On March 6th, 1923 (101 years ago on this date), five Free State soldiers - Captain Michael Dunne, Dublin, Captain Edward ('Joseph') Stapleton from Dublin, Lieutenant Patrick O’Connor from Castleisland, Private Laurence O’Connor from Causeway and Private Michael Galvin from Killarney - were killed in Knocknagoshel in County Kerry, by a booby trap mine placed by the IRA.
The target of the trap was a local Free Stater by the name of Paddy 'Pats' O'Connor who, according to the IRA, was a notorious torturer of republican prisoners.
Mr O'Connor had joined the Free State army because of the treatment of his father by the local IRA.
The Dublin Guards, who had been in Kerry since the previous August, were commanded by Paddy O'Daly. He was furious over the booby trap and it subsequently became clear that he was responsible for what took place following the Knocknagoshel incident ; at around 2am on March 7th, 1923, nine IRA prisoners, many of whom had been tortured, were brought to Ballyseedy Wood where they were told that they were to remove an 'irregular' (ie IRA) road block.
However, it was clear to the men what was in store for them when they had been shown 9 coffins in the barracks. Each were offered a cigarette and told it would be the last one any of them will have. They were then tied together to the mined road-block and blown up. Some of the men were still alive and were finished off by grenade and machine gun.
Unbeknownst to the Free State troops one man was blown clear and managed to escape.
His name was Stephen Fuller (who was later to turn his back on Irish republicanism to become a FF 'TD' in 1937). Because the bodies were so badly mangled all nine coffins were filled with the remains of the eight who perished.
This was to lead to a near riot in Tralee when the coffins were handed over to the families at the gates of Ballymullen barracks. The families broke open the coffins to try and identify the remains.
Later on the same day a very similar incident took place at Countess Bridge in Killarney where five IRA prisoners where asked to remove a mined road block which was also blown up. Three of the men who lay wounded were finished off by grenade. Again, amazingly, a fifth man, Tadhg Coffey, survived and escaped.
Five days later 5 more men were killed near Bahaghs Workhouse in Cahersiveen.
In order to prevent any more escapes the men were first shot in the legs, then put over a mine and blown up.
When the details slowly emerged about what happened the Free State government was forced to call an inquiry into the executions and, in April, 1923, appointed none other than Major General Paddy O'Daly to oversee the 'court of inquiry'.
It was never going to be anything other than a whitewash.
One Free State soldier, Lieutenant McCarthy, resigned his commission after the incident and called his colleagues "a murder gang". Captain Niall Harrington (author of the 'Kerry Landings' book) of the Dublin Brigade reported that "..the mines used in the slaughter of the prisoners were constructed in Tralee under the supervision of two senior Dublin Guards officers..".
But neither he nor Free State Lieutenant McCarthy was ever called to testify, but the truth became known later.
1924 : REPUBLICAN-GAMEKEEPERS-TURNED-FS POACHERS TURN POACHERS ON THEIR NEW COMRADES...
When the IRA ordered its Volunteers to 'Dump Arms' (officially on the 24th May 1923, but the Staters knew it was about to happen), the politicians in Leinster House saw the opportunity to put more money into their own coffers by reducing their military force(s) by at least 30,000 operatives (including 2,200 officers) by the end of March 1924.
They knew that many of their newest recruits were 'unsuitable material for a full-time professional (!) army' as they were badly trained and undisciplined, and talk of enforced/compulsory/mandatory redundancies was widespread.
Charlie Dalton (top pic) and Liam Tobin (bottom pic) were two IRA Volunteers who accepted the 'Treaty of Surrender' and donned a Free State Army uniform.
They were both evidently unhappy with their personal progress in and through their Free State system as, indeed, were dozens of other ex-republican gamekeepers so, in February/early March 1924, they planned a coup against their Leinster House political and military regime which, as they knew, was about to downsize its military requirements.
On the 6th/7th of March, 1924, between 50 and 90 FSA Officers abandoned their posts, seized weaponry - ammunition, Lewis guns, grenades and revolvers - and, led by Mr Tobin and Mr Dalton, attempted to hold the Free State entity as a 'hostage' - the IRA were both bemused and amused at their antics!
The Free State/anti Free State 'mutineers' (!) delivered their 'ultimatum' to the Free State 'President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State' (1922-1932), a Mr Liam Cosgrave -
Mar-06-1924.
'To President Liam Cosgrave.
Sir,
On behalf of the I.R.A. Organisation we have been instructed to present the following Ultimatum to the Government of Saorstát Eireann.
Briefly, our position is this :—
The I.R.A. only accepted the Treaty as a means of achieving its objects, namely, to secure and maintain a Republican form of Government in this country.
After many months of discussion with your Government it is our considered opinion that your Government has not those objects in view, and that their policy is not reconcilable with the Irish people's acceptance of the Treaty.
Furthermore, our interpretation of the Treaty was that expressed by the late Commander-in-Chief, General Michael Collins, when he stated :
"I have taken an oath of allegiance to the Irish Republic and that oath I will keep, Treaty or no Treaty."
We claim Michael Collins as our leader, and again remind you that even after the Treaty was signed, that drastic action was taken against enemies of the unity and complete independence of our country. Both in oath and honour bound, it is our duty to continue his policy, and therefore present this Ultimatum to which we require a reply by 12 noon, 10th March, 1924.
We demand a conference with representatives of your Government to discuss our interpretation of the Treaty on the following conditions :—
(a) The removal of the Army Council.
(b) The immediate suspension of Army demobilisation and re-organisation.
In the event of your Government rejecting these proposals we will take such action that will make clear to the Irish people that we are not renegades or traitors to the ideals that induced them to accept the Treaty.
Our Organisation fully realises the seriousness of the action that we may be compelled to take, but we can no longer be party to the treachery that threatens to destroy the aspirations of the Nation.
LIAM TOBIN, Major-General, President of the Executive Council.
C.F. DALTON, Col., Secretary to Executive Council.'
On the 7th March, 1924, the 'Executive Council of the Free State Government' ordered the arrest of Mr Tobin and Mr Dalton but, despite searches, they eluded arrest, and the mutiny was quashed by the Free Strate 'Director of Intelligence', Michael Costello, but Richard Mulcahy and the FS Army Council were forced to resign.
Such a pity they weren't as efficient against the British...
'SINN FÉIN NOTES...'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, April 1955.
Arrangements have been made by the Jackie Griffith and the Austin Stack Cumann, Dublin, to hold conventions for the selection of their candidates.
Tom Keena has been selected by the Barnes and McCormack Cumann, Clara, County Offaly, as their candidate for Offaly County Council, and the Drogheda and Dundalk Urban Councils and Louth County Council are being contested also, but arrangements have not yet been made for the selection of candidates.
(END of 'Sinn Féin Notes' ; NEXT - 'Sinn Féin Replies To Mr. Hanna', from the same source.)
Betweem the 6th March 1919 and the 10th March 1919, Sinn Féin prisoners held by Westminster in English jails were released, as the severe outbreak of influenza in England worried the political leadership there to the extent that Irish political figures dying in English jails would have reflected in a bad way on the English political leadership (ie 'let them die in Ireland, not England'!)
A Sinn Féin MP, Mr Pierce McCan, had already died from the flu in British custody (he died on the 6th of March, 1919, and was buried in Dualla, Cashel, County Tipperary, on the 9th of March) and it wasn't 'a good look' on the world stage for Westminster.
Eleven of the released prisoners (among their number was Seamus O'Neill of Tipperary, Michael Fleming from Kerry, and Art O'Connor, from Celbridge, in County Kildare) were too ill from the flu to travel and had to convalesce in England until they got their strength back.
On the 4th March that year, Westminster had made the decision to remove the prisoners from their own country, to Ireland, and those released included Arthur Griffith, William T Cosgrave, Darrell Figgis and Constance Markievicz.
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ON THIS DATE (6TH MARCH) 106 YEARS AGO : "IRELAND IN DEFENCE OF THE EMPIRE...".
The test has come sooner than I, or anyone, expected.
I tell the Prime Minister that that test will be honourably met.
I say for myself, that I would feel myself personally dishonoured if I did not say to my fellow countrymen, as I say today to them here, and as I will say from the public platform when I go back to Ireland, that it is their duty, and should be their honour, to take their place in the firing line in this contest..."
- John Redmond, from here.
Mr Redmond, the leader of the 'Irish Parliamentary Party', was born into a 'Big House'-type Catholic family on the 1st September in 1856 and, after a 'proper' education (in Clongowes College in Kildare and Trinity College in Dublin) he became a political 'player' in the British so-called 'House of Commons', where he supplemented his income as a clerk.
He was only 25 years-of-age when he was first elected as an MP, having worked his way up the establishment ladder, and was elected as the leader of the 'Irish Party' on the 6th February, 1900.
He was an Irish nationalist (small 'n') politician who, occasionally, campaigned for his followers (and anyone else that would listen to him) to join the British Army in its fight against Germany, and did so infamously, and unashamedly, in a public speech he delivered in Woodenbridge in County Wicklow on the 20th September in 1914, where he stated -
"The interests of Ireland - of the whole of Ireland - are at stake in this war. This war is undertaken in the defence of the highest principles of religion and morality and right, and it would be a disgrace for ever to our country and a reproach to her manhood and a denial of the lessons of her history if young Ireland confined their efforts to remaining at home to defend the shores of Ireland from an unlikely invasion, and to shrinking from the duty of proving on the field of battle that gallantry and courage which has distinguished our race all through its history.
I say to you, therefore, your duty is twofold.
I am glad to see such magnificent material for soldiers around me, and I say to you : 'Go on drilling and make yourself efficient for the work, and then account yourselves as men, not only for Ireland itself, but wherever the fighting line extends, in defence of right, of freedom, and religion in this war..".
And, unfortunately, in the months that followed his 'call to arms', tens of thousands of Irishmen joined his 'Cause' and fought alongside imperialism to the extent that one of his modern-day political mirror-images (..who called for Irish people to join and support the British 'police force' in Ireland!) all but called Redmond a traitor for encouraging such folly.
Other political leaders did not agree with John Redmond and, among them, was James Connolly, the Irish Trade Union leader, who was also in command of the Irish Citizen Army - he answered Redmond's call thus :
'Full steam ahead, John Redmond said,
that everything was well, chum ;
Home Rule will come when we are dead,
and buried out in Belgium'.
Also, some of John Redmond's own men disagreed with his pro-British 'call-to-arms' ; Eoin MacNeill, who was then in a leadership position within the 'Irish Volunteers', was of the opinion that the 'Irish Volunteers' should only use force against the British if* Westminster first moved against them ; a bit 'watery', definitely, but he was, however, against fighting with the British (*if having your country occupied by a foreign power cannot be considered a 'first move against us' then Mr MacNeill had a different understanding of the English language than we have!).
Just over a year after Mr Redmond had delivered his 'join imperialism'-speech in Woodenbridge, a British Army Major-General, 'Sir' Lovick Bransby Friend (..perhaps his parents never bonded with him?) the Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in Ireland, said that 1,100 recruits were needed from Ireland every week "to replace wastage" (!) of existing Irish soldiers.
The comments were made at a private conference on recruiting in Ireland that was held under the presidency of the 'Lord' Lieutenant of Ireland, Lord Wimborne, at the Viceregal Lodge in Dublin's Phoenix Park, where it was also stated that approximately 81,000 Irishmen had 'heeded Redmond's call-to-arms'.
The political mirror-image, mentioned above, had a point : if a call to assist the foe comes from 'the right quarters', it will - unfortunately - be heeded by those who should know better.
Anyway : the 'fight-for-England-for-Ireland' man died on the 6th March 1918 - 106 years ago on this date - after a medical operation that month to remove an intestinal obstruction ; the operation appeared to progress well at first, but then he suffered heart failure and died a few hours later at a London nursing home.
But his party lived on, albeit with a name change..!
In the 1920's in Ireland, the pro-British 'police force', the 'Royal Irish Constabulary' (RIC), were continuing to come under pressure from the public and their representatives in the IRA, and they were forced to abandon barracks and headquarters in, for instance, Maynooth, Leixlip, Kilcock, Carbury, Rathangan and Robertstown, in County Kildare.
This was on top of the problems they were facing from early retirements, resignations and morale issues, leaving the RIC drained of members and bereft of enthusiasm.
On the 6th March, 1920, the RIC barracks in Leixlip, in County Kildare, was abandoned/evacuated by the 'police force', the 'Sergeant' there was transferred to Maynooth and his fellow members were put into whatever other barracks that were still standing in that county - the barracks in Celbridge, for instance, received most of those rejects, as it was a heavily fortified building overlooking the River Liffey, giving it some degree of safety and, by the summer of 1920, it was the only RIC barracks remaining open in North Kildare.
Indeed, as the RIC were packing up their ill-gotten gains in Leixlip on the 6th March, their colleagues in Doon Barracks, in County Limerick, were coming under attack by the IRA.
No rest for the wicked, you might say..!
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"Redouble your energies. Remember these amounts were not realised by any magic formulae, they are the results of hard work and ceaseless endeavour.
Gold is once and a half as useful to us as English paper currency. When dealing with such a country as America, gold is as valuable as it formerly was.."
- Michael Collins, 6th March, 1920, in a letter he dispatched to Sinn Féin officers for distribution to all involved in the 'Dáil Loan' campaign.
In his letter, Mr Collins stated that £98,124 had been received so far, which was short of the target, and he praised some constituencies (such as West Limerick and Mid-Cork) for their fund-raising activities.
A businessman, Mr Batt O'Connor, used his connections to acquire gold for the Fund, as did other business owners (such as Oliver St John Gogarty) and operatives (like Dáithí Ó Donnchadha [Daithi O’Donoghue] and Peter Corrigan) were tasked with keeping the financials safe from the British, which they did - the collected gold was brought to Mr O'Donoghue who put them in small tobacco tins and, when full, those tins contained either £250 or £500 worth of gold coin.
Full tins were brought by Mr O'Donoghue to Corrigan's Undertakers in Camdem Street, in Dublin, where Peter Corrigan buried them at the back of his premises. Men (and women) like Mr O'Donoghue and Mr Corrigan are the unsung heroes of that period in our history.
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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.
An alternative point of view is that Irish economic growth was due to a very special set of (mostly external) circumstances.
Without them, all the macroeconomic stability or neoliberal economic policies in the world could not have achieved such results.
What were these special circumstances?
Irish economic growth was clearly dominated by the country's ability to attract a huge share of investments by transnational corporations ('TNC's') in a changing global environment ; the historic expansion of information technologies (IT) in the 1990's sent US computer firms on a global hunt for new markets and, since access to the 'Single European Market' was a major prize, these companies revived their investments in the EU to get a foot in the door.
And Ireland got more of them than its fair share ; they came to Ireland primarily because of its extremely low corporate tax rates, and also because of its cheap, educated, English-speaking labour force and its lack of bureaucratic restrictions on foreign investors...
(MORE LATER.)
An RIC member, 'Sergeant' James Maguire (49), operated as a 'Liaison Officer' for a British Army Intelligence Officer (BA Lieutenant Harold Browne) in the Limerick area, and was said to be good at his job.
His diligence brought him to the attention of the East Limerick Brigade of the IRA who were then made aware that it was Mr Maguire who had given the British information which led to the deaths of two IRA Volunteers, and the Limerick Volunteers organised themselves to address the situation.
On the 6th March, 1921, as Mr Maguire was out for a walk in the Kilmallock area of Limerick, five IRA Volunteers approached him and shot him dead.
Mr Maguire had twelve children, seven of whom emigrated to New York City and one of whom, a daughter called Mary Catherine, married an RIC member, a Mr Patrick Joseph Meade ('RIC Number 69103').
Mr Maguire should have put family first.
==========================
On the 6th March 1921 (some sources list the date as the 5th) a woman who lived in Ballylea, Tralee, in County Kerry, Bridget Walpole (57), never returned home from an outing, and her neighbours were worried about her.
She was comfortable, financially, and owned a fine house and some acres of land.
The next morning, a young boy who was out walking about 400 yards from Bridget's house, found her body - the poor woman had been shot in the back of her head, and a small notice had been tied around her neck -
'Convicted Spy, and all others beware. RIP.'
M/s Walpole was indeed known to the IRA, because she assisted them occasionally (one of the 'safe houses' in the area), as best she could, and also helped out the 'Na Fianna Éireann' organisation.
The IRA and NFE investigated the shooting and one of the IRA investigators later stated -
"A short time afterwards I came to Ballygarron, Spa, to the house of a man named Rail.
There I was informed that a woman named Mrs Walpole was found that morning shot dead on the side of the road with a label on her chest which read 'shot as a spy'.
I knew this could not be correct as I had stayed at her house several times since I first went on the run. I investigated the matter and discovered that the shooting was the result of a family row...'
But before the IRA/NFE could fully complete their investigation, the 'Treaty of Surrender' intervened and, unfortunately, the matter was not pursued, but questions were raised about a life assurance policy that M/s Walpole held, and her valuable house and lands...
==========================
The 6th March 1921 was an horrendous day for the Republican Movement in County Tipperary -
Volunteer Tom Larkin, 1st Battalion, Rosegreen, was shot dead by the British Army in Drangan, the Commandant of the 2nd Battalion, Patrick Hogan, was killed in action near the village of New Inn, the Captain of the 7th Battalion of the Moyglass Column, Richard Fleming, was shot dead by Crown Forces at Knockroe, near Drangan, Volunteer Patrick Hackett, attached to the Drangan Column, was shot dead by the British Army as was Volunteer Martin Clancy, Drangan Column.
Martin Clancy, Patrick Hackett and Richard (Dick) Fleming were attending an IRA Battalion Council meeting of Tipperary No. 3 Brigade at Knockroe, County Tipperary, when they were shot dead by a British Army raiding party.
Carelessness by the IRA sentries allowed soldiers from the Lincolnshire Regiment (under the command of BA Lieutenant M M Ormond) gain access to the meeting, at which 12 IRA officers were in attendance.
Martin Clancy was only wounded in the attack, placed 'under arrest' by the foreigners, then shot dead (his brother, Patrick, had been shot dead by the British Army on November 19th, 1920).
Patrick Hogan, who was Officer Commanding, 2nd Battalion, Tipperary No. 3 Brigade, IRA, was shot dead after Crown Forces raided the house in which he was staying at Derrycloney, New Inn, in County Tipperary.
RIP to those brave Irish men.
==========================
"The British Army never travel the same route more than once a week. Also, they travel always in convoy of more than seven lorries generally accompanied by an armoured car..."
- Tom Barry (pictured, Officer Commanding of the Cork No. 3 Brigade, IRA Flying Column), in an IRA report he wrote on the 6th March, 1921.
That British Army 'Standing Order' travel plan 'officially' came into operation on the 20th June, 1921, but was actually put into practice in early 1921, due to the losses suffered by enemy forces in IRA ambushes.
==========================
On the 6th March, 1921, the QM of the Toames Company, 7th Battalion, Cork No. 1 Brigade IRA, Cornelius Foley, was shot by British Auxiliaries who had come across about 20 men near Toames. He was brought to Macroom Castle and died there later in the day.
Before he died, he was interrogated by his captors but would only say to them - "Up de Valera. We'll kill all you bastard English before long..!"
==========================
'From November 1920 the IRA – referred to in the British and Unionist media at the time as Sinn Féiners – began a campaign of sabotage in locations across England and Wales, including arson attacks and the cutting of telegraph wires...'
On the 6th March, 1921, arson attacks were carried out by IRA in Newcastle, South Shields and Hyde in England : more here.
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On the 6th March, 1921, chauffeur John O'Neill, an ex-British Army man, was driving two clients to Portmarnock Golf Club, in North County Dublin, in a 'fancy car'.
As he was driving up the Malahide Road, near Donnycarney, he was stopped by the IRA and was shot dead.
It transpired that he wasn't shot because he was ex-British Army, but because it was a case of mistaken identity by the IRA.
Mr O'Neill was working as the chauffeur for Edward McGrath (the owner of a tea merchant company) and was driving a party to Portmarnock Golf Course for a game.
Thomas Shannon, a pro golfer working at Portmarnock Golf Club, was in the front passenger seat and three other men were in the back of the car. Mr O'Neill was shot in the head and stomach and died at the scene, and one of the other men was wounded. Both were taken to the Mater Hospital.
The IRA had been monitoring the road, as it was the route taken by known British Army officers who travelled, on that day at that particular time, to the golf club, in a chauffer-driven 'fancy car'....
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On the 6th March, 1921, British Army soldiers from Carlow Barracks made their way to the Church in the village of Rathanna, in County Carlow, acting on information that IRA Volunteers from the local Flying Column were due to attend Mass there.
Having surrounded the Church, they stopped, searched and harassed the men leaving Mass but one man, a Mr James Hayden, a local farmer, who was some distance away from one of the armed British soldiers and, it being a very windy day, didn't hear the instruction to stop where he was.
A British Army soldier shot him dead.
==========================
A few men were playing a game of 'Pitch and Toss' near Saxe Lane, in Sutton, Dublin, on the 6th March, 1921, when a gang of British Auxiliaries arrived on the scene.
The Auxies opened fire on the men, killing a Mr Henry Guy and wounding two of his friends.
In a statement released afterwards by Major-General Sir Gerald Farrell Boyd 'KCB CMG DSO DCM' etc, the 'General Officer Commanding' of the British Army in the Dublin District, it was simply acknowledged that shots had been fired, by his soldiers "...somewhat hastily, as it turned out that they were confronted by unarmed civilians.."
Mr Boyd died of cerebral spinal fever in 1930, which wouldn't have been a "somewhat hastily"-acquired death.
==========================
BEIR BUA...
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...
"But England, we are told, offers us terms.
She holds out to us the hand of friendship.
She gives us a Parliament with an Executive responsible to it.
Within two years the Home Rule Senate meets in College Green and King George comes to Dublin to declare its sessions open. In anticipation of that happy event our leaders have proffered England our loyalty.
Mr. Redmond accepts Home Rule as a "final settlement between the two nations" ; Mr. O'Brien, in the fullness of his heart, cries "God Save the King" ; Colonel Lynch offers England his sword in case she is attacked by a foreign power.
And so this settlement is to be a final settlement.
Would Wolfe Tone have accepted it as a final settlement? Would Robert Emmet have accepted it as a final settlement?
Either we are heirs to their principles or we are not.
If we are, we can accept no settlement as final which does not "break the connection with England, the never-failing source of all our political evils" ; if we are not, how dare we go on an annual pilgrimage to Bodenstown, how dare we gather here or anywhere to commemorate the faith and sacrifice of Emmet...?"
(MORE LATER.)
Just under 500 people were killed in Belfast between July 1920 and July 1922 and about 230 of that number died between February and May 1922.
On the 6th March (listed elsewhere as the 13th and/or 15th March), 1922, IRA Volunteer Andrew Leonard (21), from Duffy Street in Belfast, was shot in the neck near Townsend Street in Belfast and died later in hospital, Catherine Lynch (51) was shot dead in her home on the Falls Road, and Thomas Heathwood and William Warder were shot dead by British military patrols in the Wall Street and Hanover Street areas respectively.
A book that was published in 1922, 'Facts and Figures of the Belfast Pogrom 1920-1922' , written from a republican/nationalist perspective, was intended to impress upon the new Free State government that the Catholic community in the city was under siege. It was written by Fr John Hassan, a Catholic priest in the city, who wrote under the pseudonym 'GB Kenna'.
Just 18 copies were published, and the rest were pulped in August 1922, just before Michael Collins's death, on the instructions of the Free State government, which feared its details would give succour to the IRA...
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By the 6th March 1922, the IRA were reorganising Waterford Military Barracks (pictured) to suit themselves.
A party of about 80 IRA Volunteers (commanded by George Lennon) took over control of the building, after arguing about the legal position of doing so with the pro-British force that then occupied it - the RIC (under the command of a 'Captain' Sheehan), who was in charge of the 60-or-so RIC members who were in situ.
Meanwhile, about 30 other IRA Volunteers had taken over control of the 'Artillery Barracks' in the same town.
Local author and historian Edmund Keohan described at the time what the change of use of both barracks meant to the ordinary people of the town and the sense of impending occasion they felt -
"The occupants of the old Castle were now to be changed. The English forces were to leave ; the old premises were to fall into the possession of the Irish people alone.
This old fortress had in the olden time been washed by the waters of the Colligan, and the sentries at night could listen to the swish of the waves as they beat against its ancient walls.
In this defensive stronghold were garrisoned the troops of the English King and kept there for 750 years. It was symbolic, in every respect, of British rule in Ireland..."
The "troops of the English King" are still occupying six of our north-eastern counties ; we have won battles, but not the war.
Yet...!
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'McGloin, we know you are a British Spy and Informer. Give it up at once or your days are numbered. Final Notice.'
- an IRA warning notice delived to an RIC member, Patrick McGloin, in late February/early March, 1922.
Between the 6th and the 15th March, 1922, three (ex-) RIC members and one of their civilian supporters (Patrick Cassidy) were shot in a hospital (pictured) in Galway City.
Two of them were killed outright - 'Sergeants' John Gilmartin and Tobias Gibbons - as was Mr Cassidy, who was shot four times, and a third RIC member, Patrick McGloin, was left with life-changing injuries.
RIC member Gilmartin had been observed hitting, whipping and humiliating civilians, alongside his British Auxiliaries colleagues, in the town of Moycullen, in County Galway, RIC member Gibbons received stripes from Westminster for his 'work' in Tuam, County Galway, and was actually signalled out and named in an IRA 'Intelligence Document' as a person of interest, and RIC member McGloin was, it seems, just a tad too eager to exchange his RIC outfit for that of a British soldier.
Those who carried out the shootings (said to be seven men) were never identified.
==========================
On the 6th March, 1922, Free State political and military leader Michael Collins sent a telegram to one of his managers, Winston Churchill, giving him an update on progress (!) in the British colony that both men were working together on.
In his telegram, Mr Collins informed Mr Churchill that "..the total death toll (in the Occupied Six Counties) since eleventh Feb now amounts to 48 and 198 wounded while total casualties since Orange Pogrom beginning July 1920 number 257...".
No doubt the two men blamed everyone else except themselves for those deaths and injuries...
==========================
Between the 6th and the 7th of March, 1922, the British Government agreed to break the law but to keep quiet about it.
Westminster's 'Government of Ireland Act 1920' (sic) contained stipulations which forbade it to, in effect, allocate extra funds to the Occupied Six County area which were over and above which "other areas of the UK" (sic) were allocated but, being a contested area, the O6C required different 'policing' methods.
The British Cabinet decided to give £850,000 to the Stormont administration to underwrite the cost of the Specials for the following six months but, in order to do so 'legally', they had to temporarily classify the USC/Specials as 'a military force' rather than 'a police foce', which meant they were paid for from the 'Imperial Purse' rather than exchequer/taxpayer funds and, in a further cover-up, that money was described as "assistance in a general grant of money to Ulster (sic) for unemployment and other services..."
On the 6th March, 1922, 'Sir' Otto Ernst Niemeyer GBE KCB ETC (!), the financial controller of the UK's Treasury Department, wrote in a memo that this arrangement was probably illegal and was not "within the four corners of the 1920 Act" nor was it compatible with the Treaty.
'Creative accounting and bookkeeping '...!
However...
...in July that year (on the 19th, 1922), the Stormont kitty needed to be replenished as their 'police force' were apparently almost broke (!), financially, again, and the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, a Mr Richard Horne, agreed to give £2 million to Stormont to fund the USC/Specials on the condition that "it is all that I can grant for the financial year 1922/1923", and the 'Stormont PM', a Mr James Craig (the '1st Viscount Craigavon') accepts the 'Terms and Conditions' and gets the money.
But...
...in September that year (on the 19th, 1922), Mr Craig wrote to Mr Churchill saying that he wanted a further £200,000 for 1922/1923 to fund the USC/Specials, and a commitment from Westminster to provide a further £1.35 million for 1923/1924 ; he got the extra money and a 'promise' that his requested commitment would be looked into...
...yet..
...in November that year (on the 6th, 1922), Mr Craig wrote to the 'British Colonial Secretary' looking for, among other things, "the renegotiation of outstanding financial questions" in regards to funding for the USC/Specials (in other words, a blank cheque!) and, that same month (November, 1922, on the 23rd), Mr Craig wrote to Stanley Baldwin, the new British PM, in Westminster, looking for £200,000 to fund the USC/Specials for the current financial year and, on the 28th November, added to his begging letter with a threat -
"I doubt if anyone could be found to carry on here unless they were assured that the present magnificent system of Special Constabulary was maintained at its present strength...", and then declared that his earlier £1.35 million estimate/request had now increased to £1.5m!
Mr Craig got the extra (extra, extra, extra etc!) money he was looking for, bringing his total funding for the USC/Specials (for the fiscal year 1922-1923) to £2.7m!
The abolition of the last of the USC/Specials was a central demand of the 'Northern Ireland (sic) Civil Rights Movement' in the late 1960s and, on the 30th April, 1970, that armed grouping was finally stood down, as a result of the Hunt Committee Report.
We didn't want 'em, and the Brits couldn't afford 'em...!
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On the 6th March, 1923, eight Free State soldiers arrived at Bairinarig Wood, near Knocknagashel, Castleisland, in County Kerry, to search for an IRA arms dump that they believed was buried somewhere there, acting on information they had received.
The IRA had laid a trip-mine in the area, before they lured the Staters into the vicinity with a false 'arms dump' story, and one of the enemy forces detonated the device, killing himself and four of his colleagues - Lieutenant Paddy O'Connor, a local man, Captains Michael Dunne and Edward Stapleton, from Dublin, and Privates Michael Galvin, from Killarney, County Kerry, and Laurence O’Connor, from Causeway, County Kerry.
Another State soldier, Joseph O’Brien, was so badly injured that both his legs had to be amputated.
It appears that Mr O'Connor was the intended target, as the IRA had targetted him before - more here.
Also, on the 6th March, 1923, a Free State soldier ('Service Number 20034'), William Newcombe (20), from Castlemaine Street, Athlone, in County Westmeath, who was attached to the FS '5 Infantry Battalion', was shot and killed in an IRA ambush at Glasson/Three Jolly Pigeons pub, County Westmeath. He was a member of Na Fianna Éireann prior to joining the Staters, and another young FS soldier, Richard Duggan, was accidently shot in Waterford Infirmary where he was stationed. He died on March 11th.
An IRA Volunteer, John T O'Sullivan, was shot dead by the Staters at Gleesk, near Glenbeigh, in County Kerry.
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On the 6th March, 1923, the IRA Chief-Of-Staff, Liam Lynch, received a letter from a high-ranking IRA Officer complaining about the dumping of arms -
"It is outrageous that about 1,200 rifles are in the 1st Southern Area of which close on 500 are dumped, yet this area will not assist other areas, where opportunities afford, for using arms.."
By early 1923, the offensive capability of the IRA had been seriously eroded and when, in February 1923, republican leader Liam Deasy was captured by Free State forces, he called on the republicans to end their campaign and reach an accommodation with the Free State.
The State's executions of IRA prisoners, 34 of whom were shot in January 1923, also took its toll on the republicans' morale and, by the beginning of 1923, the republican armed campaign was mostly over in many parts of the country but in the southwest the conflict continued for many more months, ensuring that Kerry would long be synonymous with the most bitter and violent episodes of the war...
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Thanks for the visit, and for reading.
Sharon and the team.
