ON THIS DATE (9TH AUGUST) 82 YEARS AGO : REVOLUTIONARY IRISHMAN EXECUTED BY THE STATERS.
Ireland 1915 ; the Irish Volunteer Movement had split ; approximately 170,000 men stayed with John Redmond and fought with England in the belief that to do so would guarantee a form of 'Home Rule' for Ireland - but about 10,000 men broke away as they had no faith in Redmond's plan.
Months earlier, British 'Sir' George Richardson had taken command of the 'Ulster Volunteer Force' (a pro-British militia) and had landed about 25,000 rifles and two-and-a-half million rounds of ammunition at Larne in County Antrim - when the British Government in Westminster attempted to move against the UVF (as they had no agreed control over them then), British Army Officers mutinied in objection.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in Ireland, other forces were recruiting : the 'Irish Citizen Army' was recruiting for volunteers, as was the then Sinn Fein organisation, the 'Irish Republican Brotherhood' and John Redmond's 'United Irish League'. There was turmoil in the country.
A child was born into the above circumstances in Dundalk, in County Louth. He was child number three in the family, and one more was to be born after him. This third child in the Goss family, Richard, went to a local school and, like others in the Goss neighbourhood, tried to get work locally when he was finished his schooling - he was successful, and got a job in Rasson's Shoe Factory in Dundalk.
The troubled times he lived in got his attention and, at 18 years young (in 1933), Richie Goss joined the North Louth Battalion of the IRA, and trained in the use of explosives.
At that time in Ireland (which, by then, had been forcibly partitioned), the anti-Catholic bigots of the then two-year-old 'Ulster Protestant League' were in full swing ; nationalists all over the Six Counties were being hammered, and British political leaders were voicing support for the bigots - indeed, 'Sir' Basil Brooke actually boasted that he had "not a Roman Catholic about my own place"!
Also, the then British Stormont Minister for Labour, a Mr. J. M. Andrews (pictured), spoke out about what he termed "a foul smear" - that of "another allegation made against the (British) government, which is untrue : that, out of 31 porters at Stormont, 28 are Roman Catholic. I have investigated the matter and I have found that there are 30 Protestants and only one Roman Catholic (who is) there only temporarily."
The British Loyalists, too, in the form of the Orange Order, were putting pressure on the Nationalists in the Six Counties ; the then 'Grand Master' of that anti-Nationalist grouping, a British Senator, 'Sir' Joseph Davison, stated - "When will the Protestant employers of Northern Ireland (sic)recognise their duty to their Protestant brothers and sisters and employ them to the exclusion of Roman Catholics? It is time Protestant employers realised that whenever a Roman Catholic is brought into their employment it means one Protestant vote less. It is our duty to pass the word along - Protestants employ Protestants."
That was the sentiment of those times - the blatant sectarianism that existed, and which Richie Goss, amongst others, hoped to bring to an end.
He was 18 years young, an IRA member and learning to use explosives - in early 1934, at 19 years of age, Richie Goss was picked-up by the Free State Special Branch (political police) and asked to account for his movements ; he refused to do so, was brought before a Free State Military Tribunal and sentenced to three months in prison.
The prison sentence was related, according to the 'Court', to what became known as 'The McGrory Incident' when, in Dundalk, County Louth, on the 9th January 1934, a debt-collector (who was also said to be a member of the right-wing 'Blueshirt'[Fine Gael] party) was held-up by armed men and his bag of cash was taken. In making inquiries in the area about the robbery, the Free State Gardai ('police') were assisted by a local man, a Mr. Joseph McGrory, from Chapel Street, Dundalk : two IRA men were jailed as a result of the evidence given by Mr McGrory.
On the night of the 11th February 1934, a bomb was thrown through the front window of the McGrory house, and the explosion killed his wife. On the 23rd March 1934, Richie Goss and two others (James Finnigan and Matt McCrystal) were sentenced to three months in jail because they refused "to enter into recognisances" ie 'explain their whereabouts' on the night of the McGrory incident. Then, in early July 1935, four IRA men were arrested and charged with the death of Mrs McGrory.
Those men were Richie Goss, Eamon Coffey, Thomas Walsh and Bernard Murphy (all from Dundalk). The Free Staters had received information from an informer that five men were responsible for 'The McGrory Incident' - the four men named above, and one other ; James Finnigan. However, Mr Finnigan was already in jail, serving fifteen months for possession of weapons.
The informer was Matt McCrystal, an IRA man and, on his evidence, the first-ever 'murder trial' before a Free State Military Tribunal went ahead. But it was not successful - on the 20th July, 1935, after a five-day hearing, all the accused were acquitted.
Richie Goss was ordered to go to Dublin by Seán Russell (pictured), the then IRA Chief of Staff, in early 1938, as his expertise in explosives was needed to prepare for the up-coming bombing campaign in England.
Within months, Richie Goss was in England, helping to organise IRA Units, safe-houses etc for the campaign ; he was arrested in Liverpool in May 1939 for refusing to account for £20 in his possession (!) and was sentenced to seven-days in Walton Jail - when released, he reported back to the IRA in London. About two months later he returned to Ireland but was unlucky enough to be grabbed by the Free Staters in their round-up of known and suspected IRA members and supporters in September that year (1939) ; on the 2nd September 1939, the Leinster House Administration (the Free Staters) had issued a statement saying that, because of "the armed conflict now taking place in Europe, a national (sic) emergency exists affecting the vital interests of the State."
On the following day (3rd September 1939), the 'Emergency Powers Bill' was enacted (ie to all intent and purpose it was martial law) and, days later (on the 8th September 1939) a new Free State Minister for 'Justice' was appointed - the ferociously anti-republican Gerald Boland. All known or suspected Irish republicans were rounded-up, but a republican-minded lawyer, Sean MacBride (whose parents had fought alongside the IRA) supported the republican prisoners and, on the 1st December 1939, due to a 'habeas corpus' application, Richie Goss and fifty-two other republican prisoners were released from Mountjoy Jail in Dublin.
The men reported back to their IRA Unit's and continued the fight - Richie Goss was promoted to the position of Divisional Officer Commanding of the North-Leinster/South Ulster IRA and, in July 1941, when he was staying in the house of a family named Casey in Longford, it was surrounded by Free State troops and Gardai ; a shoot-out ended in the capture of the then twenty-six years young Richie Goss and the wounding of a Free State Army Lieutenant, resulting in a charge of attempted murder against Goss.
A Free State Military Tribunal returned a 'guilty' verdict on Richie Goss and he was sentenced to death. That was in July, 1941 and, on the 8th August that year, Richie Goss was taken, under armed guard, from Mountjoy Jail in Dublin and he was put in the back of a truck. He was forced to sit on his own coffin on the journey from Dublin to Portlaoise Jail.
On the 9th August 1941 - 82 years ago on this date - Richie Goss, 26 years young, was shot dead by a Free State firing squad and buried in Portlaoise Prison yard. In September 1948 - seven years after his execution- his remains were released and re-interred in Dowdallshill Cemetery in Dundalk, County Louth.
A well-known Irish republican of the time (and still remembered by the Movement to this day) Brian O'Higgins, wrote the following in the 1950 edition of 'The Wolfe Tone Annual' -
"On September 18th, 1948, the bodies of Patrick McGrath, Thomas Harte, George Plant, Richard Goss, Maurice O'Neill and Charles Kerins were disinterred in prison yards and given to their comrades and relatives for re-burial among their own.
These men were condemned to death and put to death as criminals, as outlaws, as enemies of Ireland. Today, that judgement and verdict is reversed, even by those who were and are their opponents, and they are acknowledged to be what we have always claimed them to have been - true comrades of Tone, of Emmet, of Mitchel, of the Fenians, and of all the heroic dead of our own day and generation.
There was no bitterness in their hearts towards any man or group of men, no meanness in their minds, no pettiness or brutality in their actions. They were, and are, worthy to rank with the greatest and noblest of our dead, and the younger men we salute and pray for and do homage to today are worthy to be their comrades. The only shame to be thought of in connection with those republicans is that Irishmen slew them and slandered them, as Irishmen had slain and slandered the men of 1922, for the 'crime' of being faithful soldiers of the Republic of Ireland.
Let us remember that shame only as an incentive to action and conduct that will make recurrence of it impossible ever again. Wolfe Tone built his plan for true indepdence on the resistance tradition of all the centuries from the beginning of the conquest to his own day, and these men who were his faithful followers, knew no plan but his would ever end English domination in Ireland..."
Those who would make all Ireland free must follow in his and their footsteps or fail. Men talk foolishly today, as they and others have talked for many futile years, of "declaring" the Republic of Ireland. There is no need to declare it. Wolfe Tone and Robert Emmet founded it and made it known to the world.
Daniel O'Connell reviled and repudiated it, but John Mitchel and Fintan Lalor stood beneath its banner and gave it their allegiance. The Fenians made it articulate and preserved it through two generations until the men and women of 1916 proclaimed it in arms. The whole people of Ireland accepted it a few years later, giving it the most unanimous vote that has ever been cast in this country, and it was established and declared on January 21st, 1919.
It has never been dis-established since, but it has been suppressed by falsehood and by force, and it is suppressed at this moment.
Against that force and falsehood, against that unjust and unlawful suppression, the men we honour today - Patrick McGrath, Thomas Harte, George Plant, Richard Goss, Maurice O'Neill and Charles Kerins - did battle unto death. Their blood cries out for only one vengenance - the restoration of the suppressed Republic of Ireland."
- Brian O'Higgins, as quoted in 'The Wolfe Tone Annual', 1950, speaking about the remains of the six Irish rebels which were handed over to their comrades and relatives on the 18th September 1948.
Richard Goss 1915 - 1941.
'KEOGHBOYS OF THE 1950's.'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, April 1955.
The AOH in Ireland were ever noted for their wretched cringing before Imperial England and for their sectarianism.
Afraid to join the professed Unionists in open condemnation of freedom-loving Irishmen, unwilling to give the slightest approval to anything with a separatist flavour, they wobble on a middle line pretending to be champions of the Faith.
They are neither fish, flesh nor good red herring.
In the village where I was born, they were chiefly noted for the brave way they played 'Faith Of Our Fathers', striking the same chord as the 'Pope's Brass Band' of 100 years ago, and of their invariable rendering of 'A Nation Once Again'.
This noteworthy body of men have come forward again to demonstrate their many faces. The 'Derry Journal' newspaper gives interesting accounts of their gatherings in Ballycastle and Drumquin on St Patrick's Day...
(MORE LATER.)
INTERNMENT IN OCCUPIED IRELAND : 9TH AUGUST 1971.
'During the 9th August 1971 and the early hours of the 10th August Northern Ireland (sic) experienced the worst violence since August 1969...in a series of raids across Northern Ireland (sic), 342 people were arrested and taken to makeshift camps. There was an immediate upsurge of violence and 17 people were killed during the next 48 hours.
Of these 10 were Catholic civilians who were shot dead by the British Army.
Hugh Mullan (38) was the first Catholic priest to be killed in the conflict when he was shot dead by the British Army as he was giving the last rites to a wounded man. Winston Donnell (22) became the first Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) solider to die in 'the Troubles' when he was shot by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) near Clady, County Tyrone...internment was to continue until 5th December 1975.
During that time 1,981 people were detained ; 1,874 were Catholic/Republican...' (from here.)
'The morning of Monday the 9th of August, 1971 was misty in Ballymurphy, a public housing estate of white semi-detached houses, the model of 1960s modernity, in west Belfast, under Divis Mountain.
This morning, though, the dawn gloom was broken by the piercing headlights of British Army armoured cars, which disgorged squads of beret-wearing paratroopers. Doors were kicked in and men, often addled by sleep, dragged away.
Before long, the predominantly nationalist area had woken up amid howls of rage from the families of those who had been taken...' (from here.)
Internment in Ireland, by the British or their proxies in the Free State, was one of the weapons used by those who were (and still are) fighting against the reunification of this country.
On the 6th July, 1957, the fortnightly meeting of the then Sinn Féin Ard Chomhairle was being held at the party's Ard Oifig (Head Office) at 31 Wicklow Street in Dublin.
The meeting was raided by the Garda Special Branch and seven members of the Ard Chomhairle were 'arrested' and detained ; among those 'arrested' and interned were the President of Sinn Féin, Patrick MacLogan, the Vice-President Tom Doyle and the National Secretary Michael Traynor.
This signalled the imposition of internment without trial by Éamon de Valera's Fianna Fáil Free State administration, which was (and still is) based in Leinster House, in Kildare Street, in Dublin.
At the December 1957 meeting of Drogheda Corporation, a debate was held on the internment issue, after a letter re same, from the Sinn Fein Publicity Committee protesting against the internment of the Sinn Féin Ard Chomhairle, was read into the minutes.
Alderman Peter Moore and Councillor Harry Pentony spoke out strongly against the 26-County government's policy in introducing 'The Offences Against the State Acts', with the latter saying that they had a right to protest against internment without trial, not only of the Sinn Féin Ard Chomhairle, but also of all the young men that were held in custody behind the barbed-wire fences of the Curragh Camp.
He stated that no one was safe under the present State laws, and declared that even he could be interned for what he was saying at the Council meeting, and asked the assembled County officials "is this freedom?".
Alderman Peter Moore said he admired the stand taken by Councillor Pentony and said that he, too, had his duties as an Irishman, and stated that the other Councillors were all aware of where he stood in relation to Internment -
"We are the greatest nation of hypocrites in the world. The political parties in this country have perpetuated unemployment and emigration and we are worse off now than we were in 1922! The republicans are the only consistent element in the country today. They stand to gain nothing and to lose all."
Referring to the freedom movement in Occupied Ireland, he said the young men involved were right and should be admired. They went out to attack the institutions of the British Government and the British 'Monarchy', and their ideals were the ideals of Wolfe Tone, Robert Emmet and the men and women of 1916.
Speaking on the internment of Irishmen without trial he said that the situation in the so-called "Free Ireland" could only be compared with that prevailing under the "Kádár Regime", in the Six Counties, and behind the 'Iron Curtain'.
Larry Grogan, a Sinn Féin election candidate for the Louth constituency, who was one of those interned in the Curragh Camp, was referred to by Alderman Moore when he said that he was proud to say Drogheda had made its contribution to the Republican Movement and they now had this man in prison that "...the latchet of whose shoe many of those who liked to talk of all they did for Irish Freedom are not worthy to loose."
Concluding the Council debate, the Mayor of Drogheda, Councillor Eugene Hughes, said - "As long as there is one British soldier on Irish soil, there will be young Irishmen willing to go out and sacrifice their lives for freedom."
Unfortunately, Councillors today are, to put it mildly, not as concerned about the on-going British military and political claim of jurisdictional control over six Irish counties and are more interested in pushing and promoting a 'Woke Agenda', as they somehow believe that chasing that particular vote will get them a seat in Leinster House or a position with one of the thousands of NGO's in this State. They are now available for sale to the highest bidder.
'LAW AND SOCIETY :
IS IT TIME TO ASK QUESTIONS OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION...?
We have always been a society with a facility for the creation of myths. However, not even the most dewy-eyed devotee of the dreams of the Celtic Twilight could have invented the present status of the legal profession in Ireland.'
By John Drennan.
From 'Magill Magazine Annual, 2002.
The law exists to protect us but, as with the moral law of the Church, those who devote their lives to it should be under its closest scrutiny, precisely because they are more empowered by it than anyone else in our society.
It is time that journalism and politics started asking difficult questions of the legal profession. For starters, we can look into the scandal of the family courts, and then go on to ask who benefits the most from our relatively new-found public tribunal culture.
Only then will we even begin to redress the balance of power between the people and the courts.
(END of 'Law And Society : Is It Time To Ask Questions Of The Legal Profession?' : NEXT - 'Ireland On The Couch', from the same source.)
'IN ANSWER TO CHURCH AND STATE AND IN DEFENCE OF IRISH REPUBLICANISM...'
Address to the Annual General Meeting of Comhairle Uladh (Ulster Executive) in Cootehill, County Cavan, on Sunday, November 22nd, 1987, by Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, Uachtarán, Sinn Féin Poblachtach.
Comhaírle Uladh AGM, November 22nd, 1987.
The Catholic Church Establishment has been called in to prop up a tottering colonialism in the Six Counties.
They have certainly over-reached themselves in their efforts to outpace the various Protestant Churches in condemnations of republicans and in invoking sanctions against them.
This is in keeping with the role of the Catholic Hierarchy ever since the Penal Laws were relaxed and they came 'off the run' themselves with the withdrawal of the bounty price on the heads of Catholic clergy.
From the foundation of Maynooth College with British government money in 1795 and the adoption in Ireland of the democratic ideal and the principles of the American and French Revolutions, the Bishops - with a few honourable exceptions - have acted as moral policemen of British rule in Ireland...
(MORE LATER.)
Thanks for the visit, and for reading,
Sharon and the team.
..AS WITH THE MORAL LAW OF THE CHURCH.."
This British 'Sir' took control of a pro-British militia in Ireland and worked with them to obtain ten's of thousands of rifles and millions of rounds of ammunition for those weapons.
His political bosses in Westminster voiced concern (perhaps afraid he would use that by-now well-armed militia against them...) and they attempted to make a move against their 'Sir' and his gang, but backed-off when British Army officers mutined in objection...
Turncoats ; these Irish 'men of the Cloth' actually had a bounty put on their heads by the British but, after they reached an agreement of sorts with the bounty payers, they themselves put a 'religious bounty' on the heads of their fellow Irish men and women...
Ireland, July 1957 : a Sinn Féin meeting was taking place in Wicklow Street, in Dublin, when Éamon de Valera's Fianna Fáil Free State administration decided to implement a British weapon which had been used, by the British, on them. The State 'Special Branch' busted their way into the Wicklow Street building...
From 2002 - 'The law exists to protect us but, as with the moral law of the Church, those who devote their lives to it should be under its closest scrutiny, precisely because they are more empowered by it than anyone else in our society...'
From 1987 - "The Catholic Church Establishment has been called in to prop up a tottering colonialism in the Six Counties. They have certainly over-reached themselves in their efforts to outpace the various Protestant Churches in condemnations of republicans and in invoking sanctions against them..."
Thanks for the visit - and please check back with us again on Wednesday, 9th August 2023.
See ye all then!
Sharon and the team.
ON THIS DATE (2ND AUGUST) 101 YEARS AGO : DEATH 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 - 101 years ago on this date - 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.)
Thankfully, there are those like him who continue to this day to work for the Movement...
'WESTMINSTER ELECTIONS...'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, April 1955.
We are interested in the date of the election because, with the election, the people in the Six Counties will have the opportunity to voice their demand for freedom and the withdrawal of England's troops from Irish soil.
We must have a well-organised election machine in operation so that every single vote for separation can be cast.
We must have the necessary funds to conduct the campaign successfully.
(END of 'Westminster Elections' ; NEXT - 'Keoghboys of 1950's', from the same source.)
ON THIS DATE (2ND AUGUST) 42 YEARS AGO - DEATH OF A 'REVOLUTIONARY LARK'.
'As Ireland buries her heroes and martyrs,
Britain should hang her head in shame,
As Kieran Doherty fought for freedom
And gave his life to Ireland's name...' (from here.)
"On July 13th, 1981, we were shocked and dismayed to hear that Martin Hurson had been violently ill and had died unexpectedly and prematurely. The next significant development was the British government-sponsored intervention of the 'International Red Cross' (IRC), which tried to initiate direct dialogue between the Brits and ourselves - the Brits rejected this and suggested mediation based on their July 8th statement, which was aimed at defeating us and unproductive, and we rejected this as futile.
We pointed out to the IRC that, as the Brits were not interested in an honourable settlement, their interest in the IRC must logically be to use them ; a Red Cross delegate asked for a further break-down of our July 4th statement and was initially refused. However, after discussion, we complied and issued the August 6th statement and asked the British government, the Dublin government, the SDLP and the Catholic Church to respond to our statement. Soon Kieran Doherty, Kevin Lynch and Thomas McElwee were to be murdered by Britain.." - part of the text of a statement released by the H-Block 'Blanket Men', announcing the end of the 1981 Hunger-Strike, as published in 'IRIS' magazine, Vol. 1 No.2, November 1981.
Kieran hailed from the Andersonstown area of Belfast, being born into a family with a proud history of republican activity. He was a keen sportsman and won a minor Antrim county medal in 1971 for St. Theresa's GAC.
After seeing loyalist gangs burning nationalists out of their homes while the RUC and British army stood idly by, he joined Na Fianna Éireann in the autumn of 1971. His outstanding ability led to him progressing to the ranks of the IRA very quickly. After evading capture on a couple of occasions, he was eventually arrested in early 1973 and interned in Long Kesh until November 1975. Upon his release he reported back to the IRA for service straight away.
In April 1976 he was involved in an operation which saw his comrade Sean McDermott killed and Mairead Farrell of future Gibraltar fame arrested. In August of that year he was arrested and and remanded to Crumlin Road Jail, where he often received ill treatment for refusing to bend the knee to the screws.
In January 1978 he was sentenced to 18 years in the H-Blocks ; He joined the blanket protest immediately and found himself in relentless conflict with the screws. He always resisted their efforts to enforce degrading anal searches, and in July 1978 he had to be hospitalized after taking a severe beating.
He became fluent in his native tongue during his imprisonment, which was used as a weapon against the prison regime. As the painful struggle for political status continued, he joined the hunger strike on May 22nd 1981. In June he was elected as TD for the Cavan/Monaghan constituency during the 26-county general election with an impressive tally of 9,121 first preference votes, only 303 votes behind the sitting Free State minister for Education. He died on August 2nd 1981 - 42 years ago on this date - after 73 agonizing days of hunger strike. He was buried with full military honours in Milltown Cemetery.
He was 25 years of age.
Between the years 1917 and 1981, twenty-two Irish men died on hunger-strike in our on-going fight for Irish freedom :
Thomas Ashe, Kerry, 5 days, 25th September 1917 (force fed by tube , died as a result).
Terence MacSwiney, Cork, 74 days, 25th October 1920.
Michael Fitzgerald, Cork, 67 days, 17th October 1920.
Joseph Murphy, Cork, 76 days, 25th October 1920.
Joe Witty, Wexford, 2nd September 1923.
Dennis Barry, Cork, 34 days, 20th November 1923.
Andy O Sullivan, Cork, 40 days, 22nd November 1923.
Tony Darcy, Galway, 52 days, 16th April 1940.
Jack 'Sean' McNeela, Mayo, 55 days, 19th April 1940.
Sean McCaughey, Tyrone,22 days, 11th May 1946 (hunger and thirst strike).
Michael Gaughan, Mayo, 64 days, 3rd June 1974.
Frank Stagg, Mayo, 62 days, 12th February 1976.
Bobby Sands, Belfast, 66 days, 5th May 1981.
Frank Hughes, Bellaghy (Derry), 59 days, 12th May 1981.
Raymond McCreesh, South Armagh, 61 days, 21st May 1981.
Patsy O Hara, Derry, 61 days, 21st May 1981.
Joe McDonnell, Belfast, 61 days, 8th July 1981.
Martin Hurson, Tyrone, 46 days, 13th July 1981.
Kevin Lynch, Dungiven (Derry), 71 days, 1st August 1981.
Kieran Doherty, Belfast, 73 days, 2nd August 1981.
Tom McIlwee, Bellaghy (Derry), 62 days, 8th August 1981.
Micky Devine, Derry, 60 days, 20th August 1981.
"It is not those who can inflict the most, but those that can suffer the most who will conquer" - Terence MacSwiney.
'LAW AND SOCIETY :
IS IT TIME TO ASK QUESTIONS OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION...?
We have always been a society with a facility for the creation of myths. However, not even the most dewy-eyed devotee of the dreams of the Celtic Twilight could have invented the present status of the legal profession in Ireland.'
By John Drennan.
From 'Magill Magazine Annual, 2002.
Overwhelmingly male?
Devotees of an impenetrable scholastic language which is used to exclude the outside world?
The preserve of one class?
Defenders of the powerful and the wealthy against the voiceless masses?
Censors of a free press?
Feared by politicians and worryingly unaccountable?
These descriptions were all, at one point in modern Irish history, levelled at another large Irish institution whose day has now passed.
And yet, in our inimitable way in this State, we are happy to live unquestioningly under the template set up by the new secular church of the legal profession...
(MORE LATER.)
'IN ANSWER TO CHURCH AND STATE AND IN DEFENCE OF IRISH REPUBLICANISM...'
Address to the Annual General Meeting of Comhairle Uladh (Ulster Executive) in Cootehill, County Cavan, on Sunday, November 22nd, 1987, by Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, Uachtarán, Sinn Féin Poblachtach.
Comhaírle Uladh AGM, November 22nd, 1987.
The people are told they should be ashamed to be Irish and even the singing of national ballads is attacked while the wearing of the Poppy is extolled.
There seems to be no limit to the amount of national abasement sought and certain public persons and media personalities would appear to want to roll back history by hauling down our National Tricolour and substituting for it the Union Jack.
Opposition and government representatives and spokespersons are abject in their submissiveness to British demands on the Extradition Act and, as the crisis continues, the British Ambassador is a frequent visitor to Leinster House even while prolonged meetings of the Fianna Fail parliamentary party debate the purchase price on the Hillsborough Deal.
Who is calling the tune in the corridors of power these days?
We know for certain that the taxpayers of the 26 Counties are paying over one million pounds per day to support directly British rule in Ireland...
AND FINALLY...!
We couldn't let it go without mention (well...we could have, but we didn't wanna!) ; on the 2nd August 2021, we proudly posted the following piece -
'OVER ONE MILLION HITS. AND COUNTING...!
It has taken us a good few years to get here although, really, we never started this blog with a 'hits/views' objective in mind. But, having said that, it's a nice place to have arrived at!
Our 'Junior' dips in to our stat counter now and then, out of curiosity, more than as some sort of ego trip or whatever, and we know that we have regular readers from, among other places, this country - Ireland - from England, Scotland, Wales and the USA. We have had well-known film actors, authors, television 'celebrities' and politicians not only read our blog but avail of some of our output in their own work.
We have been watched by the White House and monitored by Moscow, and 'hit on' by all places in between and, over the years, we have been approached three times, by different professional entities, offering to 'monetise' this blog ie take it off a blog platform and turn it into "a real website behind a paywall". Out of courtesy (not curiosity!) we met reps from each entity and politely declined their offers.
We are not in this for financial gain. Our intention, way back when we started this blog (on the old 'Pyra Labs' platform!) was, and still is, to write about an issue which the three of us are committed to - the unjust and unwanted British military and political presence in this country.
We are Irish republicans, and proud to be so. We are the 'Irish dissidents' and the 'Irish terrorists' that the State political 'establishment' here, in Dublin, warn you against as do, no doubt, the political administrations in whatever country you are reading this in.
But we are not 'bad' people. We are, as stated, 'committed' people. We always knew we had an 'audience' out there, and we hope you'll stay with us as we strive to increase our readership.
Finally, thanks to all our sources and our fact-checkers for their assistance over the years. Sure we couldn't have done it without yis!
And thanks, again, to our many readers for checking-in on us as often as you do. Appreciated.
Sharon,
on behalf of the '1169 And Counting' team. GRMA agus slán go fóill anois.'
That was from two years ago on this date when, after years of hard graft and three keyboards (!), we finally crossed the 'million hits' barricade. And now we're striving for two million ; never bleedin' happy, are we...!
Thanks again for the visit, and for reading,
Sharon and the team.
This IRA Volunteer is said to have been shot by a one-time prison comrade of his, on the 'un-official' instructions given to the gunman (and his colleagues) by a high-ranking Free Stater...
From 1955 - 'These elections offer the people in the Six Counties the opportunity to voice their demand for freedom and the withdrawal of England's troops from Irish soil...'
As a young boy, this republican joined Na Fianna Éireann in 1971 and progressed to the ranks of the IRA very quickly. He escaped capture on a number of occasions but was eventually 'arrested' by the British in 1973 and interned in Long Kesh until 1975. When released, he reported back to the IRA for active service straight away...
From 1987 - "The people are told they should be ashamed to be Irish and even the singing of national ballads is attacked while the wearing of the Poppy is extolled. There seems to be no limit to the amount of national abasement sought..."
We'll be filling-in the missing pieces to the above on Wednesday, 2nd August 2023, and the lads tell me that we'll also have a few paragraphs about a very young 'millionaire' related (!) to this blog. Yeah - your guess is as good as mine...!
Thanks for the visit - please check back with us again on Wednesday, 2nd August 2023.
See yis then!
Sharon and the team.
ON THIS DATE (26TH JULY) 109 YEARS AGO : HOWTH GUNS AND A BRITISH MASSACRE ON THE DUBLIN QUAYS.
'A nationalist depiction of the shootings at Bachelor's Walk, in which British troops killed three civilians...' (from here.)
In the early afternoon of Sunday, 26th July, 1914 - 109 years ago on this date - a consignment of over one-thousand rifles and ammunition for same was landed at Howth harbour, in Dublin, and unloaded by the newly-formed 'Irish Volunteers', assisted by members of Na Fianna Éireann.
On its way in to Dublin city, the republican convoy was halted by a force of about fifty British RIC 'policemen' and over one-hundred British soldiers from the 'Kings Own Scottish Borderers', known as the 'Kosbies'.
Thomas MacDonagh.
Darrell Figgis.
And we're back in Dublin, mostly in one piece (!), after our assault on the South-East - Waterford, Kilkenny, Carlow, Wexford and Tipp - where eight (supposed) adults and eleven children introduced ourselves (!) to various venues and establishments in mostly flying visits (...not always our choice!) but, happy to say, we didn't loose any of our group. Not permanently, anyway...!
And, among other items on our list, is the blog post, and we'll be back here on Wednesday, 26th July 2023, with these few items :
Families out for a walk, in July 1914, on the Dublin Quays, had no idea of how the group of armed British soldiers, also on the Quays, were going to tell them how to disperse...
From 1955 - 'Imperial policy never changes unless it is forced by outside circumstances to change...'
A brilliantly confused famous Irishman (and 'Superman'!) talks about the Irish 'famine' and how it effected his family...
In Ireland, poor widows and helpless chimney sweeps do not, apparently, live in the real world...
From 1987 - "A veritable tidal wave of hysteria has been launched at the Irish people through the mass media ; a hate campaign against Irish republicans has been worked up day by day over the past two weeks..."
Thanks for droppin' by - hope ya check in with us again on Wednesday, 26th July 2023.
See yis then!
Sharon and the team.
IRELAND, 1921 : THE IRA "EXPRESSED A WISH TO MEET THEM IN AN OPEN FIGHT SOON.."
On the 6th of May, 1921, IRA Commandant Michael J. Marren, who was in command of at least forty Volunteers (with Thady McGowan as second-in-command ; incidentally, both men were carpenters by trade and, in May 1920, they had made a coffin for use in an IRA operation, during which 60 IRA Volunteers acted as a funeral party...but that's another story...!), placed his men along both sides of the railway line near Seefin ((Suí Finn), in County Sligo. The group were armed with between ten and fifteen rifles and various other firearms.
On one side a hilly bank about 35 feet high and some 125 yards long was occupied by some of the Volunteers and one of them, a scout (possibly Volunteer Edward Doherty, who had carried out operations like this before), had been sent ahead to a near-by train station (in Kilfree) where he was to board a train containing enemy forces travelling in the direction of Seefin ; a train arrived in that train station on which British forces were travelling in the direction of the ambush position and the IRA scout got onboard.
When the train was approaching the IRA ambush position, at about 2pm, the scout gave the signal that there were armed enemy forces on board and Michael Marren and Thady McGowan stood on the line and stopped it at Seefin level crossing (between Kilfree Junction and Ballymote) with a red flag, after signalling to the engine-driver to stop.
The train pulled up to a halt, and a few Volunteers took control of the engine compartment : Michael Marren (carrying a 'Peter the Painter' handgun on him) and Thady McGowan (carrying a revolver in his pocket) boarded the train at one end and slowly made their way through the carriages, while two other armed Volunteers, Frank Higgins (from Culfadda) and Pa Coleman (from Ballymote) made their way, slowly, through the carriages, from the other end of the train. All civilians on board were ordered to leave the train, which they did.
When they came near the carriage where the British Auxiliaries and RIC men were, the British invaders opened fire on the IRA men, who immediately took cover between the carriages.
The IRA Volunteers on the railway bank then opened heavy fire on the carriages occupied by the British forces, and the gun battle lasted for approximately thirty minutes, but then the eleven British Auxiliaries and their two RIC colleagues surrendered ; they were disarmed, and any ammunition and paperwork they were carrying was taken from them and the train was allowed to proceed on its journey until it arrived at a point between Kilfree and Boyle where the IRA men stopped the train and got off it.
During the earlier gunfight, a calf grazing in a nearby field was killed, but there were no IRA casualties in the operation.
'The Freemans Journal' newspaper of May 9th, 1921, reported - "It is stated that the Auxiliaries thanked the Republicans on parting for the courteous treatment they received and that the latter expressed a wish to meet them in an open fight soon..."
A British Army Major, Edward Sidney C. Grune (pictured), was on board that train and later recounted his experience of meeting the enemy at such close quarters -
"All off! Everybody off the train! Everybody off the train, and hurry up!
I found myself looking at the bank of a high cutting, over the top of which projected a varied assortment of rifle barrels. I crossed quickly to the other side of the carriage and, looking out of the window, saw a number of men standing with their various weapons at the 'ready position' along the full length of the train.
The guard of the train next came bolting along the corridor, and asked, 'Are you armed?' but he was too agitated to wait for a reply.
I was handed over to the man who appeared to me to be the leader of the raiding party. A small notebook which had been taken away from me unluckily contained an old visiting card of mine. I was asked if the name on the card was mine, and as my name was on the back of my collar, I thought it best to agree.
I was then asked what I was doing, and I replied that I was just going into Boyle for the afternoon. I was asked if I was travelling on duty,
and replied in the negative, and that I was going in for a dance that evening.
There were about fifty or sixty men employed on the raid. Both sides of the train had been picqueted, some were removing the mailbags, sentries were posted on the engine and on the brake van. A number of others were visible on the horizon, with flags, watching the roads.
Before leaving, Marron (sic) said 'good-bye' and asked me to take a message to one of his pals who was a prisoner in Boyle Barracks. He then left the train, and I noticed a number of young women on the platform whom I suspected of receiving the arms of the raiders for safe custody..."
The Sligo RIC County Inspector's report for the month of May 1921 reported 39 'outrages', including 26 robberies of arms, mails etc, and two attacks on RIC men and British Auxiliaries. It mentioned in particular the 6th May train hold-up and the Keash ambush on the 23rd May, but not the 26th May incident. It was reported in 'The Daily Railway Situation' reports as follows :
'27/5/21 : On 26th inst between Ballymote and Kilfree the 13.40 hrs mail train Sligo to Dublin was held up and boarded by armed men at 14.05. These men travelled on the train to a point between Kilfree and Boyle where they stopped the train and detrained...'
On the 12th July 1921 - 102 years ago on this date - IRA Commandant Michael J. ('Sonny') Marren (32), Officer Commanding of the Ballymote Battalion IRA, was drowned accidently at Strandhill, in County Sligo. After his body had been recovered from the sea and buried in Mount Irwin Cemetery, near Gurteen, Canon O'Connor officiated at the graveside.
In his eulogy he said -
"...a brave soldier or a more fearless companion of the Irish cause never breathed the breath of life ; a man universally beloved by his own people and by everyone within the circle of his acquaintance..."
Thousands of IRA men march behind his coffin at his funeral and the local newspapers reported that, as the funeral cortege left Sligo, it was met by a lorry of British military. The officer in charge of the British soldiers had his men dismount and stand to attention, with arms reversed, along the
road.
We have no idea who that officer was. It is very unlikely to have been British Army Major Edward Sidney C. Grune, but the soldiers were members of the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment, which had been in constant conflict with IRA Commandant Michael J. Marren and his rebel fighters.
The Lament for Commandant Marren (composed by Tom Lavin of Coolboy, Ballyrush, Co. Sligo).
'The West is now eclipsed in the mourning,
for the bravest is laid in the tomb,
the death of Commandant Marren,
has cast o’er Connaught a gloom.
He fought for the cause of old Ireland,
and evaded arrest for five years,
beloved by all his companions,
and the pride of the bold Volunteers.
Young Marren he loved his dear country,
with a love that can ne’er be surpassed,
a hero and also a brave leader,
he was true to the cause till the last.
When oft times out-numbered in action,
he fought with a verdure so bold,
that he captured those vicious brown-foxes,
by the men of the Green, White and Gold.
The Green, White and Gold were his colours,
by their aid he would fight night and day,
it was woe to the man who would tempt him,
by the cause of those colours betrayed.
The brown-foxes anxiously sought him,
but needless to say ‘twas in vain,
he was hid from those tyrant traitors,
by the invisible band of Sinn Fein.
As a leader no man could surpass him,
for he acted with judgement and skill,
in the ranks a place is left vacant,
that no man ever can fill.
In conflict he was a brave soldier,
and no cowardice did ever show,
in planning he could not be equalled,
for he always out-numbered his foe.
When the truce of old Ireland was called on,
as a free man for Strandhill he was bound,
and when out for a dip in the ocean alas :
young Marren was drowned.
When the news of his fate circulated,
it filled every heart with dismay,
for to think that a brave noble leader,
could be cold ‘neath the depth of the sea.
Volunteers sure they came from all over,
when they heard this companion was drowned,
night and day they kept searching the ocean,
'till at length his dead body was found.
The grief of his parents and comrades,
as they stood on the strand on that day,
when his remains were washed in by a springtide,
they all bent down for to pray.
The day of the funeral was touching,
when 6,000 marched four men deep,
the dead march was played on the brass band,
t'would make the hardest heart weep.
Many friends as they stood by the grave-side,
requested the people to pray,
when relating the tragic occurrence,
to 'Sonny' a tribute did pay.
High masses were offered in many a place,
from Sligo to his native Gurteen,
and the numbers that attended those masses,
will forever remember the scene.
Three volleys were filled 'mid the silence,
and the last part were sounded 'mid tears,
the Rosary was recited in Irish,
for the rest of young Marren the brave.
IRA Commandant Michael J. ('Sonny') Marren, 12th July 1921 - 102 years ago on this date.
RIP.
'NORTHERN IRELAND' FLAG ACT...'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, April 1955.
The 'Northern Ireland' entity was an expedient creation of the British Government ; it has been, and is, subsidised by them (inadequately) to maintain a defensive perimeter.
The second paragraph is the essence of sound common sense. The differences between Northern Protestants (I assume that the majority of the members of the USDAW trade union are Protestants) are very, very slight.
If, once the fear fostered alike by English and some Irish politicians, that a free Ireland would mean victimisation for Protestants, was dispelled, a free, united and prosperous Ireland would be very close to reality.
(END of ' 'Northern Ireland' Flag Act' ; NEXT - 'Westminster Elections', from the same source.)
'LAW AND SOCIETY :
IS IT TIME TO ASK QUESTIONS OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION...?
We have always been a society with a facility for the creation of myths. However, not even the most dewy-eyed devotee of the dreams of the Celtic Twilight could have invented the present status of the legal profession in Ireland.'
By John Drennan.
From 'Magill Magazine', November 2001.
Against a backdrop such as this, the relationship of utter thralldom between the Dail (sic - Leinster House) and the law library was epitomised by the call by Fine Gael, Labour and the Greens for a tribunal of inquiry into the McBrearty affair. Perhaps the same people should read up on the transcripts of the 'Kerry Babies Inquiry'.
These calls represent another example of how the principle of the separation of powers, in which a healthy democracy gives equal rights to the parliament, the government and the courts, has been abrogated to the point where attorney generals are now more powerful than ministers.
The legal profession directs, and ministers duly sue Brigid McCole or Kathryn Sinnott, and ignore the plight of HIV-positive haemophiliacs.
After all, it is much easier to follow legal advice than to make tough decisions oneself, especially when those decisions pose a difficult choice between social morality and tempting political expediency...
(MORE LATER.)
'WAITING TO FALL...'
If this year sees the end of the 'Age of Tribunals', it won't be a moment too soon.
By John Drennan.
From 'Magill' magazine, January 2003.
If Frank Dunlop's house of cards begin to sway, or the sort of lawyers who cost €25,000 rather than €2,500 a day start issuing writs over the revelations in the Moriarty Tribunal, or the public start to ask where the charge sheets are, or a brave opposition (admittedly that's unlikely!) start to ask questions, we may yet discover that the glow surrounding our tribunals is that of a twilight rather than the dawn.
Like a pre-Good-Friday-Agreement North of Ireland, tribunals are a flawed entity. Just as the fissures in the North meant the collapse of that statelet was inevitable, at some stage our tribunals will collapse under the weight of their internal contradictions.
This alone justifies our optimism that 2003 may yet be the year where we witness the death* of the 'Age of Tribunals'.
(* '1169' comment - unfortunately not : let the new Tribunal begin...!)
(END of 'Waiting To Fall' ; NEXT - 'In Answer To Church And State And In Defence Of Irish Republicanism', from 1987.)
Thanks for the visit, and for reading,
Sharon and the team.
We won't be here next Wednesday, 19th July 2023 : the childer are on their holliers but that doesn't mean that we can all relax. The opposite, indeed - the three of us that run this blog all have young children or grandchildren (enough, between us, to practically fill a football stadium, never mind field a team!) and there's a right gang of us heading off on a road-trip on Sunday 16th for about a week.
We'll be back on Wednesday, 26th July 2023 with, among other pieces, a few paragraphs to do with seaside weapons and some other implements which were used, with deadly force, on the Quays in Dublin.
Keep the Faith, and please check back with us on the 26th!
GRMA!
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