"OUR OWN TURF FOR OUR OWN PEOPLE."
Cathal Brugha described Fr. Michael O'Flanagan as "the staunchest priest who ever lived in Ireland." This 'turbulent priest' died, aged 66, on this date (7th August) in 1942 - 82 years ago on this date.
Born to Irish speakers and into a clan of Fenians in Roscommon in 1876, Michael O'Flanagan was only 18 years young when he went to Maynooth College to study for the priesthood. He returned to his old alma mater , Summerhill College in Sligo and, at 24 years of age (in 1900), he was appointed 'Professor of Irish' in the college, from where he continued his involvement in Conradh na Gaeilge, through which he befriended Pádraig Mac Piarais and Douglas Hyde.
His church at first considered him to be a valuable asset and repeatedly sent him abroad on assignments, but less so over the years as he had a social conscience which took precedence over his church's need for him to be a 'team player' and, indeed, he embarrassed his church hierarchy when, at 37 years of age, he fully supported the Sligo dockers in their trade dispute in 1913 (even though he was working in Rome at the time, which is where he was based between 1912 and 1914) as, then as now, his religious 'betters' had more in common with the owners and bosses rather than the poorer workers.
In 1914 he was allocated to the parish of Ahamlish (North Sligo) before moving to Cliffoney, in that same county, and quickly became a true friend to the small farming community he now lived and worked with, and assisted them in their battle with the 'Congested Districts Board' who were trying to dictate the manner in which turf bogs could be used by the locals, an occasion that became known as the "Cloonerco Bog Fight".
During that 'turf war', Fr. O'Flanagan helped to organise the funeral of O'Donovan Rossa (pictured, who died on the 29th June 1915) and he spoke in Dublin City Hall when Rossa was lying in state there, which seemed to be 'the straw which broke the camel's back', as far as his Bishop (Coyne) was concerned - in October 1915, the church hierarchy attempted to transfer him to a new parish.
However, his friends and supporters in Cliffoney objected and physically prevented the new parish priest from taking up his priestly duties, a situation which lasted until Christmas Day.
Eventually, Fr. O'Flanagan was moved to Crossna, near Boyle, in County Roscommon, from where he continued to spread his own 'gospel' and that of Irish republicanism - he was vocally in favour of land reform and was strongly against Ireland taking any part in 'the First World War', 'forced' (by Westminster) or not to do so.
He worked in the background for Irish republicans during the 1916 Rising and became more politically involved in the years following same and, in October 1917, he was elected the vice-president of the then Sinn Féin organisation.
In May 1918, he condemned the English and German 'Establishments' for their encouragement to young men to join what they called "the war effort" :
"Those royal cousins who rule England and Germany will come together and clink their champagne glasses over the graves of millions of the flower of the manhood of Germany and England...", and, no sooner had he delivered those words to an appreciative audience when Bishop Coyne banned him from saying Mass in public or administering the sacraments and it would be 1938 before those duties were restored to him.
He played an active part in Sinn Féin's political victories that same year and was given the honour of opening the public session of the First Dáil Éireann in 1919 and was practically employed full-time in the 'Republican Courts' and in the development of the Dáil's land policy.
He stayed true to his political principles in 1921 and opposed the 'Treaty of Surrender', being barred from America and Australia for doing so.
He was elected president of Sinn Féin in 1933, a position which he held until 1935, but he was expelled from the organisation the following year because he breached the abstentionist policy.
He supported the Spanish Republic in its fight against Franco fascism from 1936 to 1939, which again put him at odds with his religious hierarchy, and undertook a number of speaking tours abroad in support of that fight.
Father Michael O' Flanagan, 66 years of age, died in Dublin on 7th August 1942 - 82 years ago on this date - and was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery on the 10th August. Fittingly, his graveside oration was delivered by John Joseph O'Kelly ('Sceilg') , an action that that 'turbulent priest' would have appreciated.
('1169' comment ; a headline/title like that above - 'Our Own Turf For Our Own People' - would definitely get us labelled as 'fascists/racists/far-right/ner-do-wells [!!?] etc in todays 'Woke'-infested climate and the three of us actually had a meeting about whether to change the title to 'Ireland For The Irish' instead, but sure we decided to keep the latter title for another piece later on...!)
'SINN FÉIN STATEMENT...'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, April 1955.
Mr McAteer assured the annual convention of the Anti-Partition League that there were happy improvements in the relationship between the "Irish Government" and the Anti-Partition League -
"We are reasonably satisfied with the new arrangements for co-operation, and we are moderately confident that it will lead to an intensification of the Anti-Partition drive, not only here but throughout the world."
At the same time, he informed the convention that the Anti-Partition League had... "..no master plan to solve partition."
It is possible that the results of the recent conference between political leaders in the twenty-six counties and representatives of the Anti-Partition League is an all-out effort to prevent Sinn Féin from succeeding where all others, on their own admission, have failed?
Issued by the Standing Committee, Sinn Féin.
(END of 'Sinn Féin Statement' and, actually, the 'end' of our 'The United Irishman' newspaper collection!
Next week [14th August 2024] we'll be re-posting articles from a 22-year-old Irish magazine [which was a great magazine once, 1980's/1990's, but went 'Woke' since then, unfortunately] and the first article is particularly timely, as it's to do with ethnicity in this State at that time which, today - 2024 - is, in our opinion, a characteristic that has changed for the worse, as far as the indigenous Irish are concerned.)
Thirty Pieces Of Silver...
On the 7th August, 1919, the British 'Chief Secretary for Ireland' (and also the '1st Baron Strathcarron'!), a Mr Ian James MacPherson, introduced a Bill in Westminster to increase the wages and improve the working conditions for their 'police force' in Ireland, the RIC.
Unemployed men were somewhat reluctant to join that semi-paramilitary grouping because the IRA were hitting back against it with some success and other Irish men and women were shunning it ; the wages were increased with fanfare to attract new recruits and to compensate for increased hardship and cost of living increases due to the fact that many shopkeepers were refusing to serve them, forcing them to obtain, usually with subterfuge, any food and other necessities from miles away.
It worked, and recruitment levels increased, as about 10,000 new members joined between January 1920 and August 1922, when the outfit was disbanded.
But their casualty rate also increased, as there were more of them presenting as targets and they were rushed into 'service' without suitable training ; between 1919 and 1922, more than 500 pro-British 'police casualties' (comprising the 'Dublin Metropolitan Police', the Auxiliaries, Black and Tans and 'Ulster Special Constabulary') were recorded ; in January 1919, the RIC claimed to have about 9,500 uniformed members and some 1,300 operational barracks in the country.
Swings and roundabouts...
==========================
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.
A populist social housing regime that provided affordable and reasonable housing to successive generations of low-income households broke down ; Irish citizens no longer have assured access to affordable housing.
In health, Ireland reduced spending as a proportion of GDP by 20 per cent between 1980 and 1996 and, even after an increase in health spending in 1998, Ireland still ranked 20th in a survey of 27 OECD countries.
Between 1970 and 1975 and 1995 and 2000, our global ranking with respect to life expectancy at birth fell by seven places - hospital waiting lists are still unacceptably long and may be on the way back up.
In education, we have performed poorly, in spite of the public image that growth is due to a highly educated population...
(MORE LATER.)
On the 7th August, 1920, IRA Volunteers attached to the Cork Number 1 Brigade were getting into position to attack a better-armed force of RIC members in their barracks in Innishannon, County Cork, when one of the rebels discharged his weapon accidentally, thus alerting the enemy ; the operation was postponed, and the Volunteers withdrew from the area.
The same IRA Brigade had, between April and July that year, rendered inoperable RIC Barracks in Blarney, Farran, Inchigeela, Clondrohid and in Cork City (MacCurtain Street).
By the end of 1920, nearly half of the 1500 RIC barracks in the country had been abandoned, and most were burned by the IRA within days of their evacuation.
Indeed, purposely, hundreds of those were rendered inoperable by the IRA on the night of the start of the fourth anniversary of the Easter Rising in 1916 - 24th April 1920!
==========================
Between thirty and forty Irish republican operatives were said to be involved in the planning etc of the overall IRA operation, but the actual ambush itself involved only about between eleven and fourteen armed IRA Volunteers from the Castletownroche Battalion, Cork Number 2 Brigade (under Tom Barry, Battalion Officer Commanding/Column Commander) and the IRA East Limerick Brigade Column (led by Donnchadh O'Hannigan and Tadhg Crowley).
The movement of a six-man RIC grouping had been monitored and an ambush position established, on the 7th August, 1920, at the townland of Scart, near
the village of Cill Dairbhre (Kildorrery, the 'Church of the Oakwood'), in North County Cork.
It was just before Noon on the 7th that the RIC members came under gunfire attack, from both sides of the road they were on, and all six were wounded.
The IRA Volunteers moved-in on the wounded forces and removed rifles, six revolvers and 250 rounds of ammunition and any other military equipment from them, taking two of them as prisoners and, once safely out of the area, released the two of them.
The other wounded RIC members were rescued by their colleagues and rushed to Fermoy Military Hospital where all but one survived - a Mr Ernest S. Watkins (29, 'Service Number 71756/LDS 2093/074B'), who was born in Monmouth, in Wales, on the 26th February 1891, and had been an RIC member for just over one month and, prior to that, worked as an engineer, leaving that trade to join the British Army and, finally, the RIC.
The next night (8th August 1920), the Crown Forces attacked the village of Kildorrery, looting houses, getting drunk and stealing from shops.
And it didn't stop there - on the 23rd November that year, a civilian - Denis O'Donnell (37), from Meadstown, near Kildorrery - was shot dead by three RIC members named Wood, Coe and Gray who were seeking to avenge the death of their colleague Mr Watkins.
Had Mr Watkins stayed in his own country, Mr O'Donnell wouldn't have died in the manner he did.
==========================
On the 7th August, 1920, the British Army re-organised itself in Ireland and established its '1st Infantry Division', consisting of two military brigades – the '15th Infantry Brigade', with its Headquarters in Belfast, covering the counties of Antrim, Armagh, Louth, Down and Monaghan, and the Derry Brigade, with its Headquarters in Derry City, and covering the counties of Donegal, Derry, Tyrone, Cavan, Fermanagh, Sligo and North Leitrim.
They sought to militarily control all 9 Counties of Ulster yet, within a few months, were professing that the province of Ulster consisted only of Six Counties...!
==========================
On the 7th August, 1920, 'The Roscommon Herald' newspaper reported that -
'...(the boycott of the RIC continues)...throughout County Leitrim the boycotting of police (sic) is carried on and there is no outside intercourse with or assistance in any way given to members of that body..'
On the 23rd April 1919, the (Republican) Dáil Éireann secretary, a Mr Diarmuid O'Hegarty, wrote out a detailed description of the policy of 'social ostracisation’ of the RIC, which had been authorised by the Dáil earlier that month. The RIC, he wrote, was to...
'...receive no social recognition from the people ; that no intercourse, except such as is absolutely necessary for business, is permitted with them ; they should not be saluted nor spoken to in the streets nor their salutes returned ; that they should not be invited to nor received in private houses as friends or guests ; that they be debarred from participation in games, sports, dances and all social functions conducted by the people, that intermarriage with them be discouraged...treated as persons, who having been adjudged guilty of treason to their country, are regarded unworthy to enjoy any of the privileges or comforts which arise from cordial relations with the public...'
And so it was!
And, actually, so it should be today, too, for the RUC/PSNI in the Occupied Six Counties and for 'An Garda Síochána' (AGS) in the Free State.
==========================
On the 6th January, 1920, IRA Volunteers held a meeting in the home of a Mr Bartholomew (Bartelmew) Walsh in the village of Glashabee, in County Cork, and the '(North) Cork Number 2 Brigade' of the IRA was formed.
The Brigade was monitored closely by GHQ Staff in Dublin and, even thought it was considered to be a successful formation, a decision was made to establish a 'Flying Column' from within its ranks and, on the 7th August that year, it was formed at a meeting held in Mourneabbey, near the town of Mallow, in County Cork (commanded by Tom Barry) attended by, among others, Patrick McCarthy, Michael O'Sullivan, Dan Browne (Newmarket Battalion), Larry Condon, John O'Mahony, Daniel Daly, Matt Flood (Fermoy Battalion), Daniel Shinnick, Jeremiah Donovan, James O'Neill, Michael O'Halloran (Castletown Roche Battalion), Patrick O'Brien, Thomas Coughlan (Charville Battalion), Daniel Vaughan (Kanturk Battalion), John Healy, Patrick Healy (Millstreet Batallion), Tadgh Byrnes, Jack Cunningham, Paddy McCarthy (from Mourneabbey), Owen Harold and Jeremiah Daly (Mallow Battalion).
When the 'Treaty of Surrender' offered a 'truce', which came into effect on the 11th July, 1921, the strength of the Cork Number 2 Brigade was 2,407 Volunteers and, overall, the IRA fielded a total 65 brigades and 297 battalions, with a strength ('on paper') of 115,550 Volunteers.
==========================
In July, 1920, courthouses in Buncrana, Carndonagh and Burnfoot, in Donegal, were burned down by the IRA to hopefully prevent any further miscarriages of 'justice' by the British political administration in Ireland.
The courthouse in Donegal Town (pictured), which was designed by local architect Michael Priestley and built in 1746, was one of only two 'Bridewells' in the county (ie it was built with basement cells), was burnt to the ground on the 7th August, 1920, following a gunbattle between the IRA and the RIC.
A Mr Harold Swan applied for compensation for the burning of the courthouse furniture, for 60 legal texts, 12,000 printed forms, and a gold mounted fountain pen.
He lodged a claim for £100 and we're not sure if he won his case, but he doesn't appear to have lodged a claim for a leather or fur coat or 60" TV...!
==========================
BEIR BUA...
The Thread of the Irish Republican Movement from The United Irishmen through to today.
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 :
In a statement on December 8th, 1938, the surviving faithful members of the Second Dáil announced this decision...
"..confident, in delegating this sacred trust to the Army of the Republic that, in their every action towards its consummation, they will be inspired by the high ideals and the chivalry of our martyred comrades, we, as the Executive Council of Dáil Éireann, Government of the Republic, append our names.
Seán O' Ceallaigh, Ceann Comhairle,
George Count Plunkett,
Professor William Stockley,
Mary MacSwiney,
Brian Ó hUiginn,
Tom Maguire,
Cathal Ó Murchadha.
In December, 1969, following a split in the Republican Movement over the issue of the recognition of and participation in the Partition and Westminster parliaments, Thomas Maguire, as the sole surviving member of the Executive of the Second Dáil Éireann, recognised the Provisional Army Council, which remained true to the Irish Republic as the lawful Army of the Thirty-Two County Irish Republic...
(MORE LATER.)
In August, 1921, the IRA had taken over policing duties in nationalist/republican areas of Belfast and were reporting to one of their own leadership figures, a Mr Eoin O'Duffy (a republican-gamekeeper-turned-Free State-poacher).
On the 6th August, Mr O'Duffy wrote to the RIC Commissioner in Belfast, a Mr John Fitzhugh Gelston, telling him that the IRA patrols on the streets had been able to "frustrate any behaviour which might lead to serious disturbances" (ironic, considering that it was the RIC and other pro-British forces that were causing the disturbances in Ireland in the first place).
On the 7th August, the unionist/loyalist leadership in Belfast contacted Mr John Fitzhugh Gelston to object 'to the legitimacy bestowed on the IRA by the RIC (which was) resented by the unionists especially as the Truce meant a delay in the transfer of executive powers to Stormont..'
But Mr John Fitzhugh Gelston obviously survived the ticking-off (!) from his unionist/loyalist colleagues and from their political pals in Westminster because, in the 'King's Birthday Honours List' of 1923, he was 'appointed' as a 'Commander of the Order of the British Empire' (a 'CBE') in the 'Civil Division' of said 'List'.
Good on ya, Johnny - neither the IRA or the RIC could get ya, but the CBE did...!
==========================
On the 7th August, 1922, Michael Collins arrived in the Curragh, Kildare, to inspect and advise his troops stationed there, who were under the command of Commandant General John T. Prout.
He told them that "...the entire organisation and command is defective.." and placed a new Commandant-General in charge, a Mr Eamon Price.
Mr Price was the husband of Máire Nic Shiubhlaigh, an Irish actress and one-time republican activist, and was apparently not enamoured of some of his high-ranking comrades in the Free State Army - for instance, he described the FSA command staff in Kilkenny as being 'a dumping ground for cowardly, useless and otherwise buckshee officers...' ('1169' comment - WHAT?! Only the command staff...?)!
A few weeks after Mr Price's promotion (!), an FSA report on his predecessor, Mr Prout, was leaked, in which he was labelled as "..too weak as well as too guilless to handle traitorous or semi-mutinous incompetents.." - the "traitorous...semi-mutinous incompetents" was a reference to the Free State soldiers that comprised that army!
Two weeks and one day after his visit to the Curragh, Mr Collins was shot dead in Béal na Bláth, in Cork, by the IRA, but Mr Prout fared somewhat better - he was only mentally and morally wounded by being demobilised from the Free State Army in June 1924, at a time when he held the rank of Major General.
Incidentally, when Mr Collins was 'shuffling his deck' in the Curragh on the 7th August, the IRA demolished a railway bridge on the line between Kildare and Kildangan, not too far from where he was.
Sure it's just as well that he wasn't intending to get the train back to Dublin or Westminster or wherever he was going, as he might have been injured had he been on board...
==========================
Thanks for the visit, and for reading!
Sharon and the team.
After the 21st (birthday party, that is....no, not mine, silly! But you WILL be forgiven for thinking so...!), we're back on the 7th with 13.
Ya wha', Shar...?
Did ya not get that?!
No, I'm not 21 (...yet..!), we'll be back 'on line' on the 7th (...of August. 2024, that is...jeez, try and keep up, will ya...!) with a 13-part blog post.
We'll be filling in the details of the following three pieces, along with about ten other happenings from our historical/political/military past and, although those instances are behind you (and all of us), they'll be in front of ya on Wednesday, 7th August 2024.
So give us a shout then, wontcha...!
Ireland, 20th Century - this rebel Priest was too much for the Catholic Hierarchy to handle but, when he was to be relocated and a new Priest sent in, his parshioners, friends and supporters physically prevented that from taking place. His political beliefs actually caused him to be barred from entry to at least two countries but, by God (!), he was welcome here...!
Early 20th Century - 'Wouldn't do that job for love nor money...' - in a pro-British 'police force' in Ireland, that is. But then a British 'baron' upped the wages and expenses, and the flotsam was drawn in, but casualty rates rose proportionally...
1955 - Sinn Féin and the issue of partition was somewhat confused in the public mind when a certain organisation co-operated with Leinster House politicians in relation to that particular obstacle...
Hoping to see y'all on the 7th,
Thanks for the visit, and for reading!
Sharon and the team.
SIX WEEKS OF 'SERVICE' FOR ONE, EIGHT MONTHS FOR 'THE FIEND'.
On Saturday, 24th July, 1920, 45 Black and Tan recruits arrived in Limerick city from Baile Mhic Gormáin (Gormanston), in County Meath.
Ten IRA Volunteers from 'E Company', 2nd (Limerick City) Battalion of the Mid-Limerick Brigade (under the leadership of William Barrett, pictured) had prepared an ambush position in Newenham Street in Limerick (pictured) and, when three RIC members - Walter Oakley, Albert Jones and William Jones - walked into it, they were attacked, and two of them suffered gunshot wounds ; a bullet actually bounced off the clasp of the braces being worn by Mr Albert Jones, who was shaken but otherwise uninjured.
One of those attacked, a Mr Walter Oakley (20 years of age, 'Service Number 71636'), a recruit from England, died from his wounds (kidney failure) on the 29th of that month ; he was from Essex, in East England, and had only about six weeks of 'service' in the RIC, having joined that grouping on the 11th June from the 'Royal Marines' outfit.
On the 17th August, 1920, two ex-British Army soldiers - James O'Neill and Patrick Blake - were 'arrested' by their ex-colleagues and charged with 'the murder of Constable Oakley' and taken to Dublin to be court martialed.
At their 'trial' on the 19th November that year (1920), at which their families were present, their lawyer, a Mr Quirke, said there was no evidence whatsoever against the two men, neither of whom had any involvement with the IRA and, indeed, both had been in the British Army, fighting against the IRA.
Both men were acquitted and, within minutes, walked out of court with their loved ones, delighted with themselves, naturally, and made plans to return home, to Limerick - the Blake's and the O'Neill's got the train to Limerick, and went their separate ways at Limerick Junction, by road (bus and taxi) and, because it was an unusual sight, members of each family commented on a yellow car that was parked there.
The taxi that the Blake family was in was stopped by British soldiers at the permanent road block outside Pallasgreen RIC Barracks and, following a few questions to the occupants, was allowed to continue on its journey ; Patrick Blake was sitting in a window seat in the back, but swapped with his brother, Michael, after the road block. When the taxi got near to the village of Oola, a number of armed men stopped it beside two parked cars, one of which was the same yellow car that had been noticed earlier.
Within seconds, two men fired shots into the taxi at Michael Blake, who was sitting in the seat vacated by his brother, Patrick. Michael Blake was shot dead.
The bus that the O'Neill family were in was also stopped by armed men, a number of whom boarded it, removed Mr O'Neill at gunpoint and marched him up the road towards the railway bridge near Grange Cross, where a silk scarf was tied in place over his eyes and he was shot four times in the head.
Indications at the time, which remain today, are that an RIC man from the then British West Indies, a Mr Thomas Darrell Huckerby (pictured), was the man who organised the executions of Mr Blake and Mr O'Neill.
Mr Huckerby was born in the town of St Vincent (in the West Indies) on the 5th January, 1901 and, at 19 years of age, joined the RIC (on the 30th April 1920, 'Service Number 71352').
He was known in Limerick as 'a fiend in human shape, driven by rage' and, between April and December 1920, his name was linked to so many 'official' atrocities in Ireland that, on the 27th December, he resigned from the RIC with unspecified 'disciplinary charges pending' ('1169' comment - something else would have been 'pending' for him too) and moved to London where he stayed among his own type, at the 'Police Institute Hostel' on Adelphi Terrace. Safety in numbers...
By February 1921 he was dead.
The official cause of death was 'acute yellow atrophy' ('bilious liquefaction...'?), a rare diagnosis that perhaps, for some, raises more questions than it answers. Had he not fled Ireland, he might have had the good fortune to die quicker.
Incidentally, an RIC member named William Jones (37) died on the 22nd December, 1920, when he was shot dead "while questioning three suspects in a public bar..", and another RIC member, a Mr Albert Jones, had died on the 28th November, 1920, when he and his colleagues were ambushed by the IRA at Kilmichael, in County Cork.
At least both of them survived the 'yellow fever'...
On the 24th July, 1919, 'The Daily Telegraph' newspaper in England, an 'Establishment' mouthpiece, was in the process of softening-up its own people to accept the idea that partitioning Ireland would not mean "a weakening of the Union".
In an 'Editorial' it printed on that date, it stated -
'Ulster Unionists possess the pledged word not only of the British Unionists, but also the British Liberals, that they shall not be coerced into a submission to an Irish Parliament against their wills..", by which they were referencing the then-proposed Leinster House assembly on Kildare Street, in Dublin.
On that same date, 'The Times' newspaper, another 'Establishment' parrot-paper in London, 'predicted' (ie given a kite to fly by Westminster) that the British government would bring forward legislation setting up two parliaments in Ireland – one for the nine counties of Ulster and one for the rest of Ireland ; another 'softening-up' attempt by Westminster.
In the event, the British realised that they would not be able to guarantee that the populations of Cavan, Monaghan and Donegal would be as easy to 'assert influence over' (!) as the populations of Derry, Antrim, Down, Tyrone, Armagh and Fermanagh, so they abandoned the three 'troublesome' counties and drew their partitioning border around the remaining Six Counties, and that - unfortunately - is how it stands to this day.
Lost in the 'small print' to most people is the fact that the Leinster House political assembly was established, nurtured and propagated by the British as, indeed, was the Six County assembly.
The Irish republican objective is to dismantle both of those assemblies and establish, nurture and propogate one proper political assembly for all of Ireland.
==========================
Two RIC members, a Mr Bernard Oates and a Mr JJ O'Connell, were cycling back to Camp Village (pictured) RIC Barracks on the North Shore of the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry from 'patrol duties' in the village of Aughacasla.
As they were cycling through the townland of Mín na Scairte (Meennascarty), at about 8pm, an IRA ambush party consisting of Volunteers attached to the Aughacasla Company (including Michael Spillane, Michael and Martin Griffin, Michael Flynn and John Crean, the Officer Commanding the Unit) came out from behind the gate of the Fitzgerald's house and rushed at the two RIC members.
Mr Oates and his colleague were about 50 yards apart, and it was expected that both would be armed - the IRA Volunteers had only one revolver between them, held by Volunteer Crean, whereas the other rebels were carrying blackthorn sticks.
RIC member Oates was smashed over the head with the stick by Volunteer Martin Griffin and shot by Volunteer Crean, with the bullet bouncing off his brace buckle, both actions taking the fight out of him.
RIC member O'Connell was reaching for his rifle when he was knocked unconscious by a blow of a blackthorn stick to his head, and was held on the ground by a knee on his throat and his rifle and his ammunition pouch were taken from him.
Both bicycles were smashed up and the raiding party left the scene, in the direction of Aughacasla Village.
Early the following morning, the RIC raided houses in the area and 'arrested' Michael Spillane, Michael Griffin, Martin Griffin and Michael Flynn, and two other men - Mr Michael Maunsel and Mr Tom Spillane (who played no part in the ambush) - were also 'arrested' by the Crown Forces.
Mr Tim Spillane received three years penal servitude, Michael Spillane and Michael Flynn were each sentenced to 18 months hard labour, Michael Maunsel was given 15 months of hard labour and Martin Griffin was sentenced to nine months hard labour, and were split-up between Cork, Mountjoy (Dublin) and Portlaoise prisons.
Finally, RIC member Oates received £250 in compensation for 'injuries sustained' in the ambush, and RIC member O'Connell was awarded £50 for same : on top of, that is, their thirty pieces of silver...
(Different sources give different dates for the above - '24th June 1919' and '24th July 1919' but, as it's such a good piece, we decided to post it anyway!)
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'SINN FÉIN STATEMENT.'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, April 1955.
Mr McAteer is further quoted as saying -
"...but if a decision was to be forced on the vexed question of attendance or abstention then, even at the risk of losing two seats, his recommendation, so far as it carried any weight, would be 'let us if necessary lose the seats but at the same time we will have gathered the feeling of the people of those constituencies..' "
It is evident from the foregoing that Mr McAteer is prepared to advocate that the 'Anti-Partition League' and those who support it bear full responsibility for splitting the vote and handing the seats to Unionist representatives.
In other words, a Unionist representative is more acceptable to Mr McAteer than a Sinn Féin representative*...
(*...impossible nowadays to tell them apart, politically..)
(MORE LATER.)
On the 24th July, 1920, a (Protestant) businessman in Cork, a Mr GW Biggs, from the Bantry area, wrote to 'The Irish Times' newspaper in Dublin, commenting on the IRA fight against the British military and political presence in Ireland.
Mr Biggs stated his opinion that that fight was political in nature and was not reflecting in worsening or strained relationships between Catholics and Protestants in Cork, adding that "the greatest goodwill exists..." between both religious groups, as it should be.
This, apparently, marked him out to the British and their armed militias as 'a traitor' and, three days later, his business premises was attacked and burnt down by the RIC.
Mr Biggs was respected in the community and was not without contacts in high places ; a Mr John Annan Bryce was a friend of his and, being the younger brother of 'Lord' Bryce, one-time British 'Chief Secretary for Ireland', Mr Bryce carried a bit of weight, politically, himself.
Mr Bryce wrote a letter of complaint some weeks later to his British military and political contacts in London about the treatment of his friend, Mr Biggs, in which he said -
"...the only damage to loyalists premises has been done by the police.
In July they burned the stores of Mr. G.W. Biggs, the principal merchant in Bantry, a man highly respected, a Protestant, and a lifelong Unionist, with a damage of over £25,000...subsequently, in August, the police fired into Mr. Biggs's office, while his residence has since been commandeered for police barracks.
He (Mr Biggs) has had to send his family to Dublin and to live himself in a hotel. Only two reasons can be assigned for the outrages on Mr. Biggs, one that he employed Sinn Feiners – he could not work his large business without them, there being no Unionist workmen in Bantry – the other a recently published statement of his protesting – on his own 40 years' experience – against Orange allegations of Catholic intolerance..."
The July burning was part of a general pogrom, in which a cripple, named Crowley, was deliberately shot by the police while in bed and several houses were set on fire while the people were asleep.
A report was made to Dublin Castle by Mr. Hynes, the County Court Judge, who happened to be on the spot for quarter sessions. Questioned in the House of Commons, the Government refused to produce this report on the ground that production would not be in the public interest, which means – as Parliamentary experience teaches one – that it was damning to Government..."
For daring to 'stick his head above the parapet', the Bryce family were intimidated and harassed by the British political and military forces in Ireland, as a lesson to others to turn a blind eye to the manner in which the Irish were being treated ; indeed, Mr Bryce's wife was arrested by her own 'police force' in an attempt to silence her husband.
It was most probably due to his 'standing' in the British community that Mr Bryce wasn't just shot dead by them.
The correspondence between Mr Bryce and the British political and military leaderships can be read here, and offer a valuable insight into how (British) imperialism works -"My wife is brave and has been strong, but she is severely shaken by ill-usage on this and previous occasions at the hands of servants of the Crown..."
==========================
On the 24th July, 1920, 'The Connaught Tribune' newspaper reported that the IRA had demolished the RIC barracks in Kinvara, in County Galway and, after doing so, the Volunteers regrouped and marched to the town courthouse and destroyed the case records that were held in the building.
On July 20th pm/21st am, IRA Officer Commanding John Burke led the Kinvara Company IRA into the town late in the evening, having posted armed sentries at all entrance/exit roads into and out of the town.
The Volunteers entered the then empty RIC barracks and proceeded to destroy the roof and the second floor of the building, thus weakening it structurally ; they had intended to burn it down, but that would have caused damage to the houses/buildings either side of it so it was demolished instead.
The RIC had evacuated the barracks on the 18th, fleeing to the barracks in the nearby towns of Kilcolgan and Ardrahan for their own safety.
==========================
"The Government cannot abandon a measure so elaborate in its structure and so far advanced in its Parliamentary career as the present Home Rule Bill ('Government of Ireland Act') without some discredit.
This discredit would amount to a disgrace if this course were adopted, not on its merits, but as a concession to those who worked through organised assassination. A parliament has been promised to Ulster..."
- the words of the influential Mr Arthur James Balfour (pictured), on the 24th July 1920 ; Mr Balfour had resigned from the British Foreign Office in October 1919, but held on to his Cabinet Seat as 'Lord President of the Council'.
He was a strong voice for and supporter of a Stormont administration for six Irish counties realising, as did his unionist/loyalist base, that they couldn't hold all nine counties of Ulster.
He was a 'cold creature', apparently, and is one of only a small select (!) individuals to have a human mannerism named in their honour (!) - 'the Balfourian Manner' :
'This Balfourian Manner ; an attitude of mind. An attitude of convinced superiority which insists in the first place on complete detachment from the enthusiasms of the human race, and in the second place on keeping the vulgar world at arm's length.
To Mr. Arthur Balfour this studied attitude of aloofness has been fatal, both to his character and to his career.
He has said nothing, written nothing, done nothing, which lives in the heart of his countrymen.
The charming, gracious, and cultured Mr. Balfour is the most egotistical of men, and a man who would make almost any sacrifice to remain in office...' - Edward Harold Begbie.
Mr Balfour certainly played his part in sacrificing the Irish, to feed his egotistical desires...
==========================
On the 24th July, 1920, a Dublin man, Danny McGee, was riding his bicycle along Victoria Quay in Dublin when he was run over by a British Army military vehicle.
The driver stopped the car and, with the consent of his passenger, drove the badly injured man to Dr Steevens Hospital, but Mr McGee was pronounced dead.
The passenger was British 'Sir' Norman Fenwick Warren Fisher (pictured), the Head of the British Civil Service, and he, the driver and the institution they represented, were cleared of any wrongdoing.
And they had been 'clearing themselves of any wrongdoing' long before then, and continue to do so to this day.
==========================
Two British Army Marines - a Mr Charles Cleaver Burdett Yates and a Mr Cecil George Redvers Helmore - who were stationed in Ballyvaughan Coastguard Station in County Clare, apparently had a (drunken?) falling-out in June 1920 and were at odds with each other when, on the 7th July, Mr Helmore pulled out his revolver and shot Mr Yates, who died in Cork Military Hospital from the wound on the 24th July that year.
Mr Yates was posted to the '8th Royal Marine Battalion' on the 2nd June (1920), and they sailed to Cork in HMS Valiant and HMS Warspite before being taken by destroyer to protect coastguard and signal stations around the Irish coast, with Mr Yates being posted to the station where he met his death.
After he shot Mr Yates (in the neck, paralysing him from there down, with the bullet remaining close to his spine), the shooter, Mr Helmore, turned the gun on himself but was restrained before he could kill himself.
He probably wished he had done so because, in February 1921, he was sentenced to life imprisonment : more here.
==========================
A Mr John Crowley, from the village of Lissagroom, near Upton, in County Cork, was arrested by the Knockavilla Company of the Bandon Battalion of the Cork Number 3 Brigade IRA on the 10th July, 1920, in connection with information supplied to Crown Forces in relation to IRA operations in the area.
Mr Crowley, an ex-British Army soldier, was held in the Crosspound area, near the town of Ballyhandle in Cork, and was questioned over time by Volunteers Tadhg O’Sullivan (Quartermaster of the Cork Number 3 Brigade), Tom Hales, Dick Barrett and Charlie Hurley, and was found to have been paid £20 for the details he gave to the British, with future payments promised if his information was good.
He was executed by the IRA as a spy on the 24th July 1920 and he was buried in secret.
His body has never been recovered.
His sister, Mary Murphy (née Crowley), declared in a letter dated the 11th April 1922 -
"I am sorry to say or think I had a spy belong to me. If I only knew he was one, I would have shot him myself..."
==========================
PROBLEMS AT SEA, AND A MISSED OPPORTUNITY BY THE REBELS.
Approximately 400 Free State Army soldiers left Dublin on the 22nd July, 1922, aboard the State military vessel 'The Minerva', under the command of a Colonel-Commandant O'Malley, to sail to Westport in County Mayo, and arrived there on the 24th.
The 4th Western Division of the IRA, commanded by Volunteer Michael Kilroy (pictured, a republican-gamekeeper-turned-Free State-poacher) held the area at the time, and the Staters wanted them out ; indeed, they were under instruction from Westminster to do so -
'The Government of the Irish Free State shall afford to His Majesty's Imperial Forces :
(a) In the time of peace such harbour and other facilities as are indicated in the Annex hereto, or such other facilities as may from time to time be
agreed between the British Government and the Government of the Irish Free State ;
and
(b) In time of war or of strained relations with a Foreign Power such harbour and other facilities as the British Government may require for the purposes of such defence as aforesaid...'
Mr Kilroy had served on the Army Executive of the IRA but left his republican beliefs behind him in 1927.
However, there were problems at sea when the Staters arrived at Westport, and missed opportunities by the rebels -
'...The Minerva, carrying 400 men, one “Whippet” armoured car and an 18-pound field gun, sailed from Dublin Port's North Wall at 8pm on 22 July. The expedition arrived in Clew Bay at 2am, 24 July.
A pilot was requested and arrived after two hours. However, he informed Colonel Commandant O'Malley that the Minerva was 100 feet too long to dock
at the quay.
This was confirmed by another pilot who arrived aboard at 5am. It is possible that the pilots were attempting to prevent the landing by misinformation.
The Minerva was still at the mouth of the bay and not visible to any defenders onshore. The expedition attempted to contact Portobello Barracks in Dublin for further instructions but did not succeed until Monday evening.
The reply was too late to influence events, the order was given to abort the operation and make for Limerick, but by this time the landing was again underway.
An attempt was made to continue the operation when a food ship, the SS Admiral, bound for Westport, was sighted. She was ordered alongside and an effort was made to transfer the Whippet aboard. However, this failed and the vessel was sent on unhindered.
The risk of information on the landing force being leaked in Westport was apparently not considered.
The pilots eventually came to the decision that they would risk bringing the Minerva in on the next tide. At 5pm on 24 July, the expedition made for Westport. A party of forty men were detached for an attack on Rossmoney Coastguard Station which was held by the Irregulars...'
(More here, page 20.)
The Staters did, eventually, take Westport, and most of the main towns in Mayo were taken by them in the next few days.
That may not have been the case had 'The Minerva' been spotted while she waited for a docking solution...
'A party of enemy troops came in contact with our forces. Four killed, rest surrendered. Thirteen rifles and one Lewis gun captured by our forces...' - IRA statement, late July 1922.
On the 24th July, 1922 (other sources state the 25th and/or the 28th), four Free State Army soldiers - P Murphy, P Carey, D O'Mahony and a Captain Power - were shot dead at Ballygibba Cross, Bruree, in County Limerick, by the IRA.
The four FSA soldiers were attached to the '1st Cork Brigade' and their unit had walked into an IRA ambush position which had been set-up on a narrow road : they at first attempted to fight their way out of it and suffered those casualties as a result.
==========================
On the afternoon of Monday, 24th July, 1922, a Column of IRA Volunteers from Kyle, County Wexford, under the command of Volunteer Robert Lambert, lay in wait on high ground at Killurin, waiting for the train from Wexford to Dublin. The Column were assisted by fighters from Cumann na mBan, and some of those rebels had crossed the River Slaney by boat to get to the ambush position.
The tracks were blocked with railway sleepers and the station-master was locked into his office, with no means of communicating with the outside world.
The train was transporting IRA prisoners, guarded by two coaches of Free State Army soldiers, and mail bags and civilians were also on board.
When the train emerged from a tunnel about 600 yards on the Wexford side of Killurin Station, two rifle shots rang out, the train pulled to a halt and sustained fire was opened on the two carriages carrying the FSA soldiers.
The doors were locked, so those inside the two carriages tried to escape out the windows and most of them did so, presenting themselves as targets for the IRA and Cumann na mBan fighters who, in more ways than one, held the higher ground.
The Staters that got out of the train took whatever cover they could and fired back, and the gunfight lasted for about half-an-hour ; the IRA then withdrew, as Stater reinforcements were probably on the way.
A number of IRA prisoners escaped, three FSA soldiers were killed in the fight and at least seven were wounded.
But at least all of the bags of mail got through...
==========================
A woman named Nellie McDonagh was in her house in Riverstown, County Sligo, on the 24th July, 1922, when a number of youths broke into her house, looking for a gun that was on the premises.
Whether they found the gun or had brought one with them is not known, as there are no more details about how it happened, but M/s McDonagh was shot dead.
==========================
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.
The most scandalous outcome of the 'Celtic Tiger', however, is not the degree of low pay and insecurity.
Rather, the most scandalous thing is that economic growth gave the government massive resources with which to fight years of run-down social services and increase the welfare of the Irish people ; it failed miserably to do so.
It was okay to give big grants and tax breaks to industry and the rich, but once someone like the 'Conference on Religious in Ireland' started talking about improving social services or fighting poverty, the cry went up... "..you'll overheat the economy...don't kill the goose that laid the golden egg.."
As a result, successive State budgets favoured tax cuts for the rich and failed to provide the necessary social spending to correct Ireland's severe social problems.
Thus, we may be socially worse off today than we were before the 'Celtic Tiger'...
(MORE LATER.)
BEIR BUA...
The Thread of the Irish Republican Movement from The United Irishmen through to today.
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 :
In a statement on December 8th, 1938, the surviving faithful members of the Second Dáil announced this decision -
"Dáil Éireann :
In consequence of armed opposition ordered and sustained by England, and the defection of elected representatives of the people over the period since the Republican Proclamation of Easter 1916 was ratified, three years later, by the newly inauguarated Government of the Irish Republic, we hereby delegate the authority reposed in us to the Army Council, in the spirit of the decision taken by Dáil Éireann in the Spring of 1921, and later endorsed by the Second Dáil.
In thus transferring the trust of which it has been our privilege to be the custodians for twenty years, we earnestly exhort all citizens and friends of the Irish Republic at home and abroad to dissociate themselves openly and absolutely from England's unending aggressions, and we urge on them utterly to disregard England's recurring war scares, remembering that our ancient and insular nation, bounded entirely by the seas, has infinitely less reason to become involved in the conflicts now so much threatened than have the neutral small nations lying between England and the power she desires to overthrow..."
(MORE LATER.)
On the 24th July, 1924, 'The Irish Independent' newspaper (!) reported on a declaration made by a State court against a Mr Éamon de Valera and a Mr Dáithí Ó Donnchadha in relation to the Dáil Loan funds in their possession, which were said to be worth about €20 million in today's terms and values.
In late 1923, the Leinster House/Free State political administration had enacted a new 'State law', the 'Loans and Fund Act' which, basically, gave them 'legal' access to those funds, even though they were aware that that money was to be used as the first charge on the revenues of the Irish Republic "after the withdrawal of the English military forces".
The funds (applications for which finished on the 17th July 1920) were raised to finance 'the establishment of a (32-County) Republic of Ireland free and independent of any allegiance to Great Britain...', which the 26-County Free State certainly wasn't!
Within days, a similar legal declaration was made against a Mr Stephen O'Mara, who appeals the ruling to the State Supreme Court on the basis that the Free State administration did not have the legal authority to appoint new trustees to the Dáil Loan (...as the Leinster House administration was not the political body that the funds were raised for).
After a long legal battle (December 1925), the State Supreme Court ruled against Mr Stephen O'Mara and unanimously upheld the decision of the lower court that the Free State government had the right to appoint new trustees to the Dáil Loan ie 'it was their money'.
Mr de Valera "refused/neglected" to co-operate with the State Supreme Court decision and further legal correspondence was entered into by the parties concerned until, in February 1927, the State Supreme Court appointed a Mr William Norman to replace de Valera as one of the three trustees and the Free Staters got access to the funds held in the Dáil Loan accounts.
Incidentally, on the 13th December, 1923, Mr Earnán de Blaghd (Ernest William Blythe) had gleefully stated -
"If it had not been for the generosity and faith of the people who subscribed to the Loan, there would be no Free State today..."
Those who subscribed to the Loan did not do so to financially assist with the spawning of a so-called 'Free State' within Ireland, but rather in the hope, belief and expectation that their hard-earned money would be availed of to finance the establishment of a 32-County Irish Republic.
But traitorous men and women, with more desire for money than for the Republic, intervened...
==========================
Thanks for the visit, and for reading!
Sharon and the team.
(We won't be here next Wednesday, 31st July 2024, as we're off to a family gig ; it'll be the usual 3+day affair, as we do the final, final prep work in the hall the afternoon and evening before, then there's the day itself and at least one day (?!) after the gig to clean up and recover!
It's a 21st, so the whole show will more than likely drift into a fourth/fifth day, as expected!
We'll be 'on air' again on Wednesday 7th August, 2024 with, among other bits and pieces, an article about an Irish rebel, born in the late 19th Century, who offended his bosses regularly by his words and actions on behalf of his own people - his fight against injustices was second nature to the man, and he took that fighting spirit to the grave with him...)
So thanks again for popping in - see ye on the 7th August 2024 and, in the meantime, if'n ya miss me that much, sure you can keep an eye on me on 'X/Twitter' and 'Facebook' as well!
Slán anois,
Sharon.
