ON THIS DATE (8TH JANUARY) 154 YEARS AGO : BIRTH OF A 40,000-STRONG PRO-BRITISH PARAMILITARY LEADER.
"..James Craig (pictured) was born in Belfast in 1871, son of a distiller. He was a millionaire by the age of 40 – much of his money coming from his adventures in stockbroking...he first distinguished himself in the (British) Army. Everybody had enjoyed the first Boer War so much that they decided to do it all over again and from 1899 Craig served as an officer in the 3rd Royal Irish Rifles. He was, at one point, imprisoned by the Boers and was finally forced home by dysentery in 1901..." (from here.)
Before the British partitioned Ireland in 1921, pogroms by loyalists in Belfast were carried out by the 'Ulster Volunteer Force' (UVF), a loyalist paramilitary outfit, with the British Army and the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) looking on, but not intervening.
The loyalist political leader, James Craig, who was concerned at the level of resistance to pro-British misrule, realised that the British hold on the island was slipping but was determined to protect his own patch, in the North-Eastern corner - he insisted that Westminster establish a 'Special Constabulary' to assist the British Army and the RIC and, at a meeting of the British Cabinet on 6th September, 1920, he got his wish.
A force of "well-disposed and loyal citizens" was to be established for operational purposes in the North-Eastern Counties only - the Six County area. This new unit was to be known as the 'Ulster Special Constabulary' and was to be divided into three sub-units ; the A, B and C Specials.
On the 14th October, 1920, Mr Craig, addressing the new USC, expressed his warm approval of the action of "you boys" in expelling the Catholics from the shipyards and other places of employment ; thousands of these "boys" had already been enrolled in the 'Special Constabulary' by the authority and under the control of the British Government.
The A-Specials were a full-time unit, and were based in RIC barracks, thus allowing more 'police officers' free to leave their desks and assist their colleagues in cracking skulls in Nationalist areas ; the B-Specials were a part-time but fully-armed unit, that were sent out on patrol duty, with or without the British Army or RIC and the C-Specials, a reserve unit for those eager to serve 'Queen and Country' on a 'call-us-if-you-need-us basis (and it's those same paramilitary thugs that Leinster House wanted to honour on the 17th January 2020 ; only a politically-immature and subservient 'Irish parliament' would wish to commemorate those who accepted arms and political direction from a foreign government, and used both, in an attempt to extinguish all things Irish).
James Craig also played a role in 'maintaining the empire' after Ireland had been partitioned ; in 1924, by then anointed as a 'Sir', James Craig was also enjoying power and position as the British-appointed 'Prime Minster' of the Stormont 'government' in the occupied Six Counties, was in a foul mood - his temper tantrums could be traced back to a certain clause in the then three-year-old 'Treaty of Surrender' - the clause ('Article 12' of that treaty) which established a boundary commission re the imposed artificial border between 26 Irish counties and six other Irish counties, and which was agreed to by the British reluctantly (under protest, if you like).
The agreed terms of reference for that commission was '..to determine in accordance with the wishes of the inhabitants so far as may be compatible with economic and geographic conditions, the boundaries between Northern Ireland (sic) and the rest of Ireland..'
That body consisted of three members, one from each political administration - Dublin (represented by Free State 'Minister for Education', Eoin MacNeill), Stormont (the representative for which, Joseph R. Fisher, was put in place by the British, as 'Ulster' refused to put forward a representative, which should have brought that abomination to an end, there and then) and Westminster, and was 'Chaired' by Justice Richard Feetham, a South African Judge (and a good friend of the British 'Establishment') who also happened to be the British representative on the Commission ; in other words, the Staters meekly observed as the British picked two of the three representatives!
The British (in the guise of 'Sir' James Craig, one of their main players) were determined that the 'Boundary Commission' "..would deal only with minor rectifications of the boundary.." while Michael Collins claimed that the Free Staters would be offered "..almost half of Northern Ireland (sic) including the counties of Fermanagh and Tyrone, large parts of Antrim and Down, Derry City, Enniskillen and Newry...", to which the then British 'Colonial Secretary to Ireland', Winston Churchill, replied, stating that the possibility of the 'Boundary 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.."
Eoin MacNeill, the Free State representative on the commission, stated that the majority of the inhabitants of Tyrone and Fermanagh, and possibly Derry, South Down and South Armagh would prefer their areas to be incorporated into the Free State rather than remain as they were ie 'on the other side of the border', under British jurisdiction, but the other two (Westminster-appointed) members of the commission, Fisher and Chairperson Feetham, then disputed with MacNeill what the term 'in accordance with the wishes of the inhabitants' actually meant.
When MacNeill reported back to his Free State colleagues and voiced concern over the way the 'Boundary Commission' was doing its business, he was more-or-less told to just do his best - his colleagues were 'comfortable' by then ; they had status, careers and a bright (personal) future ahead of them.
The 1916 Rising had taken place eight years ago, the Treaty of Surrender had been signed three years ago and now the Stormont 'Prime Minister', 'Sir' James Craig, was threatening 'to cause more trouble' if the Boundary Commission recommended change.
The Staters thought it best just to be seen going through the motions, regardless of whether anything changed or not, especially when they considered the threat from the Stormont 'Minister for Education', 'Lord' Londonderry (pictured, on the left, posing with friends) - "If by its findings any part of the territory transferred to us under the Act of 1920 is placed under the Free State, we may have to consider very carefully and very anxiously the measures which we shall have to adopt, as a government, for the purpose of assisting loyalists whom your commission may propose to transfer to the Free State but who may wish to remain with us, with Great Britain and the Empire."
Then, on the 7th October 1924, 'Sir' James Craig (the Stormont 'Prime Minister') took to the floor in Stormont and made a speech directed at Westminster - Craig knew his British 'friends' well enough to know that they would not hesitate to cross him : he stated in his speech that an "unfavourable" decision by the commission would see him resign as Stormont 'Prime Minister' and take charge of at least 40,000 armed men who were of similar mind with him, and that they would not rule out any steps necessary "to defend their territory".
Eoin MacNeill had his 'concerns' further added to when the 'Boundary Commission' stated that, in actual fact, the Free State should transfer some of its territory to the Six County 'State'!
He finally resigned in disgust on the 21st November 1925 (his absence thus further rendering that Commission 'unconstitutional') and, in a parting shot, the British claimed that, before he resigned, he had agreed that the Free State should cede some territory to the 'Northern Ireland State', a claim which may or may not have prompted him to also resign (on the 24th November 1925) from the Free State administration.
Within days (that is, on the 3rd December 1925), all those that were still involved with the 'Boundary Commission' farce agreed that the 'border', as fixed 5 years earlier in the '1920 Government of Ireland Act' and as stated in the 1921 'Treaty of Surrender', would so remain, and an agreement was signed to that effect by all concerned.
Those representatives also agreed that the 'findings' of that body should be kept hidden and, indeed, that paperwork was only published for the first time 44 years later, in 1969!
The Free Staters in Leinster House could (and should) have taken a legal case stating that the Boundary Commission was not properly constituted, as per the agreed 1921 Treaty, thereby highlighting, on an international stage, British duplicity - but that would have required 'balls', excuse the language, and the Free Staters, then, as now, have none.
'Sir' James Craig, 69 years of age, was in his house with his wife in Glencraig in County Down on the 24th November, 1940 (the same year that he tried to persuade Winston Churchill to invade the Free State!) when he dropped dead in his armchair.
His body was entombed on the grounds of Stormont Castle, along with all the other Irish ills that are located there.
On the 8th January, 1920, the newspapers in Ireland reported that a 'National Land Bank' had been established on the previous day by Sinn Féiners.
The financial/agricultural institution had actually held its first general meeting in Dublin, on the 7th, under the guidance of Robert Barton.
Four well-known and trusted men of the time were announced as directors of the bank - Henry Gratten-Bellew, Erskine Childers, Edward Stephens and James MacNeill, with a Mr Lionel Smith-Gordon responsible for the running of the bank - and loan procedures and other banking infrastructure were agreed and put in place.
Within a few days a premises had been secured, at Number 68 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin but, because the banking institution was an 'underground' operation and there was every likelihood that Westminster would seize its assets, a plan to disperse its funds etc was enacted.
Up to twenty co-operative banking entities in England were contacted and NLB funds and other holdings were transferred to those institutions for safe-keeping.
Due to British harassment and 'arrest' of some of the key figures, the bank only opened in April 1920.
In June that year (1920) Mr Michael Collins announced that £200,000 had been paid in the National Land Bank, and that its guaranteed stock was paying interest at 2%.
The NLB was sold to/amalgamated with 'The Bank Of Ireland' in the late 1920's.
==========================
'WHY ARE THE DEAF BEING EXCLUDED FROM THE COMPENSATION SCHEME FOR ABUSED CHILDREN...?'
Amid the considerable controversy about the deal struck between the Catholic Church and the State over compensation to victims of institutional child abuse, little attention has been focused on the proposed exclusion from the compensation scheme of a number of institutions run by the church where abuse clearly took place.
By John Cradden.
From 'Magill' magazine, March 2002.
Outdated newspaper clichés that include the word 'silence' to refer to the plight of deaf people in society suddenly take on a new relevance here.
While the 'Residential Institutional Redress Bill' is still being debated, the campaigning and lobbying will continue.
This time, the deaf community should steadfastly refuse to be silenced.
(END of 'Why Are The Deaf Being Excluded From The Compensation Scheme For Abused Children?' ; NEXT - 'Gas Lads', from 2002.)
On the 8th January, 1921, as he was going about his business on a road beside his farm, a Mr Charles French was killed instantly after he was hit by a British Army Crossley Tender truck at Relagh, Omagh, in County Tyrone.
We are unable to find out any more information about this killing.
RIP Mr French.
==========================
ON THIS DATE (8TH JANUARY) 102 YEARS AGO : FIVE IRA MEN EXECUTED BY FREE STATERS.
In memory of Leo Dowling, Sylvester Heaney, Laurence Sheehy, Anthony O'Reilly and Terence Brady.
'Laurence Sheehy had a remarkable short life. He was just 22 when he was executed in 1923 during a turbulent time in Irish history...(he) was born 1901, the son of Patrick and Margaret Sheehy, in Braystown, Robinstown Co. Meath. He joined the (Free State) Army and in 1922 Private Sheehy was assigned to Baldonnel Aerodrome to guard aircraft.
Around this time the Leixlip Flying IRA Column was founded and its leader, Patrick Mullaney, a teacher from Balla, County Mayo, would often visit Baldonnel and became very friendly with the Free State soldiers, Laurence Sheehy amongst them.
On the 27th September 1922 the provisional (FS) government granted itself emergency powers, that any civilian charged with taking up arms against the State or even possessing arms could be tried in a military court and face the death penalty. Still, such a sentence did not impact on Laurence's Republican feelings and he decided to join the Flying Column.
In December 1922, the Column came under attack after taking over Grangewilliam House in Leixlip and after a fierce gun battle, 20 IRA Volunteers were captured, Sheehy and Sylvester Heaney from Dillonstown amongst them, as well as Thomas McCann from Duleek Street, Drogheda, who had also been stationed at Baldonnel.
They were put on trial and the death sentence was handed down to Sheehy and Heaney, who was just 19 at the time. Three others would also be put to death.
On 8th January 1923, the five were executed by firing squad.
Laurence Sheehy's family were never told about his execution and his parents learned of their son's death on their way to Ardee by a family friend who sympathised with them. In 1938, Laurence Sheehy's body was brought home to Co Meath and he was buried in the new cemetery on the Boyne Road with full military honours...
After a skirmish on the border of County Kildare and County Meath, the Meath Anti-Treaty IRA column, consisting of 22 men under Paddy Mullally, is captured.
The Republicans attack a Free State supply column near Leixlip. One Republican and one Free State soldier are killed in the action and three Republicans are wounded. Five of the Anti-Treaty men, who had previously deserted from the National (FS) Army, are executed in Dublin on 8 January 1923 for "treachery".
Three Meath men were executed in 1923 ; two, Laurence Sheehy from Braytown and Terence Brady from Wilkinstown, were executed in Portobello on 8th January 1923 and Thomas Murray from Kilcarn but originaly from Whitecross County Armagh was executed on 13th January 1923 in Dundalk Jail.
Laurence Sheehy and Terence Brady were executed with comrades Leo Dowling from Askinran County Kildare, Sylvester Heavey from Dillonstown County Louth and Anthony O'Reilly from Celbridge, County Kildare.
All five who deserted from the National Army (sic) were arrested in Leixlip County Kildare on 1st December 1922 when an attack was carried out on an army (FS) supply lorry which had broken down in the townland of Collinstown on the Maynooth road.
In follow up searches carried out by the Free State army a number of confrontations occurred with insurgents resulting in over twenty insurgents being arrested. During the battles three insurgents were wounded and a Free State soldier killed.
Twenty one rifles, a Thompson sub-machine gun, six revolvers, a Lewis sub-machine gun, grenades and a substantial amount of ammunition were recovered.
The five - Sheehy, Brady, Dowling, Heavey and O`Reilly - were brought to Kilmainham Jail and Court Marshalled on 11th December 1922. The charges were as follows :
1) "TREACHERY ON THE 1ST DECEMBER 1922 IN THAT THEY AT LEIXLIP, CO, KILDARE ASSISTED CERTAIN ARMED PERSONS IN USING FORCE AGAINST THE NATIONAL ARMY"
2) "TREACHERY COMMUNICATING AND CONSERTING WITH ARMED PERSONS MENTIONED IN THE FIRST CHARGE, IN THE PLACE AND AT THE TIME MENTIONED"
All five were found guilty of both charges and sentenced to death. The men were executed on 8th January 1923 at Keogh barracks and were buried there, however, just a year later, the bodies were handed over to the families for burial in their own home towns...' (from here.)
In memory of those Irish republicans executed by colleagues who were led astray and were turned against them.
(See also our 'January 8, 1923' piece, below.)
On the 6th January, 1922, in Belfast, inquests were held into the murders of nineteen people, who had been shot dead or battered to death in "recent disturbances" ie a Westminster/loyalist/unionist pogrom against Catholics in the Belfast area.
Seventeen of the victims were Catholics, two were Protestants - one of whom was shot dead in a Catholic-owned shop by a loyalist gunman, who mistakenly thought he was a Catholic.
On the 8th January, 1922, in the Divis Street area of Belfast, a Catholic teenager, William Allwell (19), who lived in Number 6 Coates Street, was shot dead and later that same day a Mrs Bridget Devlin (50), who lived on Percy Street, was entering the grounds of her local Catholic Church to go to Mass when she was shot - the poor woman died from her wounds on the 11th January.
You can read more about the Belfast pogrom here.
RIP William Allwell and Bridget Devlin.
==========================
ON THIS DATE (8TH JANUARY) 103 YEARS AGO : DE VALERA FINALISES RESIGNATION SPEECH OVER THE TREATY OF SURRENDER.
"In view of the vote that was taken here on Saturday and which I had definitely to oppose as one that was tending to subvert the Republic which I was elected to my present position to defend and maintain ; and as it appeared to me also to be a vote which would tend to subvert the independence of the country, I could no longer continue — as I was beaten in that - I could no longer continue in my present office feeling I did not have the confidence of the House.
I therefore wish to place my resignation in the hands of the Assembly ; and I think it is not necessary to say any further words in doing so, but simply to resign my office and the responsibilities of it and the members of the Cabinet all go with my resignation"
- Eamon de Valera (pictured) stepped down from that position the next day, the 9th January, 1922, because of the 'Treaty of Surrender', which had been accepted by Michael Collins and others (Arthur Griffith, Riobárd Bartún [Robert Barton], Eamonn S Ó Dugáin [Eamonn Duggan] and Seoirse Ghabháin Uí Dhubhthaigh [George Gavan Duffy] had also appended their names to that vile document) on the 6th December, 1921, in London.
At ten minutes past two on that Tuesday morning (6th December 1921), those men accepted 'dominion status' and an oath which gave "allegiance" to the Irish Free State and "fidelity" to the British Crown - within six months a civil war was raging in Ireland, between the British-supported Free Staters and the Irish republicans who did not accept that 'Treaty'.
De Valera had already stated, on the 18th December 1921, that he was against that 'Treaty' -
"We were elected by the Irish people and did the Irish people think that we were liars when we said that we meant to uphold the Republic. I am against this Treaty because it does not reconcile Irish national aspirations with association with the British Government. I am against this Treaty not because I am a man of war, but a man of peace.
I am against this Treaty because it will not end the centuries of conflict between the two nations of Great Britain and Ireland. It gives away Irish independence ; it brings us into the British Empire.." ('1169' comment - yet the same man had no problem with working on behalf of that 'empire' in the years following his 'not acceptable' speech!)
He had offered to resign on the 6th January, 1922, but the offer was not accepted at the time - but, on the 9th, it was accepted by 60 votes to 58 votes, following which Arthur Griffith (another Free-Stater-in-waiting) stated -
"Before another word is spoken I want to say : I want the Deputies here to know, and all Ireland to know, that this vote is not to be taken as against President de Valera. It is a vote to help the Treaty, and I want to say now that there is scarcely a man I have ever met in my life that I have more love and respect for than President de Valera. I am thoroughly sorry to see him placed in such a position. We want him with us."
Others objected to the 'deal', and among them were Austin Stack, who stated his intention to fight on "even if this rotten document be accepted", and Erskine Childers, who complained that the 'Treaty Ports' section of the document would prevent the Free State from pursuing an independent foreign policy.
The seven women members of the Dáil opposed the Treaty on the grounds that lives had been lost in pursuit of an Irish Republic, which the document subverted. Many, such as Margaret Pearse, Mary MacSwiney and Kathleen Clarke had lost close relatives in the struggle for
independence and stated that such an outcome was not what they and others had fought for.
And, one week later (on the 16th January), Michael Collins and his Free State comrades were given the seat of British injustice in Ireland - Dublin Castle - from which to continue the campaign against Irish republicans.
Máire Nic Shuibhne [pictured] (Mary MacSwiney) stated her objection to the 'Treaty' -
"I claim my right, before matters go any further, to register my protest, because I look upon this act worse than I look upon the Act of Castlereagh. I, for one, will have neither hand, act, nor part in helping the Irish Free State to carry this nation of ours, this glorious nation that has been betrayed here to-night, into the British Empire — either with or without your hands up.
I maintain here now that this is the grossest act of betrayal that Ireland ever endured.
I know some of you have done it from good motives ; soldiers have done it to get a gun, God help them! Others, because they thought it best in some other way.
I do not want to say a word that would prevent them from coming back to their Mother Republic, but I register my protest, and not one bit of help that we can give will we give them.
The speech we have heard sounded very beautiful — as the late Minister of Finance can do it ; he has played up to the gallery in this thing, but I tell you it may sound very beautiful but it will not do.
Ireland stands on her Republican Government and that Republican Government cannot touch the pitch of the Free State without being fouled ; and here and now I call on all true Republicans ; we all want to protect the public safety, it is our side that will do its best to protect the public safety.
We want no such terrible troubles in the country as faction fights. We can never descend to the faction fights of former days. We have established a Government, and we will have to protect it.
Therefore, let there be no misunderstanding, no soft talk, no ráiméis at this last moment of the betrayal of our country, no soft talk about union. You cannot unite a spiritual Irish Republic and a betrayal worse than Castlereagh's, because it was done for the Irish nation.
You may talk about the will of the Irish people, as Arthur Griffith did ; you know it is not the will of the Irish people, it is the fear of the Irish people, as the Lord Mayor of Cork says. And tomorrow or another day when they come to their senses, they will talk of those who betrayed them today as they talk of Castlereagh. Make no doubt about it.
This is a betrayal, a gross betrayal, and the fact is that it is only a small majority, and that majority is not united. Half of them look for a gun and the other half are looking for the fleshpots of the Empire. I tell you here there can be no union between the representatives of the Irish Republic and the so-called Free State."
And today, on the 8th January 2025 - 104 years after the Westminster and Free State-enforced partition of Ireland - Irish republicans remain adamant that there can be no political union between "the representatives of the Irish Republic and the so-called Free State".
"They told you that the Army you were joining was the Army of the Irish Republic.
They put the false title up on placards for you.
They told you that in order to establish the Republic it was necessary to utilise the Treaty, so that you could be armed and equipped for the purpose of establishing the Independence of Ireland.
By false pretences they led you along, telling you they were framing a Republican Constitution, and that they would have no Governor-General, and that they would never take the oath of allegiance.
Lyingly they whispered in your ear that when the time came they would stand up against England and say they would not have these things.
That was how they beguiled you and many boys like you into their army..."
On the 1st December, 1922, twenty-two Irish Republican Army Volunteers were captured at Pike's Bridge by the Free State Army and, ten days later, five of those prisoners of war - Terence Brady, from Wilkinstown, in County Meath, Leo Dowling, from The Curragh, in County Kildare, Sylvester Heaney, From Dillionstown, in Dunleer, County Louth, Anthony O'Reilly, from Cellbridge, in County Kildare and Laurence Sheehy, from Braytown, in County Meath (known as 'The Leixlip Five') - were court martialled in Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin.
The Volunteers were found 'guilty of treachery' - the five men had been members of the Free State Army but, on realising that they were then under orders to hunt down and execute IRA Volunteers to 'protect the Free State', they deserted the FSA and joined the IRA.
On the 8th January, 1923, the five Volunteers were executed by the Staters.
There is some confusion about where exactly those brave men were put to death, but it's generally believed that Terence Brady and Leo Dowling were executed in Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin, while Sylvester Heaney, Anthony O'Reilly and Laurence Sheehy were shot dead in Keogh (formerly Richmond) Barracks in Inchicore, Dublin.
Volunteers Terence Brady and Leo Dowling were buried in Kilmainham, Dublin, and Volunteers Anthony O'Reilly, Laurence Sheehy and Sylvester Heaney were interred in Arbour Hill, Dublin.
However, all five Volunteers were exhumed (along with the other IRA men executed during the Civil War) and their bodies were returned to their families in October 1924.
RIP. They died attempting to establish the independence of Ireland.
==========================
The month of January in 1923 was a particularly trying time in the Munster area (and throughout the new State) for the new Free State Leinster House administration.
The grain mill workers were threatening to go on strike because the mill owners sought to reduce the wages of their workforce, printers in Kilkenny went on strike on the 1st of January to protest against a proposed cut of 5 shillings a week in their wages, to take effect on the 6th of January.
The strike involved the three Kilkenny newspapers ('The Waterford News And Star', 'The Kilkenny Moderator' and 'The Kilkenny People'), which were not published in January 1923.
The local 'media blackout' helped to provide cover to whoever it was (and its still unresolved to this day) that took a Mr John Ivory from his house in Faithlegg, County Waterford, in early January 1923, and shot him dead.
Mr Ivory had been a Volunteer in the IRA but, come 'truce and treaty and the parting of the ways', he wouldn't fight for the Free Staters nor would he shoulder a weapon against them, so he played no part, either for or against.
The family home was located in Ballyglan, about seven miles from where John lived, and was known to be friendly to the Volunteers ; indeed, two of Mrs Ivory's sons were in the IRA.
Volunteer John Ivory's body was found in a ditch on the 8th January, 1923. He had been shot twice at close range.
==========================
THE FORGOTTEN PEOPLE...
Emigration from Ireland to the United States continued throughout the 1990's, although the reasons were no longer so bluntly economic.
Now, in the wake of September 11th, the US authorities have been granted increased powers to investigate legal status, and Irish illegal emigrants are more vulnerable than ever before.
By Mairead Carey.
From 'Magill Annual', 2002.
"Travelling to Ireland for your wedding is a risky proposition," wrote Debbie McGoldrick in reply, and advised the woman to contact an immigration attorney before taking any decision.
Now, her situation would be far worse.
"People are nervous. Post September 11, the tolerance people have for illegals has gone way down. The people who committed this atrocity were people who slipped through the INS cracks.
There is a mood in the country that immigration laws need to be tightened up. It is certainly not a good time to be illegal," says Debbie.
Bruce Morrison believes it is time for Irish illegals "..to spend more energy on finding ways to become legal.
Historically, people didn't do that because it was easy to find your way in the network of Irish-Americans. People have been a bit off-hand about the issue."
He cites an example of an Irish illegal who intends marrying a US citizen...
(MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (8TH JANUARY) 103 YEARS AGO : ROUSING ANTI-TREATY SPEECH DELIVERED IN DÁIL ÉIREANN MAKES THE HEADLINES.
Henry James 'Harry' Boland (27th April 1887 – 2nd August 1922).
"I rise to speak against this Treaty because, in my opinion, it denies a recognition of the Irish nation..I object to it on the ground of principle, and my chief objection is because I am asked to surrender the title of Irishman and accept the title of West Briton....I object because this Treaty denies the sovereignty of the Irish nation, and I stand by the principles I have always held — that the Irish people are by right a free people.
I object to this Treaty because it is the very negation of all that for which we have fought. It is the first time in the history of our country that a body of representative Irishmen has ever suggested that the sovereignty of this nation should be signed away...we secured a mandate from the Irish people because we put for the first time before the people of Ireland a definite issue ; we promised that if elected we would combat the will, and deny the right of England in this country, and after four years of hard work we have succeeded in bringing Ireland to the proud position she occupied on the fifth December last.
The fight was made primarily here in Ireland ; but I want to say that the fight that was made in Ireland was also reflected throughout the world ; and we — because we had a definite object — had the sympathy of liberty-loving people everywhere...I have taken one oath to the Republic and I will keep it. If I voted for that document I would work the Treaty, and I would keep my solemn word and treat as a rebel any man who would rise out against it.
If I could in conscience vote for that Treaty I would do so, and if I did I would do all in my power to enforce that Treaty ; because, so sure as the honour of this nation is committed by its signature to this Treaty, so surely is Ireland dead. We are asked to commit suicide and I cannot do it....." (speech delivered in the Dáil on the 7th January, 1922, and carried worldwide by the media on the 8th.)
It is generally considered that Harry Boland was the first man to be 'unofficially executed' by a Michael Collins-controlled Free State death squad on the evening of Sunday 30th July/early Monday morning 31st July 1922 and, following that shooting, in the Grand Hotel in Skerries, Dublin, the State gunmen issued this statement (on Monday 31st July 1922) -
"Early this morning a small party of troops entered the Grand Hotel to place Mr. H.Boland T.D., under arrest. Mr. Boland had been actively engaged in the irregular campaign.
When accosted in his bedroom he made an unsuccessful attempt to seize a gun from one of the troops and then rushed out to the door. After firing two shots at random and calling on Mr. Boland to halt, it was found necessary to fire a third shot to prevent an escape. Mr. Boland was wounded and removed to hospital.
A man giving his name as John J.Murphy with residence at 3 Castlewood Avenue, Ranelagh, Dublin, who was found with Mr. Boland, was taken prisoner.
Subsequently he was identified as Joseph Griffin* , an active irregular, belonging to Dublin." (*'1169' Comment - Joe Griffin was an IRA operative within the Movement's Intelligence Department.)
One of the Free State troops present at the time stated afterwards -
"Mr.Boland was wanted and we went to the hotel and two or three of us entered his room. He was in bed. We wakened him and he got up out of bed and partly dressed himself. He had no gun.
Suddenly he turned and rushed to tackle one of our fellows for his gun. A shot was fired over his head to desist but he continued to struggle and almost had the gun when a second shot was fired and Mr.Boland was wounded."
The bullet entered his right side near the ribs, passed through his body and came out through his left side causing very serious injuries.
A photograph of the actual bullet which killed Harry Boland....
...and his funeral service, Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin.
Although unarmed at that moment, as admitted by his executioners, caught by surprise and outnumbered (a "small party" of Free State troops were in the room at the time) the Staters attempted to present the execution of Harry Boland as 'a killing in self-defence' ie 'he attempted to jump us and then tried to flee...'.
They had learned well from their British colleagues.
Harry Boland died from his wounds on the 2nd August 1922, in St. Vincents Hospital, Dublin and, as he lay waiting for death, he told family members that the Stater who shot him had been imprisoned with him in Lewes Prison, in England, but he refused to put a name to him.
The funeral expenses were taken care of by the Cumann na Poblachta organisation.
'Boland's mix of animal charm, gregariousness, wit and a dash of ruthlessness made him an influential and formidable character. Though not an intellectual in his manner he was a clear thinker, a forceful orator and a graceful writer....' (from here.)
Thankfully, there are those like him who continue to this day to work for the Movement...
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.
I don't know whether this is just another example of the cosy relationship that supposedly* exists between senior journalists and certain elements of the political establishment.
But put it this way - you can hardly blame people for being very, very suspicious.
Continuing with the subject of uninspiring Fine Gael leaders, 'Magill' hears through the grapevine that Enda Kenny is in rather a bad temper these days.
Six months in the job now, and the only other headlines he's been able to generate have involved nigger jokes, Wolfe Tone songs, or both.
Thanks to this relentless trivialisation of politics, the bland bombshell complains, he's in danger of being turned into a laughing stock before he's had a chance to really get going...
(*"Supposedly"? No. 'Journalists' in this State are PR agents for politicians, for two main reasons -
1. They cosy-up to the politicians in the hope of getting a 'scoop', which they then spin in the politicians favour.
2. They know if they 'behave themselves' they could end up on the political payroll as an 'adviser' : examples here and here.)
(MORE LATER.)
Thanks for dropping in - appreciated.
Agus Athbhliain Faoi Mhaise Daoibh ('Happy New Year')!
Sharon and the team.
...AN OLD SCORE WAS STILL SETTLED.
First things first - BAH HUMBUG to the whole bleedin' lot of yis!!
We're back 'On Air' after our Christmas and New Year Jollies, which were particularly hectic this time, due to the Grandchildren getting more numerous, older, wiser and harder to please!
Time was when we could put a thrupenny bit (!) into their Christmas cards and sure they'd near spend most of it on you in the corner shop but now the corner shop is a Turkish barbers or phone repair shop (yeah, right...) and a few bob is no use unless ya can Revolut it or scan it from your phone or watch, apparently!
Anyway - on Wednesday, 8th January 2025, we'll be doing some reminiscing of a different sort -
Ireland, 1920's - false pretences and titles were used by Leinster House to persuade the gullible that it was in their interest to locate, imprison and/or execute those who still sought and fought for a peaceful proper justice for Ireland...
From 2003 ; even twenty-two years ago, this phenomenon - while perhaps less noticeable to those who considered it unlikely, immoral and unworkable - was used as a method by State politicians to keep journalists 'sweet and on-board' and today, in 2025, to suggest that it is one of the reasons (if indeed not the main reason) why some people actually decide to become a 'journalist' should sound unreasonable and unlikely only to the gullible...
Ireland, 1920's - his commitment to a 32-County Ireland had put this man in the sights of gunmen and mercenaries from Westminster and now that same steadfast commitment had placed him, once again, in very real danger from Irish gunmen and mercenaries who were once in the same sights as he was. He was in the bedroom of a venue in Dublin when his old comrades kicked the door in...
From 2002 - the tolerance people have for illegals is gone. There is a mood in the State that immigration laws need to be toughened up : that was 23 years ago, but it wasn't this State that was being referred to...
Ireland, early 1920's - poverty, labour unrest, strikes and threatened strikes, military and political upheavals and, as those issues were to the fore, the body of a man was found in a ditch. The man had a military background, but had made his peace with all concerned. Or so he thought...
The lads tell me that we'll have a 12-parter ready to go for Wednesday, 8th January 2025, including the above five pieces, so put us on your list for then.
Don't have me to come down the feckin' chimney after ya...!
Thanks for checking back in. We missed ya...
Sharon and the team ; see yis all on Wednesday, 8th January 2025.
ON THIS DATE (18TH DECEMBER) 146 YEARS AGO : POTTSVILLE, 1878.
The graphic shows alleged members of the 'Molly Maguires' being led to their death.
'On 21st June 1877, in the anthracite-mining county of Schuylkill, Pennsylvania, ten Irish immigrant men alleged to have been members of an oath-bound secret sect of vigilantes called the 'Molly Maguires' were hanged in what came to be known as 'The Day of the Rope'.
Twenty members of the group in all would be executed, following a kangaroo court that American historian John Elliot called "one of the most disgraceful episodes in the history of the bench and bar in the United States."
Oppression, exploitation, racial and ethnic bigotry, strikes and union-busting are common enough themes in the American labour movement, but the story of the 'Molly Maguires' and the ruling class's attempts to destroy these Irish workers is so especially contemptible it has achieved legendary status..' (from here.)
On what became known as 'Black Thursday' (21st June, 1877), ten coal miners were hanged until dead in eastern Pennsylvania ; all ten had been born in Ireland but were forced to leave because of the attempted genocide known as 'An Gorta Mór'.
It was claimed that they, and others, were involved in 'organised retributions' against corrupt and unfair employers and other members of the establishment, and operated as such under the name 'Molly Maguires' ('Molly Maguire' had become famous in Ireland [or 'infamous', as the 'landlord' class described her] for refusing to bow down or bend the knee to the monied 'gentry').
The workers had been arrested for their alleged part in several killings and, despite much doubt cast over the 'evidence' used against them, they were convicted and sentenced to death.
The court case was widely seen as employers drawing 'a line in the sand' in regards to what they considered to be 'uppity' workers looking for better wages and conditions, and an excuse for the establishment to vent its anti-labour and anti-Irish prejudice - the first trials began in January 1876. They involved 10 men accused of murder and were held in 'Mauch Chunk' (an Indian name meaning 'Bear Mountain') and Pottsville.
A vast army of media descended on the small towns where they wrote dispatches that were uniformly pro-prosecution.
The key witness for the prosecution was yet another Irishman, James McParlan (pictured), an Armagh man : back in the early 1870's, when bosses had hired the Pinkerton Detective Agency to spy on workers, McParlan had gone under cover to infiltrate the 'Mollies' and gather evidence.
And gather he did — or at least he claimed he did during the trials. On the stand he painted a vivid picture of 'Molly Maguire' secrecy, conspiracy and murder. With Irish Catholics and miners excluded from the juries, the verdicts were a foregone conclusion.
All 10 were convicted and sentenced to hang.
No doubt seeking to send the most powerful message to the region's mining communities, authorities arranged to stage the executions on the same day — June 21st, 1877 – in two locations.
Alexander Campbell, Michael Doyle, Edward Kelly, and John Donahue were hanged in 'Mauch Chuck' (where the four men "all swung together"), while James Boyle, Hugh McGehan, James Carroll, James Roarity, Thomas Duffy, and Thomas Munley met a similar fate in Pottsville (where all six "swung two-by-two").
Although the hangings took place behind prison walls, they were nonetheless major spectacles that drew huge crowds and generated international news coverage. It was reported that there was "..screams and sobbing as husbands and fathers were bid goodbye.." and that "..James Boyle carried a blood-red rose and Hugh McGehan wore two roses in his lapel (as) James Carroll and James Roarity declared their innocence from the scaffold.."
Over the following two years, ten more alleged members of the 'Molly Maguires' were hanged, including Thomas P. Fisher (on the 28th March 1878) and James McDonnell and Charlie Sharp (on the 14th January 1879).
In 1979 - 101 years after the cruel deed - the state of Pennsylvania pardoned one of the men, John 'Black Jack' Kehoe (pictured), after an investigation by its 'Board of Pardons' at the behest of one of his descendants.
John Kehoe was led to the gallows on the 18th December, 1878 - 146 years ago on this date (incidentally, Seán Connery played the part of John Kehoe in the film 'The Molly Maguires') ; on the 5th December 2005, the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives passed a resolution recognising the lack of due process for several of the men :
'The basic facts of the case are clear. As the 'Death Warrant' indicates, Governor John F. Hartranft ordered the execution of John Kehoe.
In 1877, he had been tried by the 'Court of Oyer and Terminer', a 'court of criminal jurisdiction', and was found guilty of the murder of Frank W.S. Langdon, a mine foreman, fifteen years earlier.
He was sentenced to death by hanging.
Kehoe's attorney appealed the decision to the State Supreme Court, which supported the lower court. Governor Hartranft signed Kehoe's death warrant in February 1878.
As a last resort Kehoe's attorney issued three pleas for clemency to the Pardon Board, which also denied his appeals. The Governor eventually signed a second death warrant on November 18, 1878. Kehoe was executed before a large crowd in Pottsville on December 18, 1878..' (from here.)
Make way for the Molly Maguires,
They're drinkers, they're liars but they're men.
Make way for the Molly Maguires,
You'll never see the likes of them again.
Down the mines no sunlight shines,
Those pits they're black as hell,
In modest style they do their time,
It's Paddy's prison cell.
And they curse the day they've travelled far,
Then drown their tears with a jar.
Backs will break and muscles ache,
Down there there's no time to dream
of fields and farms, of woman's arms,
"Just dig that bloody seam".
Though they drain their bodies underground,
Who'll dare to push them around.
So make way for the Molly Maguires,
They're drinkers, they're liars but they're men ;
Make way for the Molly Maguires -
You'll never see the likes of them again.
The 'Molly Maguires' were an organised labour group that had allegedly been responsible for some incidences of vigilante justice in the coalfields of eastern Pennsylvania, defending their actions as attempts to protect exploited Irish-American workers.
We badly need the 'likes of them' again...
'WHY ARE THE DEAF BEING EXCLUDED FROM THE COMPENSATION SCHEME FOR ABUSED CHILDREN...?'
Amid the considerable controversy about the deal struck between the Catholic Church and the State over compensation to victims of institutional child abuse, little attention has been focused on the proposed exclusion from the compensation scheme of a number of institutions run by the church where abuse clearly took place.
By John Cradden.
From 'Magill' magazine, March 2002.
Studies have shown that the literacy levels of most adults educated at schools for the deaf is equivalent to that of children aged between eight and nine.
While the case that such emotional abuse took place as a result of the compulsory oral education policy is a very strong one, it is possible that such arguments may have added to government fears about opening a floodgate to compensation claims for this kind of abuse.
Nevertheless, it is still extraordinary that 'The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse' invited representatives of the deaf community to appear before the 'Compensation Advisory Committee' and are now about to tell them that the victims they represent will not be eligible for any compensation...
(MORE LATER.)
"Thank God I am gone..."
..words left on a postcard by a young man, a Mr John Alfred Copp (22), a British soldier ('Service Number 9632'), just before he drowned himself at Waterside Quay, in Derry, on the 18th December, 1919.
Mr Copp, from Exeter, in England, was a Private in the 1st Battalion of the Dorset Regiment.
His body was recovered on the 19th January, 1920.
Sad...
==========================
On the 18th December, 1919, a Mr Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (pictured) took to his feet in the Westminster 'House of Commons' and declared that he and the British administration had placed 43,000 soldiers in Ireland and British taxpayers were paying £860,000 per month to keep them there, and to keep Ireland under the military control of London.
That money would have been better spent in their own country...
==========================
THE FORGOTTEN PEOPLE...
Emigration from Ireland to the United States continued throughout the 1990's, although the reasons were no longer so bluntly economic.
Now, in the wake of September 11th, the US authorities have been granted increased powers to investigate legal status, and Irish illegal emigrants are more vulnerable than ever before.
By Mairead Carey.
From 'Magill Annual', 2002.
Josephine said -
"Most of the people who are illegal here want to contribute to society. We want to live a normal life, pay tax and do our bit.
We are not interested in scamming the system*, we just want to get on with our lives. You would think that in a recession they could do with the tax revenue and give us an amnesty."
Her own situation is not as desperate as that of many others - "If I was deported, it wouldn't be the end of the world.
I don't have children or a house, but there are people who have so much fear of losing everything that they will never go home again."
On the day the Twin Towers were hit, the 'Green Card Column' of 'The Irish Voice' newspaper featured a letter from a young woman who had been living as an illegal in the US since 1996. Her fiancé was due to apply for US citizenship next March.
She wanted to return to Ireland to get married and wondered if she was likely to be caught on her return...
(*...and that's one of the main differences between the unvetted and illegal Irish in America, who are willing - indeed, anxious - to earn their keep and not be a burden or a threat to the American people, and the fake and/or dangerous so-called 'refugees' who are, at the time of writing, in this State in their tens of thousands, leeching off the abilities of taxpayers, overpowering the indigenous Irish and our whole social welfare system and destroying us societally.)
(MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (18TH DECEMBER) 147 YEARS AGO : 'FATHER OF THE IRISH LAND LEAGUE' ABOUT TO BE RELEASED FROM A BRITISH PRISON AFTER SEVEN YEARS INCARCERATION.
On Tuesday, 18th December 1877 - 147 years ago on this date - Michael Davitt (pictured), 'the father of the Irish Land League', was being prepared to be released from Dartmoor Prison in Princetown, Devon, in England, having served seven years in savage conditions.
He was released the following day.
This Irish 'dissident' was born on the 25th March, 1846, in Straide, County Mayo, at the height of An Gorta Mór ('the Great Hunger/attempted genocide') and the poverty of those times affected the Davitt family - he was the second of five children and was only four years of age when his family were evicted from their home over rent owed and his father, Martin, was left with no choice but to travel to England to look for work.
Martin's wife, Sabina, and their five children, were given temporary accommodation by the local priest in Straide. The family were eventually reunited, in England, where young Michael attended school for a few years.
His family were struggling, financially, so he obtained work, aged 9, as a labourer (he told his boss he was 13 years old and got the job - working from 6am to 6pm, with a ninty-minute break and a wage of 2s.6d a week) but within weeks he had secured a 'better' job, operating a spinning machine but, at only 11 years of age, his right arm got entangled in the machinery and had to be amputated.
There was no compensation offered, and no more work, either, for a one-armed machine operator, but he eventually managed to get a job helping the local postmaster.
He was sixteen years young at that time, and was curious about his Irish roots and wanted to know more - he learned all he could about Irish history and, at 19 years young, joined the Fenian movement in England.
Two years afterwards he became the organising secretary for northern England and Scotland for that organisation and, at 25 years of age, he was arrested in Paddington Station in London after the British had uncovered an IRB operation to import arms. He was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment, on a 'hard labour' ticket, and served seven years in Dartmoor Prison in horrific conditions before being released in 1877, at the age of 31, on Wednesday, December 19th.
He returned to Ireland and was seen as a hero by his own people, and travelled extensively in his native Connaught, observing how, in his absence, nothing had improved for the working class.
He realised that if the power of the tenant farmers could be organised, it would be possible to bring about the improvements that were badly needed, and he arranged a convention in August of 1879 ; the result was a body called the 'National Land League of Mayo' :
'This body shall be known as the National Land League of Mayo and shall consist of farmers and others who will agree to labour for the objects here set forth, and subscribe to the conditions of membership, principles, and rules specified below.
Objects: The objects for which this body is organised are —
1) To watch over the interests of the people it represents and protect the same, as far as may be in its power to do so, from an unjust or capricious exercise of power or privilege on the part of landlords or any other class in the community.
2) To resort to every means compatible with justice, morality, and right reason, which shall not clash defiantly with the constitution upheld by the power of the British empire in this country, for the abolition of the present land laws of Ireland and the substitution in their place of such a system as shall be in accord with the social rights and necessities of our people, the traditions and moral sentiments of our race, and which the contentment and prosperity of our country imperatively demand.
3) Pending a final and satisfactory settlement of the land question, the duty of this body will be to expose the injustice, wrong, or injury which may be inflicted upon any farmer in Mayo, either by rack-renting, eviction, or other arbitrary exercise of power which the existing laws enable the landlords to exercise over their tenantry, by giving all such arbitrary acts the widest possible publicity and meeting their perpetration with all the opposition which the laws for the preservation of the peace will permit of.
In furthernance of which, the following plan will be adopted —
A. Returns to be obtained, printed, and circulated, of the number of landlords in this county ; the amount of acreage in possession of same, and the means by which such land was obtained ; farms let by each, with the conditions under which they are held by their tenants and excess of rent paid by same over the government valuation.
B. To publish by placard, or otherwise, notice of contemplated evictions for non-payment of exorbitant rent or other unjust cause, and the convening of a public meeting, if deemed necessary or expedient, as near the scene of such evictions as circumstances will allow, and on the day fixed upon for the same.
C. The publication of a list of evictions carried out, together with cases of rack-renting, giving full particulars of same, names of landlords, agents, etc, concerned, and number people evicted by such acts.
D. The publication of the names of all persons who shall rent or occupy land or farms from which others have been dispossessed for non-payment of exorbitant rents, or who shall offer a higher rent for land or farms than that paid by the previous occupier. The publication of reductions of rent and acts of justice or kindness performed by landlords in the county.
4) This body to undertake the defence of such of its members, or those of local clubs affiliated with it, who may be required to resist by law the actions of landlords or their agents who may purpose doing them injury, wrong, or injustice in connexion with their land or farms.
5) To render assistance when possible to such farmer-members as may be evicted or otherwise wronged by landlords or their agents.
6) To undertake the organising of local clubs or defence associations in the baronies, towns, and parishes of this county, the holding of public meetings and demonstrations on the land question, and the printing of pamphlets on that and other subjects for the information of the farming classes.
7) And finally, to act as a vigilance committee in Mayo, note the conduct of its grand jury, poor law guardians, town commissioners, and members of parliament, and pronounce on the manner in which their respective functions are performed, wherever the interests, social or political, of the people represented by this club renders it expedient to do so.'
Thus began the land agitation movement.
On the 21st October 1879, a meeting of concerned individuals was held in the Imperial Hotel in Castlebar, County Mayo, to discuss issues in relation to 'landlordism' and the manner in which that subject impacted on those who worked on small land holdings on which they paid 'rent', an issue which other groups, such as tenants' rights organisations and groups who, confined by a small membership, agitated on land issues in their own locality, had voiced concern about.
Those present agreed to announce themselves as the 'Irish National Land League' (which, at its peak, had 200,000 active members) and Charles Stewart Parnell who, at 33 years of age, had been an elected member of parliament for the previous four years, was elected president of the new group and Andrew Kettle, Michael Davitt, and Thomas Brennan were appointed as honorary secretaries.
That leadership had 'form' in that each had made a name for themselves as campaigners on social issues of the day and were, as such, 'known' to the British 'authorities' - Davitt was a known member of the Supreme Council of the IRB and spoke publicly about the need "..to bring out a reduction of rack-rents..to facilitate the obtaining of the ownership of the soil by the occupiers..the object of the League can be best attained by promoting organisation among the tenant-farmers ; by defending those who may be threatened with eviction for refusing to pay unjust rents ; by facilitating the working of the Bright clauses of the Irish Land Act during the winter and by obtaining such reforms in the laws relating to land as will enable every tenant to become owner of his holding by paying a fair rent for a limited number of years.."
Davitt realised that the 'Land League' would be well advised to seek support from outside of Ireland and, under the slogan 'The Land for the People', he toured America, being introduced in his activities there by John Devoy and, although he did not have official support from the Fenian leadership - some of whom were neutral towards him while others were suspicious and/or hostile of and to him - he obtained constant media attention and secured good support for the objectives of the organisation.
He died before he could accomplish all he wanted to, at 60 years of age, in Elphis Hospital in Dublin, on the 30th of May 1906, from blood poisoning : he had a tooth extracted and contracted septicaemia from the operation.
His body was taken to the Carmelite Friary in Clarendon Street, Dublin, then by train to Foxford in Mayo and he was buried in Straide Abbey, near where he was born.
The 'Father of the Irish Land League' was gone, but will not be forgotten.
As we mentioned last week, an Irish-born Archbishop, a Mr Patrick Joseph Clune (pictured), involved himself in negotiations between the Irish rebels and the British.
On the 18th December, 1920, Mr Clune had another meeting with the then Irish rebel leader, Arthur Griffith, at which a possible draft peace/truce proposal was formulated.
On the 21st, Mr Clune met with the British PM, a Mr David Lloyd George ('1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor') and the two men discussed the offered proposals.
Mr George rejected the documents because, he said, they did not include the surrendering of republican arms and munitions to the British and anyway, says he, 'we can mop-up the IRA...'.
The British didn't 'mop-up the IRA' - they 'bought-out' some of the leadership and membership and turned them against their own...
==========================
On the 18th December, 1920, the IRA leadership held a meeting in Barry's Hotel, on Gardiner Row, Dublin, to discuss purchasing weapons and munitions from Italy, and the transport of same from there to Ireland.
Present at that meeting were Cathal Brugha, Michael Collins, Liam Mellows, Sean McMahon, Joe Vize (IRA GHQ Staff) and representatives of two of the Cork brigades - Florrie O'Donoghue (Adjutant Cork No. 1 Brigade) and Liam Deasy (Adjutant Cork No. 3 Brigade).
The two Cork representatives were there to give their opinions on the use of Squince Strand, near Myross, in County Cork (pictured), as the landing site for the shipment.
A Mr Donal Hayes (brother of Tom and Séan) was the 'middle-man' between the Irish rebels and the Italian military, and Mr Collins (the 'money-man') stated that the £10,000 price tag, for 20,000 rifles, 200 rounds of ammunition for each rifle and 600 machine-guns (which were declared to be "in good condition and only required cleaning" ; also, "up to 100,000 rifles" were available, for a price), would be made available when required.
However, the unstable military and political situation in Italy at the time caused the project to be delayed a number of times and, in early July 1921, Mr Collins let it be known, internally in the Movement, that it would not be happening - "the business has not been found practicable..." (due, apparently, to Westminster obtaining knowledge of the operation).
Incidentally, Volunteer Joseph Vize was the 'Director of Purchases' for the IRA and was declared by the British to be "...an active and dangerous man, concerned in the purchase of arms. A case for prosecution lies against him, but owing to the difficulty of obtaining proof of handwriting, the Chief Secretary does not advise prosecution. Recommend internment..."
God Bless all those 'active and dangerous men (and women)'!
==========================
On the 18th December, 1920, Volunteers attached to the Flying Column of the Mid-Clare Brigade IRA (pictured) took up their agreed positions in the townland of Monreal ((between Ennis and Ennistymon), County Clare.
They had placed themselves near a crossroads, with high ground to the east, and the River Inagh to the west, where at least three lorries transporting a joint British Army and RIC contingent was due to pass through.
The Volunteers had formed into two sections - one at the east of the road, the other to the west.
The Flying Column consisted of about sixty Volunteers, with Joseph Barrett in command, and included Ignatius O'Neill, John Joe Neylon, Martin Slattery, Frank Barrett, Seán Casey, Andrew O'Donoghue, John Minihan, Peadár O'Loughlin, Bill McNamara, Bill Carroll, Jack Hasnett and Jim Kierse - those last five Volunteers were wounded during the operation, as were six British soldiers and one RIC member.
All Volunteers were accounted for back at base that same night.
==========================
On the 18th December, 1920, in Cork, a British Army Brigadier-General, a Mr Harold Whitla Higginson ('CB, DSO, bar, ETC ETC!', pictured), who was 'in charge' of that area of Munster, issued a decree stating that captured rebel officers will in future be carried on British lorries in the martial law area as protection against attack by the rebels - 'human shields'.
That policy proved successful, sometimes but, on other occasions, it gave the enemy a false sense of security leading to a relaxed manner on their part, which didn't work out too well for them.
Mr Higginson's life, however, worked out well for him, despite his many military 'adventures' - he died in Salterton, in Devon, in his own country, on the 30th October, 1954, at 80 years of age, having wasted ...spent 38 years of his life 'keeping the peace in the Empire'.
Incidentally, Mr Higginson was known among his own kind to be 'a bit of a regimental stickler', but was known among the Irish as a notorious figure who was well known (and well despised) for carrying out brutal military actions in villages and towns across Cork.
Also, it should be noted that he 'won' his 'bar Award' '..for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty while commanding his brigade. In fourteen days' fighting the losses of the brigade exceeded 70 per cent, but owing to his able leadership and the fine example set by him their fighting spirit was in no way impared...'
Sort of a 'Best Failure Award'..?!
==========================
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.
This appalling litany of corruption applies not, of course, to any Irish luminary, but to Winston Churchill, who was recently - and in Magill's view, quite correctly - voted the 'Greatest Briton' of all time.
The details have been a matter of public record for some time, and are rehased once again in the current issue of 'The Spectator'.
It's nice to see that some people, at least, have their priorities right.
A word, now, on one of Magill's many disappointing Christmas presents ; I honestly hadn't thought it was possible to produce a duller book than Garret FitzGerald's autobiography 'All In A Life', so I feel compelled to record, in the interests of accuracy, that with his just-published 'Reflections On The Irish State' (don't you just love that self-deprecating title?!), the good doctor has managed it nicely.
Oh, and while we're at it, I thought the favourable reviews this spirit-sapping volume received in the 'quality' press were shocking.
Just shocking...
(MORE LATER.)
The house in Kimmage, Dublin, known as 'Clonard House', belonging to a Mr James Henry Mussen Campbell (aka 'Lord Glenavy', whom we mentioned last week) was attacked and burnt by the IRA on the 18th December, 1922.
'Lord/Baron' Glenavy had made quite a name for himself - a Unionist MP for Dublin (elected in 1898), a close associate of Edward Carson in his campaign against 'Home Rule', a 'Chief Justice for Ireland' in 1916 and Chairman of the first Free State Senate.
Incidentally, one of Mr Campbell's sons, Charles, married the Irish artist Beatrice Elvery whose family founded 'Elvery Sports'.
We presume they also look after the cricket fraternity in Ireland...!
==========================
"When I read the terms of the Treaty signed in London everything that was in me that I can call good revolted against those terms.
No argument that has been produced by those who are for this Treaty has made any influence on me. I see in it the giving away of the whole case of Irish independence..."
- the words of Mr Hugh C O'Doherty, the Mayor of Derry City Council, delivered to that Council in relation to the Treaty of Surrender.
At the final meeting of that outgoing Derry City Council, on the 18th December, 1922, Mr O'Doherty accused Mr James Craig of disfranchising the minority and reducing them to the condition of serfs.
His term of office ended in 1923, and God took him from us on the 10th March, 1924.
A Blessing in disguise for the man himself, perhaps, as his disgust with the 'Treaty of Surrender' was and is well-founded.
RIP Mayor Hugh C O'Doherty.
==========================
On the 18th December, 1922, the IRA attacked and captured a Free State Army post in Sligo Town Hall (pictured).
One Free State soldier was killed in the operation, during which the IRA re-purposed (!) 21 rifles, 4 revolvers and 1,300 rounds of ammunition, no doubt giving the Town Hall suits something to talk about around the water-cooler...
==========================
ON THIS DATE (18TH DECEMBER) 103 YEARS AGO : FINAL DRAFT OF "FULL-INDEPENDENCE-AND-NOTHING-SHORT-OF-IT"-SPEECH PREPARED BY AUSTIN STACK, FOR THE 'TREATY OF SURRENDER' DEBATE, DÁIL ÉIREANN* (*..the 32-County body, not the Free State Leinster House assembly).
Austin Stack (pictured) was born on the 7th December, 1879, in Ballymullen, Tralee, County Kerry, and died in the Mater Hospital in Dublin, from complications after a stomach operation, on the 27th April 1929, at only 49 years of age.
That wasn't soon enough, as far as his former comrades were concerned - he had remained a republican, and completely rejected their politics and their Free State.
He was arrested with Con Collins on the 21st April 1916 while planning an attack on Tralee RIC Barracks in an attempt to rescue Roger Casement, and was court-martialed and sentenced to death, but this was commuted to twenty years penal servitude and he was released in the general amnesty of June 1917, and became active in the Irish Volunteers again.
He was elected Secretary of Sinn Féin, a position he held until his death.
His health was shattered due to the number of prison protests and hunger strikes for political status that he undertook. In the 1918 general election, while a prisoner in Crumlin Road Jail in Belfast, he was elected to represent West Kerry in the First (all-Ireland) Dáil, and the British sent him off to Strangeways Prison in Manchester, from where he escaped in October 1919.
During the 'Black and Tan War', as Minister for Home Affairs, Austin Stack organised the republican courts which replaced the British 'legal' system in this country.
He rejected the Treaty of Surrender in 1921 (stating, during the debate on same - "Has any man here the hardihood to stand up and say that it was for this our fathers suffered, that it was for this our comrades have died in the field and in the barrack yard.." ) and, following a short fund-raising/public relations tour of America, returned to Ireland to fight on the republican side in the Civil War.
In the general round-up of Irish republican leaders in April 1923 (during which Liam Lynch was shot dead by Free State troops) Stack, the Deputy Chief of Staff of the rebel forces, was arrested in a farmyard in the Knockmealdown Mountains in County Tipperary - this was four days after Lynch's death.
Imprisoned in Kilmainham Jail in Dublin, he took part in the mass hunger-strike by republican prisoners in October 1923, which was his 5th hunger-strike in 6 years. Shortly after the end of that forty-one day hunger-strike, in November 1923, he was released with hundreds of other political prisoners, and he married his girlfriend, Una Gordon, in 1925.
In April 1929, at forty-nine years of age, he entered the Mater Hospital in Dublin for a stomach operation. He never recovered and died two days later, on 27th April 1929. He is buried in the Republican Plot, Glasnevin Cemetery, in Dublin.
'Austin Stack was born in Ballymullen, Tralee and was educated at the local Christian Brothers School. At the age of fourteen he left school and became a clerk in a solicitor's office.
A gifted Gaelic footballer, he captained the Kerry team to All-Ireland glory in 1904 and also served as President of the Kerry Gaelic Athletic Association County Board. He became politically active in 1908 when he joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood and, in 1916, as commandant of the Kerry Brigade of the Irish Volunteers, he made preparations for the landing of arms by Roger Casement, on Banna Strand.
Although Austin Stack was made aware that Casement was arrested and was being held in Ballymullen Barracks in Tralee, he made no attempt to rescue him : RIC District Inspector Kearney treated Casement very well and made sure Stack was aware that Casement could so easily have been rescued, yet Stack refused to move (possibly sensing that a trap had been laid for him?) but he was arrested anyway and sentenced to death for his involvement, but this was later commuted to penal servitude for life.
He was released under general amnesty in June 1917 after the death of fellow prisoner and Tralee man Thomas Patrick Ashe and was elected as an abstentionist Sinn Féin Member of Parliament for Kerry West in the 1918 Westminster election, becoming a member of the 1st Dail and was automatically elected as an abstentionist member of the 'House of Commons of Southern Ireland' and a member of the 2nd Dail as a Sinn Féin Teachta Dála for Kerry-Limerick West in the Irish elections of 1921.
He opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 and took part in the subsequent Irish Civil War. He was captured in 1923 and went on hunger strike for forty-one days before being released in July 1924...when Eamon de Valera founded Fianna Fail in 1926, Stack remained with Sinn Féin...his health never recovered after his hunger strike and he died in a Dublin hospital on April 27th 1929, aged 49.'
A commemorative pamphlet, entitled 'What Exactly is a Republican?' was issued in memory of the man -
'The name republican in Ireland, as used amongst republicans, bears no political meaning. It stands for the devout lover of his country, trying with might and main for his country's freedom.
Such a man cannot be a slave. And if not a slave in heart or in act, he cannot be guilty of the slave vices.
No coercion can breed these in the freeman.
Fittingly, the question - 'What is a republican?' fails to be answered in our memorial number for Austin Stack, a man who bore and dared and suffered, remaining through it all and at the worst, the captain of his own soul.
What then was Austin Stack, republican? A great lover of his country. A man without a crooked twist in him. One who thought straight, acted straight, walked the straight road unflinchingly and expected of others that they should walk it with him, as simply as he did himself.
No man could say or write of him "He had to do it". That plea of the slave was not his. His duty, as conscience and love dictated, he did.
The force of England, of the English Slave State, might try coercion, as they tried it many times : it made no difference. He went his way, suffered their will, and stood his ground doggedly, smiling now and again.
His determination outstood theirs, because it had a deeper foundation and a higher aim. Compromise, submission, the slave marks, did not and could not exist for him as touching himself, or the Cause for which he worked and fought lived and died.'
Pictured - an IRA unit in Kerry, circa 1921.
Austin Stack fought physically and verbally for the Irish Republic and, on the 19th December, 1921 - 103 years ago - he said the following in Dáil Éireann in relation to the Westminster-'offered' (and Free State accepted) 'Treaty of Surrender' :
"It happens to be my privilege to rise immediately after the President to support his motion that this House do not approve of the document which has been presented to them. I shall be very brief ; I shall confine myself to what I regard as the chief defects in the document, namely, those which conflict with my idea of Irish Independence.
I regard clauses in this agreement as being the governing clauses. These are Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4. In No.I, England purports to bestow on Ireland, an ancient nation, the same constitutional status as any of the British Dominions, and also to bestow her with a Parliament having certain powers. To look at the second clause, it starts off —
"Subject to provisions hereinafter set out.." — and then she tries to limit you to the powers of the Dominion of Canada. What they may mean I cannot say, beyond this, that the Canadian Dominion is set up under a very old Act which considerably limits its powers.
No doubt the words "law, practice, and constitutional usage" are here. I cannot define what these may mean. Other speakers who will come before the assembly may be able to explain them. I certainly cannot. To let us assume that this clause gives to this country full Canadian powers, I for one cannot accept from England full Canadian powers, three-quarter Canadian powers, or half Canadian powers.
I stand for what is Ireland's right, full independence and nothing short of it.
It is easy to understand that countries like Australia, New Zealand and the others can put up with the powers which are bestowed on them, can put up with acknowledgements to the monarch and rule of Great Britain as head of their State, for have they not all sprung from England? Are they not children of England? Have they not been built up by Great Britain? Have they not been protected by England and lived under England's flag for all time? What other feeling can they have but affection for England, which they always regarded as their motherland?
This country, on the other hand, has not been a child of England's, nor never was. England came here as an invader, and for 750 years we have been resisting that conquest.
Are we now after those 750 years to bend the knee and acknowledge that we received from England as a concession full, or half, or three-quarter Dominion powers? I say no.
Clause 3 of this Treaty gives us a representative of the Crown in Ireland appointed in the same manner as a Governor-General. That Governor-General will act in all respects in the name of the King of England. He will represent the King in the Capital of Ireland and he will open the Parliament which some members of this House seem to be willing to attend.
I am sure none of them, indeed, is very anxious to attend it under the circumstances, but, if they accept this Treaty they will have to attend Parliament summoned in the name of the King of Great Britain and Ireland. There is no doubt about that whatever.
The fourth paragraph sets out the form of oath, and this form of oath may be divided into two parts. In the first part you swear "true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the Irish Free State as by law established." As the President has stated, according to the Constitution which will be sanctioned under that Parliament, it will be summoned by the representative of the King of England and Ireland and will acknowledge that King.
I say even that part of the oath is nothing short of swearing allegiance to the head of that Constitution which will be the King. You express it again when you swear, "and that I will be faithful to His Majesty King George V., his heirs and successors by law." That is clear enough, and I have no hesitation whatever in reading the qualifying words.
I say these qualifying words in no way alter the text, or form, or effect of this oath, because what you do in that is to explain the reason why you give faith, why you pledge fealty to King George. You say it is in virtue of the common citizenship of Ireland with Great Britain and the meaning of that is that you are British subjects. You are British subjects without a doubt, and I challenge anyone here to stand and prove otherwise than that according to this document.
If ever you want to travel abroad, to a country where a passport is necessary, your passport must be issued from the British Foreign Office and you must be described as a British subject on it. If you are mean enough to accept this Treaty, time will tell. You wind up by saying that you further acknowledge that King in virtue of Ireland's adherence to and membership of the group of nations known as the British Commonwealth of Nations, and all that, of course, is really consistent with the whole thing.
You will become a member of the British Empire.
Now this question of the oath has an extraordinary significance for me, for, so far as I can trace, no member of my family has ever taken an oath of allegiance to England's King. When I say that I do not pretend for a moment that men who happened to be descended from, or to be sons of men who took oaths of allegiance to England's Kings, or men who themselves took oaths of allegiance to England's Kings are any worse for it.
There are men in this assembly who have been comrades of mine in various places, who have been fighting the same fight as I have been fighting, the same fight which we have all been fighting, and which I sincerely hope we will be fighting together again ere long.
There are men with whom I was associated in this fight whose fathers had worn England's uniform and taken oaths of allegiance, and these men were as good men and took their places as well in the fight for Irish independence as any man I ever met.
But what I wish to say is this : I was nurtured in the traditions of Fenianism. My father wore England's uniform as a comrade of Charles Kickham and O'Donovan Rossa when as a '67 man he was sentenced to ten years for being a rebel, but he wore it minus the oath of allegiance.
If I, as I hope I will, try to continue to fight for Ireland's liberty, even if this rotten document be accepted, I will fight minus the oath of allegiance and to wipe out the oath of allegiance if I can do it.
Now I ask you has any man here the idea in his head, has any man here the hardihood to stand up and say that it was for this our fathers have suffered, that it was for this our comrades have died on the field and in the barrack yard. If you really believe in your hearts that it was vote for it.
If you don't believe it in your hearts vote against it.
It is for you now to make up your minds. Today or tomorrow will be, I think, the most fateful days in Irish history. I will conclude by quoting two of Russell Lowell's lines : — "Once to every man and nation comes a moment to decide,
In the strife 'twixt truth and falsehood for the good or evil side."
Unfortunately, the "evil side" is, at the time of writing, in the majority. But it's early yet...
(Incidentally, on the 19th December 1921, one of those who signed and accepted the 'Treaty of Surrender' attempted to explain, probably more so to himself than to those who were in his presence, why he had done so - "I do not seek to shield myself from the charge of having broken my oath of allegiance to the Republic — my signature is proof of that fact. That oath was, and still is to me, the most sacred bond on earth..." - a poor effort at absolving himself for doing the wrong thing, in our opinion : more here.)
UP THE REPUBLIC - OUR DAY WILL COME !
NOLLAIG SHONA DAR LEITHEOIRI!
Ar eagle an dearmaid...
Ba bhrea an rud e siocháin bhuan bunaithe ar an gceart a bheith againn in Éireann. Is i an bronntanas is fearr a d'fheadfaimis a thabhairt duinn fein agus dar gclann.
Coinniodh an ceart agus an tsiocháin uainn le breis agus ocht gcead bliain , de bharr ionradh , forghabhail agus miriaradh na Sasanach. Socrú ar bith a dheantar in ainm mhuintir na hÉireann agus a ghlacann le riail Shasana agus a dhaingnionn an chriochdheighilt , ni thig leis an ceart na an tsiocháin bhuann a bhunu.
Ni dheanfaidh se ach la na siochána buaine a chur ar an mhear fhada agus an bhunfhadb a thabhairt do ghluin eile . Tharla se seo cheana nuair a siniodh Conradh 1921 agus cuireadh siar ar mhuintir na hÉireann e in ainm na siochána. Éire a bheith saor agus daonlathach, an cuspoir ceanna a bhi i gceist ag Wolfe Tone agus ag na Poblachtaigh uile anuas go dti 1916 agus an la ata inniu ann.
Rinne a lan fear agus ban croga iobairti mora, thug a mbeatha fiu, ar son na cuise uaisle seo.
CEART. SAOIRSE. DAONLATHAS.
A PEACEFUL CHRISTMAS TO OUR READERS !
Least we forget...
A just and permanent peace in Ireland is most desirable. It is the greatest gift we could give to ourselves and our children.
We have been denied justice and peace for more than eight centuries, because of English invasion, occupation and misrule of our country.
Any arrangement which, in the name of the Irish people, accepts English rule and copperfastens the Border, will not bring justice and lasting peace. It will only postpone the day of permanent peace, handing over the basic problem to another generation.
This happened before when the Treaty of 1921 was signed and was forced on the Irish people in the name of peace. Republicans cherishes the objective of a free, democratic Ireland, as envisaged by Wolfe Tone and all Republicans down to 1916 and our own day. Many brave men and women sacrificed a lot, even their lives, for this noble Cause.
JUSTICE. FREEDOM. DEMOCRACY.
From the '1169' Crew, December 2024.
PLEASE NOTE : we are on a short break now from normal posting, although we will return to 'normal' early(ish!) in 2025.
Yeah - that's all we can say for now - "early", 'cause, between the family, our political colleagues and the Girl Gang, we've got about a dozen Christmas parties to get to and literally a dozen more house calls to make!
I'll still be having me say on X/Twitter and Facebook, as ya can't keep a Dublin young wan from spaking her mind!
Go raibh maith agat, and we hope a good 2025 will come to your door!
Sharon and the Crew ; God Bless, and we'll be seein' ya in 2025 (...hopefully on Wednesday, 8th January).
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