Seán Mag Uidhir isn’t a public figure per sé but he has gained some notoriety in both media and republican circles.
He has overseen Sinn Féin’s northern communications operation for the past decade, having replaced Mark McLernon.
When contacted by this journalist last Friday, regarding an operational matter relating to the weekend ard fheis in Athlone, he said he wouldn’t be travelling, as his partner had recently given birth. It only emerged 48 hours later that he was no longer in post.
Mr Mag Uidhir, who long ago adopted the gaelicised version of Maguire, formerly worked at An Phoblact/Republican News and was a previous editor of the North Belfast News.
His Stormont appointment would have been approved by senior republicans, including Martin McGuinness, Gerry Adams and Bobby Storey.
Originally from Ardoyne in north Belfast, he was jailed in 1976 and served half of a 16-year sentence.
He is the brother of Harry Maguire, who was convicted of the 1988 murder of British Army corporals Derek Howes and David Wood.
As an IRA activist, Mr Mag Uidhir was linked to the 1990 abduction and interrogation of informer Sandy Lynch, alongside the paramilitary group’s infamous ‘nutting squad’ boss Freddie Scappaticci at a house in Lenadoon, west Belfast.
Former Sinn Féin director of publicity Danny Morrison was jailed for eight years for his part in the episode that saw the RUC raid the house and free Lynch. Mr Morrison’s convictions for false imprisonment and conspiracy to murder were later overturned.
Mr Mag Uidhir reportedly went on the run after being named by his former friend Lynch as holding a position in the IRA.
He returned to Belfast following the IRA ceasefire, where he trained as a journalist.
In 2003, when Scappaticci was first outed as the British agent Stakeknife and while editor of the North Belfast News, he was forced to deny claims made in a Sunday newspaper by former agent known as Kevin Fulton that he too was an informer.
He described the allegation as “rubbish…unfounded and untrue” and said the claims put his life, and that of his family, in danger.
In April this year, after it emerged that Mr Mag Uidhir had been interviewed under caution by the Operation Kenova team investigating Stakeknife’s activities, the allegations surfaced again in the Daily Telegraph, where he was cast as newly-appointed First Minster Michelle O’Neill’s “spin doctor”. Privately, he again dismissed the speculation.
His forced resignation, along with that of press office colleague Caolán McGinley, leaves a sizeable void in Sinn Féin’s Stormont communications’ team. However, its activities have become increasingly limited in recent months, following the restoration of the Stormont institutions.
These days, the press office output is mostly reactive statements relating to non political issues, while its personnel’s resources are primarily dedicated to social media posts, rather than the agitation Sinn Féin was once renowned for.
