85th Anniversary of Poulacapple killing .*
20 April, 1923 : Frank Aiken is elected IRA Chief of Staff.
22 April, 1923 : Free State troops surround Frank Aiken, Paidrag Quinn and Sean Quinn, the leaders of the Anti-Treaty forces in the Dundalk area, in a safe house in Castlebellingham. A firefight breaks out in which the two Quinns are wounded - Sean mortally - and subsequently captured. In the confusion, Aiken manages to slip away....
Between the IRA election of Frank Aiken and the Castlebellingham incident (ie on 21 April 1923) IRA Captain Martin Hogan , from Dromineer in County Tipperary , was killed in action in Poulacapple , Tipperary .*
A commemoration in honour of Captain Hogan , organised by the Liam Mellows Cumann of Republican Sinn Fein (Dublin north inner city) will be held on Sunday , 20 April 2008 , at 3pm : those attending are asked to assemble opposite Whitehall Bingo Hall (Buses 16 or 16A from Dublin City Centre).
Sharon.
(*There are conflicting reports on where exactly Captain Mártan Ó hÓgáin was done to death by Free Staters : some reports have it that he was killed in action in Poulacapple , Tipperary, whilst others state that he was killed on the Gracepark Road in Whitehall, Dublin , on the spot marked by the above-pictured commemorative stone. It was common practice then for the Staters to 'lift' republicans off the street , torture and interrogate them before killing them and dumping their bodies in an area hundreds of miles away from where they were born. However - the commemoration is going ahead as outlined above)