On the 26th February, 1923, a meeting of Anti-Treaty IRA officers assembled at Ballinageary, Co Tipperary.
Officers from the First Southern Division reported that "..in a short time we would not have a man left owing to the great number of arrests and casualties..".
Tom Crofts (a republican-gamekeeper-turned-Free State-poacher, who later joined the Fianna Fail party) reported that the Cork Brigades had suffered 29 killed and an unknown number captured in recent actions ; "..if five men are arrested in each area, we are finished..".
Nevertheless, Liam Lynch, to his credit, issued a statement rejecting the possibility of a truce with the Free Staters ; he was shot dead by that enemy on the 10th of April that same year following which, in that same month, the IRA called a ceasefire and 'dumped arms' the following month (See '26th February 1923', below).
Incidentally, also on the 26th February in 1923, a Free State soldier was executed by his comrades for having defected and handing over weapons to the IRA -
'Thomas Gibson, a former National (sic) soldier, was executed in Portlaoise, County Laois on 26 February (1923) having already been court martialled in Roscrea, County Tipperary on 18th January 1923.
He was charged with : treacherously assisting the enemy, in as much as on 19th. November, 1922, being then on active service, he left PORT LAOIGHSE BARRACKS, and took with him five rifles, and one grenade cup.
He was absent until 10th January, 1923, when he was arrested with two prominent Irregulars, all three being at the time in possession of arms.
Volunteer Gibson was found guilty of the charge and was sentenced by the Court to suffer death by being shot. The sentence was duly confirmed and was carried out at Portlasighise on 26th February, 1923.
Gibson had deserted from Portlaoise Barracks, the National (sic) Army, on 19th November 1922, and had taken with him five rifles and a grenade. He was captured, on 10th January 1923, while asleep in a safe house.
According to Father Thomas Hilary Burbage, the local chaplain, this execution should not have occurred as Gibson was "unbalanced in mind, and that his mother had been a patient in Maryboro [Portlaoise] Lunatic Asylum".
Whether this assertion is true or not, Gibson had committed treachery and, as a result, was shown no mercy...' (from here.)
In his last letter (pictured) to his mother, Volunteer Gibson wrote -
"You know I'm writing to old friends just to pass the time away.
Also to keep smiling over old adventures.
You would think I was going to a dance or an amusement.
Well you will remember poor William didn’t get one minute to prepare.
Well I must say I am well looked after. I have no enemies anyhow. I never did anything to anyone. I am taking the responsibility myself and am well able to do it..."
And, in his condemnation of the execution, Father Burbage correctly stated that the pending State execution of Volunteer Gibson was...
"..altogether opposed to the traditions of our people. Even Cromwell's soldiers were not executed when they fell into the hands of the Irish troops.."
The real 'treachery', which Volunteer Thomas Gibson later absolved himself of, was in having anything to do with supporting the Free Staters.
RIP Volunteer Thomas Gibson.
'In succeeding numbers, interesting articles will appear dealing with all branches of modern warfare.
These contributions will be designed to awaken intelligent inquiry into the various departments of modern military science, and to direct the attention of Volunteers to matters upon which they can easily become more informed by utilising the military school and barrack library.
In addition, articles of national and cultural value shall be a feature of the journal, and, with the cooperation of the Divisional and Brigade Officers, it is proposed to chronicle matters of general army interest, such as promotions, field manoeuvres, social and athletic events..'
From the May 1922 edition of the Free Staters shamelessly attempted copy of the Republican Movement's newspaper 'The Irish Volunteer' ('The Official Organ of the Irish Volunteer'), which was published twice a month between 1913 and 1916.
The republican publication had, as its objective, to provide guidance and to develop the Volunteer him/herself, and the overall Movement.
'The Irish Volunteer' was originally published by the proprietor of the 'Enniscorthy Echo' newspaper and was edited by a Mr. Larry de Lacy.
The publication did not agree with Mr John Redmond's 'fight-for-the-Empire'-position and, as a result of its pro-Irish stand, Mr Redmond and his supporters withdrew their backing for it.
The publisher, too, withdrew his services and the newspaper was then published in Dublin, under the editorship of Professor Eoin MacNeill.
The British Government moved against the new printer (a Mr Patrick Mahon) and sent its troops in to where the printing presses were located, dismantled them, and took the machinery parts 'into custody'!
So the newspaper set-up offices in Belfast and continued its work, up until the eve of the Rising in 1916.
It was not until July 1918, when conscription in Ireland was being fought against, that the need for a pro-Irish printed voice was looked at again and a Mr Piaras Béaslaí (a republican-gamekeeper-turned-Free State poacher) was put in charge of the operation by a Mr Michael Collins.
And, on the 31st August, 1918, the first issue of the new run of an Irish Resistance newspaper, 'An t-Óglách', was printed and sold to the public.
The connection to this date - the 26th February - is because on that date in 1919, 'An t-Óglách' carried the following advice -
"Any policeman, warder, judge or official must be made to realise that it is not wise for him to distinguish himself by undue zeal in the service of England..."
Nicely put!
(See 'Few Snippets', below...)
==========================
GAS LADS...
The massive finds of oil and gas on our western seaboard could ensure Ireland's financial security for generations.
Wealth approximating that of the Arab countries is within our grasp, but the Irish government seems content to sell off our birthright for a handful of votes and a few dollars.
In a special 'Magill' report, Sandra Mara investigates just what we are giving away, and why.
From 'Magill' magazine, March 2002.
The Norwegians built virtual floating cities, designed to withstand waves 30 metres high, and even hurricanes.
By the mid-90's, the cost of this infrastructure was in the region of $100bn, or $23,000 per head for each and every Norwegian citizen.
The pay-off, however, has been substantial, and Norway is now the second largest exporter of crude oil worldwide, after Saudi Arabia.
The Norwegian continental shelf will continue to be a major source of natural gas for the next 100 years, ensuring the long-term economic strength of the country.
Ireland, too, could have been a major player on the world's stage but, instead, it choose to throw away the best opportunity we have ever had...
(MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (26TH FEBRUARY) 171 YEARS AGO : 'GUILTY' OF HIGH TREASON BUT PARDONED AND TRANSPORTED.
On this date - 26th February - in 1854, William Smith O’Brien (pictured), leader of the 1848 'Young Irelander Rebellion', is released. He had been convicted of 'sedition' (inciting landlords and tenants to rebel) and sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered.
After 70,000 people in Ireland and 10,000 people from England petitioned for clemency, his sentence was reduced to deportation to Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania). After five years in Van Diemen’s Land, he was released, but exiled from Ireland. He went to live in Brussels until 1856 when he was given an unconditional pardon and allowed to return to Ireland. He never returned to politics, and died at 61 years of age, in Wales.
On the 17th October 1803, 'Sir' Edward O'Brien (the '4th Baronet' of Dromoland Castle, County Clare) and his wife, Charlotte (nee Smith) - well established political conservatives and supporters of the Orange order - celebrated the birth of their second son, whom they named William (in later years, after inheriting land from his mother, William added the surname 'Smith' to his name). He was educated at Harrow, in London, and Trinity College in Cambridge (he was later to describe his education thus : "I learnt much that was evil and little that was good..") and, at 25 years of age (in 1828) he was elected to Westminster for the Conservative Party (for the Ennis constituency), a position he held for four years and, at 29 years young, he married Lucy Caroline Gabbett, and they had seven children together.
At 32 years of age he won a seat to represent Limerick. He was a strong supporter of Catholic emancipation and, at 40 years of age, he joined Daniel O'Connell's anti-union 'Loyal National Repeal Association', which he left three years later.
Within a few years, he had joined the 'Young Irelanders' organisation and helped to establish within it a group called 'The Irish Confederation' which organised as best it could for an armed uprising in Ireland against British rule, but the timing was wrong : Ireland was suffering the holocaust, and its remaining people were too exhausted for anything other than trying to stay alive.
One of the leaders of 'The Young Irelanders', John Mitchel (pictured), was 'arrested' for writing "..wild and menacing words.." then, in April 1848, the 'Treason Felony Act' was introduced, followed by the suspension of 'Habeas Corpus' on July 25th, 1848 ; William Smith O'Brien recognised that the British were 'battening down the hatches' and, with John Mitchel in a British prison, he was in command.
He called for an immediate Rising against the British and an attempt at a rebellion did take place on the 29th July 1848 in Tipperary but it failed, leading to the arrest of the leaders of the 'Confereration', Thomas Francis Meagher, Terence McManus, Patrick O'Donohoe and William Smith O'Brien (who was arrested on the 6th August 1848 and tried at a special sitting of the district court at Clonmel, Co. Tipperary : he was sentenced to death on 10th October 1848), all of whom were deemed by the British to be guilty of High Treason and were sentenced to be hung, drawn and quartered.
Following the court case, meetings were held in Ireland and England with the aim of raising a petition against the severity of the sentences and pointing out that the jury involved had recommended clemency but were ignored by the judge - over 80,000 people willingly listed their names, addresses, occupations etc (as mentioned above, in what is considered to be the first mass political petition movement) resulting in the sentences being commuted to transportation for life. The four 'dissidents' left Ireland on the 29th July 1849 for exile in Van Diemen's Land (pictured).
On the 26th February 1854 - 171 years ago on this date - O'Brien won a conditional pardon which banned him from entering Ireland and he and his family moved to Brussels where, amongst other duties, he wrote a political book : he won his final pardon two years later, in May 1856, and returned to Ireland to a hero's welcome. Asked how he now felt about his actions, he replied - "I had firmly resolved not to say or write or do anything which could be interpreted as a confession on my part that I consider myself a 'criminal' in regard to the transactions of 1848.." .
His wife died in Ireland on the 13th June 1861, and he himself passed away three years later, in his 61st year, in Bangor, Wales, and is buried in Rathronan Churchyard in Limerick.
The inscription on the family headstone reads -
'Here lies Edward William, eldest son of William Smith O'Brien, a just man, a lover of his people.
Born 24 January 1837 Died 21 January 1909.'
William Smith O'Brien, Born 17th October 1803, Died June 1864.
Lucy Caroline O'Brien, Born 23rd September 1811, Died 13 June 1861'.
Like his son, Edward, William Smith O'Brien was 'a just man, a lover of his people..' and, least we forget, a 'dissident' of his day.
SPIES AND RAIDS...
On the 26th February, 1921, as the British Army were licking their wounds having raided four premises in County Kildare looking for republican arms or activists - at, in or beside the Tierney and Harris households in the village of Prosperous, and the Murray and Crosbie households in the village of Donadea - but leaving all four areas empty handed, the IRA in Dundalk, County Louth, about 85 miles away, had a more productive day.
An ex-British Army soldier, and ex-President of the (pro-British) 'Comrades of the Great War' movement, a Mr Henry Murray (35), from Carrickmacross in County Monaghan, was walking near Brunswick Row on Chapel Street, in Dundalk, County Louth, at about 8pm, when he was approached by at least three Volunteers attached to the 1st (North) Louth Brigade of the IRA, two of whom (Volunteers McKenna and Cunningham) shot him dead.
The RIC in County Louth said that Mr Murray may have been shot dead because the IRA were aware that he was seeking a position with them.
That was on a Saturday - the next day, IRA notices about the shooting were seen in churches in the town, stating that Henry Murray was a spy and an informer and had been executed as such after a trial and conviction, and warning other spies to beware...
==========================
On the 26th February, 1921, the news of an IRA ambush the previous day at Coolavokig, near Ballyvourney, in County Cork, began to filter around the Cork area.
Whether because of wrong information or a tip-off from spies and/or informers working with them, the British Army Auxiliaries ('J Company', pictured), and about 7 RIC members, never showed on the expected morning, so the IRA Volunteers, attached to the 1st (Mid) Cork Brigade - about sixty of them - under the command of Volunteer Sean O'Hegarty, withdrew from the ambush site.
They returned the next morning and 'set up shop' again but, again, no show.
And that happened about three or four more times, at least, until, finally, on the morning of the 25th, three British Army Ford cars and five Crossley Tender trucks, containing, between them, at least fifty to seventy armed soldiers, drove into the ambush site.
Their Commandant, a Mr James Seafield-Grant (from Suffolk, in England) instructed his men to take out and display the four hostages they were carrying and to parade them around the trucks and cars, which they did - but the soldiers parading the hostages were shot dead by the IRA and the hostages escaped.
And that was the start of a two-hour gunfight, during which Mr Seafield-Grant (pictured), from Suffolk, was shot dead and a number of his men were wounded, two of whom - RIC members Mr Arthur Kane/Cane (from London) and a Mr Cleve Soady (from Hampshire in England) died later from their wounds.
Both army leaderships were not altogether agreeable with how that day went - IRA GHQ expressed their concern that the operation "might easily have been a disaster" because the Volunteers had taken up the ambush position too many times, and GHQ of the British Army's 6th Division criticised their men for having missed "an excellent opportunity to defeat the enemy."
We presume Messrs Seafield-grant, Kane and Soady consoled each other.
incidentally, eight members of the Auxies who had been wounded during that gunbattle later received awards of compensation ranging from as little as £200 in one case to as much as £5,000 in another.
Four of the awards did not exceed £1,000, but the other four amounted to £12,800 altogether.
Loyal to the Half-Crown...
(You can read more detail about the above ambush here and here.)
==========================
BOMBS AND BUMPS...
On the 26th February, 1921, Bombs were thrown by the Crown Forces into the homes of two Sinn Féin county councillors – Michael Finnigan and CJ Kennedy - in Dunmore, County Galway ; thankfully, there were no injuries, but the properties were badly damaged. The British Army bombers then went to the Town Hall and put the windows in, then graffitied the following message on a near-by wall -
'If one policeman is shot here up goes the town.'
At the same time as the British military were 'painting the town red' in Galway, one of their 'policemen' colleagues in Dublin, about 120 miles away, a Mr Charles Binion (25), could have done with their help.
Mr Binion, from Canada, fell off a lorry near Santry Post Office and died as a result of his injuries.
He was less than a year in the 'job', and was probably still only getting his footing...
==========================
On the 22nd February, 1921, Tipperary IRA Volunteer John Stapleton, from Drombane, was 'arrested' by the Crown Forces in a house in Rathcarden, Tipperary (owned by a Mr Thomas 'Tim' Ryan), after giving the name 'John Ryan' to the British soldier ('District Inspector' EE Barrows, 'B Company', ADRIC) who was questioning him.
Mr EE Barrows and his men had found an IRA 'on-the-run' kit in a barn on the property and, suspecting that 'John Ryan' was not who he claimed to be, he instructed his men to 'arrest' him.
The IRA man knew that the game was up and made a run for it - the British opened fire on him, hitting him, but he still got away from them.
Volunteer Stapleton died from his wounds on the 26th February (1921) in Thurles Workhouse (pictured) - he had been hit at least twice ; one bullet passed through his kidney, liver and right lung, and another bullet penetrated his groin.
RIP Volunteer John Stapleton.
==========================
On the 28th February, 1921, five IRA Volunteers (Thomas O'Brien, Daniel O'Callaghan, John Lyons, Timothy McCarthy and Patrick O'Mahony) were due to be executed by the British for their part in the Dripsey ambush.
It was during an IRA investigation after the ambush that it came to light that a local 'Lady of the Manor', a Mrs Mary Maria Georgina Lindsay, had informed to the Crown Forces about the up-coming ambush - Mrs MMG Lindsay had instructed her chauffeur, a Mr James Clarke, to drive her to the enemy forces with the information.
So the IRA paid Mrs MMG Lindsay and her staff a visit and took the woman and her driver away as hostages and, on the 26th February (1921), two letters were delivered to the 'General Officer Commanding' of the British Army 6th Division in Ireland, a Lieutenant General 'Sir' Edward Peter Strickland, KCB, KBE, CMG, DSO ETC ETC.
One of those letters was from the IRA, and stated.. "...if the five of our men taken at Dripsey were executed as scheduled on Monday morning 28th February 1921 by the military, the IRA would execute Mrs Lindsay and her chauffeur James Clarke, who have been convicted of spying and are under sentence of death.."
The second letter was from the Lady herself to Mr Strickland -
"I have just heard that some of the prisoners taken at Dripsey are to be executed. I write to beg that you will use your influence to prevent this taking place. My life will be forfeited for theirs, as they believe I am the direct cause of their capture.
I implore you to spare these men for my sake..."
No mention of the chauffeur.
Mr Strickland contacted his fellow KCB, KBE, CMG, DSO ETC ETC, a certain 'Sir' Cecil Frederick Nevil Macready, and the two of them discussed the quandary they had got themselves into.
The two of them agreed that the executions of the five IRA Volunteers should go ahead, on the 28th, and it did.
Mrs Mary Maria Georgina Lindsay and her chauffeur, Mr James Clarke, were executed by the IRA on the 14th March, 1921, at Flagmount, in the Réileán (Rylane) district of Cork.
The Intelligence Officer of the Cork Number 1 Brigade IRA issued the following statement -
"In Mrs Lindsay's case, the death sentence passed by the IRA followed a flagrant and deliberate action against the Army, that of conveying information to the occupation forces in regard to the Dripsey ambush.
Even after sentence had been passed, an official letter from the Cork Number 1 Brigade to Major General Sir E. P. Strickland indicated that the sentence would not be carried out if the prisoners taken at Dripsey were treated as prisoners of war.
The communication was ignored and Mrs Lindsay was shot."
RIP to IRA Volunteers Thomas O'Brien, Daniel O'Callaghan, John Lyons, Timothy McCarthy and Patrick O'Mahony.
==========================
THE NUMBER'S UP.
How some famous gambling conspiracies came to light.
By Con Houlihan.
From 'Magill' Magazine Annual 2002.
Helping white mice across a road in a blizzard is proverbially among the more difficult tasks known to mankind.
I doubt it : white mice are docile and ductile - they look up to their capo and, when he leads the way, your troubles are over.
Making a book at the dog track is a sterner test ; most of the serious betting is done about three minutes before the race, and you are faced with a complexity of problems that would make a computer blink.
You have done the homework ; the product is in the figures on the board and, as the hot little fists come waving notes at you, those figures may need to be adjusted in splits of seconds.
In those fleeting moments, the bookmaker's fusion of knowledge and intuition is in overdrive...
(MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (26TH FEBRUARY) 63 YEARS AGO : THE IRA 'BORDER CAMPAIGN' ('RESISTANCE CAMPAIGN/OPERATION HARVEST') ENDS.
At the time of this IRA campaign, Eamon de Valera's Fianna Fail State administration were of the opinion that it actually began in 1954, with the raid on Gough Barracks, in Armagh, on Saturday 12th June that year (1954), in which some 300 weapons were liberated from the British Army.
Fianna Fail considered that proof enough that the IRA "..had renewed its activities, was rearming, recruiting young men and engaging in drilling and other manoeuvres.." - and indeed they were.
On 11th December 1956, communication was sent to the IRA Volunteers involved - over 150 men - that the operation would begin at midnight on 12th December and, at the appointed time, three IRA flying columns crossed the Free State border to attack British Army depots and administration centres, air fields, radar installations, BA barracks, courthouses, bridges, roads and custom posts : the 'Resistance Campaign/Operation Harvest', had begun proper, being co-ordinated from County Monaghan.
In a letter from the leadership of the then Sinn Féin organisation, which was signed by Maire Ni Gabhan and Miceal Treinfir and which was sent from the Sinn Féin Office, 3 Lr. Abbey Street, Dublin (pictured), the Secretary of each Cumann was instructed to read out a statement after every Mass in their area, on Sunday 16th December (1956), announcing the start of 'the Border Campaign', to achieve..
"..an independent, united, democratic Irish Republic. For this we shall fight until the invader is driven from our soil and victory is ours..", an announcement which, later, prompted the then Free State 'Taoiseach', Fianna Fail's Seán Lemass, to describe the IRA as being "similar to fascists" re its decision to mount such a campaign!
On the 26th February 1962 - 58 years ago on this date - the IRA, through the Irish Republican Publicity Bureau, in a communication signed by J. McGarrity, sent out the following message -
"The leadership of the resistance movement has ordered the termination of the Campaign of Resistance to British Occupation launched on December, 1956. Instructions issued to Volunteers of the Active Service Units and of local Units in the occupied area have now been carried out. All arms and materials have been dumped and all full-time active volunteers have been withdrawn.
Foremost among the factors motivating this course of action has been the attitude of the general public whose minds have been deliberately distracted from the supreme issue facing the Irish people – the unity and freedom of Ireland.
The Irish resistance movement renews its pledge of eternal hostility to the British Forces of Occupation in Ireland.
It calls on the Irish people for increased support and looks forward with confidence – in co-operation with the other branches of the Republican Movement – to a period of consolidation, expansion and preparation for the final and victorious phase of the struggle for the full freedom of Ireland."
Although that Campaign was called off as, indeed, were others like it over the centuries of resistance, opposition to British military and political interference in Irish affairs remains in place and has been bolstered by those 'failed campaigns'.
Even when we 'lose' , we win, 'cause we're still here!
A Free State election was due to be held in the Staters 'new republic' on the 16th June, 1922 and, on the 26th February that year, representatives from Westminster and Leinster House had a meeting to discuss issues, including that election.
A Mr Winston Churchill expressed unease about how his proxies in the new State were trying to deal with the IRA rebels and queried the possibility of having to postpone those elections, but was assured by a Mr Arthur Griffith, one of the Free State reps, that the IRA had told him that "they would leave politics alone", thus practically giving the Staters a free run, at least politically.
Mr Churchill also voiced his concern that the new Free State Constitution may not be entirely to the liking of the British (!), and Mr Griffith spoke up to assure him that that document would have to be accepted by the British Government before being submitted to the Leinster House institution!
On hearing that and, no doubt, having had his poor nerves settled, Mr Churchill stated that, in that case, he would issue orders for British Army troop evacuations from the State to be resumed/continued.
Sure isn't that what friends are for...
==========================
On the 26th February, 1922 (listed by some sources as having happened on the 18th, but it's a story go hana maith, so we'll tell yis anyway...!), the RIC Barracks in Clonmel, County Tipperary, was attacked by the IRA (with Volunteer Ernie O'Malley, pictured, in command), enemy prisoners were taken and a huge amount of weaponry was liberated by the rebels.
'In describing a raid on the RIC barracks in Clonmel (then in Jail/Richmond Street now Emmet Street) on 26th February, 1922, by republican forces, to the dismay of the Provisional Government (ie the Staters), substantial amounts of armaments were taken, described as a "huge amount" ; motor cars, rifles, guns, revolvers, shotguns, hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition, Lewis guns...'
-from a report in a local journal by the Cistercian Monk, an tAthair Colmcille (Father Conway).
The attack was also raised in Westminster -
'HANSARD 1803–2005 → 1920s → 1922 → February 1922 → 28 February 1922 → Commons Sitting → IRELAND.
CLONMEL POLICE BARRACKS (RAID).
HC Deb 28 February 1922 vol 151 cc239-40239.
Viscount CURZON (by Private Notice) the Secretary of State for the Colonies, whether a raid has been made by a party of the Irish Republican Army upon the Clonmel Police Barracks ; whether a considerable number of motors, rifles and a large amount of ammunition has been stolen and, if so, how much ; whether this raid is to be considered as being a breach of the Truce ; whether any representations have been made to the Irish Provisional Government ; and whether steps are being taken by them to deal with those responsible for it and to return the stores and gear stolen?
Mr. CHURCHILL : "Notice of this question has not reached me. But I can see by the way that the raid has been reported in the newspapers, that it appears to have been a serious affair. There is no doubt whatever that it is hostile, directly hostile, to the Provisional Government of Ireland.
They have no need to raid for rifles, because they have only to ask the Imperial Government, and they can have rifles supplied to them..." —[An HON. MEMBER: "As many as they like?"] - "...as many as are reasonable to equip the force and prevent raids of this character.
I know the Provisional Government are very anxious about the state of affairs in Tipperary. That is one of the parts of the country where the Irish Republican Army have mutinied against the general authority of the Provisional Government, and I have been in communication with them to know what steps they are taking to assert their authority in that part of Ireland..." '
'The Imperial Government (in London) can have rifles supplied to the Provisional Government (in the Free State)...' - Leinster House was then, and still is, a proxy administration.
Back then (1922), they functioned on behalf of Westminster ; today, 2025, they function on behalf of Westminster, the EU, the WEF and the WHO.
They are a wet, mangy scab on the body of Ireland.
==========================
POLITICAL LIFESTYLES IN IRELAND...
His lavish lifestyle was funded by wealthy admirers.
Time after time, his debts were taken care of by friendly businessmen.
In exchange for giving people access to government leaders, he cheerfully lined his own pockets.
From 'Magill' Magazine, January 2003.
'Magill/Wigmore's' MBE medal, for example, went straight into the bin the day Jeremy Beadle and Jim Davidson joined our ranks, and I'm quite sure our medal wasn't the only one.
Come to think of it, I have not felt really well ever since.
'Wigmore' has mixed news for those of you who feel there's nothing wrong with Irish politics that a really dedicated comedian couldn't put right.
Tommy Tiernan has, alas, allowed his oft-stated ambition to run for the Dail to fall by the wayside, lamenting, like Mario Cuomo and Colin Powell before him, that he just doesn't have the necessary passion.
"I'd quite like to be Mayor of Galway instead, though..." , he tells me brightly, a matter which 'Wigmore' feels is best left between himself and the citizens of that fair city...
(MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (26TH FEBRUARY) IN 943 AD : THE DEATH OF KING MUIRCHERTACH OF AILEACH.
Muirchertach, son of Niall, aka Muirchertach of the Leather Cloaks, King of Aileach and the Hector of the western world, was killed by the 'heathens', i.e. by Blacair, son of Gothfrith, king of the foreigner, at Glas Liatháin beside Cluain Chaín, in Fir Rois, on the first feria, fourth of the Kalends of March (26th February).
Ard Macha was plundered by the same foreigners on the following day, the third of the Kalends of March.
Muirchertach was the son of Niall Glundubh who had himself been killed fighting the Vikings at Dublin in 919 AD ; he had fought and won many battles and in one report is mentioned as leading a naval expedition against the Norsemen of the Hebrides.
However he suffered an embarrassing episode in 939 AD when in a surprise raid his enemies' ships raided his fortress of Aileach (outside Derry) and carried him off, and he was forced to ransom his own release to regain his freedom.
Muirchertach, under the ancient rule of the kingship of Tara alternating between the northern and southern O'Neills, was due to replace King Donnachadh on the latter’s demise but, sometimes, ambition got the better of him and he clashed with his senior colleague and at other times co-operated with him.
Muirchertach married Donnchad's daughter Flann, but relations between the two were not good ; conflict between them is recorded in AD 927, 929, and 938.
His most remarkable feat came in 941 AD when he carried out a 'Circuit of Ireland' with a picked force of 1,000 men and secured pledges from all the principal kingdoms and carried away with him hostages as security.
The Dalcassians (Brian Boru’s people) alone refused to submit.
Muirchertach eventually handed over all his hostages to Donnachadh as a mark of respect, but his luck ran out in 943 AD when he was taken by surprise by the Vikings of Dublin somewhere near Ardee in County Louth.
It looks like Muirchertach was attempting to fend off a raid by them that was heading north towards Armagh when he was taken off guard.
Muirchertach son of Niall, heir designate of Ireland, was killed in Áth Firdia by the 'foreigners' of Áth Cliath (Dublin) on February 26th, 943 AD - 1082 years ago on this date.
A FEW SNIPPETS RE THE 'TAN WAR' REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER, 'AN T-ÓGLÁCH'.
The Irish Volunteers leadership knew from past experience the value of a newspaper in the propaganda war, and for more effective communication between the ranks.
One of the then leaders of the Irish Volunteers (Oglaigh na hEireann), Michael Collins, helped to found an Irish republican newspaper in August 1918 - 'An t-Óglách' ('The Volunteer').
The newspaper was printed by the 'Gaelic Press', Probys Lane, in Dublin, which had a record of pro-republican activity, and it did not bother the Irish Volunteers nor the management/owners of the 'Gaelic Press' that, immediately upon publication of its first issue, the British declared 'An t-Óglách' to be "an illegal publication."
Westminster used the 'Defence of The Realm Act' ('DORA') to suppress the newspaper, and anyone found in possession of a copy of it would be "charged and imprisoned".
The 'An t-Óglách' newspaper published an issue every two weeks, comprising four pages, and sold for twopence an issue ; its masthead declared it to be 'The Official Organ of The Irish Volunteers'.
Piaras Béaslaí (pictured), its editor, was a 37 years young Liverpool-born Volunteer, who had fought the British in 1916, and was to become the Director of Publicity for the IRA ; he was born in Liverpool in 1881 and was, at the young age of 23, the editor of 'The Catholic Times' newspaper in England before coming to Ireland, where he joined the 'Gaelic League', and fought with the rebels in 1916, at 35 years of age, in the North King Street area of Dublin.
He was subsequently jailed by the British, in March 1919 (Ernest Blythe, a republican-gamekeeper-turned-Free State-poacher, took over as editor), imprisoned in Mountjoy Jail first and then transported, in May, to Strangeways Prison in Manchester.
However, Mr Béaslaí (and others!) was released (!) from Strangeways by the IRA in October, 1919 (Mr Béaslaí was actually imprisoned two times within four months during 1919, and escaped both times!), and took over again as Editor of 'An t-Óglách' and was also appointed as 'Director of Publicity' for the IRA.
Under his stewardship, that Irish republican newspaper became a weekly publication, with each issue containing a leading article, editorial notes and a 'War News' column, highlighting the republican activities carried out since its last issue.
What it didn't highlight, however, were the words of Mr Michael Collins to those who walked with him through the streets of London, after they had agreed to the British 'Treaty of Surrender' document -
"When you have sweated, toiled, had mad dreams, hopeless nightmares, you find yourself in London's streets, cold and dank in the night air.
Think - what have I got for Ireland?
Something which she has wanted these past seven hundred years?
Will anyone be satisfied at the bargain?
Will anyone?
I tell you this ; early this morning I signed my death warrant.
I thought at the time how odd, how ridiculous - a bullet may just as well have done the job five years ago..."
'An t-Óglách' is gone, but the campaign for a British military and political withdrawal from all of Ireland continues...
On the 10th February, 1923, Archbishop John Mary Harty (pictured) of Cashel, County Tipperary, and a Father Duggan, met with the 'Neutral IRA' organisation to discuss the political situation in the country.
Mr Harty, known as a GAA man and a supporter of Mr John Redmond and his IPP, was something of a mixed bag - not only did he denounce the 1916 Easter Rising and those who took part in it, but he congratulated those of 'his flock' who refused to fight against the British war machine.
He was against the Westminster policy of conscription in Ireland ("every man with a drop of Irish blood in his veins should sign the protest against it...") , yet he was also against Irishmen and women defending themselves against the perpetrators of that policy!
Those present at that meeting on the 10th agreed between themselves that, pending a State election, there should be an immediate cessation of armed actions by the IRA, that all IRA arms should be dumped and that after the election those arms should be retrieved and handed over to the Leinster House administration.
They also agreed that their proposals should be put to the IRA (Army) Executive and, on the 26th February (1923), they were discussed at a meeting of the IRA 1st Southern Division Council meeting held at James Moynihan's safe house in Gortnascorta, Coolea, County Cork.
Eighteen IRA officers were at that meeting, including Liam Lynch but, even though the majority present voiced pessimism about any prospect of a military victory against the Staters and their puppet-masters in Westminster, the 10th February proposals were seen as a bridge too far.
However, as it transpired, on the 24th May that year (1923) , the IRA leadership issued an order that all IRA Volunteers were to dump arms rather than surrender them or to continue a fight which they were incapable of winning.
A sad time in our history ; the IRA were on the canvas, but not yet out of the ring...
==========================
Thanks for reading - glad ya popped in!
Sharon and the team.
