On the 4th August, 1919, at about 11.15pm, two RIC members - a Mr John Riordan (48) and a Mr Michael James Murphy(19) - were ambushed in the Curtin's Gate area, at a crossroads called '81 Cross', three and a half miles from Ennistymon and three quarters of a mile from an RIC hut (in Derrymore), in County Clare, which was where they were headed to.
Shots were fired at them, and they fired back.
In the gunfight that followed, RIC man Murphy was shot dead, his colleague was wounded and died the following day from the wound, and Volunteers Martin Devitt (pictured) and Ignatius O'Neill were also wounded (Volunteers John Joe Neylon and Seamus Conneely also took part in that operation).
Anyway - on the 13th August (1919), British military command in Dublin Castle issued legislation (!) for the county of Clare - they deemed Sinn Féin, the Irish Volunteers, Cumman na mBan and the Gaelic League to be "prohibited organisations in Clare" but, as expected, the rebels continued rebelling!
==========================
ON THIS DATE (13TH AUGUST) 56 YEARS AGO : THE BATTLE OF THE BOGSIDE BEGINS.
Amongst other acts of provocation perpetrated by Westminster and its agents in the Occupied Six Counties, the attack on the Devenney family was still fresh in the memory of the population in the deprived Bogside area of Derry.
The 'Battle of the Bogside' has had so many thousands of words printed about it over the last 56 years that it is unlikely that we can give any fresh insights into it nor do we feel it necessary to even attempt to do that - regardless of the position that this incident is viewed from, it is beyond doubt that it helped to further expose the lie from Westminster that its 'police force', the RUC, and its army, were only in that part of Ireland to 'keep the peace between two warring religious factions'.
And it should be remembered that some of the files related to/connected with that event did not become public until 2022 - 53 years after the event!
The Free State administration declared that it "...could not stand by and watch innocent people injured and perhaps worse.." and they didn't - they dressed the wounds of the injured (!) but backed off when it came to intervening to prevent any more injuries and, indeed, have themselves inflicted injuries on those of us who continue to oppose the British military and political presence in Ireland.
But we have broad shoulders, as had those whose footsteps we follow, and we will persist, as will, no doubt, those who follow us.
GAS LADS...
The massive finds of oil and gas on our western seaboard could ensure Ireland's financial security for generations.
Wealth approximating that of the Arab countries is within our grasp, but the Irish government seems content to sell off our birthright for a handful of votes and a few dollars.
In a special 'Magill' report, Sandra Mara investigates just what we are giving away, and why.
From 'Magill' magazine, March 2002.
An Irish rig-worker told 'Magill Magazine' -
"Eventually, we managed to get about 26 jobs.
In the 1970's we had about 80 jobs per rig, so it was down a lot, but we figured that that was as good as we'd get at that time.
The oil companies were starting to cite EU law - free movement of labour within the EU - and other new equations, and the excuse of pay was also used, but that wasn't the issue ; the Brits were on higher pay, the Dutch and Norwegians were on higher pay, too."
'Magill Magazine' spoke to another rig worker who told us -
"Irish rig-workers believe the real reason behind this is that it's an effort to remove the only people in Ireland who would know what the oil companies are really finding in Irish waters - lads with local educated knowledge.
To add insult to injury, Enterprise Oil and Statoil want Bord Gais, at Irish State taxpayers expense, to build a gas pipeline from Mayo to Dublin via Galway, so they can sell the gas to the ESB for their new gas-fired power station..."
(MORE LATER.)
"Doubt was expressed as to whether the Restoration of Order in Ireland Act (pictured) would succeed for any length of time unless the opinion of the country was behind it.
Strong measures would be required to put down the policy of the extremists, and there might come a point when public opinion would desert the Government..."
- from the Minutes of a British Cabinet meeting, held on the 13th August 1920.
The 'Restoration of Order in Ireland Act (ROIA)' of 1920 was a British law, for Ireland, passed in response to the escalating conflict during that part of our on-going campaign to remove the British military and political presence from Ireland.
It strengthened the British writ by increasing military powers and limiting civilian oversight in Ireland, more-or-less replacing the'Defence Of The Realm Act (DORA)', expanding the use of courts-martial, including the power to jail individuals without charge or trial.
When the Free Staters took power in their Free State, they changed the name of that Act but kept those powers...
At the same time as 'DORA' was being replaced by 'ROIA' (13th August 1920), the British military and political 'Head Office' in Dublin, in Dublin Castle, began the 'in-house' distribution of a weekly pamphlet entitled 'Weekly Summary of Outrages' (pictured), a propaganda exercise designed to put 'fire in the belly' of its military and paramilitary groups and gangs in Ireland.
The objective was two-fold : to "boost morale" by 'spinning' the truth of what happened and to unofficially encourage retaliation.
After studying and monitoring the phamplet for a few months, the Republican Movement, through its 'The Irish Bulletin' publication, described the phamplet of having.. "..the deliberate intention of inciting the English armed forces in Ireland to acts of outrage and violence against the Irish people.."
Before it had the opportunity to fade into obscurity, the 'Weekly Summary of Outrages' ceased publication when the Staters agreed to take over the 'policing' of Ireland from the British.
In 1920, between 7,000 and 8,000 workers, Catholic and Protestant, were laid-off/sacked/expelled from their workplaces in the Occupied Six Counties (mostly in the Belfast, Counties Antrim and Down, area).
The expulsions were orchestrated by loyalist workers, fueled by sectarian tensions and political unrest.
Dozens of factories, Harland and Wolff and Workman Clark shipyards threw their employees out of the workplace, under 'instructions' imposed by loyalist paramilitaries and, on the 13th August that year, 'The Irish News' newspaper published an appeal from the 'Expelled Workers Group' for funding to relieve the distress and economic hardship among the expelled workers and their families.
The fund-raising drive was a huge success, with financial aid flowing in from Ireland, Britain, North America, France and Australia, among other countries but, just as important, the sectarianism of British interference in Ireland was highlighted and further exposed.
One man who didn't read the newspaper appeal was a Mr Henry Rowland Gould (31), from 5 Crosbie Row, in County Limerick, a member of the British Army 'Royal Army Service Corps' ('RASC Service Number 57101, 1166th MT Coy').
Mr Gould had 'seen service' in West Africa, South-West Africa and Sudan, came to Ireland to further his military career and, on the 13th August (1920), died in a motor traffic accident in Ballysimon, County Limerick, and is buried in his own country in Wales, in Rhyl Church Cemetery, Denbighshire.
'The Luck of the Irish...'
On the night of the 12th August/morning of the 13th, 1920, the 'Big House' belonging to a Mr William Upton Tyrell (/Tyrrell), 'Ballindoolin House' (pictured), Carbury, County Kildare (near the Kildare-Offaly border) was attacked by the IRA as a warning to the man.
The Tyrell family were 'civil servants' for the English Crown, employed as 'Land Agents', and had connections with the 'Royal Military Academy' in Sandhurst, Berkshire, England, and were associated with the 'Royal Irish Rifles'.
Mr Tyrell himself had 'served' with the British Army in India and with the 'Royal Air Force', during which times he is on record for stating.. "..shooting Germans was very like shooting snipe at Ballindoolin..."
Anyway - in the early hours of the 13th August (1920), Mr Tyrell claimed he fired shots at the rebels who, he said, fired about thirty shots back at him (!) and not only that, he stated he wounded one of the Volunteers.
Job done, message delivered, the IRA withdrew from the scene ; the message was apparently understood, as Mr Tyrell lived to be 79 years of age, dying in 1983.
==========================
CASH NO EXCUSE FOR RTE PUTTING DOCUMENTARY TO DEATH...
It has been a disastrous 12 months for RTE.
£23.5 million in cutbacks, a bid to increase the licence fee rejected, an enforced postponement of digital expansion, and a predicted £20 million loss to report for 2001.
By Belinda McKeon .
From 'Magill' Annual, 2002.
But if anything should serve as assurance that there is a large audience for Irish-produced arts documentaries, however, it is a look at the international scene.
Last month, 'Freedom Highway', the latest film from the Irish producer Philip King, received pride of place at the International Documentary Forum in Amsterdam.
Again, backing a successful producer like Philip King is a safe option for RTE, but evidence that there is a market for work of less obvious international appeal comes from TG4, which has sold documentaries on artists like Michael Hartnett and the poet Cathal Ó Searcaigh as far afield as Mexico and Korea, despite the purported Irish-language barrier.
This is where the question of the duty of a national broadcaster meets the question of commercial returns...
(MORE LATER.)
"The geographical propinquity of Ireland to the British Isles (sic) is a fundamental fact.
The history of the two islands for many centuries, however it is read, is sufficient proof that their destinies are indissolubly linked.
Ireland should recognise the force of geographical and historical facts ; no derogation from Ireland's status as a Dominion..."
- Mr David Lloyd George, British 'Prime Minister', in a letter he sent to Éamon de Valera on the 13th August, 1921 and, at that same time, Mr George was telling the media in his own country that Ireland and the Sinn Féin rebels had been offered "freedom" without mentioning the restrictions which he was so quick to tell Mr de Valera about!
He also told his own audience that the alternative for the Irish to accepting that "freedom" would be (more) military coercion in Ireland.
But sure isn't that how politics 'works' (!) - speaking out of both sides of your mouth at the same time, and Mr de Valera himself would have not only recognised that, but done it himself...
==========================
DEATH IN THE MEDITERRANEAN...
Desmond Boomer, a Belfast engineer working in the Libyan oil-fields, disappeared seven years ago.
Officially, the plane on which he was a passenger crashed as a result of mechanical failure and pilot error.
But is that the real story?
Or were the Irishman and his fellow passengers unwitting victims of the shady war between Islamic fundamentalism and Mossad, Israel's intelligence network?
A special 'Magill' investigation by Don Mullan, author of 'Eyewitness Bloody Sunday'.
From 'Magill' magazine, January 2003.
It appears, however, that Malta had not been informed of any inbound flight by Tunisia, despite the fact that this is standard aviation practice.
Bizarrely, at 4.35am, some 25 minutes after its last alleged radio contact with Captain Bartolo, Djerba ATC telephoned Malta ATC asking it to to make radio contact with the aircraft.
Initially, Malta ATC treated the flight as a communication failure, however, when the aircraft failed to arrive or make contact, Malta Radio was asked to broadcast distress messages so that ships in the area would look for possible signs of a crash.
These broadcasts commenced at 7.45am.
The first aircraft to assist in the search mission was dispatched by the Italian armed forces at 8.12am, almost four hours after concerns for the safety of the flight began and, also, other local civilian aircraft were later called to assist...
(MORE LATER.)
On the 13th August, 1922, a search party of six Free State troops were travelling in a car in the Crosspark area on the Kilkenny/Tipperary border, on a mission to locate, 'arrest' or kill IRA Volunteers that were thought to be in the location.
They pulled-in at a row of houses in the Bawnmore district and proceeded, quietly, to get out of the car, but just then a shot was fired.
One of the Stater soldiers, a man named Norton, shouted "Ned Maher is hit...".
FSA Lieutenant Edward Maher (a republican-gamekeeper-turned-Free State-poacher), from Gortnahoe in County Tipperary, was staggering around on the footpath, having been hit in the leg by a shot he himself fired, accidently, as he was getting out of the car!
He was bleeding heavily, and his colleagues laid him down, removed his trousers and bandaged the wound as best they could, then drove off with him to a Doctor Mitchell in nearby Johnstown.
The doctor dressed the injury and accompanied Mr Maher and his colleagues to their barracks in the town of Urlingford (in County Kilkenny) : the wounded man was conscious and in his full facilities during the journey but, at about 5am on the 14th, he took a turn for the worst, the doctor tended to him but advised to send for his family and for a priest.
Mr Maher died at about 12.30pm that afternoon.
Lesson learned - when armed, be extra carefull when getting out of a car...
==========================
Thanks for the visit, and for reading - appreciated!
Sharon and the team.
(We'll be back on Wednesday, 27th August 2025.)
In early August, 1919, in Munster, Ireland, armed Irish Volunteers ambushed an enemy patrol, killing two of their number, which prompted Westminster to attempt to stop any future rebel activity by specifically naming certain organisations as having been outlawed (!) in that specific area...!
Yes, indeed - that'll learn 'em!
And learn this you, yerself - on Wednesday, 13th August 2025, we'll be talkin' more about the above, and mentioning about a dozen instances where the outlaws (!) never learned their lessons either...
In the late 1970's and into the 80's, foreign companies in Ireland started to import their own workforce rather than employ the indigenous Irish, but cheaper wages wasn't the only reason...
Ireland, 1920's - existing British legislation to 'deal' with the Irish rebels was felt to be too soft, so new legislation was brought in which "limited civilian oversight..."
In the 1920's, political and military spin-doctors in Westminster designed a new method of "putting fire in the belly of its military and paramilitary groups and gangs in Ireland..."
So do, please, give us a shout back here on Wednesday, 13th August 2025, 'cause if'n ya don't, y'all be puttin' fire in our bellies to do somethin' about it...!
Thanks for the visit, and for staying long enough to read the above : hope to see ye all on the 13th.
Sharon and the team.
A young man (26, pictured, in later life), Patrick James Smyth, from the Mount Brown Area of Kilmainham, in Dublin, joined the anti-republican 'Dublin Metropolitan Police' grouping in March 1893 and proved to be so diligent (!) in his 'police work' that, as well as been given the nickname 'The Dog' (because of his obsessive pursuit of 'villains'), he was favoured by his bosses and, four years later, was moved up the ranks to the position of 'Detective Officer'.
He actually enjoyed the work, and stayed in that position for eleven years, then moved up the ranks again to the position of 'Detective Sergeant' in 'G Division'.
He changed desks within the British (para-)military apparatus in Ireland but, regardless of which station he manned, he practically detested those who didn't share his loyalty to 'Empire', and his 'jobsworth' preferences were noted by those he sought to practice on and, indeed, was contacted by those he practiced those preferences on and was advised to back off, but refused to do so.
He knew he was on thin ice and, as such, watched his back and made himself aware of his surroundings.
In late July (1919), on his way home to the family house (wife and eight children) in Millmount Avenue (Number 51) in Drumcondra, Dublin, he spotted a few men, stopped on the footpath, crossed the road, went up a sidelane etc and walked home by a different route.
On the 30th July, at about 11pm, he was walking along the Avenue he lived on when he was shot five times (by Volunteers Jim Slattery, Tom Ennis, Tom Keogh and Mick Kennedy) ; some of his children were in the house and ran outside to find their father on the ground, unconscious and bleeding heavily - between them, they managed to get him inside the house and got medical aid for him.
DMP 'Detective Sergeant G Division' Patrick James 'The Dog' Smyth died from his wounds in the Mater Hospital in Dublin five weeks later, on the 8th September (1919).
His death certificate listed him as 48 years of age, but his headstone states that he was 50 years of age at the time of his death. Had he heeded the advice he was offered, he wouldn't have needed either.
A British Army soldier in Dublin City Centre would not have heard those five shots ring out - at that same time, a 'Private' Francis William Mills ('Service Number 0407'), from London, and attached to the '3rd Wiltshire Regiment', was in the River Liffey, possibly as a result of having been dared to swim across it, but the poor man drowned trying to do so.
He was taken home to his own country and is buried in Manor Park Cemetery, in East London.
==========================
GAS LADS...
The massive finds of oil and gas on our western seaboard could ensure Ireland's financial security for generations.
Wealth approximating that of the Arab countries is within our grasp, but the Irish government seems content to sell off our birthright for a handful of votes and a few dollars.
In a special 'Magill' report, Sandra Mara investigates just what we are giving away, and why.
From 'Magill' magazine, March 2002.
Padhraig Campbell, SIPTU, stated -
"The 1987 changes should be referred to the Flood Tribunal because they were so drastic, and they followed on from strongly unadvised meetings between Ray Burke and the oil companies."
Ray Burke has already given evidence to the Flood Tribunal in relation to other issues.
Meanwhile, Irish rig-workers, in claims made to 'Magill Magazine', said -
"Enterprise Oil refused point-blank to hire any Irish-based rig-workers on, for instance, the drilling rig 'Petrolia', which is owned by Maersk.
They had hired the rig to drill appraisal wells at this massive gas field and, despite the fact that there had been an agreed involvement of highly skilled and experienced Irish rig-workers on rigs operating in Irish waters since drilling began in 1969, there were no Irish rig-workers initially hired..."
(MORE LATER.)
"My grandfather, Brigadier General Cuthbert Henry Tindall Lucas (pictured), was captured by the IRA in 1920 and held for over a month.
He was treated exceptionally well and eventually 'allowed' to escape.
It is one of the few good stories to come from a very dark period during the Irish War of Independence..."
- the grandaughter of Mr Lucas.
On the 26th June, 1920, an IRA Unit from the North Cork Number 2 Brigade, led by Liam Lynch, George Power, Sean Moylan (Officer Commanding Newmarket Battalion) and Patrick Clancy (Officer Commanding Kanturk Battalion) captured British Army Brigadier General Cuthbert Henry Tindall Lucas, the Commander of the 16th Brigade of the British Army in Ireland.
Two other British Army officers, a Colonel Danford and a Colonel Tyrell, were also captured.
The three British Army Officers had taken a break from marauding on that day, and were resting in a cottage in Kilbarry, County Waterford, preparing to go salmon fishing on the banks of the Blackwater River, just as the IRA Intelligence Department had told the IRA North Cork Number 2 Brigade they would be!
As they were outnumbered and outgunned, the three British operatives offered no resistance as they were put into the touring car belonging to Mr Lucas but, as they were leaving the site, Mr Danford and Mr Tyrell began talking to each other in Arabic and then suddenly tried to overpower Volunteers Lynch and Clancy in an escape attempt.
The IRA men got the better of them and, in the struggle, Mr Danford was seriously wounded ; himself and Mr Tyrell were removed from the car and made as comfortable as possible on the side of the road, and were told to stay where they were as a doctor would be sent from the next village to tend to them.
The Volunteers travelled to East Clare with their prisoner, Mr Lucas, from where they contacted the British Army leadership with the intention of exchanging their prisoner for IRA captives (Mick Fitzgerald and other Volunteers) held by them but, over the next few days, it became obvious to them that the British had no interest in, or intention of, taking part in such an exchange.
The IRA never intended to shoot Mr Lucas in cold blood, but he was now of no use or value to them ; on the 30th of July (1920) he 'escaped', according to himself, and was safely collected by his own people from Pallasgreen RIC Barracks (about 18 miles/28 km from Limerick city).
However, while being taken out of the area in a small convoy of British Army vehicles, travelling through Oola in East Limerick (on the border with Tipperary) they were attacked by a Unit from the IRA 3rd Tipperary Brigade (with Dan Breen and Seán Treacy in command) and Mr Lucas was grazed in the head by a bullet - he was lucky, but five of his 'rescuers' weren't ; two of them were killed (Privates Daniel Verey Bayliss and George B. Parker) and three were wounded, before the IRA withdrew, as British Army reinforcements were moving towards their position.
Later that day, Mr Lucas and his remaining convoy arrived in Fermoy, County Cork, with n'er a salmon between them!
Incidentally, during debriefing by his superior officers in connection with his time in IRA custody, Mr Lucas told them that he had no idea of the names of the Volunteers he encountered (he had!) and had no idea of the location where he was held (he had!).
He bore no ill wind to the IRA, Sinn Féin and/or Irish republicanism and, although opposed to their objective, at least understood and appreciated why they were fighting against the British military and political presence in Ireland.
He retired from the British Army (to Herefordshire, in England) in 1932 and died there in April 1958.
As Mr Lucas was 'escaping', a Mr Frank Brooke was in his office in Westland Row train station in Dublin (he was a Director of the Great Southern and Eastern Railways/Chairman of the Dublin and South-Eastern Railway Company) when four republican Volunteers walked in, shot him dead, and walked out again.
Mr Brooke had brought himself to the attention of the rebels by joining the pro-British 'Advisory Board' set-up by his friend, 'Lord' French, pictured (Field Marshal John Denton Pinkstone French, 1st Earl of Ypres, 'Lord Lieutenant of Ireland', KP GCB OM GCVO KCMG PC ETC ETC!) 'to maintain British authority and address the growing unrest in Ireland' and ignored advice that it would be for the best if he distanced himself from Mr French and his 'Board'.
And so it was that, on the 30th July, 1920, four Volunteers - Patrick Daly, Tomás Keogh, Vincent Byrne and James Slattery - stamped a one-way ticket for him.
==========================
ON THIS DATE (30TH JULY) 103 YEARS AGO : CAPTURE OF "AN INFLUENTIAL AND FORMIDABLE" IRISH REPUBLICAN SOLDIER.
Henry James 'Harry' Boland (27th April 1887 – 2nd August 1922). "I rise to speak against this Treaty because, in my opinion, it denies a recognition of the Irish nation...I object to it on the ground of principle, and my chief objection is because I am asked to surrender the title of Irishman and accept the title of West Briton...I object because this Treaty denies the sovereignty of the Irish nation, and I stand by the principles I have always held — that the Irish people are by right a free people.
I object to this Treaty because it is the very negation of all that for which we have fought. It is the first time in the history of our country that a body of representative Irishmen has ever suggested that the sovereignty of this nation should be signed away..we secured a mandate from the Irish people because we put for the first time before the people of Ireland a definite issue ; we promised that if elected we would combat the will, and deny the right of England in this country, and after four years of hard work we have succeeded in bringing Ireland to the proud position she occupied on the fifth December last.
The fight was made primarily here in Ireland ; but I want to say that the fight that was made in Ireland was also reflected throughout the world ; and we — because we had a definite object — had the sympathy of liberty-loving people everywhere....I have taken one oath to the Republic and I will keep it.
If I voted for that document I would work the Treaty, and I would keep my solemn word and treat as a rebel any man who would rise out against it. If I could in conscience vote for that Treaty I would do so, and if I did I would do all in my power to enforce that Treaty ; because, so sure as the honour of this nation is committed by its signature to this Treaty, so surely is Ireland dead.
We are asked to commit suicide and I cannot do it..we are asked to annihilate the Irish nation. This nation has been preserved for seven hundred and fifty years, coming down in unbroken succession of great men who have inspired us to carry on. We were the heirs of a great tradition, and the tradition was that Ireland had never surrendered, that Ireland had never been beaten, and that Ireland can never be beaten.." (7th January, 1922, from here.)
It is generally considered that Harry Boland was the first man to be 'unofficially executed' by a Michael Collins-controlled Free State death squad, on the evening of Sunday 30th July/early Monday morning 31st July 1922 and, following that shooting, in the Grand Hotel in Skerries, Dublin, the State gunmen issued this statement (on Monday 31st July 1922) -
"Early this morning a small party of troops entered the Grand Hotel to place Mr. H.Boland T.D., under arrest. Mr. Boland had been actively engaged in the irregular campaign.
When accosted in his bedroom he made an unsuccessful attempt to seize a gun from one of the troops and then rushed out to the door. After firing two shots at random and calling on Mr. Boland to halt, it was found necessary to fire a third shot to prevent an escape. Mr. Boland was wounded and removed to hospital.
A man giving his name as John J.Murphy with residence at 3 Castlewood Avenue, Ranelagh, Dublin, who was found with Mr. Boland, was taken prisoner. Subsequently he was identified as Joseph Griffin* , an active irregular, belonging to Dublin."
(*'1169' Comment - Joe Griffin was an IRA operative within the Movement's Intelligence Department.)
One of the Free State troops present at the time stated afterwards -
"Mr.Boland was wanted and we went to the hotel and two or three of us entered his room. He was in bed. We wakened him and he got up out of bed and partly dressed himself. He had no gun. Suddenly he turned and rushed to tackle one of our fellows for his gun. A shot was fired over his head to desist but he continued to struggle and almost had the gun when a second shot was fired and Mr.Boland was wounded."
The bullet entered his right side near the ribs, passed through his body and came out through his left side causing very serious injuries.
A photograph of the actual bullet which killed Harry Boland....
...and his funeral service, Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin.
Although unarmed at that moment, as admitted by his executioners, caught by surprise and outnumbered (a "small party" of Free State troops were in the room at the time) the Staters attempted to present the execution of Harry Boland as 'a killing in self-defence' ie 'he attempted to jump us and then tried to flee...'.
They had learned well from their British colleagues.
Harry Boland died from his wounds on the 2nd August 1922, in St. Vincents Hospital, Dublin and, as he lay waiting for death, he told family members that the Stater who shot him had been imprisoned with him in Lewes Prison, in England, but he refused to put a name to him.
When his sister, Kathleen, asked him who had fired the shot he refused to tell her, saying "The only thing I'll say is that it was a friend of my own that was in prison with me, I'll never tell the name and don't try to find out. I forgive him and I want no reprisals".
The funeral expenses were taken care of by the Cumann na Poblachta organisation.
'Boland's mix of animal charm, gregariousness, wit and a dash of ruthlessness made him an influential and formidable character. Though not an intellectual in his manner he was a clear thinker, a forceful orator and a graceful writer....' (from here.)
RIP Volunteer Harry Boland.
CASH NO EXCUSE FOR RTE PUTTING DOCUMENTARY TO DEATH...
It has been a disastrous 12 months for RTE.
£23.5 million in cutbacks, a bid to increase the licence fee rejected, an enforced postponement of digital expansion, and a predicted £20 million loss to report for 2001.
By Belinda McKeon.
From 'Magill' Annual, 2002.
RTE's assumptions about the intelligence and dynamism of its audience are astonishingly insulting.
The irony is that RTE can be proven wrong even on the evidence of its own past dalliances.
When the IPU braved co-production finance for Donald Taylor Black's 'Dear Boy : The Story Of Mícheál Mac Liammóir' in 1999, admittedly amidst the publicity surrounding the centenary of Mac Liammóir's birth, it was RTE's own efforts to publicise 'Dear Boy' as an entertaining and thought-provoking piece of television which achieved the crossover to what was almost a prime-time audience.
There's a lesson here - with three television and four radio stations, as well as a top-selling magazine, RTE itself controls the most useful avenues through which to raise the profile of its own programming...
(MORE LATER.)
In 1922, the village of Bruree, in south-eastern County Limerick, was an IRA stronghold due to its strategic location, which is why the Staters, too, wanted it to be under their command.
On the 30th July, 1922, FSA Major General William Richard English Murphy (ex-British Army, hand-picked by Michael Collins to join the Staters in their treasonous fight against the Irish Republic) and his gunmen made their move - their 'Dublin Guards' Brigade attacked the town from the southeast, using armoured cars and an 18-pound field gun borrowed from the British.
The battle lasted for five hours, during which at least 13 Free State soldiers were killed and others wounded, with the IRA suffering the loss of 9 Volunteers.
Artillery reinforcements for the Staters arrived on the scene and the IRA withdrew, regrouped, rearmed, reorganised and, on the 2nd August, under the command of Volunteer Liam Deasy - using three improvised armoured cars, a trench mortar and a couple of powerful machine guns (assembled by master mechanic Jim Gray, a Cork man) - counterattacked...
Around the same time that the Staters were making a move on the village of Bruree, 57 miles (92 km) across the State, in Kilkenny, they were also making a move on Dowling's Pub on Blackmill Street, in Kilkenny City.
Kilkenny IRA Company Captain Volunteer William (Bill) Oakes was looking for a Volunteer 'runner' to deliver a carton of .303 bullets to two IRA men (Volunteers Robert Kenny and James 'Duffer' Morrissey) in Dowling's Pub and his younger brother, Samuel (21), offered to do the run.
It was after hours (doors closed, 'lock in') in the pub in the early hours of the 30th July (1922) when the three men got down to business but they were interrupted by an FSA Lieutenant, a Mr Peter Radcliffe, and other State mercenaries, banging on the door, demanding entry.
The owner of the pub, M/s Maria Dowling, told the three IRA men to leave by the back door, and she would stall the Staters for as long as she could, which she did.
No sooner had Stater Radcliffe and his gunmen gained entry at the front door than gunfire was heard from the rear of the premises ; the three IRA men, unarmed, had been met by three armed Staters at the back of the pub, and shots were fired at the Volunteers.
21-year-old Volunteer Sam Oakes was hit, and died from his wounds later that day.
RIP Volunteer Samuel Oakes.
As part of the political and military campaign to establish a 32-County Irish Republic and to hinder the progress of a pro-British 26-County Free State within that Irish Republic, the IRA defended itself from the then-new Free State Army and from those who gave the FSA and its associated entities sustineance.
On the 30th July, 1922, armed rebels gained entry to one such establishment entity, 'Kilmore House' (pictured) in the townland of Kilmore, in County Clare, the home of the Hickman family, which had connections with 'The Royal Dublin Fusiliers' and the 'Royal' Air Force.
Those inside the 'Big House' were escorted outside and held there, and the premises was set on fire (and was demolished later, leaving only ruins standing).
Between 1919 and 1923, about 275 'Big Houses' were either burned down or blown up ; they belonged to newspaper owners, State Army officers, judges, wealthy Anglo-Irish families, Irish 'nobles', members of Leinster House and/or the Free State Senate, and former members of those institutions who continued to support the Staters.
But the British-supported 'Me Féin' rot continued to fester in the Free State, and has unfortunately survived and flourished to this day...
==========================
DEATH IN THE MEDITERRANEAN...
Desmond Boomer, a Belfast engineer working in the Libyan oil-fields, disappeared seven years ago.
Officially, the plane on which he was a passenger crashed as a result of mechanical failure and pilot error.
But is that the real story?
Or were the Irishman and his fellow passengers unwitting victims of the shady war between Islamic fundamentalism and Mossad, Israel's intelligence network?
A special 'Magill' investigation by Don Mullan, author of 'Eyewitness Bloody Sunday'.
From 'Magill' magazine, January 2003.
Mysteriously, despite all of the phone calls to loved ones and friends from pilot and passengers saying they were overnighting at Djerba because of bad weather, despite the fact that the black tempest was still raging and showed no sign of abating, despite the serious mechanical difficulties experienced by the aircraft on its outbound flight, and despite the fact that there is no evidence the aircraft underwent repairs or that its captain sought the necessary insurance clearance to enable such repairs to be carried out, a Tunisian Ministry of Transport report states that Bartolo's aircraft obtained start-up clearance from Djerba Tower at 3.38am and takeoff clearance at 3.44am.
The Tunisian report states that Djerba Air Traffic Control (ATC) had difficulty maintaining radio contact with the aircraft, but that at 4.10am, on the emergency frequency, it asked the pilot to contact Maltese ATC.
It is alleged the pilot responded to this request with the word "uniform", taken by Djerba as an indication he was about to do so.
The Tunisian report then records in bold print -
"The flight is therefore closed by the Tunisian Control and transferred to Maltese Control..."
(MORE LATER.)
Thanks for reading,
Sharon and the team.
(We'll be back on Wednesday, 13th August 2025 - GRMA!)
Dublin, 1900's - this young man, in his mid-20's, was mentally and morally 'captured' by the political and military 'strengths' of the British Empire (!) and was thrilled when his application to join a British 'police force' in Ireland was accepted.
His zeal ensured internal promotions for him but it also brought him to the attention of a different organisation, which was equally zealous of the job at hand...
...and that's just one of the eleven pieces we'll be writing about here on Wednesday, 30th July, 2025 :
Ireland, 1920's ; this high-ranking British Army 'war hero' took a day off and, with his bodyguards, decided to spend the day on the banks of an Irish river, relaxing, spot of fishing (!), chit-chat with his armed buddies, few drinks, picnic etc.
They were spotted by an IRA Volunteer who recognised the main man and a small 'Flying Column/Service Unit' was assembled, armed, and transported to where the 'war hero' was...and that brought the picnic to an end...
Dublin, 1920's - this Irishman worked as a type of civil servant in a logistics position in a company which inadvertantly (but not primarily) assisted the foreign presence in Ireland. However, it was only when he accepted a military/political-type advisory role from Westminster that he brought himself to the attention of those opposed to Westminster representation in Ireland...
So do, please, give us a shout on the 30th, 'cause we owe ya flesh on the bone for the above three and eight more to go with it!
Thanks for reading ; hope to see ye back here on the 30th!
Sharon and the team.
By the beginning of July, 1920, over 350 barracks throughout the country, that enemy forces had nested in, had been evacuated, such was the pressure exerted by the Irish rebels.
And, once evacuated, the IRA rebels moved in on them and destroyed them, and a further 105 such structures were damaged to the point that most of them were put beyond use.
In the county of Kildare, for instance, out of the twenty-four barracks in that county in January 1920, only six were still standing at the end of August (1920).
Also in Kildare, on the 15th July that year, IRA Volunteers attacked and burned the courthouse in the town of Athy ; the building was located on Barrow Quay (Market Square), beside the Town Hall, and had stood there (as a corn market) since the 1850's, having been 'gifted to the people' by the 'Duke of Leinster'.
The following day - the 16th July - the RIC in the nearby town of Ballymore Eustace decided enough was enough and deserted their barracks, fearing they were next...!
==========================
GAS LADS...
The massive finds of oil and gas on our western seaboard could ensure Ireland's financial security for generations.
Wealth approximating that of the Arab countries is within our grasp, but the Irish government seems content to sell off our birthright for a handful of votes and a few dollars.
In a special 'Magill' report, Sandra Mara investigates just what we are giving away, and why.
From 'Magill' magazine, March 2002.
"I think there should always be a take for the State", Des Geraghty said, "I think that the gas is extremely important as an indigenous energy source for economic development, but I believe that from the start the concessions that were given were unbelievable.
There were no jobs in it.
There was very little for the Irish economy and we are now suffering the consequences of a very bad policy which former minister Ray Burke has to answer for."
'SIPTU National Offshore Committee' spokesman, Padhraig Campbell, told 'Magill Magazine' -
"I think it would be a core demand of SIPTU that if it is in any way suspected that there was undue influence in the drastic changes to Ireland's oil and gas exploration terms from 1987 onwards, then the State should immediately freeze any existing licences and leases issued since then, including Corrib, in the national interest..."
(MORE LATER.)
On the 16th July, 1921, the 'Naas Poor Law Union' (an administrative body responsible for overseeing the 'Poor Law' directives in the Naas area of County Kildare) held a meeting at which its 'Board of Guardians' (ie its 'Top Table') decided to do away with its 'Naas Union' grouping which effectively meant the closure of Naas Workhouse, pictured - a severe blow to the working-class and unemployed people in its catchment area.
"There will be no peace settlement.
Of that you can be quite sure.
At the present moment, there will be no peace.
And that is all there is to it..."
- the words of British Army Brigadier-General 'Sir' Ormonde de l'Épée Winter ('KBE, CB, CMG, DSO ETC ETC', pictured, who nixered (!) for the Brits as Chief of the British Army Intelligence Branch), in a letter he wrote to a Mr Hubert Sidney Jenner Lamond Hemming (!), a Colonel in the British Army, on the 1st July, 1921.
Mr Winter was the then 'Deputy Director of Police', for Westminster, in Ireland but - and he obviously didn't see this coming! - a truce between the IRA and the British crown forces came into effect at noon on Monday, 11th July 1921 and, on the 6th December, 1921 (as not predicted by him!), a so-called 'peace settlement' was signed!
As part of the Truce, on the 16th July (1921), liaison officers were set up between the British Army/RIC and IRA to sort out details and resolve any disputes at local level.
Volunteer Eoin O'Duffy was appointed Truce Liaison Officer (TLO) for Belfast, and established a presence in St Mary's Hall in that city and announced that all IRA activity, except self-defence, would cease, Volunteer Patrick Shiels was TLO for Derry and Donegal (but was later replaced in that position by Patrick Lynch from Magera), Volunteer George Lennon was the TLO for Waterford (with Volunteer Paddy Paul as his deputy).
A British Army Officer, a Mr William Stack, was the TLO for the British Army's 14th Infantry Brigade area in their 5th Division, a Mr Finton Murphy was TLO for the BA 15th Infantry Brigade and Volunteer Michael Staines was the TLO for the Galway Brigade area.
The TLO's for the British Army apparently thought that their rank would carry some sway with the IRA TLO's, but not so -
"The class of individual selected for these liaison duties left much to be desired...", wrote their TLO staff, "..the liaison arrangements were in fact little more than a farce. The men originally selected by Sinn Féin were in many cases leading extremists, whose complicity in outrages and murder was well known to the British officers who were required to deal with them..."
Yes, yes, yes...sure that's just not cricket, sure it's not, Ormonde : you couldn't beat the IRA militarily and, politically, you couldn't best them, either.
Incidentally, talking about British Army Brigadier-General 'Sir' Ormonde de l'Épée Winter, he was known as 'O' and also as "The Holy Terror" within the spy network he helped develop and worked within, in Ireland.
A fellow officer of his gave the following opinion of the spy 'O' -
"O is a marvel!
He looks like a wicked white snake and can do everything.
He is an Artillery Colonel and commanded a Division of Artillery in France, and in India they say he was tried for murder for a little escapade while doing secret service work.
He started a race course near Calcutta and made a pot of money!
He is as clever as paint, probably entirely non-moral, a first class horseman, a card genius, knows several languages, is a super sleuth, and a most amazing original.
When a soldier who knew him in India heard that he was coming to Ireland he said 'God help Sinn Fein, they don't know what they are up against...' "
A non-moral snake, a murderer and a gambler - yes, I think Irish republicans knew what to expect even before he got here.
Included in his 'snakeisness' was his purchases of Irish republican newspapers in shops and on street stalls and the near-facsimile copying of them, in bulk, for distribution, in the same colours and design but with altered text, to sow confusion among Sinn Féin and the IRA!
This forging snake was driving out of his Dublin Castle lair in June, 1921, when the IRA ambushed him and his guard, but he was only wounded (in the hand) but it must have given him food for thought, as he retired from active service against the Irish in early 1924.
He shed his final skin on this Earth on the 13th February, 1962.
On the same date that the TLO's came into being (16th), a Mr Thomas Labrom, from the St Pancras area of London, a 'Light Car Driver Class III' with the '615 Motor Transport Company' of the 'Royal Army Service Corps' ('Service Number M/31415'), died from a gunshot wound in George V Hospital in Dublin.
In Ireland, the 'Royal Army Service Corps' (RASC) played a crucial logistical role in supporting British forces ; they were responsible for transport, supply, and other vital services, ensuring British troops were equipped and provisioned.
They transported personnel and supplies, managed barracks and provided fire services for enemy infrastructure, and their work was essential for maintaining the British military presence and operations in Ireland, which was why they were targeted by the IRA.
The IRA, North, South, East and West had a busy card - as well as the RASC working against the rebels, in July, 1921, for example, there were 3,414 'A' Specials in the Six Counties alone (outnumbering the RIC), 15,902 'B' Specials and 1,310 'C' Specials.
Plenty of clients for the George V and other hospitals...
==========================
CASH NO EXCUSE FOR RTE PUTTING DOCUMENTARY TO DEATH...
It has been a disastrous 12 months for RTE.
£23.5 million in cutbacks, a bid to increase the licence fee rejected, an enforced postponement of digital expansion, and a predicted £20 million loss to report for 2001.
By Belinda McKeon.
From 'Magill' Annual, 2002.
That work is needed not so much on the Independent Productions Unit at RTE, however, as on the attitudes from above which constrain its scope.
The hands of Kevin Dawson, Head of Factual Programming, have now been tied even more tightly because the budgetary cuts which followed the minister's rejection pressurised Dawson to aim programming at a majority, prime-time demographic, and to maximise advertising revenue. Arts documentary, he contends, is never going to do this.
Things would have been different had the licence fee increase come through, so the official line goes but, in fact, the only mention of developing a dedicated arts documentary strand in RTE lately was made in the rush to put together an application which would sway the minister.
While, technically speaking, the 'True Lives' slot, which proves that RTE can do an excellent job on documentary, is open to proposals from the 30 or so production companies which specialise in exploring the arts, the likelihood of even one such proposal getting the go-ahead is miniscule.
This makes for a very barren climate in which such companies might try to launch into what is actually a thriving international market...
(MORE LATER.)
Ireland, 1922 : the IRA split over the Treaty of Surrender became more conspicuous.
Those who supported being granted dominion status by the British re-invented themselves as the Free State 'National (sic) Army', but the majority of the IRA rejected the Treaty and vowed to continue fighting for the whole 32 Counties of Ireland.
Volunteer Francis Thomas ('Frank') Aiken (pictured), the Officer Commanding of the IRA 4th Northern Division (consisting of between 200 and 300 fighters) declared that he and his men were neutral - they were in command of the Anne Street RIC Barracks, in Dundalk, County Louth, and Volunteer Aiken called for a truce, a new IRA Army Council, and the removal of the Oath of Allegiance from the Free State constitution.
He and his Division of 'neutrals' got their answer on the 16th July, 1922, when the Free Staters, under the command of FSA 'Major-General' Dan Hogan (later to be the Free State Army 'Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces', a position he held from March 1927 to February 1929, and a republican-gamekeeper-turned-Free State poacher) attacked the barracks (killing two IRA Volunteers - Patrick Quigley and John Joseph Campbell - in the process) and 'arrested' Volunteer Aiken and his men, marching them just over a mile, with a heavy escort, to the County Gaol at The Crescent in Dundalk where they were detained.
Mr Francis Thomas ('Frank') Aiken should have come clean from the start - in 1926, he joined the Fianna Fáil party when it was founded.
RIP Volunteers Patrick Quigley and John Joseph Campbell.
On that same date (16th) in July (1922), 170 km/105 miles away up the road, in the Fort on Inch Island (pictured) on the Inishowen Penninsula in County Donegal, about three dozen IRA Volunteers had, for about ten days, successfully held off attacks by the Free State 'National (sic) Army' on their position.
The Staters then brought in heavy artillery pieces which they had borrowed from their new comrades in the British Army and opened fire on the Volunteers.
The rebels in the Fort had to surrender : about thirty of them were captured there and, on witnessing the carnage inflicted by (borrowed, British) artillery on a fixed rebel position, Volunteer Sean Lehane, the Officer Commanding the IRA forces in Donegal, gave the order to abandon their last post in that county, in Glenveagh Castle (pictured, below), and form 'Flying Columns' which would take on the Staters on a 'hit and run' basis, just as they had done against the British.
==========================
DEATH IN THE MEDITERRANEAN...
Desmond Boomer, a Belfast engineer working in the Libyan oil-fields, disappeared seven years ago.
Officially, the plane on which he was a passenger crashed as a result of mechanical failure and pilot error.
But is that the real story?
Or were the Irishman and his fellow passengers unwitting victims of the shady war between Islamic fundamentalism and Mossad, Israel's intelligence network?
A special 'Magill' investigation by Don Mullan, author of 'Eyewitness Bloody Sunday'.
From 'Magill' magazine, January 2003.
After landing at Djerba, Rodney Woods said -
"We went to collect our luggage from the hold and I noticed that the alternator drive belt was all torn."
He also told the inquiry that Captain Bartolo "...put his hand in and tore it off easily in front of everyone..."
All three witnesses stated that, in their opinion, the aircraft was in no fit state to return to Malta.
To replace the alternator belt required at least three hours of specialist maintenance work, involving the removal of the propeller.
NCA International, a Maltese-based aircraft maintenance company, held the repair contract for aircraft owned by Captain Bartolo's two companies and, before another company could undertake repair work on his aircraft, Bartolo was required to obtain written authority from NCA, otherwise his insurance cover would be invalid.
He did not contact NCA for repair clearance that night or the following morning, which suggests that no repairs were carried out...
(MORE LATER.)
Thanks for reading,
Sharon and the team.
(We'll be back on Wednesday, 30th July 2025 - we're still enjoying our new, more relaxed publishing schedule ie a post every second Wednesday, rather than every Wednesday, and we're not yet ready to revert!)
