Editing Tom Maguire (section)

==Irish Republican Army==
On 18 September 1920, the Mayo Brigade was reorganised, it was split up into four separate brigades. Maguire was appointed commander of the South Mayo Brigade.

On 3 May 1921, Maguire led an ambush on a [[Royal Irish Constabulary]] (RIC) patrol in [[Toormakeady]], [[County Mayo]], killing five members of the RIC.<ref>O'Halpin, Eunan & Ó Corráin, Daithí (2020), ''The Dead of the Irish Revolution'', Yale University Press, p. 405</ref> Maguire's [[flying column]] then made for the [[Partry Mountains]]. One account claimed that the column were surrounded by over 700 soldiers and policemen guided by aeroplanes. Maguire was wounded and his adjutant (Michael O'Brien) killed, but the column managed to escape with no further casualties.<ref name=dib/> British casualties were not revealed but were believed to have been high. Some recent research has raised the possibility that fewer than forty British soldiers were in the vicinity and that Maguire's column was forced to abandon their weapons with only one British officer wounded.<ref>Donal Buckley, The Battle of Tourmakeady, 2008</ref>

Maguire was involved in numerous other engagements including the Kilfall ambush.<ref>{{cite web|title=Memories of the men of the west|author=James Laffey|url=http://www.westernpeople.ie/news/story.asp?j=35163|archive-url=https://archive.today/20080301051521/http://www.westernpeople.ie/news/story.asp?j=35163|url-status=dead|archive-date=1 March 2008|publisher=Western People|date=27 February 2007|access-date=27 February 2007}}</ref>

At the [[1921 Irish elections|1921 election]] to [[Dáil Éireann]], Maguire was returned unopposed as [[Teachta Dála]] (TD) for [[Mayo South–Roscommon South (Dáil constituency)|Mayo South–Roscommon South]] as a [[Sinn Féin]] candidate. He opposed the [[Anglo-Irish Treaty]], and apart from saying "Níl" ("No" in English) when the vote was called, did not participate in any substantial way in the Dáil treaty debates. He was returned unopposed at the [[1922 Irish general election|1922 general election]].<ref name=oireachtas_db>{{cite web|url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/member/Thomas-Maguire.D.1921-08-16/|title=Thomas Maguire|work=Oireachtas Members Database|access-date=24 March 2012|archive-date=8 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181108144458/https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/member/Thomas-Maguire.D.1921-08-16|url-status=live}}</ref> At the [[1923 Irish general election|1923 general election]], Maguire faced a contest and succeeded in securing the second of five seats in the [[Mayo South (Dáil constituency)|Mayo South]] constituency, winning 5,712 votes (17.8%).<ref name="walker">{{cite book|title=Parliamentary election results in Ireland, 1918–92|editor=Walker, Brian M|publisher=Royal Irish Academy|location=Dublin|year=1992|isbn=0-901714-96-8|issn=0332-0286|page=114}}</ref><ref name=elecs_irl>{{cite web|url=http://electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=1145|title=Thomas Maguire|work=ElectionsIreland.org|access-date=24 March 2012|archive-date=20 October 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111020165226/http://electionsireland.org//candidate.cfm?ID=1145|url-status=live}}</ref> He was a member of the [[Irish Republican Army (1922–1969)|anti-Treaty IRA]] executive which commanded rebel troops during the [[Irish Civil War]]. Maguire was captured by the [[National Army (Ireland)|National Army]] while in bed and was told that he would be executed, but his life was spared. While in prison his brother, Sean Maguire, aged 17, was executed by the government.<ref>"They remained faithful". 1985. An Phoblacht/Republican News, 25 April 1985, pp. 8–9.</ref>

Maguire remained a TD until 1927. He had initially indicated a willingness to contest the [[June 1927 Irish general election|June 1927 general election]] as a Sinn Féin candidate but withdrew after the IRA threatened to [[court-martial]] any member under IRA General Army Order 28, which forbade its members from standing in elections. (Despite this ban, IRA officers [[Seán Farrell]] ([[Leitrim–Sligo (Dáil constituency)|Leitrim–Sligo]]) and [[John Madden (Irish politician)|John Madden]] ([[Mayo North (Dáil constituency)|Mayo North]]) contested the election, the latter successfully).

Maguire subsequently drifted out of the IRA and became vice-president of Sinn Féin from 1931 to 1933 during the presidency of [[Brian O'Higgins]].<ref>"Tom Maguire Remembered", ''Saoirse - Irish Freedom'', August 2005, p. 15.</ref> In 1932, a Mayo IRA officer reported that Maguire, now firmly aligned with Sinn Féin, refused to call on men to join the IRA when speaking at republican commemorations. When challenged on this, Maguire claimed that, as the IRA "were no longer the same as they used to be", he disagreed with the organisation.