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

Born in 1900, ^[1] he was the nephew of politician Eoin MacNeill (1867–1945). ^{[2] [3]}

Hugo MacNeill was member of Fianna Éireann and the Irish Volunteers before becoming an officer of the National Army during the Irish Civil War. ^[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. ^{[4] [5]}

In 1926 MacNeill attended the US Army Command and Staff Course in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. ^[6] He was in command of the Irish Army's Second (Northern) Division during The Emergency (1939-1945). ^[7]

He was promoted to lieutenant general in 1946, although without appointment.

MacNeill's main activity following retirement was the co-ordination of An Tóstal festivals in the 1950s. He was also the first president of the Organisation of National Ex-Servicemen. ^[8] He died in 1963. ^[9]

MacNeill was reputedly sympathetic to German interests, ^{[10] [11] [12]} and some sources suggest he approached the German diplomatic legation in the early 1940s, ^[13] without apparent authorisation. These approaches were reputedly to seek German assistance in the event that Britain invaded neutral 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.^{[ citation needed]}