ON THIS DATE (12TH FEBRUARY) 49 YEARS AGO : DEATH OF AN IRISH REPUBLICAN WHO WAS 'BURIED' BY FREE STATERS UNDER SIX FEET OF CONCRETE.
'Exhumed in glory a November moon was drifting
And freedom's light aglow
When some IRA had gathered in a graveyard in Mayo.
Those brave Irish Freedom fighters
Who came together in the West
Had come to fill the promise to lay Frank Stagg at rest.'
'Frank Stagg was the seventh child in a family of thirteen children, born at Hollymount near Ballinrobe, Co Mayo, in 1942. Stagg was educated to primary level at Newbrooke Primary School and at CBS Ballinrobe to secondary level.
After finishing his education, he worked as an assistant gamekeeper with his uncle prior to emigrating from Ireland to England in search of work. In England, Frank was employed as a bus conductor and later qualified as a bus driver.
In 1970 he married Bridie Armstrong from Carnicon, Co Mayo. He joined Sinn Féin in Luton in 1972 and shortly afterwards joined the IRA. Frank remained in touch with home and spent his annual holidays in Hollymount up to the year of his arrest and imprisonment in 1973. In the words of his mother, "he never forgot he was Irish..." '
Frank Stagg had begun his fourth (and final) hunger strike in late 1975 - having been convicted under the notorious 'British Conspiracy Laws' - as it was the only 'weapon' he had at his disposal with which to impress on his British captors his desire to be repatriated to Ireland.
He died, blind and weighing just four stone, in Wakefield Prison on 12th February 1976, after 62 days on hunger strike.
His remains were hijacked by suited, uniformed and armed members of the State, acting under orders from Free State Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave and his 'Justice' Minister, Paddy Cooney - the airplane carrying his coffin was diverted from Dublin to Shannon and, when it landed, the Special Branch surrounded it and forcibly removed the coffin and buried it, supported by an armed escort, under six feet of concrete in Leigue Cemetery in Ballina, County Mayo.
That grave had been purchased by the Free Staters and was located about 70 meters from the Republican Plot in that cemetery ; on that day - Saturday, 21st February, 1976 - the Requiem Mass was boycotted by almost all his relatives.
For the following six months, armed State operatives maintained a heavy presence in the graveyard to prevent Irish republicans from affording Frank Stagg a proper burial but they were not the only group keeping a watch on the grave : the IRA were aware of their presence and, after the Staters withdrew, the IRA made their move : on the night of the 5th of November, 1976, the IRA disinterred Frank Stagg's remains and reburied them with his comrade, Michael Gaughan.
When questioned in Leinster House about this sordid affair, its 'Director', Paddy Cooney, stated -
"The persistent attempts by members of an unlawful organisation and their associates to exploit the situation that arose are well known and, indeed, notorious. Because of this and because also of certain obligations of confidentiality, I must decline to make any comment on the question of the choice of burial place.."
The "question of the choice of burial place" was, thankfully, not one that was left to Cooney and his State thugs to decide.
Frank Stagg, aged 33, had three funerals and two burials. One funeral had no body and one burial was done in darkness. In his final message to his comrades in the Republican Movement he wrote :
"We are the risen people, this time we must not be driven into the gutter. Even if this should mean dying for justice. The fight must go on. I want my memorial to be peace with justice."
That objective has still to be obtained and those in Leinster House, Stormont and Westminster are still working against it, still pouring 'concrete' on Irish republicanism.
Shame on them.
In the early morning of the 12th February, 1920, about twenty Volunteers from the Cork Number 3 Brigade of the IRA (under the command of Volunteer Seán Hales) took up position around the RIC Barracks in Allihies (located about twelve miles from Castletownbere), in Cork.
That operation to remove those pro-British agents began with some of the Volunteers chipping access points into the gable wall of the barracks, in order to get a 'foothold' to secure explosives to.
The RIC members looked out to investigate the noise and were immediately fired at, retreated back inside, and returned fire. One of their number, a Mr Michael Neenan (32), dashed to the barracks rifle locker to arm himself and his colleagues but was shot in the abdomen before he could reach it, and died from his wound.
Another RIC member, named O'Driscoll, was shot in the foot during the gunfight.
The Volunteers planted their explosives (assembled by Volunteer Cornelius O'Sullivan, from the Cork Number 1 Brigade which, incidentally, had over 8,000 members that were organised into twenty battalions) and blew a hole in the gable wall, but the RIC members wouldn't surrender, and the gunfight continued ; the IRA were safe in the knowledge that they had made "every preparation to deny any chance of reinforcements arriving to help the stricken RIC men".
Realising that they weren't going to take the barracks, the IRA withdrew from the area at about 5am.
==========================
On the 12th February, 1920, as two RIC members were 'out on patrol' in the village of Rathdrum, in County Wicklow (pictured), they fired shots in the direction of about three men whom, they said, had fired at them.
One of the men fell to the ground, wounded, and died that same night ; he was an IRA Volunteer, Seamus O'Brien, who was active in the Wexford area in 1916, and was, in 1920, a valued operative with the Wicklow Brigade (which comprised the Fourth Battalion led by Jack Smith, and the Fifth Battalion led by Matt Kavanagh).
One of the RIC members, a man named Mulligan, later claimed that he and his colleague were fired on and that a bullet had glanced off his shoulder and had become lodged in his heavy overcoat but, on examination, Mr Mulligan had no strike mark on his shoulder and his heavy RIC-issue overcoat bore no entry/exit mark of a bullet...
==========================
In January, 1920, one of the top men in the Republican Movement, a Mr Robert Barton, was 'arrested' by the British on Oakley Road, Dublin, tried by general court martial in Ship Street Barracks (under the 'Defence of the Realm Act') and sentenced to three years’ penal servitude.
On the 12th February that year, as he was being moved from Ship Street to Mountjoy Jail, the IRA knew that the transport van would be travelling on Berkeley Road and the time it would be there, and an escape attempt was put in place.
The van was blocked by a handcart carrying a forty-foot ladder and, as it stopped to allow the obstruction to pass, IRA Volunteers moved in on it.
They held it up, and opened it up - but it was empty!
Wrong information, or a British decoy vehicle...?
Whichever it was, Mr Barton ended up in a British prison - Portland, in Dorset, England - but was released in early July 1921 (as were Arthur Griffith and Eoin MacNeill) to take part in the 'Treaty of Surrender' talks.
It was sometime after 2am on the 6th December, 1921, that Mr Robert Barton (very reluctantly, by all accounts) signed his name to that foul document but, within days, he rejected it but (again), in the 1930's, he worked politically within the State apparatus on behalf of the Fianna Fáil grouping.
The politically confused and/or tormented Mr Robert Barton died on the 10th August 1975.
==========================
On the 12th February, 1920, two young British Army soldiers, Private Guy FP Roberts (18, 'Service Number 0865') and Private William H Pearce (17, 'Service Number 01907'), who were both stationed at Finner Camp, in Donegal, went on a day trip to Ballyshannon, a coastal town in that county.
While exploring the rocky shoreline, both young men were swept out to sea, and were drowned.
RIP to both young men.
==========================
GAS LADS...
The massive finds of oil and gas on our western seaboard could ensure Ireland's financial security for generations.
Wealth approximating that of the Arab countries is within our grasp, but the Irish government seems content to sell off our birthright for a handful of votes and a few dollars.
In a special 'Magill' report, Sandra Mara investigates just what we are giving away, and why.
From 'Magill' magazine, March 2002.
The sale of our vital national resources in this way means that Ireland cannot benefit in terms of economic spin-offs through the provision of services, manufacturing, ship and rig construction, infrastructure and development of port services, refineries, petrochemical industries, or the thousands of on-and-offshore jobs and ancillary services needed to support the oil industry.
Norway, only a century ago, was one of Europe's poorest nations, until it experienced a reversal of fortune with the discovery of oil in the North Sea in the 1970's.
Suddenly thrown on to the world stage, Norway was invited to discussions with military superpowers and wealthy oil nations.
Taking full advantage of its new-found status, the Norwegians set about constructing some of the largest and most advanced offshore production facilities in the world...
(MORE LATER.)
JUST SHY OF 178 YEARS AGO ON THIS DAY (AND COMPLETELY SHY AT ALL OF ANY COMPASSION)...
On February 13th 1847, 'The Illustrated London News' newspaper published an article by James Mahoney entitled 'Sketches In The West Of Ireland', in which the author, an artist living in Cork, was asked by the editor of the newspaper to travel around Ireland as best he could and report back to London with his findings : the 'Great Hunger' (attempted genocide/'an Gorta Mór') was at its most severe, typhus and other fatal diseases were rampant and in that year (1847) it was recorded that at least 380 doctors died between 1845 and 1847.
"I SAW THE DYING, THE LIVING, AND THE DEAD, LYING INDISCRIMINATELY UPON THE SAME FLOOR..."
In his report, Mr Mahoney stated that he started out on his journey ".....for Skibbereen and saw little until we came to Clonakilty, where the coach stopped for breakfast ; and here, for the first time, the horrors of the poverty became visible, in the vast number of famished poor, who flocked around the coach to beg alms.
Amongst them was a woman carrying in her arms the corpse of a fine child, and making the most distressing appeal to the passengers for aid to enable her to purchase a coffin and bury her dear little baby. This horrible spectacle induced me to make some inquiry about her, when I learned from the people of the hotel that each day brings dozens of such applicants into the town.
After leaving Clonakilty, each step that we took westward brought fresh evidence of the truth of the reports of the misery, as we either met a funeral or a coffin at every hundred yards, until we approached the country of the Shepperton Lakes. Here, the distress became more striking, from the decrease of numbers at the funerals, none having more than eight or ten attendants, and many only two or three..."
The 'shy of compassion' reference, above, is in relation to the Westminster government which, at that time, was the seat of political power in Ireland and had the wherewithal, financially and logistically, to intervene favourably in the man-made catastrophe that was unfolding in 'that part of the Empire'.
But it choose not to, as the land without its natives was deemed to be more valuable to it and, indeed, it is that very attitude that has ensured that the British armed forces have 'been engaged' in armed conflict ('peacekeeping duties') somewhere or other in the world for well over a hundred consecutive years now - a 'record' which some believe may be about to end.
But they have no compassion about them and, in our opinion, their 'record' is in safe hands and will no doubt continue.
Unfortunately, for non-warmongers everywhere.
On the 12th February, 1921, an RIC member, a Mr Patrick Joseph Walsh, left the pub he was in, after having a few pints, in Churchtown, in County Cork, and was shot dead.
Mr Walsh, a native of Turloughbeg, Rossmuck, in Connemara, County Galway, who had four years of 'service' in the RIC (it was his first 'job') was the son of an ex-'RIC Head Constable' who, at the time, was working as a publican.
Eight shots were fired at him by an IRA Unit from the Charleville Battalion of the Cork Number 2 Brigade, under the command of Volunteer Patrick O'Brien, one of which hit him in the head, killing him instantly.
After the shooting, most members of the IRA Unit stayed where they were, in the expectation that RIC reinforcements would be sent to the scene ; the IRA were hoping for an opportunity to add to their tally.
However, no British or pro-British forces turned up, so the Volunteers left the area.
==========================
On the night of the 12th February, 1921, IRA Brigade Commandant George O'Dwyer's (pictured) plans were carried out.
The RIC barracks in the village of Gowran, in County Kilkenny, was attacked by the IRA and, at the same time, some 18 miles (30km) away, in the village of Callan, the RIC were attacked in their barracks.
Both attacks were small, but determined, and the propaganda arising from the two simultaneous operations was immense.
Neither side suffered any injuries.
==========================
At about 7.30pm on the evening of the 12th February, 1921, a British Army convoy consisting of one troop-carrying lorry, two armoured cars and one Crossley Tender, left Dun Laoighaire and drove through Monkstown, Blackrock and Booterstown.
When the convoy reached the Merrion Gates, about one dozen armed IRA Volunteers from 'F company, 6th Battalion', under the command of Volunteer Rory MacDermott, opened fire on it -
"The enemy convoy was travelling towards the city from Dun Laoghaire (Kingstown). Fire was opened at them from behind a wall fifty yards south of the gate of the Blind Asylum, Merrion.
Five bombs were thrown, two of them exploding on the lorry. Fire was returned by the armoured cars, especially the second car, which entered the gate of the asylum, and sprayed the bushes inside.
Our forces fired off about forty rounds of ammunition. The enemy casualties could not be ascertained. There were no casualties on our side.
Two civilians were killed, one in his bed near the scene of the ambush and the other on the road about 600 yards on the city side of where the ambush took place. We were armed with bombs, two shotguns, two rifles, and the remainder with revolvers..."
Two civilians, John Healy (a former member of Blackrock County Council and a well known local nationalist, who had no connection with either the IRA or the British Army) and James Brophy (pictured, a native of Killadooley, Ballybrophy, County Laois [then known as 'Queen's County']), were killed during the gunfight.
Mr Brophy was in his house, Number 244 Merrion Road, in bed, trying to get his young son asleep, when he was hit "in the breast" by a stray bullet ; he was rushed to the 'Royal Dublin Hospital' (about two miles away from the scene) but died there.
His young son was frightened, obviously, but physically unhurt.
An inquiry was launched by the pro-British 'DMP' into the firefight and, on the 25th July that year, that 'police force' issued the following statement -
"As a party of military were motoring along Merrion Road in the vicinity of the residence of James Brophy, they were ambushed by Sinn Feiners, who threw bombs and fired a number of shots at them, at which they replied with their rifles.
While this was going on a bullet passed through Mr. Brophy’s bedroom window wounding him in the breast as he lay in bed."
In a compensation claim against the British, his family said he worked as a "blacksmith and horseshoer (farrier)", but the 'DMP' rejected that and claimed that he was an employee of 'The Dublin United Tramways Company' ; an attempt, perhaps, to raise doubts about the overall innocence of the Brophy family...?
==========================
On the 12th February, 1921, IRA Units in South Kildare finalised their plans to obstruct the movements of the Crown Forces in their area.
On the 13th and 14th, trenches were dug into the road networks around the villages of Booleigh and Kilmeade, and trees were felled at Mullaghmast and on the roads from Bolton Hill to Castledermot and Kilkea to Castledermot.
Actions like this served two purposes - not only did it successfully hinder enemy troop movements but, as they were clearing/filling the damage, they never knew if an IRA Unit, or lone sniper, had them in rifle sights.
'Mind Games...'
==========================
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.
The Aisling Irish Centre which he heads was set up four years ago as a drop-in centre, providing immigration information, professional and pastoral counselling.
"Now is a very vulnerable time for people. George Bush is talking about tightening up the whole system and if he goes down that road it will have far-reaching consequences for the Irish.
Traditionally, a lot of people would go home for Christmas, but I have been encouraging people not to travel unless it is absolutely necessary.
It can be a lonely place at Christmas.
It's a day that highlights the reality for emigrants ; you are without the very important support structure that you take for granted at home.
It will be especially so this year."
(END of 'The Forgotten People' ; NEXT - 'The Number's Up', from the same source.)
Between the 12th and the 15th February, 1922, 37 people were killed in riots in Belfast ; the worst incident was the Weaver Street bombing in which six people were killed, including four children.
On the 11th February, about eighteen 'A Special' pro-British 'policemen' were stopped on a train in Clones, County Monaghan, by the IRA, and a gunbattle ensued, during which four 'A Specials' were killed (William Dougherty, James Lewis, William McFarland and Robert McMahon) and nine more of them were wounded.
Pro-British loyalists in Belfast wanted revenge but, rather than take on the IRA, they turned on their Catholic/Nationalist neighbours, including children, and at least 23 Catholics and 14 Protestants were killed over those few days.
And as long as Westminster continues to claim jurisdictional control over six of our counties, those days are not necessarily behind us.
==========================
On the 12th February, 1922, the IRA held a meeting in Dublin to discuss the Treaty of Surrender, and other such meetings were being held around the country (and the Free Staters were doing the same).
The split was widening, with those who rejected that Treaty (who correctly argued that it was unconstitutional, a usurpation of the 1916 Dáil Constitution adopted in 1919, that it would lead to the loss of six of the nine counties of Ulster, and the 'dominion status' under Britain and the requirement to swear an oath of allegiance to its monarch were among the bridges too far) also voicing their opposition to the political figures who were calling for it to be supported and accepted.
Indeed, those verbal disagreements were to escalate into armed campaigns in June that same year, when the Staters took up arms to help secure Westminster's so-called 'writ' in Ireland.
At around that time in Ireland, the IRA fielded seventy-four brigades, comprised of 297 battalions comprised, in turn, of 2,009 companies made up of roughly 115,000 members, but possessed only about 3,000 rifles among its other armaments.
It is estimated that about seventy-five percent of IRA members opposed the Treaty but Leinster House, working with its British allies, was better armed and was able(d) to add ex-British soldiers, RIC and other such rogue mercenaries to its military ranks, thus outnumbering and outgunning the 'Ireland For The Irish' fighters (the 'irregulars', as the Staters called them).
We're down - on the canvas - since then, but not yet out of the ring...!
==========================
On the 12th February, 1922, the RIC Barracks in James Street, in Westport, County Mayo, was evacuated by the RIC and handed over to the IRA, as was the British Army barracks in Castlebar, and the RIC Barracks in Ballina (also Mayo) was taken over by the North Mayo Brigade of the IRA.
Enemy forces in Ireland had began the abandonment of their bricks and mortar bases in January that year, safe in the knowledge that they were leaving behind a proxy political and military presence in the guise of the Leinster House State administration.
To its credit, Dublin Corporation put out some feelers about acquiring those buildings to repurpose them as living quarters for the majority of Irish people, who were then trying to live in tenament slums, but other organisations were equally as determined to make use of them and the Corporation backed off...
==========================
On the 10th February, 1922, British Army Lieutenant John Hubert Wogan-Brown walked the 500 yards distance from Kildare Artillery Barracks to the Hibernian Bank to cash a cheque and collect the weekly regimental pay for his troops.
Between the cheque he cashed (for about £130) and the payroll, he had around £500 on him as he left the bank.
He strolled down the road, on his way back to the barracks and, as he got to the corner of Infirmary Road (beside the hospital, opposite the barracks), three men approached him.
One of the men walked past him and went over to a car parked nearby, with the driver at the wheel - the man pulled a gun on the driver and told him to stay where he was, and his two companions, guns drawn, stood in front of the British Army Lieutenant and told him to hand over the money.
Mr Wogan-Brown not only refused to hand the money to the men, but tried to fight them off.
One of the men shot him in the forehead, he fell down, dead, the two men got the money and quickly went over to their colleague, who was standing at the hi-jacked car.
"Drive, or by God, we'll riddle you...", one of them shouted at the driver, who did just that, and in a hurry. That was the last that was seen of the men or the money.
The next day Mr Michael Collins got word of the robbery and the fact that a British Army Lieutenant had been killed in the process of it.
On the 12th February (1922), Mr Collins and his advisers/secretaries, fretting that the British Army soldiers death might impact negatively on their new-born 'treaty/peace process', put an apologetic letter together for Mr Churchill, proof read it, fretted some more, possibly changed a bit of the script in it and, when they were satisfied that it was sufficiently crawling enough, telegrammed it to Mr Churchill on the 13th.
In his letter, Mr Collins told Mr Churchill that "three men had been arrested for the murder of Lt. Wogan-Brown.." and that he had seen to it that "...the Republican Police (force), the IRA, the RIC and the British Army had been involved in operations to bring the culprits to justice..."
Mr Churchill must have been ever-so proud of his latest creation.
However - if anyone actually was 'arrested' by the Staters for the shooting, no one was ever charged over it and no trial was ever held about it.
The case was allowed to fizzle out...
==========================
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.
Unsung heroes - carers who look after the handicapped, teachers who give up their free time to supervise sporting activities, founders of charities who make a real difference to people's lives.
If we believe that there is such a thing as society, then society ought to be able to say thank you to the people who make it better.
Unfortunately, however, we know that an Irish honours system just wouldn't work like that - as in Britain, it would be controlled by whatever politicians happened to be in power, which means it would be patronising at best, crooked and incestuous at worst.
And this is the point where all honours systems fall down.
As soon as you give out a single award to someone who clearly doesn't deserve it, everyone else's award is automatically diminished...
(MORE LATER.)
That's it for now, and thanks for dropping in - appreciated!
(We won't be here next Wednesday, the 19th February 2025, as we have a rather celebratory family gathering ("ya wha', Shar..?!") to attend and to attend to this coming weekend and, when you have such a large family like wha' we is, it takes a lot of organising.
Large venue acquired, needs to be suitably dressed, tables, seating, drinks, meals, entertainment for the younger children, disco for the adults [mostly sounds of the 70's, 80's and early 90's, of course : ya ain't seen nothin' 'til ya have seen the Girl Gang singing and dancing to 'Carwash'!] transport etc.
But we'll be back on Wednesday, 26th February 2025 with, among other bits and pieces, a story of so-called 'high treason', a pardon and transportation, the ending of a particular phase of the struggle for full independence, and the execution of a man who was said by all concerned to be of unfit mind.
And sure if yer gonna miss 'lil aul me that much, then gimme a shout on Twitter and/or Facebook!)
Sharon and the team.
From the office of Michael Collins to Westminster, 1920's - a letter of assurance that the armed men who had liberated a British Army payroll, killing an English soldier in the process, would be hunted down and punished. Mr Collins ordered the Republican Police and his State Army to assist the RIC and the British military in doing just that...
That's one of about 18 pieces we'll be writing about on Wednesday, 12th February, 2025, on this blog...
Why was it that, in the 1970's, the Leinster House administration purchased a grave in a cemetery just outside a small country town...?
Ireland, in the early 2000's - 'Black Gold' wasn't only valuable for the financial benefits it itself bestowed, but also for the 'add-ons' ie the provision of services, jobs in manufacturing businesses, infrastructure work, port upgrades etc, but short-sighted, greedy politicians thought otherwise...
..and we'll be putting some meat on the bones of those two, as well.
There'll be a few paragraphs on a few happenings from the 19th Century up to the 2000's, so hopefully yis will find something of interest for yerselves but ya won't know that until Wednesday, 12th February 2025. But, if'n ya don't, here's a few shillings ; sure ya can ring someone who cares...!
Thanks for dropping in - appreciated : see ya on the 12th!
Sharon and the team.
ON THIS DATE (5TH FEBRUARY) 205 YEARS AGO : DEATH OF A 'UNITED IRISHMAN' FOUNDING FATHER.
"Nor one feeling of vengeance presume to defile
The cause, or the men, of the Emerald Isle..."
- the words of William Drennan (pictured), physician, poet, educationalist political radical and one of the founding fathers of the 'Society of United Irishmen', who was born on the 23rd May in 1754.
As well as his involvement with the 'United Irishmen', William Drennan will be forever associated with the descriptive term 'Emerald Isle' being used as a reference for Ireland, although he himself stated that that expression was first used in an anonymous 1795 song called 'Erin, to her own Tune'.
When he was 37 years of age, a group of socially-minded Protestants, Anglicans and Presbyterians held their first public meeting in Belfast and formed themselves as 'The Belfast Society of United Irishmen' (the organisation became a secret society three years later), electing Sam McTier as 'President', strengthing the link that William Drennan had forged with that revolutionary organisation - Sam McTier was married to Martha, who was a sister of William Drennan.
'..he was born on May 23, 1754, at the manse of the First Presbyterian Church, Rosemary Street, Belfast, where his father was minister. A doctor by profession, he became one of the pioneers of inoculation against smallpox. Drennan became one of the founder members of the United Irishmen, and upon moving to Dublin in 1789 was appointed its chairman...after he was tried and acquitted of sedition in 1794, he withdrew from the movement and emigrated to Scotland (but remained) committed to radical politics..he married Sarah Swanwick in 1800, and they had four sons and a daughter...' (from here.)
'When Erin first rose from the dark-swelling flood,
God blessed the green island, he saw it was good.
The Emerald of Europe, it sparkled and shone,
in the ring of this world, the most precious stone.
In her sun, in her soil, in her station thrice blest,
With her back towards Britain, her face to the West,
Erin stands proudly insular, on her steep shore,
And strikes her high harp 'mid the ocean's deep roar...'
William Drennan died on the 5th February 1820 - 205 years ago on this date - at 66 years of age, and is buried in Clifton Street Graveyard, Belfast. His coffin was carried by an equal number of Catholics and Protestants, and clergy from different denominations were in charge of the ceremony, as per his request.
On the 5th February, 1919, the Finance Committee of Kildare County Council held a meeting to discuss the fact that its road workers in the Newbridge, Kildare and Kilcullen areas had gone on strike in protest over the British Army having hired unskilled labourers to carry out repairs to roads that had been made impassable by the IRA.
The British obviously wouldn't have had full confidence in the 'quality' of repair work carried out by an organised body of workmen sent by an institution (the local Council) that they didn't fully trust (!) so, instead, they hired individual local labourers and monitored them, at the point of a gun, as they worked.
And, to rub salt into the wounds, they paid those labourers more than the Council repair crews were bring paid!
An agreement was reached in early March that trade-unionised Council workers would, in future, be tasked with such work and that their wages for that work would be increased.
However, the Council workers continued to agitate for a bigger win and, in August 1920, Council motions were passed instructing that only trade union labour be employed on the Council's direct labour schemes (such as road repairs) and Kildare County Council went one step further by passing a motion stating.. "...that we, the members of the Kildare County Council, in recognition of the good services rendered by trade union Labour, hereby call on all republican employers in County Kildare to employ none other than trade union labour..."
In effect, the British had opened a can of worms for themselves!
==========================
On the 5th February, 1919, newspapers carried reports of the previous days meeting in the British 'House of Commons' in Westminster, London.
The media noted that the elected Sinn Féin members did not attend (it was expected that they would boycott that foreign parliament) but that Ireland was represented (!) in that British political institution by 26 Unionist members and 7 'Irish Nationalist members of the House'.
A (proper!) British elected member, a Mr Horatio Bottomley (pictured), apparently disgusted that some representatives from Ireland would snub "the Mother of Parliamentary Democracy" ("Ya wha', Shar...?!") proposed 'to the House' that the absent Sinn Féin members be forced to attend by using the device of 'the call of the house' (last used in 1836).
But his boss, a Mr Bonar Law, replied to Mr Bottomley that he and the governing administration did not intend to take any action in the matter.
A wise move, surely, considering that they were still trying to deal with the earlier can of worms...
==========================
GAS LADS...
The massive finds of oil and gas on our western seaboard could ensure Ireland's financial security for generations.
Wealth approximating that of the Arab countries is within our grasp, but the Irish government seems content to sell off our birthright for a handful of votes and a few dollars.
In a special 'Magill' report, Sandra Mara investigates just what we are giving away, and why.
From 'Magill' magazine, March 2002.
In a bizarre and inexplicable decision, the government of the day also agreed to abolish royalties and all other production-related levies, without any commitment from the oil companies to offset these unique benefits by guaranteeing a single Irish job, or indeed any agreement to use Irish goods or services.
Any business deal which could benefit one party only would appear to be foolhardy.
In a deal of this magnitude, and with such long-term consequences for the country, it is incredible ; that it was done in the name of each and every Irish citizen, by an elected government, demands explanation.
The oil companies secured a deal with the Irish government which will only benefit the oil companies.
That they have done so is no reflection on them ; they, after all, are in business to make money - big money - and this deal will ensure that they do...
(MORE LATER.)
On the evening of the 20th November, 1920, a ne'er-do-well alcoholic known as 'Shankers' (John/James) Ryan (pictured), who sometimes lived at Number 16 Railway Street, Dublin, with his wife, recognised two IRA Volunteers, Dick McKee and Peadar Clancy, and knew the Crown Forces were looking for them.
'Shankers' associated with members of his old employers, the British Army, and was friendly with the 'constabulary' in Dublin, the 'Dublin Metropolitan Police' and, to prove useful to them, was known to pass on to both groups any information he thought might 'earn' him the price of a few pints.
He followed the two Volunteers as they made their way to a safe house they were staying in - Number 36 Gloucester Street in Dublin City Centre (owned by a Mr Seán Fitzpatrick) - and, after they went inside, 'Shankers' made his way to Dublin Castle and told his Crown Force colleagues that he knew where the two Volunteers were staying that night.
An armed group of British Army soldiers followed 'Shankers' to the safe house and 'arrested' Volunteers Dick McKee and Peadar Clancy, and took them back to Dublin Castle for 'interrogation' before placing them in cells.
Early next morning (Sunday 21st November 1920) what became known as 'Bloody Sunday' took place in Dublin (British spies executed by the IRA) and, later that day, Volunteers Dick McKee and Peadar Clancy were beaten to death by their captors or, as the British put it, "were shot dead attempting to escape...".
The IRA investigated the deaths of their two Volunteers and the name John/James 'Shankers' Ryan emerged as the person responsible for touting on them.
An IRA Intelligence Officer, Volunteer Patrick Kennedy, was tasked by the Volunteer leadership to ascertain Mr Ryan's movements and habits, most of which were found to centre around his drinking habits and his sister, a M/s Becky Cooper, a well known 'Lady of the Night' in the red-light 'Nighttown' (aka 'The Kips') area of Dublin known as 'the Monto'.
The tout Ryan started his days of nothingness with as much drink as he could afford in Hynes Pub at the corner of Old Glouchester Place and Corporation Street in Dublin City Centre and, at about 10.30am on the morning of the 5th February, 1921, as he was seated on his usual bar stool, at least five IRA Volunteers (William Stapleton, Eddie Byrne, Tom Keogh, Bernard C. Byrne and Paddy Kennedy) entered the bar.
Volunteers William Stapleton and Eddie Byrne went over to him and asked if he was 'Shankers' Ryan, he looked at the two men and replied that he was, and asked them why, what about it...?
They told him to get off the stool, which he did, and they searched him for guns or documents, but he had neither on him. With that they shot him dead.
The IRA Unit left the pub in two groups - two Volunteers up front, with the rest of the men walking about 15 feet behind them.
They walked towards the Gloucester Diamond district and veered off onto North Great Charles Street (near Mountjoy Square), where they returned their weapons to an IRA arms dump and went their separate ways.
Job done.
(British military records refer to 'British Intelligence officer Lance Corporal MPC/MFP John Ryan' in referencing this shooting.)
==========================
"The so-called Ulster difficulty is purely artificial as far as Ireland itself is concerned.
It is an accident arising out of the British connection and will disappear with it.
If it arose from a genuine desire of the people of the North East for autonomy, the solution proposed would be the obvious one.
But it is not due to such a desire – it has arisen purely as a product of British Party manoeuvring..."
- Eamon de Valera (pictured), speaking to journalists on the 5th February, 1921, about his recent American tour.
The "British connection" hasn't disappeared just yet - Westminster continues to claim jurisdictional control over six Irish counties, and enforces that claim with a political and military presence - so de Valera, despite all his faults, is right about that.
'Brits Out, North and South...'
==========================
During the 1916 Rising in Ireland, the Thornton family, from Drogheda, County Louth (pictured) - Frank, Nora, Hugh, and Paddy - played its part, and done so bravely.
Prionsias Ó Droighneáin (Patrick Thornton, aka 'Frank Drennan') was only 16 years of age when he stood then, with others, to oppose the British military and political presence in Ireland, and he was wounded twice in the fight.
Prionsias and his sister, Nora, and their brother, Hugh, had travelled from Liverpool to Dublin in order to participate in the battle.
As a result of his injuries, he contracted TB and was left in a physically weakened state but, having survived the Rising, he returned to Drogheda, where he got a job as the manager of a cinema ('The Boyne Cinema', the owner of which was a Mr Joe Stanley, himself an Irish republican), although his interest in, and support for, Irish republicanism, never wavered.
In late January/early February in 1921, Prionsias was 'arrested' by the Black and Tans (forcibly removed from the cinema) and 'interrogated' by them about republican activity in the area - the rough treatment and the TB was too much for him, and he died on the 5th February, 1921.
RIP Volunteer Prionsias Ó Droighneáin.
==========================
On the 5th February, 1921, a farmer, a Mr Dan Moloney (69), had just left his house at Lislevane, Barryroe, in County Cork, and was crossing a field just north of Lislevane Village, in the parish of Barryroe, to get to where his farmworkers were doing a job for him, to let them know that his wife, Mary, had a dinner in the farmhouse waiting for them.
A shot rang out from a British Army lorry carrying soldiers from the Essex Regiment that was driving past on a near-by road and Mr Moloney fell down, dead, having been shot through the head.
The Death Certificate stated -
'Fracture of the skull, shock and haemorrhage.
Bullet wound from military in execution of their duty.*
Information received from military. Inquiry held eight of February 1921...'
(* "In execution of their duty...information received from military.." : that explains that, then.)
Mr Moloney, who was not an IRA Volunteer himself, had four sons (ranging in ages between 22 and 28), three of whom were imprisoned at the time for IRA activity and the fourth son, Michael, was on active service with the rebels.
He was also the uncle-in-law of the four Crowley brothers from Kilbrittain - Patrick, Cornelius, Denis, and Michael - who were IRA Volunteers, but he himself was not an IRA man, and that was known by the British.
Mr Moloney is buried in Timoleague Abbey Cemetery in West Cork.
RIP.
==========================
On the 5th February, 1921, at least 12 IRA Volunteers from 'E Company, 4th Battalion' (pictured), Dublin Brigade of the IRA, with Captain Andrew Walsh in command, attacked a lorry carrying British soldiers on the Lower Rathmines Road, in Dublin, which was on its way to Portobello Barracks on the Lower Rathmines Road.
There were no fatalities on either side, it was stated, but a Volunteer, Miles Ford, was wounded.
==========================
ON THIS DATE (5TH FEBRUARY) 103 YEARS AGO : REBEL WOMEN SAY 'NO!'.
On the 5th February 1922 - 103 years ago on this date - the Cumann na mBan convention was held in Dublin to consider its response to the 'Treaty of Surrender' ; the executive of the organisation had already rejected that Treaty.
"As things developed in 1922, we could see that the Free State was toeing the line for Britain. Nearly all the girls stayed republican, but the men seemed to waver...we offer no apology to the rulers North or South of this partitioned land in asserting our rights as freeborn Irish women to repudiate that Treaty and the Imperial Parliament of partitioned Ulster.
We fight for an Ireland where the exploitation of Irish workers by imported or native capitalists will be ruthlessly exterminated. (We will) put an end for all time to that state of chaos and social dis-order which is holding our people in unnatural bondage..." - Eithne Coyle, Cumann na mBan President.
On the 5th of April 1914, in Wynn's Hotel in Abbey Street, Dublin, the inaugural meeting of the newly-established 'Cumann na mBan' organisation took place, with Kathleen Lane-O'Kelley in the Chair.
Its constitution made no secret of the fact that it was not opposed to the use of force to remove the British military and political presence from Ireland and the organisation also declared that its primary aim was to "advance the cause of Irish liberty (and) teach its members first aid, drill, signalling and rifle practice in order to aid the men of Ireland."
It was the first female military force in Ireland.
In 1918, Westminster threatened to conscript Irishmen into its armed forces and the then four-year-old Cumann na mBan organisation campaigned to such an extent against that conscription that its ranks swelled and it found itself ideally placed to assist the then Sinn Féin organisation in its election campaign in December that same year.
At this time, Cumann na mBan had approximately 600 active branches in the country, with the majority of its members aged from their late teens to their mid-30's, and all were active on the republican side during the War of Independence that followed, in which an estimated 10,000 women played an active part.
In October 1921, the Cumann na mBan leadership recorded that it had at least 12,000 active members in its then 800 branches.
However, when the 'Treaty of Surrender' was signed in December 1921 (resulting in partition and the creation of two bastard States) the republican forces, including Cumann na mBan, effectively split into three groups - supporters of the Treaty, those who opposed it and those who withdrew in a neutral stance.
A group of Treaty-supporting activists left Cumann na mBan and formed themselves into a new group, 'Cumann na Saoirse' and, five years later, when the Fianna Fail party was founded, more Cumann na mBan members left the organisation to join Eamon de Valera in his new party.
Also, in the mid-1930's, yet another group from within Cumann na mBan left to form 'Mna na Poblachta' but the Cumann na mBan organisation itself stayed true to its republican principles in 1970 and again in 1986, when opportunists again left the then Republican Movement to seek their political (and financial) fortunes in constitutional political assemblies.
The women of Cumann na mBan were involved in the planning and execution of the 1916 Rising, providing support through intelligence gathering, fundraising, and providing safe houses for members of the Rising.
They also worked as couriers, carrying messages and weapons between rebel strongholds and providing medical aid to wounded fighters.
The 5th of February (1922) marks the 103rd anniversary of a Cumann Na mBan convention which was held in The Mansion House in Dublin ; the organisation was meeting to decide if it would support the 'Treaty of Surrender' or not.
Almost 500 delegates were present and, of those, 63 voted in favour of supporting that Treaty and 416 voted against.
Cumann na mBan had overwhelmingly rejected it and, less than one year later (ie in January 1923), the Leinster House administration declared that Cumann na mBan was "an illegal organisation".
In the course of our on-going struggle for full independence, Cumann Na mBan have had over 400 members imprisoned, many in Kilmainhan Jail, in Dublin, where conditions were so bad that two Hunger Strikes were undertaken.
On a personal note, I remember my mother, and her mother, chatting between themselves about the organisation, talking about the activities of, among others, Jeannie Hynes*, Annie Hogan from County Clare, Josephine McGowan, Lily Bennett, Agnes MacNeill, Daisy O'Daly*, Kathleen Moore*, Bridget Murtagh and Nora O'Daly*. ( * Four sisters.)
The exploits, the derring-do's, the 'skin-of-the-teeth' near captures, the time when Kathleen was in an IRA arms factory and...
..but that's for another day.
Maybe...!
==========================
On the 5th February (and into the 6th), 1922, political representatives from Westminster and the Leinster House institution in Dublin met in London "to discuss procedural matters" in relation to the Treaty of Surrender.
Both groups were in agreement that Westminster's 'Irish Free State Agreement Bill' would legalise the Treaty and transfer authority to the Dublin institution.
The next step would be for Dublin "to authorise an election to a Provisional Parliament which would enact a constitution..." which Westminster would confirm, following which the 'Ulster (sic) Month' Clause would come into play.
A Mr Michael Collins stated that the Treaty (of Surrender) was signed on the basis that the (Occupied) Six Counties would have a month to decide if it wanted to join the Free State "or remain (sic) as part of the United Kingdom (sic)".
The very reason that those Six Counties were forcibly plucked from the nine-county Province of Ulster was because of the gerrymandered 'majority' in favour of 'the United Kingdom' that that area comprised!
A safe bet for the Brits, obviously...
==========================
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.
Caoimhghin Ó Caoláin wants the Irish Government (sic) to campaign for an amnesty for Irish illegals in the US, but there is no chance of that happening, according to Bruce Morrison -
"The trend is going to be anti-immigration for a while because the people who flew those planes (on 9/11) were not Americans. It's not rational, it's emotional.
A lot of anti-immigrant feeling is coming out of the woodwork, which until a few months ago was impotent. But it will turn around again."
Fr Tom Flynn was walking off the altar after saying nine o'clock mass when he was told that two planes had crashed into the World Trade Centre.
When first contacted by 'Magill Magazine', he was officiating at the funeral of a New York fire fighter, Seán Tallon, whose parents were from Ireland...
(MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (5TH FEBRUARY) 104 YEARS AGO : DEATH OF KATHERINE WOOD.
Katharine Wood (pictured, perhaps better known as Kitty O'Shea/Katharine Parnell) died on the 5th February 1921 - 104 years ago on this date - at 75 years of age, at 39 Eastham Road, in Littlehampton, in Sussex, England, and is buried there.
That fine Lady was born on the 30th January, 1846, in Braintree, Essex, in England, and we wrote a few paragraphs about her last week (here) and don't want to repeat ourselves now.
'She is far from the land where her young hero sleeps,
And lovers are round her, sighing ;
But coldly she turns from their gaze, and weeps,
For her heart in his grave is lying.
She sings the wild song of her dear native plains,
Every note which he loved awaking ;
Ah! little they think, who delight in her strains,
How the heart of the Minstrel is breaking.
He had lived for his love, for his country he died,
They were all that to life had entwined him ;
Nor soon shall the tears of his country be dried,
Nor long will his Love stay behind him.
Oh! make her a grave where the sunbeams rest,
When they promise a glorious morrow ;
They'll shine o'er her sleep, like a smile from the West,
From her own loved island of sorrow...'
(From here.)
RIP to that fine Lady, Katharine Wood.
During the 1916 Rising, three brothers - Volunteers George, Patrick and John King - made their way to Dublin to play their part in the campaign.
Volunteer George King (aka 'Nicholas Murphy') shouldered a rifle for Ireland in 'The Imperial Hotel' and in the GPO, and was deported out of Ireland to a prison in England after the Rising.
When he was released, he returned to Ireland and resumed his republican activities and stayed with the Movement after 'Truce and Treaty'.
In December, 1922, the Dame Street, Dublin, office of the Chief State Solicitor, a Mr Michael A. Corrigan, was attacked by the IRA and set on fire and, in January 1923, his house on Leinster Road in Rathmines, Dublin, was blown apart (pictured, above) by an IRA bomb.
And Volunteer King was active again, on the 5th February 1923, with his comrades, as they attacked Free State soldiers who were on guard duty at Portobello Barracks in Dublin ; a fire-fight took place, and he was wounded.
Volunteer George King died from his wounds in the Meath Hospital, Dublin, on the 6th February 1923.
RIP Volunteer King.
==========================
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.
But then that's the problem with honours ; once they've been awarded, you can't change your mind and snatch them back later*.
This consideration alone should make the idea of setting up an Irish honours system a complete non-starter.
And yet, for the last few years, there has been a low-key campaign to do just that, led by none other than Bertie Ahern himself.
Supposedly a true-green Irish republican, the (State) Taoiseach is said to be disappointed that the idea hasn't gained more support from his government colleagues.
In fairness, you can see why the idea of honouring certain people has its attractions ; Ireland is full of unsung heroes...
( * ...or can they..?!)
(MORE LATER.)
That's it for now, and thanks for dropping in - appreciated!
Sharon and the team.
