Anna Catherine Parnell, pictured, was born 'Catherine Maria Anna Mercer Parnell' on the 13th May, 1852 - 174 years ago, on this date - at Avondale House in Rathdrum, County Wicklow. She was the tenth of eleven children of John Henry Parnell, a landlord, and Delia Tudor Stewart Parnell, an Irish-American woman (the daughter of Admiral Charles Stewart of the US Navy).
Anna and one of her sisters, Fanny, worked with their brother, Charles (Stewart Parnell) in agitating for better conditions for tenants and, on the 31st January in 1881, the two sisters officially launched a 'Ladies Land League' which, at its full strength, consisted of about five hundred branches and didn't always see eye-to-eye with its 'parent' organisation, the 'Irish National Land League'.
In its short existence, it provided assistance to about 3,000 people who had been evicted from their rented land holdings to assist and/or take over land agitation issues, as it seemed certain that the 'parent' body was going to be outlawed by the British.
And, sure enough, the British Prime Minister, Mr William Ewart Gladstone, introduced and enforced a 'Crimes Act' that same year, 1881 (better known as the 'Coercion/Protection of Person and Property Act') which made it illegal to assemble in relation to certain issues and an offence to conspire against the payment of rents 'owed' which, ironically, was a piece of legislation condemned by the same catholic church which condemned the 'Irish National Land League' because that Act introduced permanent legislation and did not have to be renewed on each political term.
And that same church also condemned the 'Ladies Land League' to the extent that Archbishop McCabe of Dublin instructed priests loyal to him "..not to tolerate in your societies (diocese) the woman who so far disavows her birthright of modesty as to parade herself before the public gaze in a character so unworthy of a Child of Mary...".
The best that can be said about that is that that church's 'consistency' hasn't changed much over the years, and that it wasn't only a religious institution which made an issue out of women being politicised - 'In the year in which the Ladies' Land League was formed, Ireland was first mentioned in the 15 January 1881 issue of the 'Englishwoman's Review'.
Tellingly, this was a report headed 'Women Landowners in Ireland' (and) there was also a small report of a 'Catholic Charitable Association' being formed 'by a number of Irish ladies for aiding the families of poor or evicted tenants'.
The addition of the phrase "It is distinctly understood that the society shall take no part whatever in political agitation.." reveals the disapproval felt by the journal for those engaged in that agitation *. The formation of the Ladies' Land League was then noted : 'In anticipation of Government action against local branches of the Irish National Land League, arrangements are being made for the establishment of a Ladies' Land League throughout Ireland. Such a movement has already been organised in America, where Mrs Parnell, the mother of the Member for Cork, is the President, and Miss Fanny Parnell and Mr John Stewart, the sister and brother of Mr Parnell, MP, are acting as organisers.
The Irish movement will be led by the wives of the local leaders of the existing league, and will devote themselves to the collection of funds...' ** (from here).
* / ** - That periodical was assembled and edited by, and for, middle-class women of the day (late 19th/early 20th century) and, while it did cover and promote economic independence for women, occupation outside of the home for women, the need for better educational facilities for women to enable and encourage women to seek employment in 'the male professions' ie politics and medicine, it was truly of its day in that it was felt to be a bridge-too-far to call for women to take to the streets for the right to be more than 'just' fund-raisers.
In short, the authors were, in effect, confining themselves to be further confined.
In October 1881, Westminster proscribed the 'Irish National Land League' and imprisoned its leadership, but the gap was ably filled by the 'Ladies Land League' until it was acrimoniously dissolved on the 10th August 1882, 19 months after it was formed.
Anna's brother, Charles, died in 1891 and, somewhat disillusioned with the political society that she lived in, she moved to the south of England and went by the name 'Cerisa Palmer'.
On the 20th September in 1911, when she was living in Ilfracombe in Devon, England, at 59 years of age, she went for her usual daily swim but got into difficulties ; her plight was noticed from the shore but she was dead by the time help arrived.
She was buried quietly in the churchyard of Holy Trinity Church in Ilfracombe, in the presence of just a handful of strangers.
RIP Catherine Maria Anna Mercer Parnell.
On the 13th May, 1919, nine armed IRA Volunteers (Seamus Robinson, Tom Breen, Sean Treacy [all 3rd Tipperary Brigade], Ned 'Eamon' O'Brien, James Scanlon, J J O'Brien, Sean Lynch, Edward Foley and James 'Goorty' McCarthy) met up as arranged in Knocklong Railway Station in County Limerick.
Their intention was to rescue one of their comrades, Volunteer Seán Hogan (pictured) a POW, who was being transported by four RIC members - Messrs. Wallace, Enright, Ring and Reilly. two of whom - Mr Wallace and Mr Enright - were killed in their attempt to prevent the rescue.
Four of the IRA Volunteers were injured during the successful operation.
Four months afterwards, six Volunteers were 'arrested' by the British and charged with the 'murder' of the two RIC members ; three of these men were charged with taking part in the rescue. They were Volunteer Edward Foley, who did take part in the rescue, and two Volunteers who did not take part in it - Patrick Maher and Michael Murphy.
After many postponements and change of venues, the three Volunteers were found guilty ; Volunteers Edward Foley and Patrick Maher were hung by a British hangman on the 7th June, 1921, in Mountjoy Prison in Dublin, and Volunteer Michael Murphy was released after the 'Treaty of Surrender' was signed.
We wrote on this blog in more detail about this rescue operation...
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On the same date that IRA Volunteers in Limerick were taking physical action against the British military and political presence in Ireland, 'The Times' newspaper in London was writing about that same problem.
Commenting of the visit of the American delegation to Ireland (specifically the 'American Commission on Irish Independence [ACII]'), 'The Times' wrote that "...the effect of the visit is the submergence of every policy of the moderation so that a full Republic is now the irreducible minimum of hundreds of thousands of nationalists.."
The high-powered delegation was investigating the political conditions in Ireland, and met with the newly elected leaders of the (32-County) Dáil Éireann, and voiced support for the Irish drive for self-determination and world-wide recognition of the Irish Republic.
'The Times' newspaper was a Westminster mouthpiece and its uneasiness re the delegation was a reflection of the fears felt by the British Cabinet.
Incidentally, 'The Times' was wrong ; Irish nationalists, then and now, were and are of the political opinion that 'the British can stay but they'll have to treat us better', whereas republicans, then and now, were and are of the political opinion that nothing less than a full British military and political withdrawal from Ireland will suffice.
But not to worry - there's Irish people, too, who still don't know the difference...
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THE GREAT OIL AND GAS ROBBERY...
From 'Magill' Magazine, October 2005.
"I spent an hour with Micheál Ó Seighin (pictured), one of the Rossport Five.
Micheál received us very graciously in the small visiting box. He is a small, quietly-spoken man in his late 60s.
"Tá sibhse ag dhéanamh obair go hiontach. Congratulations. Bhí an scéal Dé Luan go han, han mhaith. Ceim mhór", he said..."
Micheál Ó Seighin.
Michael McDowell.
Pat Rabbitte.
A Mr Martin Ferris, a Leinster House politician, had been at the Leinster House committee which had questioned the Minister Noel Dempsey the evening before, and he gave Micheál an account of that meeting and they discussed the Government's handling of the issue.
Micheál Ó Seighin stated -
"I told Shell a few years ago that this whole issue was going to end up in disaster. I said at the beginning that this cannot work. Go back to the drawing board, we told them. But Shell wouldn't listen.
They got a weak government with corrupt ministers and took everything they could ; if they had handled these matters differently we would have worked with them, but they didn't.
The pipeline breaches all of the safety codes, but I knew nothing about any of these things before this but now I know an awful lot - there are three codes and the pipe contravenes them all ; the British codes for safety, the Irish codes, and the US codes.
Normally production pipelines are not run past houses and there are very strict regulations, but all of these are breached.
When Frank Fahy was the minister he moved to sign a compulsory requisition order in the dying days of the last government, and this effectively gave Shell the right to proceed.
The government moved without a safety report but, subsequently, a safety report was done by a company associated with Shell. When that was revealed an independent safety review was ordered and we're waiting for that report..."
(The third [ie last] pic above shows a Mr Patrick Rabbitte, ex-State Labour Party leader and ex-'State Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources' ; Mr Rabbittee retired as State Labour Party leader in 2007, and from political life altogether in 2016, on a combined pension package worth over €2 million to him!)
(MORE LATER.)
In 1920, in Ireland, the pro-British 'police force', the RIC, continued to experience low morale, high resignation rates and a popular boycott, and were frustrated about their lot in life, God help them.
And, to add to their woes, their paymasters in Westminster were actively further militarising their role and let loose the Black and Tans, who were chaperoned into towns, villages and cities by the RIC, thus separating 'the cops' even more from the citizens they were supposedly 'serving'(!).
On the 13th May (1920), the people of the village of Thurles, in County Tipperary, were woken by the sound of gunshots and explosions as the RIC targeted houses which they suspected to be the homes of IRA Volunteers and Sinn Féin members and/or supporters.
The RIC and their pro-British sympathisers described (and dismissed) outrages like that as 'targeted retaliatory strikes' but, as should have been expected, the shootings and bombings on the civilian population had the opposite effect and actually strengthened the rebel 3rd Tipperary IRA Brigade!
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On the same day that anti-republican elements were causing trouble in Thurles, about 125 miles (200km) up the road and over on yer left (!) in the village of Ballinrobe, in the county of Mayo, the Dáil Éireann Minister of Agriculture, a Mr Arthur ('Art') James Kickham O'Connor (pictured, a republican-gamekeeper-turned-Free State poacher) in connection with the formation of a land arbitration court ; he was assisted in this endeavour by a Mr Kevin O'Shiel (another republican-gamekeeper-turned-Free State poacher) and they heard their first major case on the 17th of that month.
Most fitting, really, as both men were to go on to play a part in giving away six of their own counties...
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While the two lads were in Mayo discussing land, their then rebel comrades in Ulster were clearing some of it themselves.
The recently evacuated RIC Barracks in the town of Burnfoot, in County Donegal, was burnt down by Volunteers attached to the Derry City Battalion and, on that same date, the RIC Barracks in Carrigans, in East County Donegal, was also attacked.
As those two republican operations were taking place, other rebel Volunteers forced entry into the income tax office in Bishops Street in Derry City and burned as many tax records as they could lay their hands on.
Hitting the Brits in the pocket...!
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At the same time that income tax records were being liberated in Ulster, about 240 miles (380km) down the road, in Cork City, the body of a British Army Corporal, a Mr John Matthews (57, 'Service Number 243310'), from Saint Helen's, in Lancashire, in England, was discovered in a pond in the city centre.
Mr Matthews was attached to the '1st East Kent Regiment' ('the Buffs'), and was a 'Military Clerk' at the 6th Division Headquarters in Victoria Barracks in Cork.
His body was said to have some marks on it, but his clothes were not torn ; a post-mortem stated that he drowned accidently.
Mr Matthews is buried in Saint Helen's Cemetery, in Lancashire, in his own country, England.
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THE MONTH UNSPUN...
The stories that hit the headlines.
From Magill magazine, August 2002.
Expect some efforts to give convincing reassurance that standards will be reviewed but, if George Bush's efforts at same in the US recently are anything to go by, the average investor will remain hugely sceptical.
The general feeling among the public was that the FAI betrayed Irish soccer for seven-and-a-half million pieces of silver, according to 'The Sunday Independent' newspaper.
'The Irish Times' speculated that Bertie Ahern was afraid to offend Sky's owner Rupert Murdoch, who is never afraid to push a preferred political candidate through his media empire, and owns 'The Sunday Times' and 'The News Of The World', two newspapers which, 'The Times' claimed, supported Fianna Fáil in the last two elections.
'The Sunday Times', though, was quick to respond to that allegation and labelled it nonsense.
In addition, it took its courage in hand and quoted Irish legend Paul McGrath condemning the deal as "moneygrabbing".
'The Star' newspaper, meanwhile ran a 'Justice For Fans' campaign...
(MORE LATER.)
On the 13th May, 1921, nominations closed for election to "the parliaments of Northern and Southern Ireland.." (sic).
124 Sinn Féin and 4 Unionists candidates were nominated for as many seats in the 'Southern Parliament' and, as no opposing candidates were nominated, they were all effectively elected ie all 128 candidates for 'the House of Commons of Southern Ireland' were returned unopposed because no rival candidates were nominated by the (13th May) deadline.
The result was - Sinn Féin 124 seats, 'Independent Unionists' 4 seats (representing Dublin University/Trinity College).
The election in the Six Counties, however, was highly contested, with 77 candidates contesting for 52 seats, with polling to be held on the 24th May ; those elections were held under 'The Government of Ireland Act 1920', which aimed to establish two 'Home Rule parliaments' in Ireland, effectively partitioning the island.
The result was - The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) won a landslide victory with 40 seats, while Sinn Féin and the Nationalist Party won 6 seats each.
In 1921, there were notable actual political differences between the established political parties in relation to partition and the British military and political presence in Ireland, but not so today, in 2026 - UUP, (P)SF, SDLP etc are all working with Westminster to maintain and enforce partition in Ireland, and some even claim it's the republican position to do so!
Anyway : re the 'nominations closed' date and its aftermath - more details here.
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On the same date that those election nominations closed, IRA Volunteer Seán 'John' Joseph Magee (23, a 'Section Commander' in the rebel ranks), who worked outside the Movement as a railway clerk, was in the family home at Millgrange, Greenore, County Louth, when armed Black and Tan mercenaries stormed the house.
The intruders pulled Volunteer Magee from the house and shot him in the head.
An RIC 'County Inspector' investigated (!) the shooting and wrote a report claiming that the IRA were responsible, a propaganda trick common in those days.
Volunteer Magee is buried in Kilwirra Graveyard in Carlingford, County Louth.
'PUBLIC MEMORIAL
Erected to the memory of SECt. COMd. JOHN JOSEH MAGEE IRA, Cooley, Who nobly gave his young life in the cause of Irish Independence.
May 13th 1921.'
RIP Volunteer Seán 'John' Joseph Magee.
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At the same time as the Tans raided the Magee house in Millgrange, Greenore, County Louth, their colleagues in the British Army were 135 miles (215 km) down the road in the townland of Knocknagress, in the civil parish of Tullaroan, in County Kilkenny, approaching a house to search it.
Armed IRA Volunteers from the 7th Battalion, Kilkenny Brigade and the No. 2 ASU of Tipperary No. 2 Brigade were inside the house, and fought their way out of the trap ; most of the rebels escaped, but two wounded fighters were captured - Volunteers Seán Quinn and Patrick Walsh.
Both men were taken to the BA military barracks in County Kilkenny but it was too late for Volunteer Quinn, who died there ; his comrade, Volunteer Walsh, died five days later during an attempt to amputate his leg.
The IRA investigated the shootings and discovered that two local men, farm labourers - a Mr Michael O'Keefe and a Mr Martin Dermody - had informed the enemy about the presence of the rebels in the house.
The informers were executed.
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On the 12th May (1921), British Army soldiers were closing-in on the Ryan house in Ballybrack, Annacarty, in County Limerick.
The Ryans were a republican family - two of the Ryan brothers, Michael (27) and Thomas, were attached to the 3rd Battalion, Tipperary Brigade IRA, and one of their sisters, Nance, was an active member of Cumann na mBan.
The British were aware of their republican connections and were looking to 'interview' Michael, who was 'on the run' ; acting on information from an informer, the foreign soldiers (on pushbikes) were in the process of surrounding the Ryan house when Michael and Thomas made a run for it.
The two Volunteers entered a field and ran downhill towards the cover of the bushes along a small stream.
The BA soldiers opened fire, Michael fell, was captured by the enemy and brought to the Military Hospital in Tipperary, where he died in the early hours of the 13th.
On the 1st June that year, the shooting was briefly mentioned in Westminster -
'Mr. Mosley asked the Chief Secretary whether he will make inquiries into the circumstances under which Michael Ryan of Ballybrack, was shot, while crossing one of his father’s fields, by armed forces of the Crown on 12th May last?
Sir H. Greenwood : The Court of Inquiry in this case found that deceased was shot by members of the Crown forces in the execution of their duty, he having failed to halt when called upon to do so, and that no blame attached to any member of the Crown forces. According to the evidence, Ryan was on the road when challenged by the patrol, but he jumped a hedge and endeavoured to get away. He was called upon to halt three times before he was fired upon.
Major M. Wood : How far was this man away when he was called upon to halt?
Mr. Mosley : How many men, can the right hon. Gentleman say, have been shot in Ireland for this kind of thing?
Mr. Speaker : I think notice should be given of that question...'
IRA Acting Company Captain Michael Ryan is buried in Kilpatrick Cemetery, Annacarty, County Tipperary.
RIP Volunteer Michael Ryan.
==========================
In early April, 1921, a London, England man, a Mr Albert Edward Skeats (24), decided to seek adventure in Ireland and went and joined the RIC.
He was given a few weeks 'training' and sent to the RIC Barracks in Cabinteely, Dublin, 'to keep British law and order' (!) in that part of Ireland which, unfortunately for Mr Skeats, 'F Company', 6th Battalion, Dublin Brigade IRA were maintaining Irish law and order in already.
That particular barracks had been attacked twice in April by the rebels and also on the 10th and the 12th May ; on the 13th May, as Mr Skeats was standing outside the rear of the barracks, a single shot was fired at him and he fell to the ground, seriously wounded.
Mr Albert Edward Skeats died from his wound on the 28th May 1921.
A short-lived 'adventure'.
==========================
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.
Despite this, the question on many people's mind was the identity of the Maltese pilot.
Cecila Aquilina, mother of Matthew Aquilina, says that suspicion centered on Captain Bartolo, principally because of the photographs of the aircraft which appeared in 'KullHadd' on the 5th November.
Two vital questions still hang unanswered - who was the source of the articles that appeared to finger Carmelo Bartolo as a possible accomplice in the assassination of the Jihad leader, and what was the motivation behind them?
In February 1996, Desmond Boomer's wife Mandy visited Malta in search of the truth and met a journalist named Joe Mifsud during her visit ; she told 'Magill' she would never forget his opening remarks to her.
They had barely shaken hands when he declared - "This was an unfortunate accident and nothing but that..."
This comment was made by Joe Mifsud eight months before Tunisian fishermen allegedly found the wreckage of Flight 9H-ABU and less than two months after the mysterious disappearance...
(MORE LATER.)
The Athy area of County Kildare had a history in the 1920's of being "a garrison town" ie overall, more inclined to support the State forces rather than the rebels - the 'Irregulars' and, indeed, it was said to have gained and/or reinforced that reputation during the 1798 Rising.
On the 13th May, 1922, the home and outhouses of a "substantial farmer" in Russellstown, Athy - a Mr Edward Condell - were attacked and damaged by fire by an IRA ASU.
That wouldn't be the last such operation either...
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In early April, 1922, the Free State Army Commandant in County Leitrim, a Mr Harold McKeon, issued a public proclamation prohibiting land seizures in the district 'under his control' (Oh the irony - the Staters were at that time and, indeed, still are today, assisting the British to seize Irish land!).
On the 9th of that month, William Blennerhassett, a (Protestant) farmer, was evicted, along with his wife and seven children, from their farm at Culleneghy, Beaufort, near Killarney, in County Kerry, by a group of armed and masked men.
A local man, a Mr John Murphy, had had his family members evicted from that farm, by the British, in the 1880's, and tensions were understandably high in the area because of that and other Westminster-encouraged intrusions into Irish matters.
The following day, however, the local IRA Battalion Officer Commanding, Volunteer Patrick Allman, reinstated the Blennerhassett family on the farm, which was not an acceptable outcome to many of the locals, so some of them decided to take a legal case regarding the proper ownership of the farm.
On the 13th May the farm was attacked, and a three-day siege ensued, during which both Mr Blennerhasset and his son were wounded.
Eventually, the Blennerhassets surrendered but brought their case to the High Court in Dublin and, on the 16th June, the High Court ruled in favour of the Blennerhassett family in their land dispute with Mr John Murphy and his supporters.
On the 20th December, 1922, the farmhouse was burnt down.
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In a somewhat related matter and similar issue to the above-mentioned Blennerhassett/Murphy case, on the 13th May, 1922, 'The Roscommom Herald' newspaper reported on a court case taken against a Mr Patrick Gilhooley and a Mr Bernard Gilhooley, who were charged with seizing the land of a neighbour.
A republican court was convened in the town of Drumsna, County Leitrim, and the Gilhooley brothers explained their reason for taking the land - their father who, they said, "was fond of a drop and he was not as cute as Mr Fox was..." had, in 1897, sold the land to Mr Fox, and his sons wanted it back.
After the court threatened to imprison the brothers, they gave a legal undertaking to vacate the land.
The old saying 'as stupid as a fox' could be worked in here...!
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On the same day that that newspaper report was published, an 'Orange Order' member, a Mr Robert Beattie who, when not marching through nationalist areas, worked as a postman, was delivering letters in Butler Street in Belfast when he was shot dead.
On the 17th (May 1922), as he was being buried, shots were fired at the funeral cortege.
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On the 13th May, 1922, British Army Gunner James Henry John Rolfe (20), from the town of Slough, in England, and one of his pals, Gunner Alfred Porter, both attached to Marlborough Military Barracks (now known as McKee Barracks, on Blackhorse Avenue, in Dublin), were walking along Batchelors Walk in Dublin City Centre when they noticed two 'drunk men' walking towards them.
When the two 'drunks' got close to them, they pulled out handguns and told the two British Army Gunners to hand over their weaponry, which the Gunners did, reluctantly.
Being from what he no doubt considered to be 'a better Class', Mr James Henry 'Gunner' Rolfe actually demanded a receipt (!) for the equipment from the two men, one of whom looked at him, asked him what did he say and, before he could repeat his demand, shot him in the neck, killing him.
Mr Rolfe had enlisted in the 'Royal Garrison Artillery' of the British Army on the 2nd February in 1920, at 18 years of age.
Gunner Alfred Porter ('Service Number 1421448'), who wasn't arrogant enough to ask for a receipt, walked away from that encounter in the same good health that he entered into it ; he died in October 1968, in Bristol, in his own country, England, at 74 years of age.
Incidentally, at the inquest into the shooting of Mr Rolfe, the coroner asked the jury to bring in a verdict of wilful murder but the jury refused - they returned a verdict of "..death from shock and haemorrhage as a result of wounds inflicted by a person or persons unknown..."
And that was the 'receipt' they handed over to the coroner...
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Following the death of IRA Chief of Staff Volunteer Liam Lynch on the 10th April, 1923, the Deputy Chief of Staff, Volunteer Frank Aiken (who assumed the position of Chief of Staff on the 20th April) called for a joint meeting of the Republican Government and the IRA, which was held in a venue in Santry, Dublin, on the 13th to the 14th May.
After lengthy discussions, the assembly instructed Volunteer Aiken to order an IRA ceasefire and the dumping of arms, and to announce those orders on May 24th.
An internal memo to all IRA Officers stated -
"The dumping of arms does not mean that the usefulness of the IRA is past, or release any member of it from his duty to his country.
On the contrary a disciplined Volunteer force, ready for any emergency, will be a great strength to the Nation in its march to Independence.
It is clearly our duty to keep the Army Organisation intact."
The 'Dump Arms' order stated -
"The Government and Army Council have decided to order that armed resistance to the Free State 'Government' will cease. To avoid armed conflicts it is necessary that the arms of all ranks be dumped.
Comrades ; the arms with which we fought the enemies of our country are to be dumped.
The foreign and domestic enemies of the Republic have for the moment prevailed.
We took up arms to free our country, and we'll keep them until we see an honourable way of reaching our objective without arms."
A Mr Éamon de Valera issued an accompanying statement -
"The Republic can no longer be defended successfully by your arms.
Further sacrifice of life would now be in vain and continuance of the struggle in arms unwise in the national interest and prejudicial to the future of our cause."
Volunteers were instructed to take adequate measures to protect themselves and their munitions ; arms dumps were built in the corners of fields (where three fields met) or near safe houses, and were frequently constructed using corrugated steel roofs and concrete sides, buried in ditches or mountainsides.
Internal IRA documents from 1924 showed that the IRA held over 5,000 weapons in these secret locations, not all of which have been discovered by the Staters, in our opinion.
The 1924 'Dump Arms' order was a tactical withdrawal : instead of handing over weapons, IRA units were instructed to put them aside for future use, but the leadership that came into play in 1983 traded those and other weapons for seats at Westminster, Stormont and Leinster House.
Eternal shame, everlasting reproach and perpetual humiliation on them for that.
==========================
On the 13th May, 1924, the 'Secretary of the Free State Department of Local Government', a Mr Edward Patrick (EP) McCarron, issued a directive instructing that no appointment (or salary increase) would be given to any local government officer unless they made a declaration swearing allegiance to the Irish Free State and its constitution.
Even before he issued that diktat, Mr McCarron, a long-time career 'civil servant' under the British administration in Ireland, was seen as a controversial figure within Free State political circles as he had shown great allegiance and a strong dedication to Westminster, while assisting them to implement their writ in Ireland as an official of their 'Local Government Board'.
The response from local councils was characterised by deep division, significant resistance and, ultimately, a major loss of local autonomy as the 'FS Department of Local Government' used the oath requirement to purge political opposition, as a State Minister could then dissolve the entire elected body and replace it with a Leinster House-imposed/appointed commissioner.
Indeed, in 1924, both Cork Corporation and Dublin Corporation were dissolved and replaced by imposed/appointed/selected commissioners who strictly enforced Leinster House policies.
The 'McCarron Directive' was in fact a purge which removed republicans from the local civil service of the new Free State, to be replaced by lackeys, ensuring that the administrative machinery of the new corrupt entity was operated by those who had sworn allegiance to a paypacket and a pension, regardless of who was paying it, as opposed to having sworn allegiance to their conscience.
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Thanks for the visit, and for reading - much appreciated!
Sharon and the team.
(We'll be back here on the blog on Wednesday, 27th May 2026, and 'lil auld me will be on 'X' and Facebook between now and then, if yer missin' me all that much..!)
