ON THIS DATE (5TH JUNE) ELEVEN YEARS AGO - DEATH OF A STAUNCH IRISH REPUBLICAN.
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.
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.
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...
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.)
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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.
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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.
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Thanks for the visit, and for reading!
Sharon and the team.
