Editing Sean O'Callaghan (section)

==Early life==
O'Callaghan was born on 26 January 1954, into a family with a [[Fenian]] paramilitary history, in [[Tralee]], [[County Kerry]]. His paternal grandfather had taken the Anti-[[Anglo-Irish Treaty|Treaty]] side during the [[Irish Civil War]], and his father had been interned by the [[Government of Ireland|Irish Government]] at the [[Curragh Camp]] in [[County Kildare]] for [[Irish Republican Army (1922–69)|IRA]] activity during [[World War II]].<ref>O'Callaghan (1998), pages 8-9.</ref>

By the late 1960s, the teenaged O'Callaghan had ceased practising the Catholic faith, adopted [[atheism]] and had become interested in the theories of [[Marxist]] revolutionary politics, which found an outlet of practical expression in the sectarian social unrest in [[Northern Ireland]] at that time, centred on the activities of the [[Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association]]. In 1969, an outbreak of [[1969 Northern Ireland riots|communal violence]] broke out in Northern Ireland and believing that [[British imperialism]] was responsible, O'Callaghan joined the newly founded [[Provisional IRA]] at the age of 17.

Soon afterwards, he was arrested by local [[Gardaí]] after he accidentally detonated a small amount of explosives, which caused damage to the homes of his parents and their neighbours.<ref name="smearing">{{cite news|last=Harnden|first=Toby|author-link=Toby Harnden|url=http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/15th-february-1997/16/the-smearing-by-the-green|title=The smearing by the green|work=[[The Spectator]]|date=15 February 1997|access-date=27 August 2006|page=16}}</ref> After demanding, and receiving, treatment as a political prisoner, O'Callaghan quietly served his sentence.