Volume 1 (1999/2000)
Issue
1 (March 1999)
Issue
2 (Nov. 1999)
Issue 3 (Dec. 1999)
Issue 4 (Feb. 2000)
Issue 5 (March 2000)
Issue 6 (April 2000)
Issue
7 (May 2000)
Volume 2 (2000/2001)
Issue 1 (Sept. 2000)
Issue 2 (Oct. 2000)
Issue 3 (Jan. 2001)
Issue 4 (March 2001)
Issue 5 (April 2001)
Issue 6 (May 2001)
Volume 3 (2001)
Issue 1 (Sept. 2001)
Issue 2 (Nov. 2001)
Categories
Sport: 1
2 3
Lifestyles: 1 2
3
Commentary: 1 2
3
Review: 1 2
3
Writing: 1 2
3
Event: 1 2
3
Kevin Barry and the Forgotten 10
Shane Doyle
Templeogue College, Dublin
Shane Doyle is a Transition Year pupil in Templeogue College, Dublin. He spent his TY work experience with Student Xpress.
A few weekends ago we witnessed the historic reburial of ten of the heroes
of the War of Independence, the Forgotten Ten. Amid tensions in the North,
warfare in Afghanistan and the terror of biochemical death this country
put aside these things and, if only of a short time, honoured men who
fought for independence over 80 years ago. For countless generations independence
was a dream and people like Kevin Barry, Patrick Moran, Thomas Whelan,
Patrick Doyle, Bernard Ryan, Thomas Bryan, Frank Flood, Thomas Traynor,
Edmond Foley, and Patrick Maher made it a reality. We owe our freedom
and our peace of mind to these young heroes who fought and died for a
nation that was alive in their hearts.
The
execution of Kevin Barry, on 1st of November, was the first during the
reign of the Black and Tans and occurred just one week after the death
of the Lord Mayor of Cork, Terence MacSwiney, in Brixton Jail, following
a 74 day hunger strike. The execution of this 19 year-old medical student
was to stir up a public already at fever pitch after Balbriggan had been
burned. The Cork and Kerrymen's Associations got together in New York
and had the story put into every American newspaper from coast to coast.
Kevin Barry was taking part in an ambush on 20th September when he was
captured. He and Frank Flood were among 24 men chosen to disarm 8 soldiers
and burn the lorry they were using to collect bread from a bakery. Barry
was supposed to be sitting his final repeat medical exam at 2pm that day.
Unfortunately he never arrived. The raid went badly, no weapons were taken
and Barry was captured. The night before his execution there was a vigil
outside the prison, led by Father Albert of UCD. Barry's sister, Kathy,
noted that there were "hundreds of students from UCD" there.
Four
months later the decision to hang 6 more volunteers, 2 on the hour every
hour only three days before Saint Patrick's Day. These 6 were Thomas Bryan,
Patrick Doyle, Frank Flood, Bernard Ryan, Thomas Whelan and Patrick Moran.
It is generally accepted that Moran, although a veteran of 1916, had nothing
to do with the Bloody Sunday assassinations in November 1920 of which
he was accused. Frank Flood led a 6 man ambush on a Black and Tan squad
collecting pay for British troops at Gormanstown (known as the Drumcondra
ambush). The Black and Tans were an hour and a half late and in the intervening
time the Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP) had spotted the rebels. In the
ensuing battle, they were attacked by both the DMP and the Black and Tans,
Mick Magee of Arbour Hill was fatally wounded and the rest were captured.
Dermot O'Sullivan had his death sentence commuted because he was only
seventeen. The 6 were executed on March 14, 1921. The impact of the six
men, hung in twos, on any who saw it cannot be understated. It was later
used as an argument to accept the Treaty on the basis "that we never
want to see this again, and Lloyd George's threat of immediate and terrible
war is no idle threat".
The remaining three were Thomas Traynor (hanged April 26, 1921) and the
"Galtee boys" Edward Foley and Patrick Maher. Foley and Maher
were hanged for their alleged involvement in a raid at Knocklong railway
station two years earlier. It was during this raid that the legendary
Sean Hogan was rescued. The two men penned a joint statement on the eve
of their executions saying, "We are to be executed at seven o'clock
in the morning, and our bodies when Ireland is free, shall go to Galbally."
Nine of the ten men were reburied in Glasnevin Cemetery. Patrick Maher
was be reburied in Balylanders, Co Limerick. The State funeral in Glasnevin
went off with a surprising lack off turbulence. The only real disruption
occurred when Gardaí refused to allow any but those invited into
the Cemetery. They were heckled by Republican supporters but there were
no serious incidents. The arrival of Mr Gerry Adams and his colleagues
was greeted by loud cheering by Sinn Féin supporters. However,
the Taoiseach speech was heard in a respectful silence.
The reburial of these ten men has been described as "discharging a debt of honour that stretches back eighty years," by the Taoiseach. This, the repayment of a longstanding debt to these men and many hundreds more who took up the cause for independence, should be remembered with pride and a solemn thanks by each and every Irish person who takes pride in his or her independence and nation.