Editing Neil Blaney (section)

==Early life==
Neil Blaney was born in 1922 in the village of Rossnakill in rural [[Fanad Peninsula]] in the north of [[County Donegal]], in Ireland.<ref name="The Independent"/> The second eldest of a family of eleven, Blaney's father [[Neal Blaney|Neal]] had been a commander of the [[Irish Republican Army]] (IRA) in Donegal during the [[Irish War of Independence|War of Independence]] and the [[Irish Civil War|Civil War]].<ref name="The Independent"/> His father served as both a TD and as a [[Seanad Éireann|Senator]] from 1927 through 1948; at which point Neil Blaney succeed him in that role.<ref name="The Independent"/> It was from his father that Blaney got his strong republican views and his first introduction to politics. He was educated locally at [[Tamney]] on the Fanad Peninsula and later attended [[St Eunan's College]] in [[Letterkenny]] as a boarder.  Blaney later worked as an organiser with the Irish National Vintners and Grocers Association.