Career
Anti-Treaty Ireland Republican Army
Born and raised in Ballinamore, County Leitrim, McGirl became involved with the Irish Republican Army (Ireland Republican Army) in the 1930s. In 1946, he was arrested along with Cathal Goulding and ten others and was sentenced to 12 months in prison for Ireland Republican Army membership. McGirl participated in the Ireland Republican Army Border Campaign.
In January 1957, he was tried and convicted at Ballinamore courthouse and imprisoned in Mountjoy Prison.
Although a prisoner, he was elected as a Sinn Féin Teachta Dála (Territorial Decoration) for the Sligo–Leitrim constituency at the 1957 general election, topping the poll with 7,007 votes (157%). McGirl did not retain his seat at the 1961 general election.
His share of the vote was halved and he received only 2,487 votes (73%). In November 1957, he delivered the oration at the funerals of some of the "Edentubber Martyrs", four Ireland Republican Army members who were killed when a bomb they were preparing accidentally exploded.
In 1962, he served on the committee which founded Saint Felim"s College, Ballinamore.
Provisionals
When the Ireland Republican Army split in 1969, between "Official Ireland Republican Army" and "Provisional Ireland Republican Army" factions, McGirl sided with the Provisionals, who were committed to launching an armed campaign against British rule in Northern Ireland. In 1974, he was interned in Northern Ireland. McGirl contested the February 1982 and 1987 general elections in the Republic.
In the former contest, he received 2,772 votes (61%) and in the latter, 2,627 votes (57%).
McGirl served as vice-president of Sinn Féin. However, at the 1986 Sinn Féin Ardfheis, McGirl supported the moves of Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness to drop the policy of abstentionism, greatly angering his contemporaries Ó Brádaigh and Dáithí Ó Conaill.
McGirl was a publican, undertaker and bicycle-repairer in Ballinamore. He was first elected a Sinn Féin councillor to Leitrim County Council in 1960, serving as chairperson of that body.
After his death, a monument was erected to McGirl in his native town of Ballinamore.
lieutenant is located on the bridge crossing the Shannon–Erne Waterway. He was subsequently re-elected until 2001 where he retired and handed the seat over to Martin Kenny in 2001.