Early and personal life
Ferris was born in Strand Street in Tralee, County Kerry, in 1952.[2] His father was a farmer who was also a caretaker for Barrow House, which was at that time owned by an aunt. He was educated locally at Barrow National School, St Mary's CBS, and Tralee Technical School. He left school early, working on his family's farm and as a fisherman. His father died from a stroke in 1970.
Martin met his wife, Máire Hoare, after his release from Portlaoise Prison in 1977. They married in January 1978 and have six children. A daughter, Toiréasa, is a former Cathaoirleach of Kerry County Council and councillor for the Tralee electoral area.
Provisional IRA activity
Ferris joined the Provisional IRA shortly after the death of his father on 29 May 1970. Aged 18, he was sworn in by Paddy Kelly and Liam Cotter, a former vice-chairman of the Kerry County Board of the GAA.[4]
From September 1974 to February 1975, Ferris was on the run. He was suspected of having taken part in a robbery at the Tralee post office, which resulted in £74,000 being stolen, and a robbery at the Chase Manhattan Bank in Shannon, County Clare in December 1974 which led to the theft of £159,000.[5] He was arrested by Gardaí in Youghal, County Cork, on 14 February 1975, along with two other IRA members, viz., Danny O'Sullivan and Robert McNamara. The Gardaí had been on the alert after a robbery at Central Dairies in Dungarvan, County Waterford.[6] They were later tried by the Special Criminal Court where O'Sullivan was sentenced to six and eight years concurrently. Ferris was not convicted of robbery but was remanded to Portlaoise Prison pending further charges of membership in the IRA as a proscribed organisation.[7] He was sentenced to 12 months in Portlaoise. He was released after nine months in November 1975.[8]
He was arrested again in February 1976 at a Garda roadblock in Ballinrobe, County Mayo after attending the funeral of Frank Stagg. On 16 February, he was charged with IRA membership at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin, and sentenced to 18 months in prison.[9] In March 1977, Ferris took part in a hunger strike along with 20 other prisoners, demanding a public inquiry into conditions in the prison. After 32 days he was transferred to Curragh Military Hospital. The hunger strike ended after 47 days. A guarantee had been given to the prisoners by Bishop James Kavanagh that the government would work to improve prison conditions.[10] Although conditions improved somewhat, Tim Pat Coogan, a nationalist historian and former editor of The Irish Press, noted that after a visit in 1977 tensions still remained, and mentioned reports of visitors being denied visits after long distances and that strip searching was still carried out.[11] Ferris was released two months later in June 1977.[11]
In September 1984, Ferris attempted to import seven tons of explosives, firearms and ammunition,[12] as well as medications, training manuals, and communications equipment, using the fishing vessel Marita Ann, which was piloted by Mike Browne, another IRA member.[13] The plan involved rendezvousing with the trawler Valhalla, captained by Bob Anderson, which sailed from Boston, Massachusetts, transferring arms and ammunition to the Marita Ann and sailing to the south coast of County Kerry, where a number of cars were on standby to deliver the weapons to various Provisional IRA arms dumps.[14] The Marita Ann was intercepted by the Irish Navy vessels the LÉ Emer and the LÉ Aisling off the south coast of Kerry with the weapons and ammunition on board. The crew were arrested. On 11 December 1984, Ferris and two other members of the Marita Ann crew, including Browne and a United States citizen, John Crawley, were sentenced to ten years imprisonment at Portlaoise Prison. Gavin Mortimer and John McCarthy both received suspended sentences.[15] He was released on 11 September 1994.
In February 2005, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Michael McDowell, using parliamentary privilege, named Ferris—as well as Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness—as a member of the IRA Army Council, an allegation that has been denied by Ferris and the Sinn Féin leadership. In July of that year, the Irish Independent reported that Ferris,[16] along with Adams and McGuinness, had stepped down from the Army Council in the lead-up to an IRA statement on its future.
Ferris has courted controversy by his refusal to condemn the murder of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe during a botched Post Office raid by the Provisional IRA in 1996. Ferris had also greeted Pearse McAuley and Kevin Walsh, the men charged with the manslaughter of Garda McCabe, upon their release from prison as part of the Good Friday Agreement.[17]
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