Leo Henderson seized a number of cars at gunpoint, and was on the point of driving back to the IRA stronghold of the Four Courts when he was 'arrested' by Free State troops.
Volunteer Henderson's comrades in the Four Courts in response arrested a Free State Army General, Jeremiah Joseph ('JJ') 'Ginger' O'Connell (pictured) and, within 24 hours, Free State artillery ('borrowed' from Westminster) was battering at the walls of the Four Courts in central Dublin.
The first shots of the Irish Civil War were caused by a row over selling cars to Belfast...
..not altogether the full story, although the 'bones' of what actually happened are there.
Harry Ferguson's garage was a well-known Belfast automobile company, with a branch on Baggot Street, in Dublin. It was known to be unsympathetic to the 'Irregulars' and had blatantly ignored an overall directive from the IRA that for-profit business dealings with Belfast should cease until business bosses in that city took steps to ensure the safety of their nationalist workforce.
Leo Henderson and his men commandeered about 15 cars which had been sent, for sale, to Dublin from Belfast - the IRA's intention, as well as to be seen enforcing the 'Belfast Trade Boycott', was to use the vehicles, as part of the war effort, against the continuing British political and military presence in the Six Occupied Counties and in their campaign to overthrow the then-fledging Free State political administration.
Leo Henderson was captured by the Staters, with ex-IRA man Frank Thornton in command of them and, when the IRA leadership heard that Henderson had been 'arrested', they discussed abducting Collins himself or Richard Mulcahy in retaliation, but decided instead to seize Free State General Jeremiah Joseph (JJ) 'Ginger' O'Connell, who was Richard Mulcahy's Deputy Chief-of-Staff.
At 11.15pm on the night of Tuesday, 27th June, 1922, 'Ginger' was arrested in Dublin by the IRA after an evening out with his girlfriend - the couple had gone to the theatre and, after the girlfriend was dropped home, 'Ginger' went to McGilligan's Pub in Leeson Street for a few pints.
As he left the pub, the IRA seized him and held him in the republican-occupied Four Courts ; Ernie O'Malley actually telephoned Free State General Eoin O'Duffy, who was in Portobello Barracks, and told him that 'Ginger' will be returned to the Staters in exchange for Leo Henderson.
The republicans knew that 'Ginger' was valued by Collins and his renegades - he was one of the few that eagerly conveyed the 'cancel-the-Rising'-order from Eoin MacNeill in 1916 and both Collins and Mulcahy regarded him as a safe pair of hands.
Collins's political and military bosses in London were notified about 'JJ Ginger' being held in republican custody and made it clear to Collins that if he and his Free State colleagues didn't take steps to remove the republicans from the Four Courts, they would - the Staters had already decided to attack their former comrades in the Four Courts and had already accepted the offer from Westminster of equipment with which to carry-out the task ; British artillery, aircraft, armoured cars, machine guns, small arms and ammunition were by then in the possession of Collins and his team, who then used the 'JJ kidnap'-incident to press ahead with the assault.
The republicans ignored the threat and held their ground and, less than half-an-hour later - at about 4.30am - the Staters opened fire on the republicans with British-supplied 18-pounder guns and practically destroyed the building (pictured), an act which was recently described as "..a major national calamity..an assault on the collective memory of the nation..such actions are considered as war crimes..a cultural atrocity.."
The IRA held out for two days before leaving the building, but fought-on elsewhere in Dublin until early July, 1922, with Oscar Traynor (who later joined the Fianna Fáil party) in command.
'JJ Ginger' was rescued by his Stater colleagues on Friday, 30th June 1922 when they finally managed to enter the then shell of a building where the Four Courts once stood and, within months, was demoted from a Lieutenant-General to a Major-General and then to a Colonel, a position he was to remain in.
He got married in 1922 and, between 1924 and 1944 (he died in the Richmond Hospital in Dublin from a heart attack on the 19th February of that year), he was shifted around like a pawn on a chess board : chief lecturer in the FS Army school of instruction, director of Number 2 (Intelligence) Bureau, OC equitation school, quartermaster-general and director of the military archives.
We wonder did he consider himself to be the man who started a Civil War...?
On the 26th June, 1919, two British military gentlemen, a Brigadier General Francis Waldron CB and a Major Thackeray RM presided over a meeting in the Courthouse, in Kildare, to discuss their intentions to establish a branch of the 'Comrades of the War Association' in Kildare, to service like-minded individuals in that and surrounding districts.
The grouping had as its objective "..to represent the rights of ex (British)-servicemen who had served during 'The Great War 1914-1918' (and to) provide financial, social and emotional care and support to all members of the British Armed Forces - past and present, and their families..."
The 'Comrades of the War Association' grouping later merged with other ex (British)-servicemen's organisations to form the 'British Legion'.
I believe my membership card is in the post...
==========================
On the 26th June, 1919, the subject of the farm workers strike in Celbridge, County Kildare, was raised at a meeting of the 'County Kildare Farmer's Union' in Athy, in that county.
The Athy farmers put it to a vote whether or not they should join their colleagues in the Celbridge district and sack their farm employees who were members of the then ITGWU trade union, but the proposal to do so was defeated by about 40 votes.
The next day (27th June), the ITGWU was notified by the 'County Kildare Farmer's Union' that, unless the striking workers in the Celbridge area were back at work by the 2nd of July (1919) the County Executive of the 'County Kildare Farmer's Union' would impose an enforced 'lockout' of all members of the ITGWU.
You can read more about that employee bullying here...
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On Monday, 23rd June 1919, as an RIC 'District Inspector', a Mr Michael Hunt (50), was making his way across the Market Square in Thurles, County Tipperary, three shots were fired at him by three IRA Volunteers, 'Big Jim' Stapleton, Tommy Stapleton and Jim Murphy.
Two of the bullets hit him - one went through his right shoulder and the second entered his body just under the left lung. He died within 10 minutes.
The third bullet hit a 12 year old boy, Danny Maher, in the left kneecap.
The young lad was taken to see a local doctor, who couldn't retrieve the bullet and, as there was no point in him staying there, he thought (!), Master Maher walked the eight miles back home (...the next day he got the train to the Mater hospital in Dublin to get x-rayed and proper medical attention. Danny Maher lived well into his 80's!).
Mr Hunt's involvement with the RIC wasn't just a job for him - it was a passion, and he had stepped on many republican toes throughout his 'career', to the extent that he went out of his way to tear Tricolour flags down from lamp posts etc, without a care in the world. He was from County Sligo, and was married with three children, and 'served' the Crown in various parts of the country, including as 'Head Constable' in Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary.
On Thursday, 26th June 1919, his execution was raised in the Westminster Parliament, in London : 'Lord' John French, the '1st Earl of Ypres' and the British-appointed 'Lord Lieutenant of Ireland', called for the Sinn Féin organisation to be proclaimed an illegal group, but some of his own parliamentarians argued against him, stating that they couldn't do that as Sinn Féin.. "...was a very composite movement (which) included many members holding ordinary Nationalist views.." and put it to Mr French that.. "...he made no distinction between different elements of the separatist movement.."
It was sometime after that exchange that they started calling us 'terrorists' instead...!
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'THE STORMONT CORONERS AMENDMENT BILL.'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, April 1955.
On the 15th March 1955, we notice that the Stormont Coroners Amendment Bill has been published.
The aim of the new Bill is to enable coroners in certain circumstances to hold an inquest without a jury.
If this is one of the signs of coming events, then it is easy to predict that in any future shootings by B Specials or their colleagues, they will be caused no undue anxiety as to the type of verdict which may be brought in.
It is surely questionable whether such a Bill is at all moral under present-day circumstances... (MORE LATER.)
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 Lucas (pictured), 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.
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 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...
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On the 26th June, 1920, under the command of Brigade Officer Commander Frank McGrath, the Number 1 North Tipperary Brigade IRA attacked the RIC in their barracks in the town of Borrisokane, in County Tipperary.
During the operation, two IRA Volunteers were wounded (by their own side) and one of them, Michael Kennedy, died from his wounds in early July.
It is recorded that, despite the self-inflicted injuries, victory was almost imminent, but Brigade O/C McGrath ordered the withdrawal of the Volunteers, despite protestations from his Adjutant, Seán Gaynor.
Adjutant Gaynor, who had joined the Volunteers in 1917 and had served terms of imprisonment in Limerick and Belfast, was immersed in the IRA military campaign and subsequently replaced Volunteer McGrath as the Officer Commanding of the Brigade.
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In February, 1920, the Officer Commanding of the Sligo Brigade IRA, Frank Carty (pictured, a republican-gamekeeper-turned-Free State-poacher) , who joined the 'Irish Volunteers' in 1914 and then joined the 'Irish Republican Brotherhood' the following year, was 'arrested' by the British and incarcerated in Sligo Jail.
In June (1920), IRA Volunteers Liam Pilkington and Seamus Devins were put in charge of an escape committee to rescue their comrade from the jail and, on the 26th of that month, they put the plan into action.
Dozens of Sligo Volunteers were involved in the operation, before which they placed an armed defensive cordon on all roads leading to and from the jail (including a blockade of sorts - a pair of old, heavy iron gates were placed across one of the access roads)
. Thirteen Volunteers used a ladder to scale the jail wall, in near full darkness, and lowered themselves to the ground inside with a rope ladder, overpowered the guard on security duty and successfully gained entrance to the Governor's house.
They tied the Governor up and got his set of keys, which were used to open Frank Carty's cell door and, when he was out, the group made their way to the rope ladder but it was decided that that would be too slow of a method for so many people.
'Plan B' was put into action ; several men with sledgehammers and pickaxes splintered the wicket gate (a small entrance/exit gate in the main gates), which took only a few minutes, and all involved got out and away into the hills and freedom.
It is said that there was a reluctance on the part of the Sligo town RIC and British Army to be first on the scene of all the commotion, a reluctance which helped to ensure the success of the operation.
The only injuries reported that night, on both sides, was caused by the heavy iron gates on the road when a British Army truck, in the darkness, drove into them and a few of its passengers got thrown around a bit!
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ON THIS DATE (26TH JUNE) 33 YEARS AGO : 'MAGUIRE SEVEN' CONVICTIONS QUASHED.
"We [himself and his brother John] were eager to get and go there... [Afterwards] we saw a lot of police and unmarked car outside our home. I ran up to the house, knocked on the door. The door opened... I said 'I live here' and I was dragged inside. They said, 'here's another one'. That was the day my childhood ended," he said.
The 'Maguire Seven', who were convicted of handling explosives allegedly passed to the IRA to make bombs, were made up of Anne and Patrick Maguire, Anne's brother Sean, Anne's brother-in-law Patrick Conlon, family friend Patrick O'Neill, and Anne's two sons Patrick and Vincent...' (from here.)
'On the day after the 'Guildford Four' had walked out of the Old Bailey, the British Government had appointed Sir John May to lead a public inquiry into the convictions of the eleven people charged with the Guildford and Woolwich pub bombings.
Sir John bared his teeth in July 1990 when he forwarded to the government his 'Interim Report on the Maguire Case' ; in this report he criticised the trial judge Sir John Donaldson's handling of the 'Maguire Seven' case and questioned the credibility of the forensic evidence that had been presented to the court. What is more, he recommended that the 'Maguire Seven' case should go back to the court of appeal. When this occurred, the court of appeal quashed the convictions of the 'Maguire Seven', on the 26th June, 1991...' (from here.)
Could never happen again, could it - innocent people imprisoned to satisfy the requirements of an unjust political regime...?
On the 26th June, 1921, Westminster's 'Sir' Joseph Austen Chamberlain, the then Conservative (Tory) Party leader (the older half-brother of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain)wrote a letter to his sister, Hilda, in which he mentioned 'work'...!
Mr Chamberlain's job (!) at that particular time was in connection with mostly 'behind-the-scenes' wheelin' and dealin' with Michael Collins and others about a truce and treaty between the warring sides ie Westminster and Dáil Éireann/the British Armed forces and the IRA.
In his letter, Mr Chamberlain opined that his government's change of policy towards those damned Irish rebels/terrorists/dissidents (!) was "...a last attempt at peace before we go the full length of martial law.."
The wheelin' and dealin' started, officially, in London, on the 11th October, 1921, and culminated in the signature, by British and Irish negotiators of 'Articles of Agreement' ('the Treaty of Surrender', as Irish republicans call it) in the early morning of the 6th December, 1921, leading directly to the creation of the Irish Free State on the 6th December, 1922, consisting of 26 of our 32 counties.
And, today - 2024 - we remain six counties short of our objective.
==========================
In August, 1920, the British Army leadership in Ireland issued an order to all its gunmen-in-uniform stating that, for fear of retaliation in kind, they should send their wives and children back home to England, for their own safety.
Ten months later, some of those who 'bravely' ignored that order were to pay the price for their own savagery :
In June, 1921, British operatives Mr William Frederick Hunt (a 'District Inspector' with 'R Company', RIC 72296/ADRIC 104) , who had a reputation for being an agressive person, and Mr Enfield White, who had obtained lodgings in the Mayfair Hotel on 30 Lower Baggot Street, in Dublin, were in the private dining room of that establishment, enjoying an early evening tea.
Mr Hunt was accompanied by his wife, Alice, and their ten-year-old daughter, Doris, and Mr White was accompanied by his wife, Annie.
The group were relaxed in their private room, supping tea, when a knock came to the door, which was then opened by Mr Hunt.
Four IRA Volunteers entered the room and shot Mr Hunt three times, and he fell to the floor, dead. Mr White survived the wounds inflicted on him.
The hotel was owned at the time by a British Army Captain, Walter Aloysius Doyle-Kelly, who 'served the Empire' in '6th Jats' in France in 1915, and was wounded in Mesopotamia on the 7th January, 1916.
The IRA Unit which carried out the operation consisted of Volunteers from 'Number 4 Section ASU' of the Dublin Brigade, IRA, which was led by Pádraig Ó Conchubhair (Paddy O'Connor) and included Volunteers Michael Stack, Peter Larkin, Jim Stapleon, James Murphy, Jack Hanlon, Jim O'Neill, James Tully and Alec O'Toole.
==========================
On the 1st April, 1921, an ex-British Army soldier living in Cork, Thomas Goulding, had to jump into the River Lee (pictured) to escape an IRA ASU who were closing-in on him. He swam to the other side of the river and escaped certain death.
On the 26th June that year, another attempt was made to shoot him, but he survived that, too.
We presume Mr Goulding got the message, and moved to a different location...
==========================
In around December, 1920, a 25-years-young Scottish man, Alex McDonald, from the town of Caithness, no doubt looking for 'adventure', decided to move to Ireland and join the RIC ('Service Number 59921'). On the 26th June, 1921, he 'went missing' and has never been heard of since.
Thomas Shanley, a then 20-years-young farmer, in 1911, in the area where he was born, County Leitrim, no doubt looking for 'adventure', too, decided to join the RIC ('Service Number 65937/LDS 2092/094') and, for five years, was moved around to different parts of Ireland 'to keep the peace'.
In 1916, at 25 years of age, he was permanently stationed in Kildorrery, in County Cork, and was said to have been in close proximity when Lord Mayor Tomás MacCurtain was assassinated in his house by the RIC in March, 1920.
On the 26th June, 1921, as he was leaving Mass in Kildorrery Church, the IRA shot him four times, killing him instantly.
==========================
A group of British Army soldiers from the 'Rifle Regiment' were on patrol in the Donegal area on the 26th June, 1921, when they came upon a civilian, a local man, a Mr Manus O'Donnell.
The British claimed they called on him to halt and, when he didn't, they shot him. Mr O'Donnell died two days later in the Infirmary in Lifford, County Donegal.
==========================
On Friday, 24th June, 1921, IRA Volunteer John (Seán) Twomey (23), from North Main Street in the city, the Officer Commanding of the Cork City ASU, was out and about his business on the Grand Parade in Cork when he was jumped-on by British soldiers from the 'Manchester Regiment' and 'arrested' by them.
On Sunday, 26th June, at about 8pm, he was being moved from one holding centre to another and, as the British Army armoured car pulled up, Volunteer Twomey made a break for freedom.
He ran towards Kyle Street and was called-on by his ex-captors to stop, but he kept running ; one of the British soldiers later said - "(One of us) fired with his revolver...(he) fired six shots...(our) driver fired two shots, and one of the RIC also fired, but I don't know how many shots..."
Volunteer Twomey ran into Mrs Bradley's Public House on Kyle Street as the shots rang out and, as he was running in, a woman in the doorway collapsed.
When the British soldiers got to the pub, they found a woman, Mrs Mary Parnell (32), a widow with two children, who lived in Number 11 Kyrl's Quay, Cork City, dead in the doorway with "...most of her face and the top of her head having been shot away.."
The 'inquest jury' determined that 'Mary Parnell had been killed by crown forces in the execution of their duty..'
Volunteer Twomey had been wounded in the escape attempt and was unfortunately recaptured that same night.
==========================
On Saturday, 25th June 1921, ex-British soldier Thomas Smith (38) left his home in Kilmessan, in County Meath, to travel on his bicycle the 13km to the town of Navan, to inquire about his military pension - Mr Smith had 'served the Crown' in Gallipoli in the 6th Brigade of the 'Leinster Regiment' and was wounded in the left hand and right ear, and was due a few bob.
In Navan, the BA pensions people took his details and asked him to call in to them the next day.
On Sunday, 26th June (1921), Mr Smith left his house at about 10am and disappeared.
In early July, a body was discovered in the River Boyne, with its hands, arms and feet tied, and iron weights fixed to it. On the 7th July, a Mr William Smith identified the body as that of his brother, Thomas.
There was no claim of responsibility, nor was there any witnesses to what had happened.
==========================
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.
Inequality has increased and governments have been unable or unwilling to use their tremendous resources to the benefit of the Irish people*.
One reason inequality increased is because growth is so heavily concentrated in profits ; US companies came to Ireland to make lots of profits and to avoid taxation.
They succeeded very well.
In the 1980's, US companies' profit rates in Ireland were two-and-a-half-times higher than elsewhere in the world ; now they are five times higher, a fact that makes US tax authorities very suspicious of their accounting procedures.
Apart from foreign companies, the 'Celtic Tiger' also created a large rise in unearned incomes and professional fees for the richest segments of Irish society... ( *...the more things change..)
(MORE LATER.)
On the 26th June, 1922, British Army Colonel John Gretton, of the 6th Battalion of the Staffordshire Regiment, wrote to his boss, Winston Churchill, with some alarming information...!
Mr Gretton told Mr Churchill that a concerted IRA attack was imminent on the good loyalist people of the Six Counties any hour now if, indeed, it wasn't actually taking place as he wrote!
He told Mr Churchill that he knew this because the Roman Catholic Franciscan Order was holding a religious pilgrimage in Multyfarnham Abbey in County Meath and the last time they met there it was to "plan a Protestant massacre".
We don't know how Mr Churchill reacted when he discovered that the last time the Franciscans met there was in 1641...
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On the 26th June, 1922, a 'Special Constable', a Mr William Leggett, was a passenger in a Crown Force Crossley Tender (pictured) when the vehicle suffered a burst tyre, overturning as a result, and Mr Leggett died in the crash.
==========================
On the 22nd June, 1922, British Army Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson, MP (pictured), and the chief military advisor to the Stormont political and military administration in Ireland, was assassinated in London, outside his house at 36 Eaton Place, by the IRA.
There was, as would be expected, much disgust in Westminster over his execution and, on the 26th June, within hours of Mr Wilson's State funeral in Saint Paul's Cathedral in London, Mr Lloyd George and Mr Winston Churchill came under verbal attack from Mr Bonar Law and others about his death.
Mr Lloyd declared that he regretted that the Free Staters in Ireland had not done more to protect life and property, overall, questioning whether they were capable at all of doing that, while Mr Churchill went further.
He made a speech in which he linked Mr Wilson's assassination with the anti-Treaty IRA men occupying the Four Courts in Dublin and demanded that the Free Staters clear out this "nest of anarchy and treason", stating that if they didn't do so, the British would do it for them -
"This sort of thing must come to an end (or) His Majesty's Government shall deem the Treaty to be formally violated and resume full liberty of action in any direction that may seem proper..."
But of course "the proper sort of thing" was not done - that of a complete British military and political withdrawal from Ireland.
==========================
Between 31st January and 26th June 1922, the British Government supplied Michael Collins and his Free State military with 11,900 rifles, 79 Lewis Machine Guns, 4,200 revolvers, 3,504 grenades, 1.7 million rounds of ammunition, six armoured cars and a large number of trucks, with which to defeat Irish resistance to British interference in Ireland.
Free State forces amounted to approximately 8,000 armed men while a Leinster House source estimated that the IRA had 12,900 men and 6,780 rifles.
So, while the IRA actually outnumbered the Staters (and had more experienced fighters), the Staters were much better equipped.
The Brits did, sometimes, look after their own...
==========================
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 :
The First Dáil Éireann was 'illegal', but whose 'law' was being quoted?
The Irish people had overwhelmingly backed Sinn Féin who had openly announced their intentions before the elections.
Throughout this time the Dáil operated unevenly ; it enjoyed success in the Republican Courts which, in areas, were able to gain the confidence of the people and drew support away from the judicial pillar of the British State.
It was also successful in establishing a Republican Police Force and establishing a local government structure.
Of course it was difficult to operate at this time as the two parallel States - Republican and British - competed for support and the armies of the two States were at war...
(MORE LATER.)
On the 26th June, 1924, a Mr Richard Mulcahy (pictured, a republican-gamekeeper-turned-Free State poacher) introduced a 'Censure Motion/Motion Of Censure' in the Leinster House assembly stating that "it was contrary to the best interests of the State, and ill-considered of the Executive, to have removed the (IRA) Army Council..."
Mr Mulcahy no doubt wanted to keep his friends close and his enemies closer, but the 'Labour Party' (becoming accustomed to 'perks and pensions') abstained from the vote and the motion was defeated.
The Staters hadn't learned then, and still haven't learned to this day, that they have no business in republican business.
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Thanks for the visit, and for reading!
Sharon and the team.
