Ah sure, look it...
...we're not anymore bigheaded now than we were before we clocked-up over 1,500,000 hits.
YA WHA'???
You hadn't noticed, you say... "so what?", ya declare, with a shrug of your shoulders...
"Big deal...", you retort, throwing your eyes up to Heaven...
Well feck off then, and don't check back with us on Wednesday, 26th June 2024, when we'll be posting a blog with 1,500,000...eh...23...parts in it, covering the following four stories and nineteen others -
Between January and June in this particular year in the 1920's, the IRA had time-and-a-half the number of 'men and women in uniform' that the Staters had, but the latter had one advantage that the former didn't have - Westminster...
1920's, Ireland - Michael Collins told directly by Westminster to 'sort out' an on-going incident between his people and the IRA or else they would do what they deemed necessary to bring the incident to a close in their favour...
1919, Ireland - 'Legion'-aires (!) disease outbreak (a rose by any other name..!) in a county near Dublin soon morphed into its true colours...
1919, Ireland ; for this RIC man, his 'job' wasn't - it was a passion, his 'mission in life'. His forced absence (!) was even noted in Westminster, who praised him and called for political ramifications to be enacted in Ireland...
So...do US a favour : add another score to our hit counter, won't ya not, as we're trying to get to two million.
Not greedy or anything...!
Thanks for the visit, and for reading : see yis on Wednesday, 26th June 2024!
Sharon and the team.
Go Raibh Maith Agat/Thank You!
A couple of days ago, we 'aged' - to over 1,500,000 hits on this blog - and counting...!
We espouse, support and believe in traditional Irish Republicanism on this weblog and, while we have always been aware that there is support 'out there' for our political, societal and historical values, the three of us continue to be grateful to all our readers, and surprised by where they come from.
We have been repeatedly 'hit on' by regular customers (!) from America (big 'Hi!' to our readers in the White House, all our colleagues in New York, Florida, Boston etc), Canada, Russia, England (...including our viewers in the 'House of Lords' and elsewhere in Westminster - yes, we see you...!) and our tens of thousands of readers in France, Germany, Switzerland and about 170 other countries!
The three of us try our best to remember lesser-known figures and occurrences from Irish history and politics, and keep them 'alive' for those with a similar interest, as well as the better-known occurrences.
It's a formula which works for us, and one that we love and enjoy, and our intention is to keep doing it until we have exhausted all our many resources.
Mór againn do chuidiú.
Is mise le meas, agus le gach dea-ghuí!
Thanks for the visit, and for reading!
Sharon and the team.
'AN OLD AND UNFAIR CRITICISM...'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, April 1955.
At the inaugural meeting of Fianna Fáil in May 1926, Mr de Valera said he had been planning a policy since 1921.
As Sceilg points out, why did he not then indicate what it was, when the Rathmines motion came before the Ard Fheis in 1925?
Why did he let a sub-committee of men, who certainly knew Ireland and her needs as well as he did, work for months on a National Policy, when he studiously ignored it?
Now Sceilg is always, without question, most accurate, and this may be old news to some but, to others, I feel lengthy contradiction of such an affair comment is necessary, to clearly indicate that Sinn Féin has always been ready to provide solutions to national problems and indeed to anticipate them by fostering the creative spirit of the race.
(END of 'An Old And Unfair Criticism' : NEXT - 'The Stormont Coroners Amendment Bill', from the same source.)
On the 12th June, 1920, two RIC members - a Mr John Carroll and a Mr Norman Cruise - were in 'The Railway Hotel' (pictured), in Limerick, having a few drinks when a gunshot was discharged and Mr Carroll fell to the floor, dead.
Mr Cruise jumped up and ran.
The gunman, IRA Volunteer Paddy Naughton, ran after him, but the RIC member managed to get away, but recognised the IRA man.
Volunteer Naughton went 'on the run', as he was experienced enough to know that he was a dead man if he remained in that area.
Volunteer Paddy Naughton was born on the 22nd January, 1898, in Limerick City, and joined the Volunteers there when he was 19 years of age.
He was an active Volunteer in 'F Company', 2nd Battalion, Mid-Limerick Brigade and, in early 1920, the British and their colleagues in the RIC devoted great resources in trying to capture or kill him, so the Brigade leadership made arrangements to transfer him to the West Limerick Brigade, where he would be safer.
He quickly became a valued member of the 'Active Service Unit' in his new area and was active right up until the 'Truce' on the 11th July, 1921.
When some left the Movement to support the 'Treaty of Surrender', to assist Westminster in Ireland, Volunteer Naughton and almost all of his comrades stayed true to their republican beliefs ; indeed, so weak were the Free Staters in Limerick that they requested Westminster to ensure that the British Army stayed on the ground and assist them in gaining control of the area!
Volunteer Captain Naughton, 24 years of age, was killed in action in Roches Street, Limerick, on the 20th June, 1922 ; he died as he had lived all his adult life - fighting for the Irish Republic.
RIP IRA Captain Paddy Naughton ; 22nd January 1898 - 20th June 1922.
==========================
A Mr Thomas King (26), from Roundstone in County Galway, a boiler-stoker in the British 'Royal' Navy, decided, in about November 1919, to earn an easier few shillings by joining the 'Temporary Police' - the 'Black and Tans' - in Ireland, was sent here for 'training' and, in March 1920, he was stationed in the West Cork area, between the townlands of Bantry and Glengarriff.
It was in that area, too, that the Vice-Officer Commanding of the 3rd (West) Cork Brigade of the IRA, Ted O'Sullivan, and his Unit, operated from and, on the 12th June, 1920, they had established an ambush point, hoping to meet an RIC patrol which they knew was due.
The Volunteer IRA Unit watched as one man on a bicycle, whom they recognised, leisurely cycled past the ambush point, but the rebels, believing that an RIC patrol was on the way, didn't react to his presence : they recognised that cyclist as Thomas King, who was in plain clothes on that day, and he was an enemy agent that they especially wanted to interview, as he was said to have been involved in the execution of IRA Volunteer Thomas O'Dwyer.
The IRA Volunteers were then made aware that the RIC patrol had taken a different route and they called off the ambush, agreeing that five of their number - Dan O'Mahoney, John J. O'Sullivan, John Wrynne, Michael Driscoll and Denis O'Sullivan - should go across fields to Snave Bridge, where Mr King was headed, on his way to the enemy barracks in Glengarriff.
The Volunteers arrived at their destination ahead of Mr King and shot him dead when he arrived at the bridge.
The inquest into the killing collapsed when jurors failed to show for the 'court' case, prompting the Court Coroner to declare that he had never seen that happen before, to which an RIC 'District Inspector', a Mr Oates, replied -
"It shows the state to which society has been reduced..."
Mr Oates, and those like him, had actually 'reduced (Irish) society' to a state that even they themselves didn't think was acceptable.
==========================
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.
Alain de Janvry asked if economic growth is dominated by a few export sectors that have little connection (articulation) with other parts of the economy, then what chance is there that economic growth will connect to social well-being for the majority of people?
The more likely outcome, he argued, is that such economic growth will favour the wealthy, who will use their power to increase social inequality rather than to achieve social justice.
If the system goes into crisis and growth slows, the wealthy will hold onto resources even tighter and the poorest sections of the population will suffer the most.
Unfortunately, this pessimistic analysis appears to fit the 'Celtic Tiger' like a glove ; the main beneficiaries of economic growth and of social policy under the 'Celtic Tiger' have been the wealthier sections of society...
(MORE LATER.)
On the 12th June, 1921, the IRA, in pursuit of its policy of ensuring that the 'Big Houses' in the country were rendered unusable to Crown Forces,
raided one such mini-mansion in Brackley, County Cavan, which was owned by the Reverend John Finlay, an Anglican Priest.
Mr Finlay (pictured) 78 years of age, was removed from the house with his wife, Isabella, and the house staff and, somewhat disoriented, understandably, were placed in a nearby barn.
When Mrs Finlay returned to the burned-out house the following morning, she found the body of her husband lying on the lawn ; he had a puncture wound at the base of his skull, which had been inflicted with a blunt instrument.
The killing was raised in Westminster -
"About 2am on the morning of June 12 of last year, Dean Finlay was murdered on the lawn outside his house. More than one witness testified at the Military inquiry that about forty men broke into the house, which they set on fire.
Afterwards, the Dean was found on the lawn. He was dead.
A few days later nine men were arrested on suspicion and were identified by different witnesses as strangers who had been present on that occasion, and some of them were stated to have carried short iron bars, with which Dean Finlay might have been struck down.
No witness came forward who was able to say that he saw the blow delivered. These nine men were in custody awaiting trial at the time of the General Amnesty which followed the signing of the Treaty. They were never brought to trial, and were released from custody in pursuance of the Amnesty extended to persons convicted of, or suspected of having committed, offences from political motives in Ireland..."
Mr Finlay's death was said to be as the result of an accident during a struggle or "an unpremeditated act of ill-discipline.."
==========================
This diagram was produced in the 1930's as part of the IRA Brigade activity reports by veterans of the IRA's Offaly No. 1 Brigade.
On the morning of Sunday, 12th June, 1921, RIC 'Head Constable' James McElhill (53) was 'on duty' in the barracks in Kilbeggan, in County Westmeath, and told his colleagues he was taking time off to go to Mass in the nearby church.
As Mr McElhill, a single man who was born in County Tyrone, reached the church a number of gunshots were fired at him and he fell to the ground, badly wounded. He was rushed to the hospital in Mullingar, where he died.
Five IRA Volunteers led by Offaly No. 1 Brigade officer (and Kilbeggan man) Seán McGuinness were involved in the attack.
==========================
On the 12th June, 1921, British Army soldiers attached to the 'Leicestershire Regiment' fired on a group of IRA Volunteers who were drilling at Lisacul Crossroads, between Castlerea and Ballaghdereen, in County Roscommon, and succeeded in shooting dead an uninvolved civilian who was in the area, a Mr Thomas Joseph Rush (29).
Martin and Bridget Rush, the brother and sister respectively of Thomas, later discovered that, when the British Army were closing-in on the Crossroads, Thomas ran for about 500 yards and hid behind a fence.
A British Officer named Chudley and two of his soldiers found him, shot him at close range, and then smashed his skull in with rifle butts.
They then looted the body, taking his gold watch and chain and his money.
Mr Rush was born in Ballaghadereen, in County Roscommon, in 1892, and emigrated to America when he was 21.
He became a 'naturalised US citizen' in Februay 1920 and, that same month, applied for a US Passport as he was thinking of going home for a visit to see his brother, which he did, in June 1921 where, on the 12th of that month - 103 years ago on this date - British soldiers cold-bloodedly shot him dead.
==========================
On Friday, 10th June 1921, RIC member James Glover ('Service Number 64889') was shot dead in Belfast, in the Falls Road area, and two of his RIC colleagues - a Mr Sullivan and a Mr Sharky - were wounded.
The three of them had been returning to their barracks on the Springfield Road and, as they neared the Diamond Picture House on the corner of Cupar Street and the Falls Road, six IRA Volunteers emerged from the foyer and opened fire on them with pistols. A total of 30 rounds were fired at them and all three RIC men were hit numerous times.
Mr Glover was hit four times and was specifically targeted due to his 'nixers' with 'Nixon's Murder Gang' (see below link).
He was 31 years old and single when he died ; a native of County Antrim, he had joined the RIC in about 1910 (having previously worked as a gardener) and was one of the first 200 RIC members to enlist at the outbreak of war, 'serving' as a machine gunner in the 'Irish Guards' in France, from where he was invalided out of the British Army in 1917, after sustaining a gunshot wound to his back on the 31st July 1917.
On the 21st February, 1919, he rejoined the RIC and was posted back to his old barracks in Springfield Road, in Belfast.
His family had a history of colonisation - he was one of seven brothers, 3 of whom had served in the British Army : Samuel served with the 'Royal Army Medical Corps', David (the eldest) was killed with the 12th Battalion, 'Royal Irish Rifles' at Cambrai in 1917, and 3 of his other brothers (Matthew, Thomas and Robert) were in the US Army.
Anyway : after he was executed by the IRA, his Crown Forces pals were looking for revenge and, in the early hours of Sunday, 12th June, two or three motor cars full of armed RIC men knocked on the doors of several houses in Belfast and asked for the man of the house by name.
Using this method, they 'arrested' three men - Alexander McBride (30), from Ballycastle, County Antrim, Malachy Halfpenny (22), from Herbert Street (he was one of six brothers who served in the British Army, one of whom was killed and all of whom were wounded) and William Kerr (26), from Old Lodge Road, none of whom were IRA Volunteers - and told they were being taken to the nearest barracks.
Instead, all three were driven to a field in the north of the city and their bodies were later discovered riddled with bullets.
Of the three men, Mr McBride, a local married businessman and father, was a sometime republican supporter but Mr Halfpenny, a postman (an ex-British Army soldier) and Mr Kerr (a married hairdresser and father) had no connection to the Republican Movement.
Mr McBride's body was found on the Ballysillan Road, Mr Kerr's body was found on the Springfield Road and Mr Halfpenny's body was found on the Ligoniel Road.
Mr Kerr's sister, Alice, identified RIC 'District Inspector' John William Nixon, a Cavan man, as one of the RIC men who called to their house on the 12th June, which would be in keeping with his modus operandi and that of the grouping he worked with and for...
==========================
On the 12th June, 1921, RIC 'Special Constable' Thomas Sturdy was sitting in an armoured lorry at the corner of Dock Street and North Thomas Street in Belfast, when an IRA sniper shot him dead.
Mr Sturdy's colleagues headed out later that day looking for revenge, and forced their way into a house in Dock Street, took the man of the house - a Mr Patrick Milligan (24, a father of one) - out to the back yard of the house and shot him dead.
They then drove to Coates Street and entered the home of a Mr Joseph Millar (25, a father of one), took him out to the front of his house and shot him : Mr Millar died from his wounds at 2.15am the next day.
On that same date, a Mr Hugh Jenkins (19) was shot dead on the Kashmir Road, Belfast, and 51-year-old Thomas Mallon was shot dead by a bullet fired through the window of his house in North Thomas Street, in Belfast.
==========================
On the 12th June, 1921, two RIC members - Mr Michael Brannan (26) and Mr John Frederick Smith (25) were in civilian clothes and enjoying a few pints in Ryan's Pub, in British-occupied Dublin.
IRA Volunteers from 'C Company', 4th Battalion of the Dublin Brigade, with Volunteer Joseph Byrne in command, entered the pub, ordered the two RIC men to vacate the premises, brought them outside and across the River Liffey to Rainsfort Street (beside Guinness's Brewery) and shot them dead.
Mr Brannan was from Durham, in England, and Mr Smith was from Middlesex in England.
==========================
On the 12th June, 1921, Dan Breen (a republican-gamekeeper-turned-Free State-poacher) married Brigid Malone, from Grantham Street, in Dublin, a Dublin Cumann na mBan woman and sister of Lieutenant Michael Malone, who was killed in action at the Battle of Mount Street Bridge during the 1916 Rising.
The couple got married in Purcell's, 'Glenagat House', New Inn, Cahir, in County Tipperary (between Cashel and Clonmel) with Sean Hogan as best man and Aine Malone as bridesmaid.
Dinny Lacey and most of the leadership of the Third Tipperary Brigade were in attendance.
In January 1927, he became the first anti-Treaty TD to take the 'Oath of Allegiance' and sit in Leinster House after the establishment of the Free State.
==========================
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 :
Republicans do not recognise the legitimacy of the six or twenty-six-County States.
In 1918 the British called a General Election ; the whole of Ireland was at that time still a part of the 'United Kingdom'.
Sinn Féin stood in that election on the basis that, if elected, they would not send their representatives to a British parliament, but would establish an independent parliament in Ireland.
Winning the support of a majority of the Irish people, the Sinn Féin TD's met in Dublin and established the First Dáil.
It should be noted that the actual number of votes for Sinn Féin in the general election belied the full support enjoyed by the republicans, since in one-quarter of the constituencies Sinn Féin candidates were not opposed by other parties, because of the futility of denying the massive support Sinn Féin enjoyed and were awarded the seats without a vote...
(MORE LATER.)
On the 27th April, 1922, a notice was delivered by an IRA Officer to a Mr FW Gore Hickman, a member of the gentry (!) and a 'landed estate owner', who lived in Kilmore House in the townland of Kilmore, just one mile from the village of Knock, in the parish of Kilmurry McMahon, County Clare : the Hickmans had connections with, and in, the Crown Forces.
The notice was from the IRA, and was headed 'Oglaigh na hEireann, HQ 1st Western Division', and it gave Mr Hickman notice to vacate the house and lands (consisting of over 18 townlands and amounting to about 4,800 Irish acres, in the late 1850's) as it was required for men and women who were being driven out of Northern towns by Orange-men.
The IRA notice caused consternation in some circles, which prompted Volunteer Simon McInerney, the Officer Commanding of the West Clare Brigade to state, in 'The Clare Champion' newspaper, on the 12th June, 1922, that "the confiscation of the property, effects and stock of Mr F W Gore Hickman of Kilmore House was carried out as a reprisal for the extermination of the Roman Catholic population of Ulster...".
The mansion was demolished by the IRA on the 30th July that year, and materials from it were used to construct several houses within the area.
==========================
On the 12th June, 1922, the managing director of Hughes Bakery in West Belfast, a Mr Edward Devine, was shot dead during a robbery of the shop, a Mr Patrick Ward was shot by a loyalist sniper in Great Patrick Street, Belfast (Mr Ward died two weeks later) and it was on or around this date that a Mr William Smyth (50) was shot in North Queen Street, Belfast, in the middle of the afternoon.
==========================
In February, 1921 (1921), RIC member John Carroll arrived in the village of Ballywilliam, County Wexford, to visit his father.
After his visit, he disappeared.
On the 14th February that year, 1921, his blindfolded body was found in a field near Nenagh, in County Tipperary ; he had been shot in the head by IRA Volunteers under the command of Michael McCormack (an IRA GHQ organiser).
His family were told by the IRA that they would pay a visit to the man of the house and his three other sons if there were any reprisals but, soon after, a Mr Denis Hayes (a cousin of the Carrolls) had his house burned down ; rumour had it that Mr Hayes had tipped-off the IRA that RIC member John Carroll would be in Ballywilliam, visiting his family.
But, codladh an ghioria, on the 12th June in 1922 the Carroll house was burned down, and a Mr Patrick Carroll was shot dead.
Also, on that same date, in Carrigatogher, near Nenagh, in County Tipperary, two members of the Gleeson family were shot and a Mr Adam O'Brien was shot in Cloughjordan, County Tipperary.
==========================
As per the terms of the 'Treaty of Surrender', Westminster began to disband its publicly-displayed military apparatus in the newly-spawned Irish Free State and, on the 12th June, 1922, the 'Lords and Masters' of six 'Irish Regiments' of the British Army were summounded to Windsor Castle, in Berkshire, England, for an audience (!) before their 'King', George V.
The British Army regiments that were officially leaving the killing fields of Ireland were the 'Royal' Irish Regiment, the Connaught Rangers, the South Irish Horse, the Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians), the 'Royal' Munster Fusiliers and the 'Royal' Dublin Fusiliers.
Their boss, Mr George V (!), through a teary eye (probably!) stated -
"No regiment parts with its colours without feelings of sorrow. A knight in days gone by bore on his shield his coat-of-arms and tokens of valour and worth. Only to death did he surrender them.
Your colours are the record of valorous deeds in war, and of the glorious traditions thereby created. By you and your predecessors these colours have been reverenced and guarded as a sacred trust, which trust you now confide to me.
As your king, I am proud to accept this trust, but I fully realise with what grief you relinquish these dearly-prized emblems, and pledge my word that within these ancient and historic walls your colours will be treasured, honoured, and protected as hallowed memorials of the glorious deeds of brave and loyal regiments."
There is another British 'king' in situ over there now, so here's hoping he'll call the rest of his military (and political) squads home, from the six Irish counties they occupy, as well...
==========================
In 1923, the politicians in Leinster House decided that they (and the British) 'had won the war against republicanism' and gave second thoughts to their standing army in the bastard State they had (both) given birth to.
Their military outfit was never a terribly well-disciplined force comprised, as it was, of various anti-republican elements ranging from those who believed, politically, that Ireland consisted of just twenty-six counties, those who once thought otherwise but were prepared to compromise with themselves if a financial reward for doing so was offered, those who were thinking of joining the British Army for 'adventure' to those who were in the Crown Forces (BA, RIC, RUC etc) but resigned to join the new anti-republican armed grouping.
The politicians were quite openly talking about 'thinning the ranks' ie demobilisation of their military force which, naturally, didn't sit well with their rank and file.
The soldiers were armed, trained to a certain degree and, they figured, had practically nothing to loose, so 'nixers' became the order of the day - use what you have, while you still have it, to 'acquire' an extra few shillings and pounds, and that's what happened - there was a glut of bank robberies by State soldiers who were looking for paydays before being made unemployed.
On the 12th June, 1923, a Private Henderson was arrested by the State 'Criminal Investigation Department' (CID) for having carried out an armed robbery on a bank in Capel Street, in Dublin (pictured).
We don't know how much he robbed or what happened to him, but we would have hoped that more thiefs like Mr Henderson would have carried out enough robberies to financially break the State.
But no such luck...!
==========================
Thanks for the visit, and for reading!
Sharon and the team.
We won't be here next Wednesday, the 19th June 2024, as we're helping to organise a family celebration and, when there's close on about 200 people to cater for, we're gonna need as much time as we can get!
But we'll be back on Wednesday, 26th June 2024 with, among other bits and pieces, a high-profile kidnapping in the Free State.
And sure if I've anything to say between this and then, you can catch me on 'X' and 'Facebook' if ya wanna!
Ireland, 1921 - this US citizen was in Ireland to visit his brother. A Crown Force patrol was heading his way but he had the sense to make himself scarce, as he knew what they were capable of, as did other people in the area. But they found him - he never made it back to America alive...
1921, Belfast - three men were taken away by 'renegade' British forces and their bodies were found the next day. A well-known and feared RIC man, with a 'gung-ho' family history, was found to be involved, and he in turn was linked to a better-known uniformed thug. His 'nixers' came back to haunt him...
Mr de Valera was, he said, thinking of this particular policy since 1921, it was raised by others in 1925 but he said nothing. Then, in 1926, he tried to introduce it as his own policy...
Ireland, 1921 - these fighters left the IRA to join the Free State Army but quickly realised they were in the minority and couldn't actually contain their former comrades, who were still striking against the British military presence. So those former republicans turned to the British Army and asked them for help to control the IRA...
In 1919, this Galway man left his job in the British Navy and moved 'inland', for the same employer. He hunted down the IRA for Westminster and, by chance, cycled into an IRA ambush position one day and was recognised for what he was. 'Plan A' didn't work out for the Volunteers, so the ex-Navy man became 'Plan B'...
...the above pieces are snapshots of just five of the 23 articles we'll be writing about on the blog on Wednesday, 12th June 2024, with 'ner a mention of the elections, which are (rightly) dominating the airwaves here.
...and speaking of elections (!), t'was on the 12th June in the year 1741 that a by-election was held here, following the death of 'Sir' Walter Dixon Borrowes.
It was won by a 'Lord' Ophaly (later '1st Duke of Leinster'), but that was really secondary - the real action took place on the (political) duelling field, between a Mr William Paul Warren and a Mr Jack Hardy, which led to Mr Hardy's right hand and arm being shattered ; the 'vote' in favour of amputation was strong...!
Anyway - give us a shout back here on Wednesday, 12th June 2024 ; find out about the amputation job yourself, if ya want, and we'll tell ya about the other 23...
Thanks for the visit, and for reading ; see y'all on Wednesday, 12th!
Sharon and the team.
==========================
ON THIS DATE (5TH JUNE) ELEVEN YEARS AGO - DEATH OF A STAUNCH IRISH REPUBLICAN.
"A national security threat, a dedicated revolutionary, undeterred by threat or personal risk.." - FBI description of Peter Roger Casement Brady / Ruairi Ó Brádaigh (from here).
Eleven years ago on this date (5th June [2013]) the Republican Movement lost one of its founding fathers, a gentleman who, during his lifetime (born in Longford 2nd October 1932, died 5th June 2013) joined the then Sinn Féin organisation at 18 years of age and, one year later, joined the IRA.
At 23 years of age he was the Officer Commanding during the Arborfield arms raid and, at 24 years young, he was second-in-command of the Teeling Column, South Fermanagh, which was lead by Noel Kavanagh.
In 1957, at 25 years of age, Ruairi was elected in Longford-Westmeath as a Sinn Féin TD (to an All-Ireland Parliament) and, the following year, he escaped from the Curragh Internment Camp in Kildare with Dáithí Ó Conaill, with whom he served in the IRA as Chief of Staff (between 1958 and 1959, and again between 1960 and 1962) and, in 1966, at 34 years of age, he contested a seat for the Movement in Fermanagh-South Tyrone.
He was Sinn Féin President from 1970 to 1983 and again from 1987 to 2009 (which was a year after the organisation re-constituted itself as 'Republican Sinn Féin') and was the Patron of the Movement from 2009 until his untimely death in 2013.
He worked throughout his life for economic, political and social justice both in Ireland and internationally and has now joined the other Patrons of the Republican Movement - Comdt-General Tom Maguire, Michael Flannery, George Harrison and Dan Keating.
'Forego tears for the glorious dead and gone ; his tears if his, still flow for slaves and cowards living on...'
RIP, Ruairi.
Born 2nd October 1932, in Longford.
Died 5th June 2013 (age 80 years), in Roscommon University Hospital, Roscommon.
LOCAL COUNCIL AND EU STATE ELECTIONS, FRIDAY 7TH JUNE 2024.
If you intend to vote in the Friday, 7th June 2024 local Council and EU elections that are being held in this State, please use your vote to, at least (hopefully!) slow down the disastrous effects of the 'Come-One-Come-All/Open Borders' migrant madness that is destroying all that we, the indigenous Irish, hold precious here.
If you vote for any of the political parties that are now in Leinster House the situation will continue as is, and it will deteriorate further, as your vote will be interpreted as approval for their open borders policy.
Please use your vote against them and their pro-'asylum seeker/refugee/migrant' policies, not for them.
These are the migrant crime stats for last month (May 2024), and there are similar records for each month, for each year, for each decade...
May 1st
• Foreigner tried to snatch a baby in Dublin.
• Asylum seekers in Newtownmountkennedy start a fight.
2nd
• Foreign man Lazlo Pop caught trying to take a child.
• Africans brawling in Dublin.
3rd
• Foreign man caught trying to rape a boy in Cork.
• Turkish man sentenced to 3 years for sexual assault.
• Asylum seeker from Afghanistan gives an interview explaining how he entered Ireland illegally.
5th
• Africans found setting up a camp in residential Dublin.
• Warrant issued for Polish man, assault.
• Warrant issued for Romanian man, robbery.
• Warrant issued for Romanian woman, robbery.
8th
• The Dáil hears about a human trafficking operation operating out of London, sending foreigners to Ireland.
10th
• Group of asylum seekers attempt to storm a bus.
12th
• Moldovan man murdered at a house party by another Moldovan man.
• Asian man Le Wang in court for secretly recording a female tenant in the shower.
• Swedish man investigated by CAB, organised crime.
• Group of foreigners attack Irish kids at beach.
13th
• Penneys security guard Abdul Rahman Mohammed sexually assaulted a 15 year old girl.
• American tourist (80's) mugged by Tomas Starodubcevas.
• Petra Budai, community service for biting off a man's ear.
• Valeriu Melnic charged with murder.
15th
• Foreign man arrested, public order offence.
• Andy Mayuma in court for assault on woman.
• Agon Menhei jailed for rape.
• Tomasz Zukauskas threatened people with replica gun.
• Zainab Agoro in court, 84 counts of fraud.
21st
• Eastern European man attacked his wife.
22nd
• Samuel Nunes Neto charged with setting fire to 5 shops in Cork.
23rd
• Youseff Azeddou, asylum seeker, in court for stabbing a security guard.
• African Blair Okonye in court for money laundering.
24th
• Vimalkarthick Balasubramaniam suspended sentence, sexual assault on girl.
• Asylum seeker Imad Kucimi in court, spat blood into the face of a garda.
25th
• Seif Waleed al Hindawi, Syrian immigrant, charged after attacking a woman.
27th
• Xamse Jamac, Somalia, jailed for jumping in front of a Luas.
28th
• Robert Nachtygal, attacked woman.
• TUSLA reports number of children in state care being targeted for sexual abuse has doubled.
• Aivaras Dvaranauskas touched child and called him sexy.
Please ; on Friday, 7th June 2024, vote against the candidates from the establishment parties that have enabled the above.
(List compiled by Michael O'Keeffe.)
'AN OLD AND UNFAIR CRITICISM...'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, April 1955.
"At the last meeting of the Standing Committee immediately preceeding the Extraordinary Ard Fheis (10th March 1926) I intimated that the Draft Programme was ready, and when the President (Eamon de Valera) disregarded the work on which we had been earnestly engaged for months, in compliance with an order by the organisation, I said I would bring it forward as an amendment.
And so when I got up to second Fr. O'Flanagan's amendment at the Ard Fheis, the President arbitrarily ruled me out of order."
Later on, further remarks are given by Sceilg, as he says, to controvert the statement that Sinn Féin had no policy.
Not only had Sinn Féin a policy of its own but he shows that de Valera took and presented essential parts of Sinn Féin policy as his own at the inaugural meeting of Fianna Fáil...
(MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (5TH JUNE) 156 YEARS AGO - JAMES CONNOLLY BORN.
James Connolly (pictured) was born on June 5th, 1868 - 156 years ago on this date - at 107, the Cowgate, Edinburgh, Scotland. His parents, John and Mary Connolly, had emigrated to Edinburgh from County Monaghan in the 1850s. His father worked as a manure carter, removing dung from the streets at night, and his mother was a domestic servant who suffered from chronic bronchitis and was to die young from that ailment.
Anti-Irish feeling at the time was so bad that Irish people were forced to live in the slums of the Cowgate and the Grassmarket which became known as 'Little Ireland'. Overcrowding, poverty, disease, drunkenness and unemployment were rife - the only jobs available was selling second-hand clothes and working as a porter or a carter.
James Connolly went to St Patricks School in the Cowgate, as did his two older brothers, Thomas and John.
At ten years of age, James left school and got a job with Edinburgh's 'Evening News' newspaper, where he worked as a 'Devil', cleaning inky rollers and fetching beer and food for the adult workers. His brother Thomas also worked with the same newspaper.
In 1882, aged 14, he joined the British Army in which he was to remain for nearly seven years, all of it in Ireland, where he witnessed first hand the terrible treatment of the Irish people at the hands of the British. The mistreatment of the Irish by the British and the landlords led to Connolly forming an intense hatred of the British Army.
While serving in Ireland, he met his future wife, a Protestant named Lillie Reynolds (pictured). They were engaged in 1888 and in the following years Connolly discharged himself from the British Army and went back to Scotland.
In 1890, he and Lillie Reynolds were wed in Perth and, in the Spring of 1890, they moved to Edinburgh and lived at 22 West Port, and joined his father and brother working as labourers and then as a manure carter with Edinburgh Corporation, on a strictly temporary and casual basis.
He became active in socialist and trade union circles and became secretary of the Scottish Socialist Federation, almost by mistake. At the time his brother John was secretary ; however, after John spoke at a rally in favour of the eight-hour day he was fired from his job with the corporation, so while he looked for work, James took over as secretary.
During this time, Connolly became involved with the Independent Labour Party which Kerr Hardie formed in 1893.
In late 1894, Connolly lost his job with the corporation ; he opened a cobblers shop in February 1895 at number 73 Bucclevch Street, a business venture which was not successful.
At the invitation of the Scottish Socialist, John Leslie, he came to Dublin in May 1896 as paid organiser of the Dublin Socialist Society for £1 a week.
James and Lillie Connolly and their three daughters, Nora, Mona and Aideen set sail for Dublin in 1896, where he founded the Irish Socialist Republican Party in May of 1896. In 1898, Connolly had to return to Scotland on a lecture and fund-raising tour but, before he left Ireland, he had founded 'The Workers' Republic' newspaper, the first Irish socialist paper, from his house at number 54 Pimlico, where he lived with his wife and three daughters.
Six other families, a total of 30 people, also lived in number 54 Pimlico, at the same time!
In 1902, he went on a five month lecture tour of the USA and, on returning to Dublin he found the ISRP existed in name only. He returned to Edinburgh where he worked for the Scottish District of the Social Democratic federation. He then chaired the inaugural meeting of the Socialist Labour Party in 1903 but, when his party failed to make any headway, Connolly became disillusioned and in September 1903, he emigrated to the US and did not return until July 1910.
In the US, he founded the Irish Socialist Federation in New York, and another newspaper, 'The Harp'.
In 1910, he returned to Ireland and in June of the following year he became Belfast organiser for James Larkin's Irish Transport and General Workers Union. In 1913 he co-founded the Labour Party and in 1914 he organised, with James Larkin, opposition to the Employers Federation in the Great Lock-Out of workers that August.
Larkin travelled to the USA for a lecture tour in late 1914 and James Connolly became the key figure in the Irish Labour movement.
The previous year, 1913, had also seen Connolly co-found the Irish Citizen Army, at Liberty Hall, the headquarters of the ITGWU. This organisation, the ICA, was established to defend the rights of the working people.
In October 1914, Connolly returned permanently to Dublin and revived the newspaper 'The Workers' Republic' that December following the suppression of his other newspaper, 'The Irish Worker'. In 'The Workers' Republic' newspaper, Connolly published articles on guerrilla warfare and continuously attacked the group known as The Irish Volunteers for their inactivity.
This group refused to allow the Irish Citizen Army to have any in-put on its Provisional Committee and had no plans in motion for armed action. The Irish Volunteers were by this time approximately 180,000 strong and were urged by their leadership to support England in the war against Germany.
It should be noted that half of the Provisional Committee of the Irish Volunteers were John Redmonds people, who was the leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party. The Irish Volunteers split, with the majority siding with Redmond and becoming known as the National Volunteers - approximately 11,000 of the membership refused to join Redmond and his people.
However, in February 1915, 'The Workers' Republic' newspaper was suppressed by the Dublin Castle authorities. Even still, Connolly grew more militant.
In January 1916, the Irish Republican Brotherhood had become alarmed by Connolly's ICA manoeuvres in Dublin and at Connolly's impatience at the apparent lack of preparations for a rising, and the IRB decided to take James Connolly into their confidence. During the following months, he took part in the preparation for a rising and was appointed Military Commander of the Republican Forces in Dublin, including his own Irish Citizen Army.
He was in command of the Republican HQ at the GPO during Easter Week, and was severely wounded, and was 'arrested' and court-martialled following the surrender.
On May 9th, 1916, James Connolly was propped up in bed before a court-martial and sentenced to die by firing squad - he was at that time being held in the military hospital in Dublin Castle. In a leading article in the Irish Independent on May 10th, William Martin Murphy, who had led the employers in the Great Lock-out of workers in 1913, urged the British Government to execute Connolly.
At dawn on May 12th, 1916, James Connolly was taken by ambulance from Dublin Castle to Kilmainham Jail, carried on a stretcher into the prison yard, strapped into a chair in a corner of the yard and executed by firing- squad.
Connolly's body, like that of the other 14 executed leaders, was taken to the British military cemetery adjoining Arbour Hill Prison and buried, without coffin, in a mass quicklime grave. The fact that he was one of the seven signatories of the 1916 Proclamation bears evidence of his influence.
"The odds are a thousand to one against us, but in the event of victory, hold onto your rifles, as those with whom we are fighting may stop before our goal is reached." - James Connolly's words to the Irish Citizen Army on the 16th April, 1916, and those words hold the same value today.
James Connolly was born on this date - 5th June - in 1868, in the Cowgate, in Edinburgh, Scotland, and was executed by the British in 1916.
Had he lived, he would have been 51 years of age on the 5th June, 1919.
On that date in 1919, his comrades in the 'Socialist Party of Ireland' and the 'Irish Citizen Army' had organised a concert to celebrate the anniversary of his birth, in the Mansion House, in Dublin.
However, Westminster didn't want any of the men and women of 1916 to be remembered, never mind commemorated, so they banned the concert under their 'DORA' legislation and classed it as an "illegal gathering".
But the organisers, their supporters and the paying public dismissed the 'concerns' of the British and carried-on organising and planning for the concert, despite the pressures applied by the British and their friendly 'police force' in Dublin, the 'DMP'.
On Thursday, 5th June 1919, the armed 'DMP' surrounded the Mansion House and near-by streets to prevent the concert from going ahead and the stewards (/'bouncers', known as the 'Red Guard of the Workers') from the 'Irish Citizen Army' challenged them.
As those 'discussions' were taking place on Dawson Street, outside the Mansion House, armed groups from the 'ICA' arrived on the scene and joined in the 'negotiations', which prompted the 'DMP' to try and 'arrest' an 'Irish Citizen Army' officer - the officer drew his handgun and fired at the 'policeman', and his comrades done the same.
Four DMP men were wounded, as was one civilian.
However, the concert went ahead, but in a different venue - the 'Trades Hall', in Capel Street, Dublin City Centre, and was a great success!
==========================
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.
If the downturn of the US-owned high-tech sector reverberates into the wider Irish economy, joblessness will skyrocket, not slowly but rapidly.
For all its faults, it could be argued that attracting foreign companies was the only real growth strategy Irish governments could pursue, given the fact that the EU has taken away most economic policy instruments, from interest rates to trade controls.
But what about the second key question, the social impact of growth or stagnation?
Is, or was, the 'Celtic Tiger' the high tide that lifts all boats?
Twenty years ago, in the wake of other bubble economies in Latin America, the social scientist Alain de Janvry asked is economic growth socially articulating?
What he meant was the following...
(MORE LATER.)
On the 5th June, 1920, ten IRA Volunteers were waiting at their ambush point - formed around a false game of 'road bowls' - for a 12-man Crown Forces patrol, which they knew would be travelling on the Mile Bush route, near Midleton, in County Cork.
Volunteer Diarmuid Hurley (pictured) was in command of the operation, on which he worked alongside Tadhg Manley, Joseph Ahern, David Desmond, Jerry Aherne, Michael Hallahan and Tom Hourihan, among others.
Their target, when it presented itself - after having been seen approaching by a Na Fianna Éireann scout - consisted of 11 British Army Cameron Highlanders and one RIC member, named O'Connor, all on pushbikes, who were returning from Carrigtwohill, in Cork.
The Crown Force patrol rode into the men who were playing bowls and, when they were all inside the cordoned area, the 'road bowlers' drew their revolvers and demanded they surrender, but about 3 of the enemy jumped behind the road wall and began firing at the IRA men.
Volunteer Hurley instructed one of the prisoners, a Lance Corporal, to tell his men to surrender for their own sake, which he did, and which the 3 British soldiers did.
A twelfth British soldier, a Corporal, approached the scene on his bike, late to the party, as he had had to do a quick repair on his bike and, when he finally realised what was happening, he jumped off his pushbike and took a couple of shots at the Volunteers, one of whom - Volunteer Joseph Aherne - used a 'borrowed' rifle to fire back at him ; the Corporal threw his rifle to the ground and ran away across a field. He wasn't fired at again.
Twelve rifles, steel helmets, bayonets and about twelve hundred rounds of ammunition were captured, and these were taken away from the scene in a commandeered motor car by two of the Volunteers, Joseph Aherne and Tadhg Manley. None of the IRA men were injured in the attack, none of the arms were recaptured by the British and the now-unarmed British soldiers were released, a bit shook up but otherwise unharmed.
Shortly afterwards, Volunteer Tadhg Manley was 'arrested' by the British and held prisoner in Cork Jail - he wasn't released until July 1921.
Also, after the British soldiers had been captured, the RIC member, O'Connor, was removed from their midst by some of the IRA men, who wanted to shoot him, but their commanding officer, Volunteer Hurley, prevented them from doing so, but did remind the 'policeman' that if he identified any of the Republican soldiers to anyone he would be shot dead.
And that turned out to be another silver lining - a few days later, the RIC member contacted Volunteer Hurley, told him he was employed as the clerk to the 'District Inspector' of the RIC in Midleton, and offered to pass on RIC information to the IRA, which he did, saving Irish rebel lives in the process!
==========================
Humphrey Murphy, who was IRA Battalion 0fficer Commanding of Kerry Number 2 Brigade at the time (later promoted to Commander of the Number One Brigade), held meetings with some of his own men, a few Volunteers from the Duagh Company, Kerry No. 1 Brigade, some of the Volunteers from the Abbeyfeale Company and members of the West Limerick Brigade, and a plan was put in place to attack the RIC Barracks in the town of Brosna, in County Kerry, on the 5th June, 1920.
All the main roads leading into Brosna were blocked and patrolled by armed Volunteers but, unknown to the IRA, the RIC had been tipped off about the intended attack and they, in turn, notified the British Army, who had stationed their soldiers at and around the Peale's Bridge area.
Six IRA Volunteers, an advanced party from the Duagh IRA Company, were caught in the Bridge area by the British soldiers, removed from their car, disarmed, and 'arrested'.
The British Army activity was witnessed by Volunteer James Collins (a republican-gamekeeper-turned-Free State-politician) who sent Volunteer PJ O'Neill to a creamery building in the Mountcollins area, on the Limerick/Kerry border, where Humphrey Murphy and dozens of Volunteers had assembled for the operation and, after some discussion, the attack was called off.
However, on that same date, a British Army patrol was attacked in the town of Newtownsandes (aka Moyvane), in County Kerry, and their barracks in that town was burned down.
==========================
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.)
AN ADDENDUM (August 1914) :
"Since I spoke the words here reprinted there has been a quick movement of events in Ireland.
The young men of the nation stand organised and disciplined, and are rapidly arming themselves.
Blood has flowed in Dublin streets, and the Cause of the Volunteers has been consecrated by a holocaust.
A European war has brought about a crisis which may contain, as yet, hidden within it, the moment for which the generations have been waiting.
It remains to be seen whether, if that moment reveals itself, we shall have the sight to see and the courage to do, or whether it shall be written of this generation, alone of all the generations of Ireland, that it had none among it who dared to make the ultimate sacrifice..."
(MORE LATER.)
On the 5th June, 1921, as a three-car convoy of Crown Forces was making its way from the Curragh to Carlow a gunshot rang out as they neared Kildangan Crossroads, Doneany, in Monasterevin, County Kildare.
The enemy convoy consisted of a mix of British Army soldiers from the 1st North Staffordshire Regiment (pictured) and RIC members.
On investigation, it was discovered that a BA soldier, a Private William Green, had been "accidentally shot dead" by an RIC member in that same convoy.
Mr Green was 25 years young, and was listed as 'Service Number 5041233'. He was brought home for burial in Wolstanton (St Margaret) Churchyard in Staffordshire, England.
==========================
On the 5th June, 1921, in Swatragh, County Derry, an RIC patrol was ambushed by the IRA and an RIC 'Sergeant', a Mr Michael Burke, was shot dead, and one of his RIC colleagues, a Mr John Kennedy, was wounded.
The ambush was organised and led by Volunteer Seán 'Johnny' Haughey (Charlie Haughey's father), pictured, a republican-gamekeeper-turned-Free State-poacher, who turned so much that he practically morphed into Michael Collins' right arm.
That night, following the ambush, Crown Forces shot dead a local Sinn Féin member, Alexander O'Connor, as he was cycling through Ballintemple, near Swatragh and, over the next few days, they raided and wrecked over 200 homes in the area.
Incidentally, the dead RIC member, Mr Michael Burke, had been stationed in Swatragh RIC Barracks and was a single man, 28 years of age. He was born in Ballinrobe, County Mayo, and had joined the RIC when he was 20 years of age in 1913.
==========================
On the 5th June, 1921, a Mr Eugene Swanton was in the house of a friend of his, a Mr Patrick Gleeson, in Ballinacurra, County Cork, when a knock came to the door at about 1am.
Mr Swanton had 'served the Empire' with the 'Royal Dublin Fusiliers' and with the 'Machine Gun Corps' in Salonika (Thessalonica/Thessaloniki) in northern Greece and, as such, his friendship with another ex-BA soldier, a Mr William Daly, from Darby's Lane in Midleton, Cork, was noticed ; Mr Daly was on an IRA list as 'a person of interest' and his acquaintances were being noted.
Anyway - Mr Gleeson answered the knock on the door to be met by a group of men who stated that they were Crown agents and needed to talk to Mr Swanton ; when he came to the door to talk to them, he was taken outside and driven away.
Previous to that day, Mr Swanton had been approached by a Mr Edmond Desmond and other men, all dressed in British military uniforms, and questioned about IRA activity in his area and he told them everything he knew - names, dates etc - and was thanked by those men who then left his company.
Mr Swanton didn't know it then, but his 'visitors' were all IRA Volunteers, dressed as Crown Forces and, indeed, two or three of them were ex-British Army soldiers.
When he was taken away and searched, Mr Swanton was discovered to have incriminating paperwork on him, including material to do with the 'Prisoners Dependents Fund'.
He was never seen again, and his body has never been found.
==========================
Not much information on this shooting, but it appears that an ex-British Army soldier, a Mr Charles Cox, was working in a shop in the North Strand area of Dublin on the 5th June, 1921, when an IRA attack on a British Army vehicle took place outside the shop.
One of the British Army soldiers shot in the direction he believed the attack was coming from and Mr Cox was hit and died from his wound at the scene.
==========================
In April, 1921, the IRA damaged Carrigaphooca Bridge in County Cork, to hinder the movement of the enemy in, and through, the area.
Due to a busy schedule (!) and a reluctance to stand still in any one spot for too long - 'health and safety' reasons - British Army engineers were still working on repairs in June.
And so it was that they were still at it on the 5th June when one of their lookouts, from the 'Cameron Highlanders' (pictured), spotted a person in the near distance observing them as they worked on the repairs.
The foreign gunmen later claimed that the man watching them was an IRA man and they called several times to him to stay where he was, but he turned and made a break for it so they shot and killed him, stating that he was an Officer in the Seventh Battalion of the Cork No. 1 Brigade and that he had been 'on the run' at the time.
The "IRA Officer" was a local man, 30 years of age, who was known by all and sundry to be 'a bit slow, touched', as they called it at the time, named Cornelius O'Riordan, known as 'Dan'. He would have been curious as to what was happening on the bridge, not realising the danger he had put himself in.
As it happened, the shooting was seen by an IRA Volunteer, Jamie Moynihan, who gave the following account -
"As the soldiers worked, they noticed a man observing them from the nearby rocks. The soldiers shouted at him to come forward to be searched, but the man didn’t move.
When the officer in charge threatened to shoot him, Dan started to walk away and was fired on, but the shot went wide. The second volley hit him and he started to run. The third volley killed him.
Dan O'Riordan was a quiet, harmless, innocent man, curious to find out what the soldiers had been up to at the bridge, never realising the fearful danger that confronted him. Two days later, the mobile column that had killed Dan O'Riordan left Macroom, and the British authorities in Dublin Castle stated that prevailing circumstances did not permit the holding of an enquiry into Dan's death..."
A report on Mr O'Riordan's death was published in 'The Irish Independent' newspaper on the 8th June (1921) -
'Crown forces, it is alleged, were moving through the district at the time. Deceased was mentally deficient.'
A few days later, 'The Southern Star' newspaper stated -
'On Sunday [5th June 1921] the troops moved out of Macroom, and it would be difficult to describe the feeling of relief with which the people observed their departure. Women at the doorways confided to each other their sense of safety and offered up their fervent thanks.
On the following day news reached town that a poor, simple-minded young man named Riordan was shot dead...'
And his death was deemed by the then British 'authorities' as trivial, not worth looking into...
==========================
On Sunday, 5th June 1921, as Mass was being conducted in the village church (pictured) in Ballinaglera, County Leitrim, proceedings were very rudely interrupted by armed British soldiers who stormed into the church and began harassing the parishioners.
Two men were dragged off their knees and frog-marched through the church and out the door ; the parish priest, Fr Michael Kelly, intervened to stop the British terrorists but, in his own words, he was... "..driven back to the church gate by the officer's subordinates with revolvers, after which they entered the sacristy and church, where their conduct was most objectionable.."
'Sir' Hamar Greenwood was questioned in Westminster about the attack and replied that... "..the two men involved in this incident were touched on the shoulder and requested to come outside, which they did...".
He denied Fr Kelly's 'allegations' and claimed that the two men were detained when they were observed transferring documents to a woman in the congregation, and stated that Mass was not interrupted during the attack!
And if you believe that, I've a bridge to sell you...
==========================
On the 5th June, 1921, three young British Army musicians/bandboys - Matthew Carson (18), Charles Chapman (17) and John Cooper (16) - members of the First Battalion of the Manchester Regiment, all of whom were in their BA uniforms, left their barracks in Ballincollig and made their way, on foot, to Srelane Cross, near the village of Ovens, in County Cork.
When they got there, the IRA were waiting for them and all three were arrested and taken three miles south-west to an IRA prison ('Kilbawn House', owned by the Cullinane family), under the control of 'D Company' of the Third Battalion of the Cork No. 1 Brigade, located about one mile south of Aherla village, where they were tried as "young soldier-spies of the Essex/Manchester Regiment", sentenced to death, and executed on that same date.
The IRA believed they were spies planted by the British, who would have considered them to be 'untouchable' by the IRA because of their young age.
Their bodies were buried in a yard beside the prison but only the IRA ASU that was involved knew that, and their final resting place remained unknown to everyone else until August 1923, when their bodies were exhumed by the State 'Civic Guards' and reburied in the grounds of Bandon Workhouse.
In September 1924, the three bodies were exhumed again, transferred to England, and interred in Hurst Cemetery at Ashton-Under-Lyne in Tameside in the greater Manchester area.
==========================
In late May/early June 1921, the IRA in Abbeyfeale, in County Limerick, postered their area with 'Black and Tans Go Home!'-leaflets and posters and monitored the response to them by the Crown Forces.
On the 5th June, the RIC were observed travelling around Abbeyfeale removing the leaflets and posters from lamp posts etc, which is what the IRA were waiting on - Volunteers from the 2nd Battalion of the West Limerick Brigade, under the command of Patrick O'Brien, opened fire on one such RIC grouping and an RIC member, Robert W. Jolly (37), from Kent, in England, who had only joined that outfit in December 1920, was shot dead.
Five other RIC members were wounded in the attack, including a man named Mahony ('Service Number 68675'), who was shot in the ankle and was deemed by his Crown Force colleagues to be "non-effective ever since".
==========================
A Mr John Kelleher, a farmer in Ballyvourney, County Cork, was in his cottage on the 5th June, 1921, when he heard the sound of gunshots coming from his field.
He went out to investigate and was shot and badly wounded ; a passing British Army patrol came upon him (!) and, according to them, he stated that he had been shot by civilians, but the local IRA asked around and came to the conclusion that Mr Kelleher had been shot by the British Army patrol, who would have observed him crossing the field ('target practice' or mistaken identity).
Mr Kelleher died from his wounds on the 9th June.
==========================
Between the dates May 27th and June 10th, 1922, the build-up to and actual clash between the 'Ulster Special Constabulary', the British Army, the Free State army and the IRA - 'The Battle Of Pettigo' - took place along the Donegal/Fermanagh Border.
It was the last occasion that the Free Staters and the IRA fought side-by-side against British and pro-British forces.
The British military occupied Pettigo, a small village and townland on the border of County Donegal and County Fermanagh, until January 1923, when it was handed over to Free State troops and stayed in Belleek until August 1924, when the RUC and the 'Specials' took over the security (!) of the village -
'Pettigo, that little dismembered village, half in County Fermanagh, half in County Donegal, half free and half unfree, recalls to thousands of us very vivid memories of our Pilgrimage to Saint Patrick's Purgatory, Lough Derg.
...the stand made by less than one hundred IRA Volunteers against overwhelming numbers of British forces and lasting over a week, began on Saturday, May 27th 1922.
On that day a hundred Specials crossed Lough Erne in a pleasure steamer named 'The Lady of the Lake', towing a number of small boats, and landed above Belleek.
They (the pro-British 'Special Constabulary') marched to Magheramenagh Castle, the residence of the late Reverend L. O'Kierans, the Parish Priest of Pettigo, and ordered him to leave immediately, which he did.
A party of thirty I.R.A. Volunteers advanced down the railway line towards Magheramenagh Castle (but) on their way there they were intercepted by a patrol of Specials who engaged them and then retreated to Magherameena Castle, pursued by the IRA Volunteers.
The Specials then abandoned the Castle for good, retreated to their boats on the Lough and withdrew in them to the Buck Island in Lough Erne, where they were reinforced by another hundred Specials with medical attendants who treated their wounded.
The Volunteers had suffered but a few minor injuries...' (...more here.)
==========================
On the 5th June, 1922, as patients and staff in the Mater Hospital in Belfast (pictured) were settling in for the night, windows came crashing in on them, doors and walls etc inside the building were pounded with bullets and medical equipment shattered into pieces.
Staff members lifted as many patients as they could out of bed and made them as comfortable as they could on the floor and behind cabinets etc, as the wards and other rooms became pock-marked with bullet holes.
Panic ensued - screaming, shouting, crying, dust, glass and wood splinters raining down on those seeking shelter.
This lasted for about 45 minutes, then - silence.
The still of the night was then broken again, as three separate raiding parties from the 'Ulster Special Constabulary' charged into the bullet-ridden building, shouting and roaring as they searched through and ran from room to room, from ward to ward.
The 'USC' and their colleagues in the Crown Forces later claimed that the hospital, and its grounds, was being used by the IRA as a base from which to stage their attacks and, by 'firing back', they were only 'defending themselves'.
The attempted massacre was raised in the Westminster Parliament, but no disciplinary action was taken against the perpetrators.
In Westminster, mention was made of.. '...the attack on the Mater Infirmorum Hospital, Belfast, on the night of Monday, 5th June, between 11.15 and midnight, by armed forces under the control and direction of the Government of Northern Ireland (sic).
The attack lasted upwards of 40 minutes, during which time a constant fusillade of bullets was rained on the hospital from Crown forces in Crumlin Road Gaol and surrounding streets, windows being smashed, and bullets flattening themselves against the walls of the wards, in which lay sick and wounded men, women and children.
The patients, many of whom were hysterical, had to be removed from their beds and laid on the floors, where they remained for over an hour.
After the cessation of fire the hospital was raided by three separate parties of special constables, some of whom were under the influence of drink, and the doctors, sisters in charge and lay nursing staff subjected to insult and indignity.
The attack took place during curfew hours, when the special constables and Crown Forces had full control and possession of the streets..'
As stated, shoulders were shrugged in Westminster, but no remedial action was taken, as expected.
==========================
On the 5th June, 1924, the British Prime Minister, Mr James Ramsay MacDonald, announced to the 'British House of Commons' that Mr Justice Richard Feetham (pictured), of the South African Supreme Court, would be the chairman of the Boundary Commission.
In early July that year, he 'toured' the border areas and asked for clarification on two issues - 'unanimity in the Commission' and he questioned whether he and/or the Commission had the power to order plebiscites from the 'Judicial Committee of the Privy Council'.
Mr Feetham was a good friend of the British political 'Establishment' and also happened to be the British representative on the Commission and was aware that his colleague, 'Sir' James Craig, was determined that the Boundary Commission "..would deal only with minor rectifications of the boundary.."
One of his other colleagues, the then British 'Colonial Secretary to Ireland', Mr Winston Churchill, told him that the possibility of the Commission "..reducing Northern Ireland (sic) to its preponderatingly Orange (ie Unionist) areas (is) an extreme and absurd supposition, far beyond what those who signed the [1921] Treaty meant.."
The final report of the Commission, completed in November 1925, was never published, after disagreements about its recommendations led to the resignation of the Free State Commissioner and, as a result, no alterations were made to the border.
Westminster continues to maintain jurisdictional control over six Irish counties.
==========================
Thanks for the visit, and for reading!
Sharon and the team.
