In April, 1919, the issue of support for the RIC, the pro-British 'police force' in Ireland, was being discussed by the public and by their representatives in (the 32-County) Dáil Éireann.
On the 23rd April that year, the formal response of the Dáil on that issue was finalised and approved by the Deputies, and was made known to the public the next day (the 24th April 1919) -
"(The RIC and DMP should be treated as) persons who, having been adjudged guilty of treason to their country, are regarded as unworthy to enjoy any of the privileges or comforts which arise from cordial relations with the public.
(They) must receive no social recognition from the people, no intercourse is permitted with them, they should not be saluted or spoken to in the streets not their salutes returned.
They should not be invited to nor received in private houses as friends or guests, they should be debarred from participation in games, sports, dances and all social functions conducted by the people.
In a word, they should be treated as persons who have been adjudged guilty of treason to the country..."
Those 'cops' have changed uniforms since then - been rebranded - but that penalty remains apt.
==========================
ON THIS DATE (24TH APRIL) 108 YEARS AGO : "A TERRIBLE BEAUTY IS BORN..."
Pictured - Pádraig Pearse, Thomas J Clarke and Thomas MacDonagh.
The 1916 Easter Rising began, in Ireland, on Easter Monday, 24th April 1916 and lasted for six days. The official surrender occurred on Friday, 28th April, and all fighting ceased on Saturday 29th April.
The rebels numbered around 2500 ; by the end of the fighting, there were around 20,000 British troops in Dublin.
On the 29th April 1916, a republican 'surrender document' was circulated between the combatants, which read -
'In order to prevent the further slaughter of Dublin civilians and in the hope of saving the lives of our followers now surrounded and hopelessly outnumbered, the members of the Provisional Government present at headquarters have agreed to an unconditional surrender, and the commandants of the various districts in the City and county will order their commands to lay down arms..'
The document (above) was signed by, among others, Patrick Pearse and Thomas MacDonagh, and it signalled the end of six days of fighting between approximately 20,000 British troops (including, in their ranks, Irish men) and a volunteer rebel force of about 2,500 Irish men and women (and other nationalities).
At about 3.45pm on Saturday, 29th April 1916, the Rising was brought to an end - Pádraig Pearse surrendered to British Brigadier-General Lowe, James Connolly surrendered on behalf of the 'Irish Citizens Army' and Ned Daly surrendered to British Major De Courcy Wheeler.
It is not mentioned as often as it should be, but before the surrender of Ned Daly and his forces, all of whom fought bravely in the North King Street area of Dublin, the British Officer who was in command of that particular engagement, Lieutenant Colonel Henry Taylor of the South Staffordshire Regiment, had lost 11 of his men with a further 28 having being wounded.
Following the surrender of Daly and the Dublin 1st Battalion, Taylor - who was to claim later that he was acting under orders from his superior, Brigadier-General William Henry Muir Lowe - ordered his men, who were enraged over having lost so many of their number, to 'flush out' any remaining enemy forces.
Taylor's troops began breaking into local houses and, before their bloodlust was satisfied, they shot and/or bayoneted 15 boys and men to death, all of whom were 'rebel fighters', according to the British.
Approximately 590 people died during the six days of the 1916 Rising, of which 374 were civilians (including 38 children, aged 16 or younger), 116 British soldiers, 77 Irish rebel soldiers and 23 members of the British 'police force' which operated in Ireland at that time ('1169' comment - the objective has not yet being obtained, as not one of those rebel/dissident fighters took up arms to 'achieve' a so-called 'Free State' : the aim then, as now, is to secure a Free Ireland).
Padraig Pearse, Tom Clarke and Thomas MacDonagh, three of those in command of the republican dissidents during the Rising, were court-martialed by the British on the 2nd May 1916 and sentenced to death and, the next day - 3rd May 1916 - they were taken to the Stonebreakers' Yard in Kilmainham Jail and, at dawn, were shot dead by a British Army firing squad.
It was these executions that prompted British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith (pictured) to warn General Maxwell that 'a large number of executions would sow the seeds of lasting trouble in Ireland' - that was the Westminster elite once again missing the point in regards to their 'Irish outpost' : 'lasting trouble in Ireland' is, unfortunately, guaranteed by the fact that it is the British military and political presence here that brings 'trouble', not the manner in which that presence treats its 'subjects'.
Before he was executed, Padraig Pearse stated :
"We seem to have lost. We have not lost. To refuse to fight would have been to lose ; to fight is to win. We have kept faith with the past, and handed on a tradition to the future. If you strike us down now, we shall rise again and renew the fight. You cannot conquer Ireland. You cannot extinguish the Irish passion for freedom. If our deed has not been sufficient to win freedom, then our children will win it by a better deed..."
Pádraig Pearse was born in Dublin on the 10th November 1879 to an English father (who worked as a sculptor) and an Irish mother, both of whom encouraged him to learn about and appreciate his roots. At 21 years of age he joined the 'Gaelic League' and his enthusiasm ensured his advancement within that organisation - he was appointed as the editor of their newspaper, 'An Claidheamh Solais' ('The Sword of Light').
Not content with just a newspaper from which to voice his pro-Irish opinion, he founded a school - St. Enda's College in Dublin, at 29 years of age, and structured its curriculum around Irish traditions and culture and tutored in both the Irish and English languages.
It was through the League that Pearse met like-minded individuals who also wanted 'to break the connection with England'.
At 35 years of age, in 1914, he was accepted as a member of the supreme council of the 'Irish Republican Brotherhood' (IRB), a militant group that had stated its intention to use force to remove the British military and political presence from Ireland and, during the 1916 Rising - which he was heavily involved in organising - he was in command of the General Post Office (GPO) in Dublin.
He was executed at dawn by a British Army firing squad on the 3rd May 1916, in the Stonebreakers' Yard in Kilmainham Jail.
'The Mother'
By Pádraig Pearse.
I do not grudge them : Lord, I do not grudge
My two strong sons that I have seen go out
To break their strength and die, they and a few,
In bloody protest for a glorious thing,
They shall be spoken of among their people,
The generations shall remember them,
And call them blessed.
But I will speak their names to my own heart
In the long nights;
The little names that were familiar once
Round my dead hearth.
Lord, thou art hard on mothers :
We suffer in their coming and their going ;
And tho' I grudge them not, I weary, weary
Of the long sorrow. And yet I have my joy :
My sons were faithful, and they fought.
Tom Clarke was born in a British military camp at Hurst Park in the Isle of Wight, on the 11th March 1858.
His father was then a Corporal in the British Army but, like Tom's mother, was Irish born. A year later Corporal Clarke was drafted to South Africa where the family lived until 1865. Tom first saw Ireland about 1870, when his father was appointed a Sergeant of the Ulster Militia and was stationed at Dungannon in County Tyrone.
It was there that he grew to early manhood, and his father wished him to follow in his own footsteps and join the British Army, but the 'Poor Old Woman' had already enlisted Tom in her own small but select Army, at a time when the prospects of putting food on the table were not good - an Gorta Mór and the defeat of the Fenians still hung heavy over the land. Tom Clarke was sworn into the 'Irish Republican Brotherhood' by Michael Davitt and John Daly ; he could have had no more worthy sponsors.
In 1880, at twenty-two years young, he emigrated to the United States where he joined Clann na Gael and quickly volunteered for active service in Britain. The ship he travelled on struck an iceberg and sank, but he was rescued and landed on Newfoundland. Resuming his interrupted journey, he reached London where he was soon arrested - he had been followed from New York by 'Henri Le Caron', a British spy.
On 14th June 1883, at the 'Old Bailey', he was, with three others, sentenced to penal servitude for life.
For 15 years and nine months, in the prisons of Chatham and Portland, Tom Clarke endured imprisonment without flinching ; 15 years and nine months of an incessant attempt, by the British, to deprive him of his life or reason. This torture did not cease with daylight and recommence on the following day ; it was maintained during the hours of darkness when even the vilest criminal was entitled to sleep and rest.
But Tom Clarke and his comrades got neither sleep nor rest - cunning devices for producing continuous disturbing sounds were erected over their cells - these are described in his book 'Glimpses of an Irish Felon's Prison Life' . The relentless brutality at length drove two of his comrades, Whitehead and Gallagher, hopelessly insane.
With John Daly, they were released in 1896 ; Daly had been arrested a year after Tom Clarke, and had hitherto shared the same prisons with him ; though kept apart, they had managed to communicate with each other now and again. The release of his friend was a sore loss to Tom Clarke who, for a further two years, had to endure alone an even more intensified form of torture.
Released in 1898, aged 40, he spent a short time in Limerick with his friend John Daly before returning to America where, in 1901, he married Kathleen Daly, John Daly's daughter.
With Devoy, he founded the 'Gaelic American' newspaper and, as its assistant editor, worked in New York until 1907. Then he returned to Ireland and opened a newspaper shop at Parnell Street, Dublin, which quickly became the meeting place for Pádraig Pearse and that valiant company of a new generation who weren't prepared to wait for crumbs from the British table.
They knew Tom Clarke as a man who had for so long been tested in the crucible of suffering and had been found unbreakable, and he didn't fail them.
In 1916, they repaid him by insisting that his should be the first signature to the Proclamation of the Republic ; it was the greatest day of his life, though well he knew it meant for him the end.
He was shot on the 3rd May 1916, at 58 years of age, of those only eighteen had been spent in Ireland. If a man is judged by the life he has led then there is no more splendid figure than Tom Clarke ; the onset of the years chills the blood of most men - add to this the incredible physical and mental torture which he had endured for almost sixteen of those years. Most of the remainder were years of hardship and disillusionment.
His father's influence and his early environment militated against his faith yet, like Padraig Pearse, he turned his back on 'the beautiful vision of the world', and set his face to the road before him, the road indicated by 'the Poor Old Woman'.
On the 1st February 1878 a child, Thomas, was born in Cloughjordan in Tipperary, into a household which would consist of four sons and two daughters - the parents, Joseph and Mary (Louise Parker) MacDonagh, were both employed as teachers in a near-by school.
He went to Rockwell College in Cashel, Tipperary, where he entertained the idea of training for the priesthood but, at 23 years of age, decided instead to follow in his parents footsteps and trained to be a teacher.
He obtained employment at St Kieran's College in Kilkenny and, while working there, advanced his interest in Irish culture by joining the local 'Gaelic League' group and was quickly elected to a leadership role within that organisation but, by 1905, he had left the League and moved on to teach at St Colman's College, Fermoy, where he also established himself as a published poet.
Three years later he moved to a new position, as resident assistant headmaster at St Enda's, Pádraig Pearse's school, then based in Ranelagh, Dublin. In 1911, after completing his BA and MA at UCD, he was appointed lecturer in English at the same institution. In 1912 he married Muriel Gifford, sister of Grace, who would later marry Joseph Plunkett in Kilmainham Gaol.
In the years prior to the 1916 Rising MacDonagh became active in Irish literary circles and was a co-founder of the Irish Review and, with Plunkett, of the Irish Theatre on Hardwicke Street. MacDonagh was a witness to Bloody Sunday in 1913 and this event appears to have radicalised him so much so that he moved away from the circles of the literary revival and embraced political activism.
He joined the Irish Volunteers in December 1913 and was appointed to the body's governing committee. In 1914 he rejected John Redmond's appeal for the Volunteers to join the fight in the First World War. On the 9th September 1914 he attended the secret meeting that agreed to plan for an armed insurrection against British rule. By March 1915 he had been sworn into the ranks of the 'Irish Republican Brotherhood' and was also serving on the central executive of the Irish Volunteers, was director of training for the Volunteers and commandant of the 2nd Battalion of the Dublin Brigade.
In 1916, at the age of 38, he joined his comrades in challenging a then world power, England, over the injustices which that 'world leader' was inflicting in Ireland and, with six of his comrades, he signed a proclamation declaring the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland and to the unfettered control of Irish destinies, free of any external political or military interference.
He was found guilty by a British court martial that followed the 1916 Rising, and was sentenced to death. He was executed by firing squad on the 3rd May that year. His friend and fellow poet Francis Ledwidge wrote a poem in his honour after his death ; Ledwidge, the 'Poet of the Blackbirds', fought for the British in the 'First World War' and was injured in 1916 - he was recovering from his wounds in hospital when news reached him of the Rising and he let it be known that he felt betrayed by Westminster over its interference in Ireland -
Lament for Thomas MacDonagh.
He shall not hear the bittern cry
In the wild sky where he is lain
Nor voices of the sweeter birds
Above the wailing of the rain.
Nor shall he know when loud March blows
Thro' slanting snows her fanfare shrill
Blowing to flame the golden cup
Of many an upset daffodil.
And when the dark cow leaves the moor
And pastures poor with greedy weeds
Perhaps he'll hear her low at morn
Lifting her horn in pleasant meads.
In his address to the court martial, Thomas MacDonagh said -
"Gentlemen of the court martial, I choose to think you have done your duty according to your lights in sentencing me to death. I thank you for your courtesy. It would not be seemly for me to go to my doom without trying to express, however inadequately, my sense of the high honour I enjoy in being one of those predestined to die in this generation for the cause of Irish freedom. You will, perhaps, understand this sentiment, for it is one to which an Imperial poet of a bygone age bore immortal testimony : "T'is sweet and glorious to die for one's country."
You would all be proud to die for Britain, your Imperial patron, and I am proud and happy to die for Ireland, my glorious fatherland...there is not much left to say. The Proclamation of the Irish Republic has been adduced in evidence against me as one of the signatories. I adhere to every statement in that proclamation. You think it already a dead and buried letter - but it lives, it lives! From minds alive with Ireland's vivid intellect it sprang, in hearts alive with Ireland's mighty love it was conceived. Such documents do not die.
The British occupation of Ireland has never for more than one hundred years been compelled to confront in the field of flight a rising so formidable as that which overwhelming forces have for the moment succeeded in quelling. This rising did not result from accidental circumstances. It came in due recurrent reasons as the necessary outcome of forces that are ever at work.
The fierce pulsation of resurgent pride that disclaims servitude may one day cease to throb in the heart of Ireland — but the heart of Ireland will that day be dead. While Ireland lives, the brains and brawn of her manhood will strive to destroy the last vestige of foreign rule in her territory. In this ceaseless struggle there will be, as there must be, an alternate ebb and flow.
But let England make no mistake. The generous high-bred youth of Ireland will never fail to answer the call we pass on to them, will never full to blaze forth in the red rage of war to win their country's freedom. Other and tamer methods they will leave to other and tamer men ; but for themselves they must do or die. It will be said our movement was doomed to failure. It has proved so. Yet it might have been otherwise.
There is always a chance of success for brave men who challenge fortune. That we had such a chance, none know so well as your statesmen and military experts. The mass of the people of Ireland will doubtless lull their consciences to sleep for another generation by the exploded fable that Ireland cannot successfully fight England.
We do not propose to represent the mass of the people of Ireland. We stand for the intellect and for immortal soul of Ireland. To Ireland's soul and intellect, the inert mass drugged and degenerated by ages of servitude must in the destined day of resurrection render homage and free service receiving in turn the vivifying impress of a free people.
Gentlemen, you have sentenced me to death, and I accept your sentence with joy and pride since it is for Ireland I am to die.
I go to join the goodly company of men who died for Ireland, the least of whom is worthier far than I can claim to be, and that noble band are themselves but a small section of the great, unnumbered company of martyrs, whose Captain is the Christ who died on Calvary. Of every white robed knight of all that goodly company we are the spiritual kin.
The forms of heroes flit before my vision, and there is one, the star of whose destiny chimes harmoniously with the swan song of my soul. It is the great Florentine, whose weapon was not the sword, but prayer and preaching ; the seed he sowed fructifies to this day in God's Church. Take me away, and let my blood bedew the sacred soil of Ireland. I die in the certainty that once more the seed will fructify."
Thomas MacDonagh - born on the 1st February 1878, executed by Westminster on the 3rd May 1916.
The 1916 Rising is one of the most important events in the history of this exceptional country and, despite the efforts of some, there are still people like us who will always strive to keep our country exceptional, from all threats, foreign and domestic.
'SINN FÉIN REPLIES TO MR. HANNA...'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, April 1955.
Sinn Féin is the civilian or political arm of the Republican Movement and it therefore intends to use all constitutional means at its disposal for the achievement of its objectives - the primary object being the re-enthronement of a 32-County Republic.
In the 26-County State it intends to make use of the Leinster House elections in order to have its candidates elected by the people to a 32-County Dáil ; not to Leinster House.
In the Six-County State it would normally make use of the Stormont elections for the same purpose. However, it is prevented from doing this by a regulation of the Stormont regime which states that before anyone is allowed to go forward as a candidate in the elections in the Six County area they must sign a declaration that they will take their seats in Stormont if elected.
Since Sinn Féin candidates have no intention of sitting in Stormont any more than in Leinster House they could not honourably sign such a declaration...
('1169' Comment : Irish republicans continue to operate an abstentionist policy in regards to Stormont and Leinster House, but there are still individuals and groups in this State and in Ireland [for instance, Fianna Fáil and Provisional Sinn Féin] who consider themselves to be 'republican' yet are quite content to sit in one or other, or both, partitionist assemblies.)
(MORE LATER.)
In 1920, an RIC Detective named Swanton had made a name for himself in Ennis, County Clare, where he operated as part of a two-person Detective team for the English Crown.
Mr Swanton viewed his position as a vocation, rather than just as a 'job' to pay the rent, and was said to be "...most zealous in trying to track down any type of movement on the part of the IRA..."
His eagerness had brought him to the notice of IRA HQ in Dublin, and an order was sent to the IRA in County Clare to deal with the man. It was known that, on the 24th April, himself and his colleague would be walking pass a Christian Brothers School, towards a crossroads, having paid a visit to the local railway station.
The information was correct in regards to the locations and times given, but the Detective was on his own, and had been 'tailed' on his walk by an IRA man, Tom Keane, who had kept his distance from Mr Swanton.
However, Mr Swanton, being ever cautious, spotted the IRA Volunteer behind him and ran towards the crossroads - where four other Volunteers (Liam Stack, Nick Foley, Peter O'Loughlin and William McNamara) were waiting for him.
The RIC Detective changed his route and kept running as two shots were fired at him ; he fell to the ground, motionless and, after observing from a distance for a few minutes, the IRA men moved off, satisfied that they had carried out their mission.
They were to learn later on that night that Mr Swanton, although badly wounded, was expected to recover, which he did...
==========================
On the 17th November, 1919, a number of bank officials left the Munster and Leinster Bank and the National Bank in the Millstreet area, County Cork, at about 8am, in a car and a horse-drawn carriage, to attend a cattle fair at Knocknagree in that county.
The bank officials were carrying a total of £16,700 between them, a huge amount of money in those days, which would be worth at least half a million Euro today.
Both vehicles were held-up by at least five armed men and the money was taken.
On the 24th April, 1920, Liam Lynch, Officer Commanding of the Cork No 2 Brigade IRA, accompanied by between 100 and 200 Volunteers, representing the Irish Republican Police, arrived in Cork to investigate the robbery and, a short time later, the Republican Police arrested eight men, seven of whom confessed to have been involved in the robbery.
£10,000 was recovered and the seven arrested men were sentenced to various lengths of deportation from, or exile within, Ireland ; more here.
==========================
SO, FAREWELL THEN, CELTIC TIGER....
It had to happen, sooner or later.
Most of the pundits and economists were too busy singing the Celtic Tiger's praises to notice, but a few critical observers worried all along about the weaknesses of a boom economy that depended so much on a few companies from one place - the United States.
By Denis O'Hearn.
From 'Magill' Annual 2002.
Productivity in the three US-dominated sectors grew by 215 per cent in the 1990's, nearly nine per cent annually.
In services, construction and basic manufactures, output per employee grew by just one per cent annually, which most experts would call stagnation.
In 1999, the average worker in a foreign company produced output worth nearly eight times more than the average worker in an Irish company.
Transnational corporate profits in Ireland rose spectacularly during the 1990's ; by the end of the decade, TNC's received six times more in profits than they had in 1990.
Meanwhile, Irish firms received less profits than they had in 1990, and this was reflected in a sharp rise in the number of company failures...
(MORE LATER.)
In April, 1921, the Officer Commanding of the West Clare Brigade IRA, Seán Liddy (pictured, a republican-gamekeeper-turned Free State-poacher) and Michael Brennan (...also a republican-gamekeeper-turned Free State-poacher) agreed to share resources in an attack on British forces in the West Clare area.
On the 24th April, Seán Liddy, Michael Brennan, Stephen Madigan, Michael McMahon and Liam Haugh took command of a combined force of IRA Volunteers and attacked the enemy in the Kilrush area of County Clare in the RIC Barracks, the British Army Barracks and the Coastguard Station, with no republican casualties.
One RIC member, a 'sergeant', was killed and others wounded, as were a few British Army soldiers and, in retaliation, their colleagues in the Crown Forces drove to the village of Monmore, in County Wexford, placed explosives in and around the home of IRA Volunteer Liam Haugh, and detonated them, destroying the house.
However, in the explosion, a splinter injured a British Army soldier and he died from his wounds later that same week.
Also, on this date - 24th April 1921 - an RIC patrol was ambushed by the IRA in Ennistymon, in County Clare, and one of the patrol was wounded and, near the town of Ennis, in the same county, an RIC man was shot at.
==========================
On the 24th April, 1921, three RIC members were driving in an unmarked car towards Cloghran Crossroads in North Dublin at the same time as a lorry carrying members of the British Army's Lancashire Fusiliers (pictured) were driving towards it.
Shots were fired from each vehicle and an RIC member, 'District Inspector' Michael Joseph Cahill ('Service Number 72022'), was badly wounded ; apparently, each group thought that the other was an IRA patrol, and opened fire!
Mr Cahill, from Clonmel, in County Tipperary, died from his wounds the following morning. He was a British 'Serviceman' who fell foul (!) of the 'Reduction In Force' legislation and moved 'sidewards' into the RIC ; he was stationed in Gormanstown Camp, in County Meath, and is buried in Shanavine, in Clonmel, in County Tipperary.
==========================
In 1914, 17-years-young John Beets 'Johnny' Bales, from Norfolk, in England, signed up with the 'Norfolk Yeomanry' (pictured) and was sent to Gallipoli and also 'kept the peace' (!) in Egypt.
He later 'adventured' with the 'Royal Air Force' in Salonika, and then returned to his home.
Seeking more 'adventure', he travelled to Ireland and, on the 30th March, 1921, he joined the RIC, as a member of 'P Company' of the Auxiliary Division, based in Tubbercurry, in County Sligo.
On the 22nd/23rd April, 1921, 'Cadet' Bales and a colleague ('Cadet' Bolam) were sent to Belfast on 'escort duty' and were spotted at about 9pm, at the junction of Donegall Place and Fountain Lane in the city, by two Volunteers from the Belfast Brigade ASU IRA, Séamus Woods and Roger McCorley, who attacked them.
'Cadet' Bolam was shot dead and John Bales was badly wounded ; he died in hospital at about 11pm on the 24th April, 1921.
==========================
BEIR BUA...
The Thread of the Irish Republican Movement from The United Irishmen through to today.
Republicanism in history and today.
Published by the James Connolly/Tommy O'Neill Cumann, Republican Sinn Féin, The Liberties, Dublin.
August 1998.
('1169' comment - 'Beir Bua' translates as 'Grasp Victory' in the English language.)
ROBERT EMMET AND THE IRELAND OF TODAY...
"For Emmet, finely gifted though he was, was just a young man with the same limitations, the same self-questionings, the same falterings, the same kindly human emotions surging up sometimes in such strength as almost to drown a heroic purpose, as many a young man we have known.
And his task was just such a task as many of us have undertaken : he had to go through the same repellent routine of work, to deal with the hard, uncongenial details of correspondence and conference and committee meetings ; he had the same sordid difficulties that we have, yea, even the vulgar difficulty of want of funds.
And he had the same poor human material to work with, men who misunderstood, men who bungled, men who talked too much, men who failed at the last moment.
Yes, the task we take up again is just Emmet's task of silent unattractive work, the routine of correspondence and committees and organising.
We must face it as bravely and as quietly as he faced it, working on in patience as he worked on, hoping as he hoped : cherishing in our secret hearts the mighty hope that to us, though so unworthy, it may be given to bring to accomplishment the thing he left unaccomplished, but working on even when that hope dies within us..."
(MORE LATER.)
On the 24th April, 1922, the 'Labour Party' and the 'Trade Union Congress' (ILP/TUC) held a general strike and protest against 'militarism and the prospect of civil war' in Ireland.
It was common knowledge that a fight was brewing between the forces of the Westminster-backed Free Staters and the IRA and the pro-Treaty of Surrender 'Labour Party' were as compelled then as they are now to accept a 26 County State rather than a Free Ireland, which would still have to be fought for.
Tens of thousands of Irish citizens attended a rally in O'Connell Street, in Dublin, as expected, as no one wanted a civil war ; the organisers had stated they were protesting against "...the growth of the idea that the military forces may take command of the civil life of the nation without responsibility to the people ; that military men may commit acts of violence against civilians and be immune from prosecution or punishment ; that possession of arms is the sole title to political authority.." which was, in effect, a pro-Leinster House/Free State mantra.
The 'strike' began in Beresford Place at 6am and finished at 9pm that night in O'Connell Street (then known as 'Sackville Street') where three stage units had been erected to allow for speeches to be delivered by trade union affiliated speakers, Thomas Johnson, Cathal O'Shannon and Edward O'Carroll.
==========================
April, 1922 - the whole of Ireland was in political and military turmoil due, firstly, to the continuing British political and military presence in the country and, secondly, because of the latest offer of a 'Treaty' to the Irish from Westminster.
Among other instances of injustice that month in 1922 were the introduction of the 'Special Powers Act' and the Arnon Street murders, where six Catholic civilians were shot or beaten to death by men who broke into their homes.
'The Irish News' newspaper, a somewhat Irish nationalist publication at the time, published an Editorial on the 24th April, 1922, in which the newspaper held the Stormont Administration (and, by extension, the Westminster Parliament in London) responsible for the murderous misdeeds -
"Not a single honest official effort had been made to get at the truth about these ghastly occurrences...full responsibility for all these hideous deeds of terrorism and blood rests on the shoulders of the established Government of this city...their failure to preserve a semblance of law and order is apparently complete.."
That news outlet (and practically all other such outlets in the country) has long since changed its political outlook to lay blame for all such political turmoil firmly at the feet of those who continue to strive for a proper political solution to the foreign and domestic butchery inflicted on us.
==========================
On the 24th April, 1922, William Sibberson (31) was working at his desk in Richardson's Chemical Company in the Short Strand, in Belfast, when he was shot dead.
On that same date, a 70-year-old man, Mr James Corr, who lived at 33 Lowry Street in Belfast, was shot dead by a loyalist gunman as he delivered coal in Middlepath Street in that city, and William Steele and Ellen Greer died of injuries received in an earlier incident ; Mr Steele, from Disraeli Street, and M/s Greer, from Enniskillen Street, were 'killed by a revolver belonging to her brother-in-law, an 'A Special'...'
==========================
The British Forces base in Celbridge, in County Kildare, was located in the well-fortified Mill complex, and was strengthened by RIC members from the various barracks that had been vacated as a result of IRA attacks on them and, later, due to the acceptance of the 'Treaty of Surrender' ; indeed, by the summer of 1920, it was the only RIC barracks remaining open in North Kildare.
In April, 1922, the British forces were ordered to vacate the building in Celbridge and hand it over to the Free State military, sometimes referred to in those early-Free Stater years as 'the Regular IRA' or the 'IRA' ; some of their operatives had actually been involved in the fight against the British and still enjoyed describing themselves as the 'IRA' even though, by then, the British Army shared their objectives.
On the 24th April, 1922, at about 11.30pm, the (proper!) IRA attacked the Staters in their barracks and a gunfight ensued for about an hour, during which the IRA Volunteers attempted to scale the walls of the building.
The attack was unsuccessful and the IRA withdrew from the scene.
==========================
'April 1 1924 -
Mr J H Thomas, British Colonial Secretary, assured Mr Cahir Healy, MP, that he was "aware of the feeling which existed" in Ireland over "the delay in setting up the Boundary Commission provided for in Article 12 of the Irish Treaty signed on December 6th, 1921".
The representative of Tyrone had asked whether Mr Thomas had knowledge of that dissatisfaction: and the minister had. But Mr Healy also asked the minister to say "if he was yet able to fix the date for a resumption of the conference" : and the reply to this part of the composite query was "As my hon. friend is aware, I am dealing with it".
Of course, no-one knows how much Mr Cahir Healy knows of Mr Thomas’s intentions; but if the Irish member is aware of nothing beyond the fact that the Welsh minister of the Crown is still "dealing" with a question that arose in January 1922, the extent of his information is not exactly voluminous.
Mr Healy wanted a date ; Mr Thomas neither fixed one nor indicated that he had one in his mind.
In fact, he said nothing that the Duke of Devonshire could not have said a year ago with equal regard for the truth and disregard for Irish feelings and interests.
As Mr Healy did not insist on a definite reply to a plain question, perhaps he is aware of some facts unknown to the public on this side of the Irish Sea ; but his effort to secure a statement worth twopence was not successful...' (From here.)
However, despite the nonchalance reluctance on the part of Westminster to abide by an agreement they freely entered into (in 1921!), a 'Boundary Commission Conference' was arranged for the 24th April, 1922.
It was held on that date, but collapsed, fruitless, on the 25th!
William Thomas Cosgrave, the 'President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State', was to later declare that he was pessimistic of the negotiations achieving anything because of James Craig's position ie - 'the longer the Boundary Commission could be delayed, the less likely that it would ever be formed at all'.
On the 26th April, 1924, the Free State government requested (!) the British Government to take immediate steps to constitute the Boundary Commission and, as Mr Craig continued to refuse to appoint a Commissioner to the body, the British threatened to refer the matter to the 'Judicial Committee of the Privy Council', thus buying themselves more time to do nothing!
==========================
Thanks for the visit, and for reading!
Sharon and the team.
'Form an orderly queue there, please..
...and we'll be opening for business on Wednesday, 24th April 2024..
...with a 15-part post!'
We're putting the finishing touches to the 15 for the 24 and we'll be exploring the following pieces in a bit more detail -
Foreign and domestic threats ; from 1916 to 2024...
From 1955 - "...a regulation of the Stormont regime which states that before anyone is allowed to go forward as a candidate in the elections in the Six County area they must sign a declaration that they will take their seats in Stormont if elected...'
From 1920 - an unexpected 'meeting' at a quiet country crossroads looked like it had the intended consequences but not so...
From 1921 - a revenge attack by the British went slightly astray when a sharp projectile didn't...
In 1914, this young English man set out on adventures to Gallipoli and Egypt and other places and survived to talk about it in Ireland, but this country proved to be an 'adventure' too far for him...
1922 - murderous misdeeds and where the finger pointed compared to where it would point now...
So check back with us on Wednesday, 24th April 2024, for the above and more than the same again!
Thanks for the visit, and for reading - appreciated!
Sharon and the team.
AT MIDNIGHT ON THE 17TH APRIL 75 YEARS AGO - UP THE REPUBLIC...
...UP THE YARD, THAT IS!
Not that this (or this) couldn't happen in a proper 'Republic', just that instances like that happen here, in this failed and false 'Republic', as a matter of course, and make the headlines on the day but are quickly pushed aside by the next tragedy.
And talking of tragedies, that's what is being 'celebrated' here, tomorrow, the 18th April : the tragedy, that is, that this failed State has been misconstrued as a 'Republic', and is being honoured, by some, as such, in the same manner that that same mistake was made on the day itself :
'At midnight last night (ie the 17th April 1949, the time and date that this State 'officially' left the so-called 'British Commonwealth' under the terms of 'The Republic of Ireland Act 1948') the twenty-six counties officially left the British Commonwealth and cut the last constitutional link with Britain. The description of the state from that moment became the Republic of Ireland.
The birth of the new Republic was welcomed throughout the country (sic) in celebrations centred on Dublin, where a 21-gun salute was fired from O'Connell Bridge...at 11.45pm, as blazing tar barrels on the Dublin hills could be seen in the city centre, O'Connell street became a blaze of light from searchlight batteries ringing the city.
A few minutes after midnight the salute from the guns began, with ten-second intervals between the rounds...men, women and children shouted "Up the Republic," while groups of young people with accordions and other musical instruments joined in singing national airs...and dancing continued until early this morning.
At one minute past midnight Radio Éireann broadcast this statement : "These are the first moments of Easter Monday, April 18th, 1949.
Since midnight, for the first time in history, international recognition has been accorded to the Republic of Ireland.
Our listeners will join us in asking God's blessing on the Republic, and in praying that it will not be long until the sovereignty of the Republic extends over *the whole of our national territory..." (from here : * possibly the last time that RTE publicly acknowledged, unashamedly, that "our national territory" includes the Occupied Six Counties!).
Seems straight-forward enough but, as with most things in this 'republic', that's not the case : what happened in 1949 was, according to those who profess to know better, simply a legal exercise to tidy up loose ends by declaring that the word 'Éire' implied that the area known as such is the 'Republic of Ireland' even though that area ie 'Éire' was itself never recognised as a 'Republic'.
So, it is being argued, the name change was a translation only and is not established as a fact in legal circles.
Some 'experts' (but not all of them!) are of the opinion that this State 'became a republic' twelve years previous to the above (ie 1937) when 'Bunreacht na hÉireann' was enacted (29th December that year).
If you think that's confusing, you should try living here.
Anyway - for our part, we're not as much interested in when exactly the Free Staters claim this gombeen Free State was 'spawned' as we are in regards to when it will end - when it will be buried, politically, morally, and spiritually, and replaced with a proper country.
"Those raids for mails gave General O'Duffy and the Brigade staff most valuable intelligence about the activities of some civilian spies who were giving information to the British in our Brigade area.
Information obtained in one of those raids resulted in the execution of two British spies Kitty Carroll from near Scotstown and Arthur Treanor from Tydavnet direction.
In both of these cases I heard that cheques were actually enclosed in letters in payment for services rendered. I know for a fact that both of those people were executed as a result of information got in raids on mails which left no doubt as to their guilt..."
-- 'IRA Witness Statement', made after the shooting dead, on the 17th April, 1920, of Catherine (Kate/Kitty) Carroll (36), who lived near Duffy's Cross, in Tydavnet, County Monaghan.
A sign saying 'Spies And Informers Beware' was attached to her body.
For the IRA to purposely execute a woman was almost unheard of and the shooting dead of M/s Carroll caused an avalanche of bad feeling and wild rumours : that she made and sold poitín and was friendly with the RIC, to whom she informed to on other Poitín makers with requests that they be put out of business, that she was a "social deviant" and had caused trouble in the town on more that one occasion, that she was pestering a local IRA man to marry her and, as such, the IRA were wary of the trouble that 'a woman scorned' could bring to their doorstep, and that she was simply of 'feeble intellect' and could be easily manipulated by enemy forces.
Thomas Brennan, an IRA intelligence officer, is on record as saying that Kate Carrol had written to the RIC giving the location of an IRA arms dump and had listed the places where IRA men were staying at night :
"This person, Kate Carroll, wrote letters again and again to RIC Scotstown wanting to know why these fellows were not arrested and their arms seized..."
On investigating the shooting, Dr Niall Meehan (Faculty Head, Journalism and Media, Griffith College, Dublin) concluded that there was considerable IRA testimony available "...to the effect that Kate Carroll had informed against the IRA...the evidence, properly scrutinised, shows that...she is someone...who became an informer, and who ignored warnings to desist. That does not mean that she should have been executed. But it is the reason that she was executed..."
However, IRA GHQ had issued a 'General Order on the Handling of Women Spies' ('General Order No. 13'- "Women Spies' should be warned and (if not Irish) deported. In dangerous and insistent cases, IRA Commanders were ordered to seek instructions from GHQ...")
The reason for the special treatment of female spies was the position which women held in Irish society at this time and the bad publicity which would result from the execution of women who were alleged to be informers or spies.
Killings of that nature caused acute embarrassment locally and at GHQ level to the IRA, and would explain why, between 1919 and 1921, only three women, thankfully, were executed by the IRA - Catherine (Kate/Kitty) Carroll, Bridget Noble and Mary Lindsay.
'SINN FÉIN REPLIES TO MR. HANNA...'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, April 1955.
Their continual efforts to claim the Irish race and nation as British is an indication of their grudging respect and secret admiration for them.
Their determination to hold on to a portion of Irish soil can be explained by the strategic importance of Ireland, but how can we explain their determination to hold on to every individual Irishman (sic) whether he comes from North or South?
This they do even to the extent of regarding them as British citizens with full civic rights once they land in England.
Could the explanation be that they regard the Irish as a superior race - which they undoubtedly are - and, like Irish horses, they like to put the 'British' stamp on them before the world?
Since the point has been raised, however, it may be as well to restate the position in regard to elections as far as Sinn Féin is concerned...
(MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (17TH APRIL) 106 YEARS AGO - 'CONSCRIPTION ; 'THE BLOOD VOTE' - CAMPAIGN FINALISED.
"Why is your face so white, Mother?
Why do you choke for breath?""O I have dreamt in the night, my son
That I doomed a man to death."
"Why do you hide your hand, Mother?
And crouch above it in dread?""It beareth a dreadful branch, my son
With the dead man's blood 'tis red..." (from here.)
In 1916, as Westminster was 'putting down' the Irish for daring to challenge its misrule in Ireland, it found itself under 'attack' on another front - a shortage of military manpower with which to enforce the 'writ' of its 'empire' on a global scale, and the 'solution' it arrived at, in its arrogance, was to introduce conscription on what the 'empire' called its 'mainland' - Britain.
But even that Act didn't supply enough 'cannon fodder' (overall, about 18 million soldiers died and more than 20 million were incapacitated during that conflict) and, two years later, the criteria of those to be conscripted was 'relaxed', meaning that those who 'failed to qualify' in round one now found themselves to be suitable material.
But that wasn't the only change made - there still wasn't enough 'trench fillers' so the British announced that the Irish were to be paid a visit in regards to being given the opportunity (!) to 'serve their empire' and, on the 16th April 1918, conscription was extended to this country (the British 'Military Service Act' was amended to include this country).
An unintended consequence of insisting that the Irish, too, must be allowed to die 'for their empire' was the common ground found between the 'Irish Volunteers', Sinn Féin, Cumann na mBan, the 'Irish Party', the trade union movement and the religious orders, all of whom were, among other groups, opposed to that 'offer' from Westminster and, on the 17th April, 1918 - 106 years ago on this date - the final arrangements for a 'Mansion House Monster Meeting' were confirmed.
On the 18th April 1918, that opposition was shown to have a loud and popular voice by way of a packed meeting held in the Mansion House, in Dublin, organised by the newly-formed 'Irish Anti-Conscription Committee', which attracted about 1,500 people.
The then Westminster-appointed 'Chief Secretary for Ireland', Henry Edward Duke (aka 'the 1st Baron Merrivale') knew that the Irish were not going to go quietly into the trenches, if at all, and contacted his betters in Whitehall and told them that "...it will be impossible in the teeth of the opposition of bishops and politicians to enforce conscription..implementing the measure in the face of such opposition would require more men than would be conscripted.." - that was in early April 1918.
Mr Duke was removed from his job during the first week of May but, by the middle of June that same year, those that had removed him and, indeed, their political bosses in Westminster and Whitehall, realised that he was right and abandoned their intention to force conscription in Ireland.
Incidentally, membership of the IRA increased as a result of the Irish conscription order, but the downside of accepting 'new republicans' into the fold, simply because those new members were opposed to conscription, was recognised by some in the Movement, at the time, but not, unfortunately, by all :
'When the British Government introduced 'The Conscription Bill' on 16th April 1918, recruits flocked to the IRA - the people were scared.
But people have short memories. It was merely a temporary hosting, like that of King Wire's donkey. King Wire was an expert manufacturer of wire goods - muzzles, strainers and the like, who attended every horse fair in the south of Ireland. While he walked through the throng of people and horses, he worked unceasingly with hands and pliers on the roll of wire slung over one shoulder.
When his feet stopped he bought donkeys.
Thus while his eyes surveyed his prospective purchase, and his tongue got busy to bargain with a fine humour, his hands never rested. No donkey on the market went home unsold.
All went into his carelessly-kept herd. One evening in Macroom I remarked to him : "You have a big stock today, King Wire..."
"Most of those will have departed by morning," he replied..' (from this book.)
Hopefully, it won't be too much longer until we're reading about another 'departure', or do some in this country still need to be conscripted by the British before they act to defend themselves and their country?
Because of their 'adventurous' travels (!) throughout the world, the British almost always had an army abroad to feed, as well as those who were still at home because they hadn't yet been sent away to join the 'adventures', so foodstuffs practically became a currency in itself.
In early 1920, the price of most foodstuffs in Ireland increased (not for the first time, by any means!) when Westminster relaxed/withdrew price control structures (which inadvertently (?!) increased supply for armies abroad, for instance...) and, as a result, two of the basics in Ireland - bacon and butter - became practically unaffordable for the citizens.
On the 17th April, 1920, the 'Irish Labour Party And Trade Union Congress', fresh from success at the polls, decided to fight back and the export of certain foodstuffs - such as live pigs, bacon and butter - was banned.
The 'Irish Farmers Union' opened negotiations with the relevant department in London and, on April 20th, the prices of bacon and butter in Ireland were reduced.
The moral of the story is that, while an army 'may march on its stomach', the Irish will march on any army that stomps on its belly!
==========================
"It is not sufficient that these brave men should die, as Thomas Ashe had died, in defence of a principle.
Their deaths must be made agonising and their bodies and souls tortured by the refined brutality of forcible feeding.
Such are the methods a British government has been reduced to in its brutal attempt to destroy the soul and spirit of the Nation..."
-the words of a 'Cork Examiner' newspaper journalist, in 1920, having witnessed three hunger-striking IRA POW's being forcibly removed from Cork Prison to Cork Military Hospital to be force fed.
On the 17th and 18th April, 1920, there were riots in Derry when six political prisoners on hunger-strike were removed from Derry Jail to Wormwood Scrubs Prison in Hammersmith and Fulham, in West London, in England, to be force fed ; one of the prisoners, Maurice Crowe (Adjutant, 4th Battalion, 3rd Tipperary Brigade) was told that he was being moved to be "fed", but such was the outcry that the prison doctors objected and the POW's were then moved to Pembroke Prison.
"We were taken out of the cells where we were and thrown into what are called punishment cells. We were three days on hunger strike at this time and were getting pretty weak. These punishment cells are in the basement, low down. They had not been opened for twenty years, I think. They were very small and close and the dust was thick in them..."
- the words of POW IRA Kerry Commander, Thomas Treacy, who was taken by ship from Belfast Prison to Wormwood Scrubs Prison in April 1920, during the first week of his hunger strike ; he later described the journey as "traumatic - handcuffed in pairs, the republican prisoners suffered from violent seasickness and empty retching..."
On the 15th January, 1920, Donnchadh O' Muireagain (Denis Morgan), a member of Sinn Féin and at the time a teacher of Irish and Mathematics at Thurles Christian Brothers School (CBS) had been elected Chairman of Thurles Urban District Council and was asked, in 1921, to give a statement of evidence to a Washington body, 'The American Commission on Conditions in Ireland'.
Mr Morgan had been incarcerated by the British as a republican prisoner and, while addressing the Commission, spoke about how he and his fellow prisoners had broken down their cell doors at Wormwood Scrubs Prison in protest against the cell doors being locked at night, which prevented the healthier hunger strikers from attending to the weaker hunger strikers -
"We were taken out of the cells where we were and thrown into what are called punishment cells. We were three days on hunger strike at this time and were getting pretty weak. These punishment cells are in the basement, low down. They had not been opened for twenty years, I think. They were very small and close and the dust was thick in them..."
Mr Morgan added that the size of the cells was only twelve foot by eight foot and that the prisoners remained imprisoned there for four days without being offered water to wash with.
As with the on-going struggle and campaign for a full British military and political withdrawal from Ireland, Westminster has always attempted to treat and present the struggle as 'criminal', rather than what it is - political - and have always attempted to portray our political prisoners as 'criminals'.
==========================
A Westminster policy of state-sanctioned terrorism was supported at the highest levels in their political and military administrations, up to and including the British Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, and the Secretary of State for War, Winston Churchill.
The British felt that a policy of 'hard coercion' would turn the people of Ireland against the IRA.
As part of that official policy, on the 17th April, 1920, a gang of RIC men besieged the small Tipperary town of Bouladuff, and raided houses and business premises, all the time firing their weapons.
On the 26th April, they partially wrecked Kilcommon in the same county, on April 27th, after the IRA had captured and then destroyed the RIC barracks at Ballylanders, County Limerick, and seized arms and ammunition, the RIC and the Black and Tans shot up a number of houses in Limerick City and called back on the 1st May and done the same again.
They destroyed a number of houses in Bantry, County Cork, on the 13th May and caused mayhem in Limerick City on the 18th of that month. On the 19th, they revisited Kilcommon, in County Tipperary, and 'shot up the town' again.
==========================
On the 17th April, 1920, between the hours of 12 Midnight and 2am, the (disused Protestant) church in Clarecastle (pictured), south of Ennis, in County Clare, was set on fire by 'persons unknown', using paraffin oil, and the building was destroyed.
The church, St Mary's, was built in 1813 to serve the local Protestant families as well as British soldiers and their families, who were stationed in Clare Castle Barracks.
A meeting of the Roman Catholic parishioners, at which the parish priest, Canon Bourke, presided, was held in the National School on the day after the burning and a resolution was passed "...to place on record our deep sense of horror at the dastardly deed which resulted in the destruction by fire of the Protestant Church in the village.."
Sinn Féin and the IRA were among those who condemned the attack, stating that none of their members or Volunteers were authorised to interfere with the Protestant community in that manner.
£1,000 was paid to the Church Commissioners in compensation but it was decided not to rebuild the Church.
==========================
SO, FAREWELL THEN, CELTIC TIGER....
It had to happen, sooner or later.
Most of the pundits and economists were too busy singing the Celtic Tiger's praises to notice, but a few critical observers worried all along about the weaknesses of a boom economy that depended so much on a few companies from one place - the United States.
By Denis O'Hearn.
From 'Magill' Annual 2002.
As a result, the share of US-based firms in industrial investment rose from a third in 1990 to two-thirds in 1998.
The 'Celtic Tiger' comprised two distinct stories - rising investments by US companies and stagnating investments by Irish firms ; economic growth was concentrated in the three US-dominated sectors of computers, electronic engineering and pharmaceuticals.
These three sectors alone (not including software-related services and teleservices) accounted for 78 per cent of industrial growth (including construction) in 1998, 85 per cent in 1999 and 84 per cent in 2000.
They were the only sectors in the whole economy that exceeded the average GDP growth rate of 6.3 per cent during the 1990's, growing annually by about 15 per cent...
(MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (17TH APRIL) 84 YEARS AGO : FUNERAL ARRANGEMENT FINALISED FOR GALWAY HUNGER-STRIKER.
Galway IRA man and Officer Commanding of the IRA Western Command at the time, Tony Darcy, who began his hunger strike on 25th February 1940 and died on 16th April, in St Bricins (Free State) military hospital in Dublin, after 52 days on hunger strike.
Tony Darcy was sentenced to three months imprisonment for refusing to either account for his movements or give his name and address when arrested by Free Staters at an IRA meeting in Dublin.
The POW's went on hunger strike after Meath IRA man, Nick Doherty, was imprisoned on the criminal wing in Mountjoy Jail and a request to transfer him to join his political comrades in Arbour Hill Jail was refused by the Staters. One week into the protest, the prison authorities made a move to take the IRA OC of the prisoners, Seán McNeela, for 'trial' before the 'Special Criminal Court' but he refused to go with them.
Barricades were built and D-Wing was secured as best as possible by the IRA prisoners and they were soon attacked by armed Special Branch men, backed-up by the Dublin Metropolitan Police. Amongst the casualties were McNeela and Darcy, both of whom were beaten unconscious and suffered wounds that were never allowed to heal.
This account of that period, by Michael Traynor, was submitted for the public record by Carmel McNeela, widow of Paddy McNeela and sister-in-law of Seán McNeela :
(Michael Traynor, Adjutant-General, IRA at the time of his arrest in February 1940, endured hunger strike with Seán McNeela, Tony Darcy, Tomás Mac Curtáin, Jack Plunkett and Tommy Grogan) :
"When Seán McNeela became CS (Chief of Staff) of the IRA in 1938 he immediately appointed Jack McNeela OC (Officer Commanding) Great Britain with the particular task of putting the organisation there on a war footing and amassing explosives and preparing for the forthcoming bombing campaign.
After a few months of tense activity Jack was arrested and sentenced to nine months imprisonment. He returned to Ireland in 1939 and was appointed Director of Publicity. Jack was very disappointed with this appointment. He said he knew nothing about publicity and would have preferred some task, no matter how humble which would have kept him in contact with the rank and file Volunteers.
However Publicity had to be organised and Jack threw himself to the job with zeal and energy. After two months, out of nothing, Jack had his Publicity Department functioning perfectly. Writers were instructed and put to work, office staff organised, radio technicians got into harness.
Another big disappointment at this time for Jack was the instructions he received about the raid on the Magazine Fort. He nearly blew up when he was told that he could not take part in the operation, that HQ staff could not afford to lose more than the QMG and the AG if the operation failed. He was a man of action and wanted to be with his comrades in time of danger.
He repeatedly requested the AG for permission to take part in the operation but without success. But Jack was there, orders or no orders, and he did about ten men’s work in the taking of the fort and the loading of the ammunition. He was a very pleased man that night, for he, like all the rest of the members of GHQ knew that this ammunition was necessary to the success of the Army’s attack on the Border, which was planned to take place in the following spring.
He was arrested about three weeks later with members of the Radio Broadcast Staff and lodged in Mountjoy jail.
He was OC of the prisoners when I arrived in the middle of February 1940. Tomás Mac Curtáin was there, and Tony Darcy, who was a very great personal friend of Jack's, so was Jack Plunkett and Tommy Grogan. I was about a week in jail, life was comparatively quiet, great speculation was going on as to what would happen to the men arrested in connection with the raid on the Magazine Fort.
The crisis developed when Nicky Doherty, of Julianstown, Co Meath was sentenced to five years penal servitude. Instead of being transferred to Arbour Hill (where other Republican prisoners had political status), Nicky was lodged in the criminal section of Mountjoy Jail.
Jack, being OC of Republican Prisoners, interviewed the governor of the jail and requested that Nicky be transferred to Arbour Hill on the grounds that he was a political prisoner and that it was unjust and unchristian to attempt to degrade and classify as criminal a Republican soldier. The request was ignored.
Jack and his prison council met to consider the situation : it was decided that a demand was necessary and with the demand for justice went the ultimatum that if he refused a number of prisoners (who were still untried) would go on hunger strike until the demand was accepted. A short time limit was set, but the demand was also ignored.
Jack, I remember well, was very insistent that the issue should be kept clear and simple. The hunger strike was a protest against the attempted degradation of Republican soldiers. There was no other question or issue involved. A simple demand for justice and decency. Seven men volunteered to go on hunger strike and when the time limit [February 25, 1940] of the ultimatum expired they refused to eat any food, although tempting parcels of food kept arriving every day from their relatives and friends.
It was felt by the men on hunger strike that the struggle would be either a speedy victory or a long, long battle, with victory or death at the end. It was victory and death for Jack McNeela and Tony Darcy.
Seven days after the commencement of the hunger strike Special Branch policemen came to take Jack to Collins Barracks for trial before the 'Special Criminal (or was it the Military) Court'. Jack refused to go with them. They told him they’d take him by force. They went away for reinforcements.
A hasty meeting of the Prisoners’ Council was held. They felt it was unjust to take Jack for trial while he was on hunger strike, and that everything possible should be done to prevent the hunger strikers from being separated. Barricades were hastily erected in the D-Wing of the jail. Beds, tables and mattresses were piled on top of each other ; all the food was collected and put into a common store and general preparations made to resist removal of Jack, their OC.
A large contingent of the DMP arrived together with the Special Branch at full strength. The DMP men charged the barricades with batons ; the Special Branch men kept to the rear and looked on while the DMP men were forced to retire by prisoners with legs of stairs. Several charges were made but without success. Some warders and a few policemen suffered minor injuries. The governor of the jail came down to the barricade and asked the prisoners to surrender. They greeted him with jeers and booing.
After some time the DMP men returned, armed with shovel shafts about six feet long, hoping with their superior weapons to subdue the prisoners. After several charges and some tough hand-to-hand fighting the policemen again retired. The most effective weapon possessed by the prisoners was a quantity of lime, liquefied by some Mayo men, and flung in the faces of the charging DMP men. It was reminiscent off the Land League days and the evictions.
Finally the fire hydrants were brought into use and the force of the water from these hoses broke down everything before them. The barricade was toppled over and the prisoners, drenched to the skin, could not resist the powers of water at pressure ; they were forced to take cover in the cells. I got into a cell with Tony Darcy and Jack McNeela. We closed the door. After a few minutes the door was burst open and in rushed about five huge DMP men swinging their batons in all directions.
Tony, standing under the window facing the door, put up his hand but he was silenced by a blow of a baton across the face that felled him senseless. Jack was pummelled across the cell by blow after blow. Blood teemed from his face and head. These wounds on Jack and Tony never healed until they died.
It lasted only a few brief minutes, this orgy of sadistic vengeance, and then we were carried and flung into solitary confinement. Jack was taken away that evening and tried and sentenced by the Special Court. The next time I saw Tony and Jack was in the sick bay in Arbour Hill. Jack Plunkett was also there with them. We exchanged experiences after the row in the 'Joy'.
Day followed day, I cannot remember any particular incident, except that regularly three times a day an orderly arrived with our food, which we of course refused to take. We were by now nursing our strength realising that this was a grim struggle, a struggle to the death. We jokingly made forecasts of who would be the first to die.
Jack was almost fanatic about speaking Gaelic. Most of our conversation while in the Hill was in Gaelic. Tony used to laugh at my funny accent. While he couldn’t speak Gaelic he understood perfectly well all that was said and sometimes threw in a remark to the conversation. When conversation was general, English was the medium. Jack Plunkett didn't know any Gaelic at all. We were in the best of spirits. Rumours filtered through to us, I don’t know how, because we were very strictly isolated from the rest of the Republican prisoners in the Hill.
We heard that one of our comrades had broken the hunger strike at the Joy ; we didn't hear the name for a few days. The report was confirmed, we were inclined to be annoyed, but we agreed that it was better for the break to come early than late. It had no demoralising effect.
After Jack was arrested all the books he had bought (mostly Gaelic) were sent into the Joy. He intended to make good use of his spell of imprisonment. He kept requesting the Governor of the Hill to have them sent to him. After about three weeks a few tattered and water-sodden books were brought to him, all that remained of his little library, the others had been trampled and destroyed by the police in Mountjoy. Jack was vexed. He hadn’t smoked, nor taken drink and every penny he had went to the purchase of these books that he loved.
We were, during all this time, as happy as men could be. In spite of imprisonment and all that it means we were not all despondent nor feeling like martyrs. Everyday, we reviewed our position ; what we had done, our present state of health, the prospect of success. The conclusion we came to was that de Valera, Boland and Co had decided to gamble with us – to wear us out in the hope that we would break and therefore demoralise all our comrades and if we didn’t break, to give political treatment to all IRA prisoners when we were in the jaws of death.
The issue, as we saw it, was of vital importance to us, but of practically no consequence to the Fianna Fáil regime. We knew of course that de Valera and the Fianna Fáil party hated the IRA, because we were a reminder of their broken pledged to the people.
On the eve of St Patrick's Day we were removed to St Bricin's military hospital. A few days later Tomás Mac Curtáin and Tommy Grogan joined us. We were terribly disappointed with their report from the 'Joy'. The men who had been sentenced were accepting criminal status instead of refusing to work as they had been instructed to do ; that is another story, although it led directly to the death of Seán McCaughey six years later in Portlaoise jail.
We were in a small hospital ward. Three beds on each side, occupied by six hungry men and every day was a hungry day. Every evening each of us would give the description of the meal he would like most, or the meal he had enjoyed most. Salmon and boxty loomed large in Jack’s menu.
About this time we began to count the days that we could possibly live. The doctors who examined us, sometimes three times a day, told us that we had used up all our reserves and were living on our nerves ; they tried to frighten us, assuring us that if we didn't come off the hunger strike our health would be ruined. We all agreed among ourselves that the doctors were actuated by purely humane motives, although their advice if acted on by us would have been very satisfactory to their employers.
After 50 days on hunger strike we were unable to get out of bed, or rather the strain of getting up was too great an expenditure of energy, which we were determined to husband carefully.
We did not see any change on each other. The change came so imperceptibly day after day. Jack, lying in the next bed to me, seemed to be the same big robust man that I had known before we were arrested, yet, we each were failing away. The doctors and nurses were very kind. We were rubbed with spirit and olive oil to prevent bedsores ; all our joints and bony places were padded with cotton wool, for by now the rubbing of one finger against another was painful. None of us could read anymore, our sight had lost focus and concentration on material objects had become difficult.
We were face to face with death ; but no one flinched or if he did he prayed to God for strength and courage.
On the 54th night of the strike, about midnight, Tony cried out (we were all awake) : "Jack, I'm dying." We all knew that it was so. Jack replied, "I’m coming, Tony". I felt, and I’m sure Jack and the others felt also, that getting out of bed and walking across the room to Tony would mean death to Jack also.
As well as I remember Mac Curtáin, Plunkett, Grogan and myself appealed to Jack not to get out of bed. But Tony's cry pierced Jack's heart deeper than ours so he got up and staggered across the room to his friend and comrade. Later that night Tony was taken out to a private ward. We never saw him again. He died the following night. A great and staunch and unflinching soldier and comrade ; oh that Ireland had twenty thousand as honourable and fearless as he.
The day following Tony's removal from the ward, Jack's uncle, Mick Kilroy, late Fianna Fáil TD, came to see Jack.
Alas, he didn’t come to give a kinsman's help, but attacked Jack for "daring to embarrass de Valera" the "heaven-sent leader" by such action and demanded that Jack give up his hunger strike at once. Jack’s temper rose and had he been capable of rising would have thrown him out. He ordered him out of the room, so did we all.
It was the first time in 56 days that we felt enraged at anything. The brutal treatment of the police after seven days' hunger strike was trivial in comparison to this outrage. The next day Jack was taken out of the ward. We never saw him again.
A few hours after his removal we received a communication from the Chief of Staff IRA. The following is an extract:
'April 19, 1940.
To the men on hunger strike in St Bricin's Hospital :
The Army Council and the Nation impressed with the magnitude of your self-sacrifice wish to convey to you the desire that if at all consistent with your honour as soldiers of the Republic you would be spared to resume your great work in another form. We are given to understand that the cause you went on strike has been won and that your jailers are now willing to concede treatment becoming soldiers of the Republic.
In these circumstances if you are satisfied with the assurances given you – you will earn still more fully the gratitude of the people – relinquishing the weapon which has already caused so much suffering and has resulted in the death of a gallant comrade.'
Jack had requested confirmation from HQ of the assurances given to us by Fr O'Hare, a Carmelite Father from Whitefriars Street, Dublin. Fr O'Hare had interviewed Mr Boland, the Minister for Justice in the Free State government and received his assurances that all Republican prisoners would get political treatment.
Naturally we did not want to die, but we could not accept any verbal assurance so we felt that written confirmation by our Chief of Staff was necessary. When the confirmation arrived Jack was out in the private ward. I was acting OC. We were reluctant, the four of who remained, to come off the hunger strike, with Tony dead and Jack at death's door.
Yet we had the instruction from HQ that our demands were satisfied. The doctors assured us that if the strike ended Jack had a 50-50 chance of living so I gave the order that ended the strike. I believe the doctors worked feverishly to save Jack's life, but in vain. Jack McNeela, our OC and comrades, died that night and joined the host of the elected who died that Ireland and all her sons and daughters would be free from the chains of British Imperialism and happy in the working out of their own destiny."
NOTES: Nicky Doherty was found in possession of a quantity of ammunition seized in the raid on the Magazine Fort. He remained an active Volunteer until his death at an early age in the mid-1950s.
Criminal section of Mountjoy : This was A-Wing. The Republicans on remand were housed in D-Wing. On sentence they were usually sent to Arbour Hill.
Governor of the jail : Seán Kavanagh, a former Republican prisoner himself during the Tan War.
DMP: Dublin Metropolitan Police, originally a separate force from the RIC. They were kept on after the Treaty and amalgamated with the Gardaí in 1925. They made a deal with the IRA in 1919 not to engage in 'military activities' and were removed from the list of legitimate targets. "G" Division, or Special Branch were not excluded. In 1940 they supplied the Riot Squad for Mountjoy.
Tony Darcy, Headford, Co Galway, died April 16th 1940. He was OC Western Command, IRA at the time of his arrest.
Seán McNeela, Ballycroy, Co Mayo, died April 19th 1940.
From 1940 to 1947, sixteen Republican prisoners were sent to Portlaoise prison where they were denied political status. For all seven years they were naked, except for the prison blanket. For three years of this they were also in solitary confinement.
Finally - writing about the funerals of Tony Darcy and Seán McNeela , Brian Ó hÚiginn stated : "Hundreds of uniformed and plain-clothes police were sent into the two graveyards, while soldiers in full war-kit were posted behind walls and trees in surrounding fields, and armoured cars patrolled the roads...the lowest depths of vindictive pettiness was reached when mourners on their way to Seán MacNeela's funeral were stopped by armed police and their cars and persons searched....even when they reached the cemetery many were locked out - the gates were locked - and those attempting to enter were attacked....."
That was 1940, this was 2013 - the 'establishment' harasses those it fears, even in death, and wines and dines those it has purchased even though they, too, are 'dead' : morally and spiritually.
BEIR BUA...
The Thread of the Irish Republican Movement from The United Irishmen through to today.
Republicanism in history and today.
Published by the James Connolly/Tommy O'Neill Cumann, Republican Sinn Féin, The Liberties, Dublin.
August 1998.
('1169' comment - 'Beir Bua' translates as 'Grasp Victory' in the English language.)
ROBERT EMMET AND THE IRELAND OF TODAY...
"Having its root in all gentleness, in a man's love for the place where his mother bore him, for the breast that gave him suck, for the voices of children that sounded in a house now silent, for the faces that glowed around a fireside now cold, for the story told by lips that will not speak again, having its root, I say, in all gentleness, it is yet a terrible thing urging the generations to perilous bloody attempts, nerving men to give up life for the death-in-life of dungeons, teaching little boys to die with laughing lips, giving courage to young girls to bare their backs to the lashes of a soldiery.
It is easy to imagine how the spirit of Irish patriotism called to the gallant and adventurous spirit of Tone or moved the wrathful spirit of Mitchell.
In them deep called unto deep : heroic effort claimed the heroic man. But consider how the call was made to a spirit of different, yet not less noble mould ; and how it was answered.
In Emmet it called to a dreamer and he awoke a man of action ; it called to a student and a recluse and he stood forth a leader of men ; it called to one who loved the ways of peace and he became a revolutionary. I wish I could help you to realise, I wish I could myself adequately realise, the humanity, the gentle and grave humanity, of Emmet.
We are so dominated by the memory of that splendid death of his, by the memory of that young figure, serene and smiling, climbing to the gallows above that sea of silent men in Thomas Street, that we forget the life of which that death was only the necessary completion : and the life has perhaps a nearer meaning for us than the death..."
(MORE LATER.)
In around December, 1920, John Cyril MacDonald (28), a single man from Number 31 Whirring Stone Road, Fulham, in London, decided to leave the British Army and join the RIC in Cork, Ireland.
He was 'put to work' in Union Quay Barracks, in Cork City, and quickly made a name for himself in Irish republican circles as "a particularly obnoxious individual" but, apparently, some of the local ladies thought that he cut a sharp figure in his uniform and, being young, single and paid about 23 shillings a week, he caught the eye of one girl in particular, and they became a couple.
On the 17th April, 1921, he was on a day off and himself and the girlfriend got suited-up and headed off to visit a friend of theirs.
The couple were walking in Cove Street, in Cork City, near the entrance to Saint Nicholas Church, not minding the two men who were walking towards them, on their way to Barracks Street.
One of those men grabbed Mr MacDonald by his arms and forced them behind his back ; his companion moved just as quickly and removed the RIC-issue revolver from the trapped man's holster and pointed his IRA-issue revolver at the RIC man's head ; he struggled, but the gun was fired and the round hit him in his lower jaw, fracturing it, and entering the spine at his neck.
Mr MacDonald fell to the ground, badly wounded, and a number of other shots were fired at him, none of which hit him.
The two IRA Volunteers then hurried away from the scene and the girlfriend, understandably shocked, helped him to a house, a few yards away, and then she ran to the fire station on nearby Sullivan's Quay to summon an ambulance.
Mr MacDonald was rushed to Cork Military Hospital, attended to as best as possible, and placed in a ward for observation ; he was weak, but was able to tell a patient in the ward (another RIC member, by chance) what had happened -
"(I) was walking along with a girl friend when two men jumped on my back, pinned my arms behind me, and took my revolver away from me...another civilian stood by pointing a revolver, but I tried to knock it away and, in doing so, I was shot in the face. I collapsed on the ground, and the civilians fired shots all round my head, but none took effect..."
Mr MacDonald died from his injuries on the 22nd April 1921.
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On the 17th April, 1921, a pedestrian in Dublin, Bride Glynn, was killed by an RIC vehicle near her house, at the junction of Ailesbury Road and Merrion Road in Dublin, and a British Army vehicle, carrying members of 'Q Company' of the Auxiliaries, was attacked by six IRA men from the 2nd Battalion, Dublin Brigade IRA, led by Captain James Foley, at Eden Quay in Dublin ; there were no fatalities, but one Auxiliary was wounded.
On the same day, the 'Shannon View Hotel' in Castleconnell, in County Limerick, was open for business and was trading to the public as best it could, in the times that were in it - the owner, a Mr Denis O'Donovan, was working in the premises, helping to serve food and drink, and chatting to the customers.
Among those he probably served a few drinks to were three 'off-duty' (!) RIC members, in plain clothes, but still armed, enjoying their 'official day off' but, as always, keeping their eyes and ears opened for anything of interest to them in relation to Sinn Féin or IRA talk or personnel.
Suddenly, a gang of armed men in plain clothes burst in to the hotel - about a dozen of them - and people scattered as, indeed, did Mr O'Donovan and, probably thinking that it was an IRA ASU coming for them, the three 'off-duty' RIC members, with their revolvers drawn, legged it, too.
But the raiders were all members of 'G Company' of the British Auxiliaries, based in Killaloe, not IRA Volunteers, but they, in turn - on seeing three armed men in plain clothes on the premises - thought that they were three IRA men, and chaos ensued...
'3 RIC men in civilian clothes were drinking in the Shannon View Hotel, 12 Auxiliaries in civilian clothes raided the hotel. There is some disagreement in the reports as to what actually happened.
Pringle was shot apparently by one of the RIC men who fired out into the yard, and the RIC man was shot inside the bar itself. Three civilians ran out into the yard, the hotel owner and two of the RIC men.
The Auxiliary commander says one then turned and ran back toward the hotel, and was hit (this was O’Donovan the hotel owner, who was dead), the other two put their hands up and surrendered (the RIC men, one had been wounded)...' (...more here.)
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On the 17th April, 1922, as IRA Volunteer Michael MacGreal was working on a car engine, he accidentally discharged his own revolver and died from the wound.
Volunteer MacGreal was a native of Craughwell, in County Galway, and was employed in Liptons Shop in Ennis, County Clare. He was a Volunteer in the Ennis Company IRA, and was active in the ASU of the 1st Battalion of that Company, which seen action during the Black and Tan War.
RIP Volunteer MacGreal.
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'The Belfast Newsletter' newspaper was first printed in 1737 and had a somewhat nationalist/republican feel to it, but changed hands a number of times over the centuries and changed/softened its political leanings, too.
On the 17th April, 1922, it opined that, due to continued and increasing IRA activity, the Occupied Six Counties may have to become the Occupied Four Counties instead!
In an 'Editorial' piece, the 'Newsletter' stated that 'For the sake of peace, Fermanagh and Tyrone (may have to) agree to inclusion in Southern Ireland which would render the position of the other four counties perilous, if not untenable, and would be a long step in the direction of a united Ireland...'
Would have been a step in the right direction, definitely, had it happened, but only one such step in that which is required - 'Damn your concessions, England (and 'Newsletter') : we want our Country...' !
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Thanks for the visit, and for reading - appreciated!
Sharon and the team.
