Harte, McGrath and Hunt were tried by Military Tribunal, established under the Emergency Powers Act 1939.[3] All three men were represented in court by Sean McBride. They challenged the legislation in the High Court, seeking a writ of habeas corpus, and ultimately appealed to the Irish Supreme Court.[4] The appeal was unsuccessful (at that time there was no right to appeal the findings of a Military Tribunal) Hunt's death sentence was commuted, Harte and McGrath were executed by firing squad at Dublin's Mountjoy Prison on 6 September 1940 (22 days after the shooting). Hartes body was buried in an unmarked grave in the prison yard. In 1948 his remains were released to his family,[5]

The North Armagh Republican Sinn Fein Cumman is named in honor of Thomas Harte. See: http://rsfnortharmagh.com/naisc-links/