Dinny Lacey, Tipperary officer

Dinny Lacey and his death.
http://homepage.eircom.net/~150/page45.html
http://homepage.eircom.net/~150/page46.html

http://republican-news.org/archive/1998/February19/19hist.html

http://1169andcounting.blogspot.com/2004_01_25_1169andcounting_archive.html (Given that the story was published in separate blog posts, the article is broken up, so you’ll have to scroll down the page to read it all.)

And scroll down nearly to the end of this page to read the rest:
http://1169andcounting.blogspot.com/2004_02_01_1169andcounting_archive.html

From here:

“Republican activity was high during the troubles at the start of the 20th century. This was due to the many hiding places in the Comeraghs and the willingness of the local population to aid the “Flying Columns”.

Rathgormack was attached to the 3rd Tipperary Brigade at the end of hostilities in 1921 and was known as F Company of the 8th Battalion Carrick-on Suir. There were 30 men in the company. Mothel/D company had 57 men, Clonea/E company had 72 men and Windgap or G company had 30 men. You can read more about those troubled times at Phoenix Publishing.
One of the darkest incidents in the bitter struggle to happen in the Rathgormack area was when the 3rd Tipp. brigade under Dinny Lacey executed District Inspector Gilbert Potter, of the RIC station in Cahir, in response to the execution of Thomas Traynor in April 1921. This event occurred around Coolnahorna and Moonminane. There is further information about the operations of the IRA in the Comeragh area in “The Comeraghs – Refuge of Rebels by Sean and Sile Murphy, though this is probably long out of print.
Upper part of the Nire Valley a favourite haunt of the rebels and venue for a famous meeting of the IRA executive in 1923 attended by De Valera, it signaled the beginning of the end of the Civil War.”

http://www.tipperarylibraries.ie/ths/thj1993.htm
References to two articles about Lacey’s death.

And finally (for now), a couple of songs which mention him by name.

I think it possible that my grandfather may have fought with Dinny Lacey, but I cannot be sure. I do know that, when I told my mother the following story about him, which Seán Fitzpatrick related in his Bureau of Military History statement, she had already heard it.

One night, Dinny Lacey and his men were lying in ambush. Their quarry did not appear, but during the night they were unnerved by an approaching sound. It was like someone walking towards them very deliberately. Lacey shouted at the intruder to identify himself. No answer, and the steps continued.
Lacey again shouted a warning, but no response. Finally, he fired a shot in the direction of the noise. It ceased immediately. On investigation, it was found that Lacey had shot a poor inoffensive donkey.
Seán Fitzpatrick rebuked Lacey for his actions.
“Well, he should have put up his hands!” was the response.

Memorial to Dinny Lacey.

First Dáil commemoration: some sources and media

See the official Dáil record of the proceedings of the first sitting of Dáil Éireann, 21 January 1919.

RTÉ Archives displays some interviews with the first TDs and footage of previous commemorations. See also President de Valera’s address to the Dáil on its 50th anniversary (scroll down the page).

The online version of the Irish Times supplement on the First Dáil.

Official commemoration of the anniversary of the First Dáil

Today, the Oireachtas sat at the Mansion House to commemorate 90 years of the Dáil. Any official celebration on the date of the actual anniversary, the 21st January (tomorrow), was prevented by the fact that Sinn Féin had pre-booked the Mansion House for their commemoration.

The Joint Sitting of the Oireachtas consisted of speeches by all the political parties and the Cathaoirlaigh of Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann. Of the poitical leaders, Caoimhín O Caoileáin’s speech was the best, keeping the historic aspect of the occasion to the forefront. Sinn Féin is always very canny when it comes to striking the right notes.

John O’Donoghue, Cathaoirleach of the Dáil, quoted the impressive words of Cathal Brugha, who presided over the historic first meeting of the elected parliament of Ireland’s independent republic. What followed, however, was scarcely worthy of that tradition. In particular, the Taoiseach, Brian Cowan, used the occasion to promote the Lisbon Treaty and to attack its opponents. Not only that, he even said that the First Dáil had no international relevance, nor did any subsequent Dáil, until Ireland joined the EU. That is an outrageous thing for a Taoiseach to say in light of the international achievements of the nation from 1919 on, but it also leaves him open to the charge of disparaging the sovereignty of the state.

Ireland’s historic parliament was subjected to constant attack and its representatives to harassment, assault and assassination by the imperial power that would not recognise its existence. Choosing to adhere to the Lisbon Treaty’s requirement that it show its “loyalty” to the EU, the Irish government has similarly declared to the Irish people that its vote against the “treaty” (actually the EU Constitution, slightly reworked) is illegitimate and will be ignored. Cowan’s conduct at the commemoration mirrored his conduct as Taoiseach.

As the more bumbling and obvious PD leader, Ciaran Cannon, put it, “real freedom means” the attaining of a “position of influence”, which involves “pooling sovereignty”.*

The joint degradation of the process of commemoration by the government and by Sinn Féin is telling.  It is up to the Irish people, not its present representatives, it would seem, to honour and celebrate its achievements.

*In international relations, even realist theory does not have smaller countries “pooling” their sovereignty, but joining together to gain maximum influence as a group. National sovereignty is not to be superceded by any other authority.

Warping the minds of the young

I was at a bookshop in town yesterday, spending more than I should have. There were a few boxes of books in the shop which came from the estate of the late Terry de Valera (son of the former president). It was a very esoteric and interesting collection. From here I picked up “Irish at Home” by Máire Ní Cheallacháin, a 1922 reprint of a book originally written at the height of the War of Independence in 1921. Among the book’s grammar, sample phrases, and so on (which I actually find very useful), we have a sample conversation in Irish, the English version of which is as follows:

IN DUBLIN:
[TWO SISTERS TALKING]

BRIGID: Is it in the city you were?

MARY: Yes.

B: Anything strange going on?

M: I did not see anything but I believe there was a “raid” being made by the military in O’Connell Street about twelve o’clock.

B: I wonder [I do not know] if they found anything?

M: I hear that some man was arrested and that he was brought as a prisoner to the Castle but I did not hear who he was.

B: Do you know that an ambush took place in Camden Street last night?

M: No! What time?

B: Just after we clearing off [out of it] according to what I hear.

M: We were in luck so. And was anyone killed?

B: One man was killed on the street and others who were passing by got wounded. It is said that one bomb was sent into the very centre of the lorry and it is not known how many of them were killed or wounded. Two or three of them began to fire shots all around them, in any case and off with them then like a whirlwind.

M: Was there any hostage in the lorry with them?

B: I do not know that [That is a thing I do not know].

M: And was it black and tans or soldiers who were there?

B: Black and tans, I believe.

M: Listen! that is a stop-press being called out. I wonder what has happened now?

B: Well, the Lord knows! Go out and get one.

[She goes out and gets one.]

M: Another spy shot in Cork.

B: I read in today’s paper that there is a detective missing in Galway and it is thought that it is what he has been carried off to an unknown destination.

M: Did you notice in this evening’s paper that there is to be a change in the Curfew again? We’ll have until ten [o'clock] now.

B: That is good as it was mischief when we had to be in at eight. It was upsetting everyone. The dinner is ready now and you had better have it [eat it] before you commence any thing else.

M: Very well. I won’t find any fault with that as I have my appetite I promise you.

[They go into the kitchen.]

Well, at least those raids and ambushes didn’t spoil their appetites. As someone said to me, if this was on the syllabus instead of Peig, everyone would be rushing to learn Irish.

The mystery of “The Galtee Mountain Boy”

The Galtee Mountain Boy, by Patsy O’Halloran (fourth verse by Christy Moore)

I joined the Flying Column in 1916
In Cork with Seán Moylan, Tipperary with Dan Breen
Arrested by Free Staters and sentenced for to die
Farewell to Tipperary said the Galtee Mountain Boy

We crossed the pleasant valleys and over the hilltops green
Where we met with Dinny Lacey, Seán Hogan and Dan Breen
Seán Moylan and his gallant band they kept the flag flying high
Farewell to Tipperary said the Galtee Mountain Boy

We crossed the Dublin mountains, we were rebels on the run
Though hunted night and morning, we were outlawed but free men
We tracked the Wicklow mountains as the sun was shining high
Farewell to Tipperary said the Galtee Mountain Boy

I’m bidding farewell to old Clonmel that I never more will see
And to the Galtee mountains that oft times sheltered me
To the men who fought for liberty and died without a sigh
May the cause be ne’er forgotten said the Galtee Mountain Boy

This song is written from the point of view of a Tipperary Volunteer during the War of Independence and Civil War. In the latter conflict he is an anti-treaty soldier. He laments his fate as a captive of the Free State army and awaits his summary execution.

When I visited this site* last year, I learned that some people found the lyrics of the third verse unusual: surely a band from Tipperary would cross the Wicklow mountains before the Dublin mountains, presuming that they were on the way from Tipperary to Dublin?

However, assuming the song is intended to make logical sense, there were only a few specific occasions on which a band of Tipperary soldiers went from Tipperary to Dublin during the period referred to.

One such occasion occurred in the Spring of 1922, when group went to assist in the takeover of the Four Courts (see Ernie O’Malley, The Singing Flame).

Two months later, at the beginning of the Civil War, Harry Boland called for reinforcements from Tipperary for the Dublin anti-treaty garrison. Commandant Michael Sheehan led a flying column to Dublin, but they arrived after the fall of the Four Courts and too late to be of any help. However, they did head, first to the Dublin and then to the Wicklow hills, where the remnants of Dublin anti-treatyites were continuing the fight. Harry Boland took part in these battles, while Éamon de Valera travelled directly to Field General Headquarters in Clonmel.

The Tipperary column, bolstered by some Four Courts refugees, then went to Enniscorthy where they took part in the fighting, and from there headed back to FGHQ, Clonmel via Carlow and Kilkenny. Thus, the (presumably fictional) Galtee Mountain Boy would have crossed the Dublin and Wicklow mountains on his way back to Tipperary.

The author may have been very knowledgeable about the 4th (Tipperary town) Battalion. The Tipperary battalion had the most activity and the most casualties, and contained the soul of the Brigade – Seán Treacy, Seán Hogan, Seán Fitzpatrick, Dan Breen and Dinny Lacey

The references to Seán Moylan possibly refer to the occasional co-operation between the Cork No. 2 Brigade (of which Moylan was commandant), the East Limerick Brigade and the 3rd Tipperary Brigade, such as the Glencurrane ambush of December 19 1920, in which companies from all three brigades took part

*I contacted the owner of the Triskelle site, who incorporated my ideas on the lyrics page.