Uploaded May 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Thomas Power was an Irish republican socialist, also known as Ta Power, who was a leading member of the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) and Irish National Liberation Army (INLA). According to the Irish Republican Socialist Movement (IRSM) biography page on Power, he was from Friendly Street in the Markets area of south Belfast, where he had become an activist. He had originally joined the Official IRA but transferred allegiance to the INLA in 1975 while a prisoner in Long Kesh, along with 20 other men.
Power had been out of prison a month when, aged 33, he was shot and killed on 20 January 1987 while drinking tea in the Rosnaree Hotel on the Dublin Road, outside Drogheda in County Louth, Ireland, along with INLA leader John "Jap" O'Reilly. They were there to negotiate a truce with the IPLO. Also with them was Peter Stuart and Hugh Torney, who was injured. The Irish People's Liberation Organisation, which was largely composed of former INLA members, claimed responsibility. It is possible that Steenson was one of the killers—who both wore false beards — although Torney believed otherwise. O'Reilly died at the scene, Power in the ambulance later.
Thomas Power was an Irish republican socialist, also known as Ta Power, who was a leading member of the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) and Irish National Liberation Army (INLA). According to the Irish Republican Socialist Movement (IRSM) biography page on Power, he was from Friendly Street in the Markets area of south Belfast, where he had become an activist. He had originally joined the Official IRA but transferred allegiance to the INLA in 1975 while a prisoner in Long Kesh, along with 20 other men.
Power had been out of prison a month when, aged 33, he was shot and killed on 20 January 1987 while drinking tea in the Rosnaree Hotel on the Dublin Road, outside Drogheda in County Louth, Ireland, along with INLA leader John "Jap" O'Reilly. They were there to negotiate a truce with the IPLO. Also with them was Peter Stuart and Hugh Torney, who was injured. The Irish People's Liberation Organisation, which was largely composed of former INLA members, claimed responsibility. It is possible that Steenson was one of the killers—who both wore false beards — although Torney believed otherwise. O'Reilly died at the scene, Power in the ambulance later.
