'''Thomas "Slab" Murphy''' ({{lang-ga|Tomás Mac Murchaidh}}: born 26 August 1949<ref>{{cite book|last=Harnden|first=Toby|authorlink=Toby Harnden|title=Bandit Country|publisher=[[Hodder & Stoughton]]|year=1999|page=27|isbn=0-340-71736-X}}</ref>) is an [[Irish republican]] and convicted tax evader, believed to be a former [[List of IRA Chiefs of Staff|Chief of Staff]] of the [[Provisional Irish Republican Army]].<ref name="Times1"/> His farm straddles [[County Armagh]] and [[County Louth]], the border between [[Northern Ireland]] and the [[Republic of Ireland]].<ref name ="mult2">{{cite news|title=Cross-border raid targets alleged IRA chief of staff|author=Owen Bowcott|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,,1727859,00.html|publisher=''[[The Guardian]]''|date=10 March 2006|accessdate=15 February 2007|location=London}}</ref> In December 2015, Murphy was found guilty on nine counts of tax evasion following a lengthy investigation by the [[Criminal Assets Bureau]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Ryan|first1=Phillip|title=IRA tax dodger Thomas 'Slab' Murphy was 'treated unfairly' by justice system - Gerry Adams|url=http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/ira-tax-dodger-thomas-slab-murphy-was-treated-unfairly-by-justice-system-gerry-adams-34301347.html|accessdate=20 December 2015|publisher=Irish Independent|date=19 December 2015}}</ref> In February 2016, Murphy was jailed and sentenced to 18 months in prison.<ref name="prison 1">{{cite news|title=Thomas ‘Slab’ Murphy sentenced to 18 months’ jail for tax offences|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/criminal-court/thomas-slab-murphy-sentenced-to-18-months-jail-for-tax-offences-1.2549415|accessdate=26 February 2016|publisher=The Irish Times|date=26 February 2016}}</ref>
==IRA involvement==
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The jury ruled, however, that he was an IRA commander and a smuggler.<ref name="mult1">{{cite web|title=Authorities pursue criminal assets in latest bid to get their man|author=Gerry Moriarty|url=http://www.tobyharnden.com/press_coverage_1.htm|publisher=''[[The Irish Times]]''|date=7 October 2005|accessdate=15 February 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Raid on Alleged IRA Chief's Home|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/09/world/main1384887.shtml|publisher=''[[CBS News]]''|date=9 March 2006|accessdate=15 February 2007}}</ref> ''The Sunday Times'' subsequently published statements given by [[Adrian Hopkins]], the skipper who ferried weapons from [[Libya]] to the IRA, to the French authorities who intercepted the fifth and final Eksund shipment. Hopkins detailed how Murphy met a named Libyan agent in Greece, paid for the weapons to be imported, and helped unload them when they arrived in Ireland. According to ''[[A Secret History of the IRA]]'' by [[Ed Moloney]], Murphy has been the IRA Army Council's Chief of Staff since 1997. Toby Harnden's ''[[Bandit Country: the IRA and South Armagh]]'' also details Murphy's IRA involvement.<ref name="convicted"/>
InOn 20 September 2016 the BBC's Spotlight aired a programme in which a British spy who had infiltrated the IRA claimed that Murphy had demanded the killing of [[Denis Donaldson]] in 2006 who was an IRA member and British informer in order to maintain discipline in the IRA. The BBC said it had tried to contact Murphy but had received no reply, he has yet to respond to the allegation.<ref>http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/gerry-adams-rejects-claim-he-ordered-denis-donaldson-killing-1.2798960</ref>
