The writer and historian Eamonn Mac Thomais, who died on August 16th aged 75, was at the centre of a judicial cause célèbre when he was twice convicted of IRA membership by the Special Criminal Court in the 1970s.
His first conviction was in August 1973 when he was manager/editor of An Phoblacht.
He refused to recognise the court but gave a lengthy address from the dock after which he was sentenced to 15 months' imprisonment.
Within two weeks of completing his sentence in Mountjoy Jail, he was again before the court in September 1974 on the same charge, in addition to which he was charged with possession of an incriminating document.
On being found guilty and receiving a 15-month sentence at a hearing a month later, Eamonn Mac Thomais told the three judges that every newspaper editor in Ireland had better clear out their offices because he was sure they were sitting on plenty of incriminating documents.
Applause from the public gallery greeted this statement, and was followed by foot-stamping and shouting at the Bench.
"Get stuffed you English bastards," the judges were told. One woman broke down crying, shouting over and over again, "God forgive you; this reminds me of the Redcoats."
In more sober mood, an Irish Times editorial the following day, while noting republican double standards in relation to the law, pointed to the danger of the laws of the State being brought into disrepute by the implementation of the Offences Against the State Act.
Members of the National Union of Journalists were alarmed at the implications for freedom of the press, and the Dublin freelance branch expressed concern that the confiscation of files and equipment from An Phoblacht's editorial offices "should be a means to the effective suppression of that or any paper".
The editors of six left-wing and Irish-language periodicals called for the release of Eamonn Mac Thomais. The Revolutionary Marxist Group picketed the Department of Justice.
Two hundred people attended a protest meeting in the Mansion House, Dublin, organised by An Phoblacht. The veteran republican and former editor of the Bell, Peadar O'Donnell, told the meeting that it was a very dangerous thing to stand by and watch small journals being snuffed out by the State.
"The freedom of the small press means the freedom of intellectual life in the country."
The writers Ulick O'Connor and Criostoir O Floinn also spoke. From England, Donall Mac Amhlaigh lent support.
But it was all to no avail. Eamonn Mac Thomais was released from Portlaoise Prison in August 1975 having served his full sentence.
He was born Edward Patrick Thomas on January 13th, 1927, the son of James Heather Thomas, a fire brigade officer, and his wife Alice (neé Kavanagh) of 67 Rathmines Road, Dublin.
His father died five years later and the family moved to Goldenbridge, Inchicore.
Eamonn Mac Thomais attended Basin Lane Convent School and St Michael's School, Keogh Square, where he obtained his Primary Certificate. At 13 he began working as a van boy with the White Heather Laundry.
"I set out to be the best messenger boy in Dublin," he recalled, "and by 18 I knew every street, road and lane in the city."
He afterwards became a clerical worker and his aptitude for mathematics helped him to secure a job as credit controller for a Dublin engineering firm.
During the IRA's border campaign, his involvement with the republican movement led to his internment in the Curragh Camp from 1957 to 1959.
In December 1961, he was convicted and sentenced to four months' imprisonment under the provisions of the Offences Against the State Act.
He came to writing by accident.
In 1966, he was approached by the 1916 veteran Joe Clarke to write a book. The intention was to capitalise on the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising in order to recoup a loss of £300 incurred by Clarke in reprinting Terence McSwiney's The Principles of Freedom. The resultant book, Down Dublin Streets 1916, made sufficient profit to cover the loss.
Eamonn Mac Thomais was deeply affected by the republican split of 1969-70. He took the provisional side and became involved in the production of An Phoblacht.
His second book, Me Jewel and Darlin' Dublin, was published in 1974. He had started writing it in Mountjoy Jail and was in Portlaoise Prison when it was launched.
Three further books followed: Gur Cakes and Coal Blocks (1976); The Labour and The Royal (1978); and Janey Mack Me Shirt is Black (1982).
Eamonn Mac Thomais's writing belongs to a genre that includes Paddy Crosbie's Your Dinner's Poured Out! and Lar Redmond's Emerald Square.
Some literary critics look down their noses at it, but it is too easily dismissed as "Rare Oul' Times codology".
Breandan O hEithir gave a more measured assessment of Eamonn Mac Thomais's work.Acknowledging his fellow-writer's role in reawakening public interest in the retrieval of Dublin's lost history, he nevertheless commented critically:
"It's still probably an over-sentimental view, which glosses over the unpleasant aspects of the period." He deemed the presentation of history to be "sugary and sloppy".
Certainly, Eamonn Mac Thomais's work lacks the depth and sceptical edge of Dominic Behan's Teems of Times and Happy Returns which covers similar ground. Nevertheless his books sold very well and remained in print for over 20 years.
Eamonn Mac Thomais made two six-part series, Dublin: A Personal View, for RTÉ television. The first was shown in 1979, the second in 1983.
He frequently broadcast on RTÉ radio. His many lectures on local history earned him the Old Dublin Society Silver Medal.
By the time of the Dublin millennium celebrations in 1988, walking tours led by Eamonn Mac Thomais were a regular feature of city life.
The then Lord Mayor, Carmencita Hederman, said that he was able to "make the dullest and dreariest parts of the city sound exciting and interesting".
In 1989 he was a recipient of a Bank of Ireland Special Millennium Award.
As well as his other work, he was engaged in recent years in conducting tours of the former House of Lords in the Bank of Ireland, College Green.
Eamonn Mac Thomais is survived by his wife Rosaleen, sons Shane and Damien, and daughters Orla and Meliosa.
Eamonn Mac Thomais: born 1927; died, 2002