Hugo MacNeill (Irish Army officer)

Lieutenant General Hugo MacNeill (1900–1963) was a twentieth-century Irish soldier and first president of the Organisation of National Ex-Servicemen in Ireland.

[3] In 1923, he was promoted to colonel after an intelligence windfall allowed him to prevent a series of Irish Republican Army (IRA) attacks in Dublin.

In 1924 he was promoted to major general and appointed assistant Chief of Staff of the National Army.

These approaches were reputedly to seek German assistance in the event that Britain invaded Ireland.

[14] Playing both sides, he accepted the covert aid of the British Army in training his division, notably in the establishment of a "battle school" at Gormanston and secret training of selected Irish troops in commando techniques in Northern Ireland.