Spectacular Coup

Striking at the heart of the enemy, burning of the Custom House in Dublin in 1921 by Seán O’Mahoney, £2 , published by the 1916-21 Club. P ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> THE burning of the Custom House in May 1921 by the Dublin Brigade of the Irish Republican Army is the subject of the second of a series of pamphlets, the first dealing with the murders of McKee, Clancy and Clune in November 1920 written by Seán O’Mahoney and published by the 1916-21 Club. P ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> The burning of the Custom House was one of the defining moments of the Tan War, delivering as it did a mortal blow, as O’Mahoney describes it to the “administrative heart” of the British. Housed in the Custom House were nine separate British government departments, as well as the entire local government records and all the tax files for Ireland. P ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> O’Mahoney charts the background to the entire operation, beginning in January 1921 when Oscar Traynor, who had succeeded Dick McKee (murdered in Dublin Castle) as OC of the Dublin Brigade, was summoned to a meeting of the senior military and political leadership of the Republican Movement. Prior to the meeting Traynor was advised he should be prepared to discuss the strength and activities of the Dublin Brigade. The meeting was held at 40 Herbert Park, the home of Madame O’Rahilly, widow of The O’Rahilly who was killed during the evacuation from the GPO in 1916. P ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> The meeting, chaired by the Minister for Defence Cathal Brugha, was attended by senior figures such as the Chief-of-Staff Richard Mulcahy, Director of Intelligence Michael Collins, Director of Purchases Liam Mellows, Director of Munitions Seán Russell, Adjutant-General Gearóid O’Sullivan and Deputy-Chief-of-Staff Austin Stack amongst others. P ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> The meeting was held at the behest of Éamon de Valera, who, following his return from the US in December was convinced that the armed struggle in Ireland needed to be brought to a new level by staging a major military operation in Dublin, a “spectacular” in modern parlance, which would draw international attention to the war in Ireland. De Valera proposed either attacking Beggar’s Bush barracks, the headquarters of the Auxiliaries or the destruction of the Custom House. Traynor as OC Dublin was asked to look at the feasibility of either target. P ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> Traynor quickly decided that an attack on Beggar’s Bush would be too dangerous and so opted for the Custom House. Both Traynor and Tom Ennis, OC of the 2nd Battalion, carried out an inspection of the building, posing as civil servants. They agreed that whilst structurally sound, its interior, filled as it was with wooden presses, files and papers, was highly flammable. P ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> A plan was drawn up which provided for the evacuation of all the staff prior to the burning of the building, the cutting off of all communication and the containment of all neighbouring fire stations. Traynor also proposed the erection of barricades, covered by snipers near all the military barracks in the city. P ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> The plan was submitted to a sub-committee of the Army Council at a meeting held on May 26. Collins objected to the erection of barricades, believing it looked too much like a general insurrection. Eventually the revised plan was accepted. Meanwhile the operation had been sanctioned by the Dáil Ministry. P ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> The operation was in two parts, the capture and destruction of the Custom House, the protection of the Volunteers inside by outside units. Traynor had decided that petrol would be too dangerous, so paraffin was to be used, this involved the confiscation of a paraffin lorry which was to be driven to the rear entrance of the Custom House. Collins’ elite squad and the Dublin Brigade’s ASU were also seconded to the operation. P ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> Everything depended on precision timing. However, due to a mistimed signal to withdraw, there was a delay of several minutes. By this time the British had been alerted. In the fight which ensued five Volunteers lost their lives and over eighty were captured. However, in a show of defiance the Dublin Brigade launched a series of attacks that night to demonstrate that its operational ability had not been seriously affected. P ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> The burning of the Custom House dealt a major blow to the administration of British rule in Ireland, making many within the British political establishment realise that military force alone would not break resistance to British rule. P ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> Once again Seán O’Mahoney has illuminated a major event in Irish revolutionary history, giving a concise account of the background of the operation through to its execution and aftermath. More of the same, please.
— Deasún Ó Daltún
Contents

	Type or paste text or Web address (beginning with http://) here: Translate from: English to FrenchEnglish to GermanEnglish to ItalianEnglish to PortugueseEnglish to SpanishFrench to EnglishGerman to EnglishItalian to EnglishSpanish to EnglishPortuguese to English
	Powered by Systran

Jackie Clarke

HIS comrades down the years were distressed to hear of the death of Seán Ó Clérigh as he signed himself -- Jackie Clarke of Ballina, Co Mayo. Jackie was 74 when he died on October 12 in Castlebar General Hospital. He had been in poor health for a number of years.

Jackie was that rare combination, a successful businessman who was also an active Irish republican. During his childhood in Ballina he was aware of the Republican Veterans of the 1920s and while in Blackrock College, Dublin in his teens he read of young men being arrested and charged with possession of arms.

Considering that the struggle was continuing he wrote to the 1916 Veteran Joe Clarke of the Irish Book Bureau. Joe supplied him with the famous booklet Tragedies of Kerry and other literature which shaped his political life from then on.

Back in Ballina in the late 1940s, with the release of Republican prisoners in England, the Six Counties and the 26 Counties, Jackie became part of the subsequent re-organisation of the Movement in Co Mayo. His comrades were the veterans of the 1940s who always had a special regard for him.

He became increasingly active in the 1950s and was elected a member of Ballina Urban Council in 1955, a position he held until 1974. Seán Cronin, Editor of the United Irishman and later Washington Correspondent of the Irish Times, described Jackie -- whom he never met -- as an indefatigable activist who continually travelled long journeys yet attended assiduously to his public duties locally. He also developed his business interests and in the late 1960s married and raised a family who are a credit both to himself and to his wife Ann.

As the local representative of the National Graves Association he was mainly responsible for the erection in 1966 of the fine memorial cross at the Republican Plot in Leigue Cemetery. Many of his comrades remember his courage as Chairperson at the plot during the funeral there in 1974 of hunger striker Michael Gaughan and later at the symbolic funeral of Frank Stagg. The oppressive presence of very large forces of 26-County police and military forces in combat gear did not deter him in the least from his duties.

In his later years he suffered much from ill-health which he endured philosophically as was typical of the man. He arranged to have his stock of films of Republican commemorations in Mayo, Galway and elsewhere in Ireland put into the sake-keeping of the National Film Institute for posterity. His library, amassed over a lifetime, is considerable and he never failed to assist those engaged in historical research.

Splits in the Republican Movement -- inevitable when constitutionalism is forced on what is essentially a revolutionary movement -- distressed him greatly. The unavoidable “scaradh na gcompánach” (parting of friends) never engendered any bitterness in him. It can be truthfully said that Jackie Clarke had no enemies.

His old comrades remember him with respect and affection. In an appreciation, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh said:
“As one who was associated closely with him for 45 years, I wish to say that his family can always be justly proud of him.” Sincere sympathy is expressed to them in this their time of great loss.

The removal took place from McGinns Funeral Home, Ballina to St Muredech’s Cathedral on October 14. The coffin was draped in the Irish Tricolour. The large attendance included representatives of the Republican Movement including Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, Uachtarán, Sinn Féin Poblachtach, Dan Hoban, Newport, Co Mayo and Joe O’Neill, Bundoran, Co Donegal.

Also present were 1940s Veteran Séamus Ó Mongáin, Dú Thuama, Béal an Átha and members of the McNeela-Gaughan-Stagg Cumann of Republican Sinn Féin, Co Mayo.

Following 11am Mass the following morning, the funeral took place to Leigue Cemetery, the same cemetery in which Mayo hunger strikers Michael Gaughan and Frank Stagg rest in the Republican Plot.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a n-anamacha uaisle ar fad.Republicans generally and SAOIRSE send condolences to Jackie’s wife Anne; sons John, Joseph, Kevin, Dara and Peter; daughter Gabrielle; sisters Loretta and Heléne and brother Ian.
Contents