described him as a "so-called cleric" for sharing a platform with O'Riordan. The Catholic Church stated that anyone who voted for him had committed mortal sin. In all he ran for election five times, campaigning throughout for the establishment of a socialist republic in Ireland but given Ireland's Catholic conservatism and fear of communism, he did so without success. He did, however, receive playwright Seán O'Casey's endorsement in 1951. O'Casey wrote: "Mr O'Riordan is his own message. He has nothing to sell but his soul. But he hasn't done that, though he will be told he'll lose it by holding on to it." O'Riordan's participation in the Spanish Civil War was always an important part of his political identity. In 1966 he attended the International Brigades' Reunion in Berlin and was instrumental in having Frank Ryan's remains repatriated from Germany to Ireland in 1979. He was a member of the Irish Chile Solidarity Committee and attended the 1st Party Congress of the Cuban Communist Party in 1984. He also campaigned on behalf of the Birmingham 6 and attended their Appeal trial in 1990. O'Riordan served between 1970 and 1983 as General Secretary of the Communist Party of Ireland; and from 1983 to 1988 he served as National Chairman of the party publishing many articles under the auspices of the CPI. O'Riordan staunchly pro-Soviet direction of the party led to a number of members leaving to form the Eurocommunist Irish Marxist Society. His last major public outing was in 2005 at the re-dedication of the memorial outside Dublin's Liberty Hall to the Irish veterans of the Spanish Civil War. With other veterans O'Riordan was received by President of Ireland Mary McAleese. He was also presented with Cuba's Medal of Friendship by the Cuban Consul Teresita Trujillo to Ireland on behalf of Cuban President Fidel Castro. Operation Splash In 1969, according to Soviet dissident Vasili Mitrokhin, O'Riordan was approached by IRA leaders Cathal Goulding and Seamus Costello with a view to obtaining guns from the Soviet KGB to defend Irish republican areas of Belfast during the communal violence that marked the outbreak of the Troubles. Mitrokhin alleges that O'Riordan then contacted the Kremlin, but the consignment of arms did not reach Ireland until 1972. The operation was known as Operation Splash. O'Riordan allegedly wrote: "Dear Comrades, I would like to outline in written form a request for assistance in acquiring the following