Tom Smith was born on the 22^nd of March 1948. His parents were James and Kathleen, he had five brothers, Sean, Paul, Nick Michael and Patrick, and one sister, Phylliss. He lived originally in Donore  Avenue, but then moved to Mount Pleasant Buildings in Harolds Cross. He worked in Jacobs Biscuit Factory until his arrest in 1973. 

He became an active member of Óglaigh na hÉireann in the late 1960’s. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1973 for armed robbery. On St Patrick’s Night in 1975, Tom was shot dead by Free State Soldiers and a number of others were wounded during an attempted escape from Portlaoise Prison. 

The minister of justice failed to notify the family of Toms death for atleast 12 hours. He misled them about the whereabouts of his body and he ordered a post mortem at which a representative of the deceased was not present. In an attempt to deliberately disrupt the family’s funeral arrangements, on the orders of Mr Cooney, Tom’s body was secretly transferred from Portlaoise to the Dublin City Morgue. Orders were given to harass mourners in scenes not seen since the blackest days of the Civil war. Tom was buried with full military honours. 

Every St Patricks Day since then a commemoration is held in honour of his memory at the Republican Plot in Glasnevin where he is interred.