From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, April 1955.
At the inaugural meeting of Fianna Fáil in May 1926, Mr de Valera said he had been planning a policy since 1921.
As Sceilg points out, why did he not then indicate what it was, when the Rathmines motion came before the Ard Fheis in 1925?
Why did he let a sub-committee of men, who certainly knew Ireland and her needs as well as he did, work for months on a National Policy, when he studiously ignored it?
Now Sceilg is always, without question, most accurate, and this may be old news to some but, to others, I feel lengthy contradiction of such an affair comment is necessary, to clearly indicate that Sinn Féin has always been ready to provide solutions to national problems and indeed to anticipate them by fostering the creative spirit of the race.
(END of 'An Old And Unfair Criticism' : NEXT - 'The Stormont Coroners Amendment Bill', from the same source.)
On the 12th June, 1920, two RIC members - a Mr John Carroll and a Mr Norman Cruise - were in 'The Railway Hotel' (pictured), in Limerick, having a few drinks when a gunshot was discharged and Mr Carroll fell to the floor, dead.
Mr Cruise jumped up and ran.
The gunman, IRA Volunteer Paddy Naughton, ran after him, but the RIC member managed to get away, but recognised the IRA man.
Volunteer Naughton went 'on the run', as he was experienced enough to know that he was a dead man if he remained in that area.
Volunteer Paddy Naughton was born on the 22nd January, 1898, in Limerick City, and joined the Volunteers there when he was 19 years of age.
He was an active Volunteer in 'F Company', 2nd Battalion, Mid-Limerick Brigade and, in early 1920, the British and their colleagues in the RIC devoted great resources in trying to capture or kill him, so the Brigade leadership made arrangements to transfer him to the West Limerick Brigade, where he would be safer.
He quickly became a valued member of the 'Active Service Unit' in his new area and was active right up until the 'Truce' on the 11th July, 1921.
When some left the Movement to support the 'Treaty of Surrender', to assist Westminster in Ireland, Volunteer Naughton and almost all of his comrades stayed true to their republican beliefs ; indeed, so weak were the Free Staters in Limerick that they requested Westminster to ensure that the British Army stayed on the ground and assist them in gaining control of the area!
Volunteer Captain Naughton, 24 years of age, was killed in action in Roches Street, Limerick, on the 20th June, 1922 ; he died as he had lived all his adult life - fighting for the Irish Republic.
RIP IRA Captain Paddy Naughton ; 22nd January 1898 - 20th June 1922.
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A Mr Thomas King (26), from Roundstone in County Galway, a boiler-stoker in the British 'Royal' Navy, decided, in about November 1919, to earn an easier few shillings by joining the 'Temporary Police' - the 'Black and Tans' - in Ireland, was sent here for 'training' and, in March 1920, he was stationed in the West Cork area, between the townlands of Bantry and Glengarriff.
It was in that area, too, that the Vice-Officer Commanding of the 3rd (West) Cork Brigade of the IRA, Ted O'Sullivan, and his Unit, operated from and, on the 12th June, 1920, they had established an ambush point, hoping to meet an RIC patrol which they knew was due.
The Volunteer IRA Unit watched as one man on a bicycle, whom they recognised, leisurely cycled past the ambush point, but the rebels, believing that an RIC patrol was on the way, didn't react to his presence : they recognised that cyclist as Thomas King, who was in plain clothes on that day, and he was an enemy agent that they especially wanted to interview, as he was said to have been involved in the execution of IRA Volunteer Thomas O'Dwyer.
The IRA Volunteers were then made aware that the RIC patrol had taken a different route and they called off the ambush, agreeing that five of their number - Dan O'Mahoney, John J. O'Sullivan, John Wrynne, Michael Driscoll and Denis O'Sullivan - should go across fields to Snave Bridge, where Mr King was headed, on his way to the enemy barracks in Glengarriff.
The Volunteers arrived at their destination ahead of Mr King and shot him dead when he arrived at the bridge.
The inquest into the killing collapsed when jurors failed to show for the 'court' case, prompting the Court Coroner to declare that he had never seen that happen before, to which an RIC 'District Inspector', a Mr Oates, replied -
"It shows the state to which society has been reduced..."
Mr Oates, and those like him, had actually 'reduced (Irish) society' to a state that even they themselves didn't think was acceptable.
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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.
Alain de Janvry asked if economic growth is dominated by a few export sectors that have little connection (articulation) with other parts of the economy, then what chance is there that economic growth will connect to social well-being for the majority of people?
The more likely outcome, he argued, is that such economic growth will favour the wealthy, who will use their power to increase social inequality rather than to achieve social justice.
If the system goes into crisis and growth slows, the wealthy will hold onto resources even tighter and the poorest sections of the population will suffer the most.
Unfortunately, this pessimistic analysis appears to fit the 'Celtic Tiger' like a glove ; the main beneficiaries of economic growth and of social policy under the 'Celtic Tiger' have been the wealthier sections of society...
(MORE LATER.)
On the 12th June, 1921, the IRA, in pursuit of its policy of ensuring that the 'Big Houses' in the country were rendered unusable to Crown Forces, raided one such mini-mansion in Brackley, County Cavan, which was owned by the Reverend John Finlay, an Anglican Priest.
Mr Finlay (pictured) 78 years of age, was removed from the house with his wife, Isabella, and the house staff and, somewhat disoriented, understandably, were placed in a nearby barn.
When Mrs Finlay returned to the burned-out house the following morning, she found the body of her husband lying on the lawn ; he had a puncture wound at the base of his skull, which had been inflicted with a blunt instrument.
The killing was raised in Westminster -
"About 2am on the morning of June 12 of last year, Dean Finlay was murdered on the lawn outside his house. More than one witness testified at the Military inquiry that about forty men broke into the house, which they set on fire.
Afterwards, the Dean was found on the lawn. He was dead.
A few days later nine men were arrested on suspicion and were identified by different witnesses as strangers who had been present on that occasion, and some of them were stated to have carried short iron bars, with which Dean Finlay might have been struck down.
No witness came forward who was able to say that he saw the blow delivered. These nine men were in custody awaiting trial at the time of the General Amnesty which followed the signing of the Treaty. They were never brought to trial, and were released from custody in pursuance of the Amnesty extended to persons convicted of, or suspected of having committed, offences from political motives in Ireland..."
Mr Finlay's death was said to be as the result of an accident during a struggle or "an unpremeditated act of ill-discipline.."
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This diagram was produced in the 1930's as part of the IRA Brigade activity reports by veterans of the IRA's Offaly No. 1 Brigade.
On the morning of Sunday, 12th June, 1921, RIC 'Head Constable' James McElhill (53) was 'on duty' in the barracks in Kilbeggan, in County Westmeath, and told his colleagues he was taking time off to go to Mass in the nearby church.
As Mr McElhill, a single man who was born in County Tyrone, reached the church a number of gunshots were fired at him and he fell to the ground, badly wounded. He was rushed to the hospital in Mullingar, where he died.
Five IRA Volunteers led by Offaly No. 1 Brigade officer (and Kilbeggan man) Seán McGuinness were involved in the attack.
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On the 12th June, 1921, British Army soldiers attached to the 'Leicestershire Regiment' fired on a group of IRA Volunteers who were drilling at Lisacul Crossroads, between Castlerea and Ballaghdereen, in County Roscommon, and succeeded in shooting dead an uninvolved civilian who was in the area, a Mr Thomas Joseph Rush (29).
Martin and Bridget Rush, the brother and sister respectively of Thomas, later discovered that, when the British Army were closing-in on the Crossroads, Thomas ran for about 500 yards and hid behind a fence.
A British Officer named Chudley and two of his soldiers found him, shot him at close range, and then smashed his skull in with rifle butts.
They then looted the body, taking his gold watch and chain and his money.
Mr Rush was born in Ballaghadereen, in County Roscommon, in 1892, and emigrated to America when he was 21.
He became a 'naturalised US citizen' in Februay 1920 and, that same month, applied for a US Passport as he was thinking of going home for a visit to see his brother, which he did, in June 1921 where, on the 12th of that month - 103 years ago on this date - British soldiers cold-bloodedly shot him dead.
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On Friday, 10th June 1921, RIC member James Glover ('Service Number 64889') was shot dead in Belfast, in the Falls Road area, and two of his RIC colleagues - a Mr Sullivan and a Mr Sharky - were wounded.
The three of them had been returning to their barracks on the Springfield Road and, as they neared the Diamond Picture House on the corner of Cupar Street and the Falls Road, six IRA Volunteers emerged from the foyer and opened fire on them with pistols. A total of 30 rounds were fired at them and all three RIC men were hit numerous times.
Mr Glover was hit four times and was specifically targeted due to his 'nixers' with 'Nixon's Murder Gang' (see below link).
He was 31 years old and single when he died ; a native of County Antrim, he had joined the RIC in about 1910 (having previously worked as a gardener) and was one of the first 200 RIC members to enlist at the outbreak of war, 'serving' as a machine gunner in the 'Irish Guards' in France, from where he was invalided out of the British Army in 1917, after sustaining a gunshot wound to his back on the 31st July 1917.
On the 21st February, 1919, he rejoined the RIC and was posted back to his old barracks in Springfield Road, in Belfast.
His family had a history of colonisation - he was one of seven brothers, 3 of whom had served in the British Army : Samuel served with the 'Royal Army Medical Corps', David (the eldest) was killed with the 12th Battalion, 'Royal Irish Rifles' at Cambrai in 1917, and 3 of his other brothers (Matthew, Thomas and Robert) were in the US Army.
Anyway : after he was executed by the IRA, his Crown Forces pals were looking for revenge and, in the early hours of Sunday, 12th June, two or three motor cars full of armed RIC men knocked on the doors of several houses in Belfast and asked for the man of the house by name.
Using this method, they 'arrested' three men - Alexander McBride (30), from Ballycastle, County Antrim, Malachy Halfpenny (22), from Herbert Street (he was one of six brothers who served in the British Army, one of whom was killed and all of whom were wounded) and William Kerr (26), from Old Lodge Road, none of whom were IRA Volunteers - and told they were being taken to the nearest barracks.
Instead, all three were driven to a field in the north of the city and their bodies were later discovered riddled with bullets.
Of the three men, Mr McBride, a local married businessman and father, was a sometime republican supporter but Mr Halfpenny, a postman (an ex-British Army soldier) and Mr Kerr (a married hairdresser and father) had no connection to the Republican Movement.
Mr McBride's body was found on the Ballysillan Road, Mr Kerr's body was found on the Springfield Road and Mr Halfpenny's body was found on the Ligoniel Road.
Mr Kerr's sister, Alice, identified RIC 'District Inspector' John William Nixon, a Cavan man, as one of the RIC men who called to their house on the 12th June, which would be in keeping with his modus operandi and that of the grouping he worked with and for...
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On the 12th June, 1921, RIC 'Special Constable' Thomas Sturdy was sitting in an armoured lorry at the corner of Dock Street and North Thomas Street in Belfast, when an IRA sniper shot him dead.
Mr Sturdy's colleagues headed out later that day looking for revenge, and forced their way into a house in Dock Street, took the man of the house - a Mr Patrick Milligan (24, a father of one) - out to the back yard of the house and shot him dead.
They then drove to Coates Street and entered the home of a Mr Joseph Millar (25, a father of one), took him out to the front of his house and shot him : Mr Millar died from his wounds at 2.15am the next day.
On that same date, a Mr Hugh Jenkins (19) was shot dead on the Kashmir Road, Belfast, and 51-year-old Thomas Mallon was shot dead by a bullet fired through the window of his house in North Thomas Street, in Belfast.
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On the 12th June, 1921, two RIC members - Mr Michael Brannan (26) and Mr John Frederick Smith (25) were in civilian clothes and enjoying a few pints in Ryan's Pub, in British-occupied Dublin.
IRA Volunteers from 'C Company', 4th Battalion of the Dublin Brigade, with Volunteer Joseph Byrne in command, entered the pub, ordered the two RIC men to vacate the premises, brought them outside and across the River Liffey to Rainsfort Street (beside Guinness's Brewery) and shot them dead.
Mr Brannan was from Durham, in England, and Mr Smith was from Middlesex in England.
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On the 12th June, 1921, Dan Breen (a republican-gamekeeper-turned-Free State-poacher) married Brigid Malone, from Grantham Street, in Dublin, a Dublin Cumann na mBan woman and sister of Lieutenant Michael Malone, who was killed in action at the Battle of Mount Street Bridge during the 1916 Rising.
The couple got married in Purcell's, 'Glenagat House', New Inn, Cahir, in County Tipperary (between Cashel and Clonmel) with Sean Hogan as best man and Aine Malone as bridesmaid.
Dinny Lacey and most of the leadership of the Third Tipperary Brigade were in attendance.
In January 1927, he became the first anti-Treaty TD to take the 'Oath of Allegiance' and sit in Leinster House after the establishment of the Free State.
==========================
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.)
REPUBLICANS AND THE STATE :
Republicans do not recognise the legitimacy of the six or twenty-six-County States.
In 1918 the British called a General Election ; the whole of Ireland was at that time still a part of the 'United Kingdom'.
Sinn Féin stood in that election on the basis that, if elected, they would not send their representatives to a British parliament, but would establish an independent parliament in Ireland.
Winning the support of a majority of the Irish people, the Sinn Féin TD's met in Dublin and established the First Dáil.
It should be noted that the actual number of votes for Sinn Féin in the general election belied the full support enjoyed by the republicans, since in one-quarter of the constituencies Sinn Féin candidates were not opposed by other parties, because of the futility of denying the massive support Sinn Féin enjoyed and were awarded the seats without a vote...
(MORE LATER.)
On the 27th April, 1922, a notice was delivered by an IRA Officer to a Mr FW Gore Hickman, a member of the gentry (!) and a 'landed estate owner', who lived in Kilmore House in the townland of Kilmore, just one mile from the village of Knock, in the parish of Kilmurry McMahon, County Clare : the Hickmans had connections with, and in, the Crown Forces.
The notice was from the IRA, and was headed 'Oglaigh na hEireann, HQ 1st Western Division', and it gave Mr Hickman notice to vacate the house and lands (consisting of over 18 townlands and amounting to about 4,800 Irish acres, in the late 1850's) as it was required for men and women who were being driven out of Northern towns by Orange-men.
The IRA notice caused consternation in some circles, which prompted Volunteer Simon McInerney, the Officer Commanding of the West Clare Brigade to state, in 'The Clare Champion' newspaper, on the 12th June, 1922, that "the confiscation of the property, effects and stock of Mr F W Gore Hickman of Kilmore House was carried out as a reprisal for the extermination of the Roman Catholic population of Ulster...".
The mansion was demolished by the IRA on the 30th July that year, and materials from it were used to construct several houses within the area.
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On the 12th June, 1922, the managing director of Hughes Bakery in West Belfast, a Mr Edward Devine, was shot dead during a robbery of the shop, a Mr Patrick Ward was shot by a loyalist sniper in Great Patrick Street, Belfast (Mr Ward died two weeks later) and it was on or around this date that a Mr William Smyth (50) was shot in North Queen Street, Belfast, in the middle of the afternoon.
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In February, 1921 (1921), RIC member John Carroll arrived in the village of Ballywilliam, County Wexford, to visit his father.
After his visit, he disappeared.
On the 14th February that year, 1921, his blindfolded body was found in a field near Nenagh, in County Tipperary ; he had been shot in the head by IRA Volunteers under the command of Michael McCormack (an IRA GHQ organiser).
His family were told by the IRA that they would pay a visit to the man of the house and his three other sons if there were any reprisals but, soon after, a Mr Denis Hayes (a cousin of the Carrolls) had his house burned down ; rumour had it that Mr Hayes had tipped-off the IRA that RIC member John Carroll would be in Ballywilliam, visiting his family.
But, codladh an ghioria, on the 12th June in 1922 the Carroll house was burned down, and a Mr Patrick Carroll was shot dead.
Also, on that same date, in Carrigatogher, near Nenagh, in County Tipperary, two members of the Gleeson family were shot and a Mr Adam O'Brien was shot in Cloughjordan, County Tipperary.
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As per the terms of the 'Treaty of Surrender', Westminster began to disband its publicly-displayed military apparatus in the newly-spawned Irish Free State and, on the 12th June, 1922, the 'Lords and Masters' of six 'Irish Regiments' of the British Army were summounded to Windsor Castle, in Berkshire, England, for an audience (!) before their 'King', George V.
The British Army regiments that were officially leaving the killing fields of Ireland were the 'Royal' Irish Regiment, the Connaught Rangers, the South Irish Horse, the Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians), the 'Royal' Munster Fusiliers and the 'Royal' Dublin Fusiliers.
Their boss, Mr George V (!), through a teary eye (probably!) stated -
"No regiment parts with its colours without feelings of sorrow. A knight in days gone by bore on his shield his coat-of-arms and tokens of valour and worth. Only to death did he surrender them.
Your colours are the record of valorous deeds in war, and of the glorious traditions thereby created. By you and your predecessors these colours have been reverenced and guarded as a sacred trust, which trust you now confide to me.
As your king, I am proud to accept this trust, but I fully realise with what grief you relinquish these dearly-prized emblems, and pledge my word that within these ancient and historic walls your colours will be treasured, honoured, and protected as hallowed memorials of the glorious deeds of brave and loyal regiments."
There is another British 'king' in situ over there now, so here's hoping he'll call the rest of his military (and political) squads home, from the six Irish counties they occupy, as well...
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In 1923, the politicians in Leinster House decided that they (and the British) 'had won the war against republicanism' and gave second thoughts to their standing army in the bastard State they had (both) given birth to.
Their military outfit was never a terribly well-disciplined force comprised, as it was, of various anti-republican elements ranging from those who believed, politically, that Ireland consisted of just twenty-six counties, those who once thought otherwise but were prepared to compromise with themselves if a financial reward for doing so was offered, those who were thinking of joining the British Army for 'adventure' to those who were in the Crown Forces (BA, RIC, RUC etc) but resigned to join the new anti-republican armed grouping.
The politicians were quite openly talking about 'thinning the ranks' ie demobilisation of their military force which, naturally, didn't sit well with their rank and file.
The soldiers were armed, trained to a certain degree and, they figured, had practically nothing to loose, so 'nixers' became the order of the day - use what you have, while you still have it, to 'acquire' an extra few shillings and pounds, and that's what happened - there was a glut of bank robberies by State soldiers who were looking for paydays before being made unemployed.
On the 12th June, 1923, a Private Henderson was arrested by the State 'Criminal Investigation Department' (CID) for having carried out an armed robbery on a bank in Capel Street, in Dublin (pictured).
We don't know how much he robbed or what happened to him, but we would have hoped that more thiefs like Mr Henderson would have carried out enough robberies to financially break the State.
But no such luck...!
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Thanks for the visit, and for reading!
Sharon and the team.
We won't be here next Wednesday, the 19th June 2024, as we're helping to organise a family celebration and, when there's close on about 200 people to cater for, we're gonna need as much time as we can get!
But we'll be back on Wednesday, 26th June 2024 with, among other bits and pieces, a high-profile kidnapping in the Free State.
And sure if I've anything to say between this and then, you can catch me on 'X' and 'Facebook' if ya wanna!
