Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 9 July 2020

Remembering 1920: The Assassination of Commissioner Smyth

The targeting by IRA Brigade No.1 of RIC Cork City barracks in early July 1920 turned into targeting by mid-July 1920 of high ranking RIC officers. By far the most sensational shooting of a Government official occurred in Cork as a late hour on Saturday evening, 17 July 1920, at the County Club on the South Mall. Colonel Gerard Bryce Ferguson Smyth was a First World War veteran from the Royal Engineers and newly appointed Chief Commissioner of the RIC.

Almost a month earlier at Listowel, County Kerry on 19 June 1920, his campaign strategy against the IRA shocked even the toughest of his RIC officers. Smyth noted that no co-operation meant shoot on sight. Many RIC men, from County Inspectors to Constables, resigned in protest against the task assigned when presented with Smyth’s note.

“…Police and military will patrol the country at least five nights a week. They are not to confine themselves to the main roads but take across the country, lie in ambush, and when civilians are seen approaching shout ‘Hand up.’ Should the order not be immediately obeyed, shoot, and shoot with effect. If persons approaching carry their hands in their pockets and are in any way suspicious looking, shoot them down … We want your assistance in carrying out this scheme and wiping out Sinn Féin”.

In the second week of July 1920 Smyth was called to England and appeared at the Irish Office where he was queried on newspaper accounts of his speeches made in Listowel and Killarney. On his arrival back to Ireland he went to Kerry on business related to the holding of the Assizes. He arrived to Cork on Friday 16 July to be present for the Cork City Assizes, to be held the following Monday.

The Cork Examiner records that on Saturday evening, 17 July 1920 at 10.30pm, a party of men, whose numbers were between twelve and fifteen entered the County Club building by the usual entrance on the South Mall. All carried revolvers in their hands, and some wore masks or other disguises. Some of the men approached the hall porter Edward Fitzgerald, pointed revolvers at him and warned him not to make any noise. He was ordered to walk in front of the party into the vestibule, presumably so that the men would not be visible from the entrance. In the vestibule at the bottom of the stairs about eight or ten of the men remained, still covering Mr Fitzgerald.

The others of the party proceeded to the smoking room and throwing open the door entered. Only four men were in the room at the time. There were Commissioner Smyth, County Inspector George Fitzgerald William Craig, Mr Barker, secretary of the club and one other member. The men hesitated at the doorway for a second or two, and cried out, “Where is he?”. Another evidently catching sight of Colonel Smyth fired at him. In all five or six shots were fired. Mr Smyth got out of the room but collapsed in the passage outside of the door. County Inspector Craig was also wounded in the leg.

Michael O’Donoghue, Engineer Officer with the 2^nd Battalion of the Cork No.1 Brigade, in his witness statement (WS1741) in the Bureau of Military History, outlines that his men were involved in the targeting of Colonel Smyth. He outlined that his men on coming into the room of the County Club said to Colonel Smyth – “Your orders are to shoot at sight”. “Well, so are ours”. Thenshots rang out.Michael outlined that the young men having their mission accomplished, pocketed their revolvers and retired to the street mingling with the crowd, which was then leaving a nearby cinema, and disappeared.  

An armoured car and military lorries and swarms of police descended on the South Mall within minutes and surrounded the area to carry out an intense but after a fruitless search they cleared the streets. Later that night soldiers and Black and Tans proceeded through the streets of Cork City, firing in all directions as they proceeded. Over twenty other local citizens were injured.

Eighteen jurors were called to attend the inquest of Colonel Smyth the following day, Sunday 18 July 1920, but only nine attended. After a number of hours delay the numbers had not been assembled to swear in a jury. The Coroner abandoned the inquest.

On Sunday evening 18 July, Michael O’Donoghue recalls further chaos on the streets of Cork. At 7pm he was passing the Courthouse and the streets ahead were almost completely deserted. Crossing from Patrick Street towards Castle Street the next moment, he heard the roar of lorries tearing down Patrick Street and bursts of rifle fire. Looking back, he saw several of hurrying stragglers drop to the ground. An armoured car entered Parade from St Patrick’s Street, machine guns roaring. As Michael reached the safety of the hallway of our digs, he could hear the whine of bullets along the Grand Parade outside. Stealing to a window overlooking the Grand Parade, he ventured to look down north and south along the thoroughfare. Five figures still lay huddled on the pavement near Castle Street corner, and two others on the street near Singer’s Corner.

Michael notes in his witness statement: “The military have been given a free hand this night and all the police have wisely being kept in barracks. Later, an ambulance from Fire Brigade Station drove down the Parade and picked up the victims”. It was the first and the bloodiest of the many nights of terror, which Cork citizens were to witness in the ensuing weeks and months ahead.

Kieran’s new book Witness to Murder, The Inquest of Tomás MacCurtain is now available to purchase online (co-authored with John O’Mahony 2020, Irish Examiner/ www.examiner.ie).

Captions:

1056a. Hibernian House, formerly Cork City’s County Club, built 1829 (picture: Kieran McCarthy).

1056b. Entrance to Hibernian House, formerly Cork City’s County Club (picture: Kieran McCarthy).

Independent Cllr Kieran McCarthy has welcomed news that in line with the accelerated Government roadmap on public health measures, public counters in Cork City Hall, Anglesea Street, have re-opened from 10am-4pm, Monday to Friday. Cllr McCarthy noted: “Cork City Council have asked residents, business and communities to telephone their Customer Service Unit at 021 492 4000 or to visit their website www.corkcity.ie beforecoming to City Hall. Strict social distancing measures are in place such as meetings by appointment where possible, limitation on numbers in the building and maximum of two callers per household. The dedicated Customer Service team can help you to make an appointment with the right department, should you need one”.

With regard to housing HAP tenants can contact the Council via the Customer Service Unit at 021 492 4000, email hap@corkcity.ie or via www.corkcity.ie. The Accommodation Placement Unit is now located at City Quarter, Lapps Quay and can be telephoned at 0214924248 or by email homeless@corkcity.ie

With regard to Parking,the following services are available online at www.corkcity.ie – Resident parking permit applications, payment of parking fines, and parking fine appeals can be posted or emailed to parkingappeals@corkcity.ie.

Shoppers and visitors to the city centre can avail of two hours free parking at North Main Street and Paul Street multi-storey car parks. There are over 900 parking spaces between both sites. Normal charges will apply after two hours. This parking promotion will continue until 31 August.

With regard to libraries, leisure and cultural spaces, Cork City Libraries have re-opened their doors on a managed basis in line with national public health requirements. The City Library on Grand Parade has opened its Childrens, Music and Lending Department for borrowing and return, as has Bishopstown Library. Ballincollig, Blackpool, Glanmire, Hollyhill, Mayfield and Tory Top Libraries are open for borrowing and return. Priority hour for elderly or at risk patrons is 10am-11am. Focus and preparation is ongoing to reopen Douglas Library in Douglas Shopping Centre in November. The temporary Douglas Library remains closed at this point in time due to social distancing difficulties.

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 2 July 2020

Remembering 1920: Besieging MacCurtain Street Barracks

July 1920 coincided with another escalation in the ongoing War of Independence. Following successful hits on County Cork Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) barracks, the time had come for focussed attacks on the city’s RIC barracks – led by the active 2^nd Battalion of the Cork No.1 Brigade. In the broader context, Historian Dr Joost Augusteijn in the Atlas of the Irish Revolution details that by the summer of 1920, almost one third of all RIC barracks had been evacuated. By the end of 1920 a total of 553 barracks were destroyed.

Michael Murphy, Commandant of the 2nd Battalion, in his witness statement (WS1547) in the archives of the Bureau of Military History outlines several examples of activity his battalion were involved in. On 5 April 1920 Togher RIC barracks was evacuated and a short time later was burned down. On 1 June 1920 Blarney RIC barracks was burned down. On 24 June 1920, Blackrock RIC barracks, having been evacuated, was also burned by men of the 2^nd Battalion.

The targeting of city centre barracks was a much riskier set of actions. Michael Murphy in his witness statement retells his side of events on the 30 June hit on the RIC Barracks on MacCurtain Street. This barracks was one of the principle stations in the city and was connected to the murder of Tomás MacCurtain some weeks previously. The street has just been renamed by Cork Corporation as well from King Street to MacCurtain Street. The barracks was occupied by a garrison of between 20 to 25 policemen as well as several Black and Tans. The barracks was quite visible but quite difficult to get close to. It was the second last of a block of five houses at the right hand side as one enters the street from Summer Hill North. The first house was the residence of Dr O’Donovan, Medical Officer of Health of Cork Corporation. Then there was the barracks, and next door above in order were the Grosvenor Hotel, Corrigan’s Hotel and the Windsor Hotel.

Michael Murphy relates in his witness statement: “To my mind, the best way to do the job was to explode a land mine from the adjoining house. I fixed the time for the explosion at about 5pm when I knew that the garrison would be inside at tea. At about 4.30pm a few of us entered the dwelling house adjoining and, having removed the occupants elsewhere, placed a large mine at the dividing wall between the house and the barracks day room. The mine was exploded and blew a large breech in the dividing wall, hurling debris into the dayroom of the barracks. This being done, I signalled to the Volunteers to withdraw, as we could not possibly hope to engage the garrison with any chance of success”.

The Cork Examiner in interviews with local people recorded that they witnessed young men in groups of two, or in some cases individually approaching everyone going along and warning them to pass quickly, “to get off the street”. Some who had made up their mind to see films thought no more of it and went into the nearby Coliseum picture house or cinema. Others obeyed the warning, and more were inclined by curiosity to loiter. It was only through warning gunshots into the air that people moved on with speed.

Stephen Foley, Lieutenant in the 1st Battalion, Cork no.1 Brigade, in his witness statement (WS1699) tells that he was told to take up position at the Coliseum Cinema for an attack on the RIC barracks, which was just across the road from that cinema. He was armed with a revolver. Other men, who were here and there across MacCurtain Street, were also armed. Michael Murphy outlines that men such as Stephen manned the whole adjacent district and were armed with revolvers. In addition, Michael relates that the vicinity of Union Quay barracks and Blackrock Road barracks was patrolled by his men – so that all bridges crossing the River Lee were similarly held by the brigade prior to the mine explosion.

The Cork Examiner records that the attack on the barracks was directed principally from Dr Donovan’s residence. Volunteers called to Dr Donovan’s house and they insisted that he should leave along with his cook and maid.It was thought that 10 lbs of gelignite were used to cause the explosion. At the time of the explosion there were ten policemen in the dayroom. As gunshots were fired up in the air outside to clear the streets, they suspected something was up and rushed to the front door and hence avoided the heart of the explosion.

The breach was nine feet by three feet in the dayroom wall with some breaking of glass in the windows. Apart from that the barracks was otherwise undamaged. The records and documents were intact. However, in Dr Donovan’s house the second floor and the hallway were absolutely destroyed, and the floor of the third storey collapsed causing the furniture to crash down onto the floors below. As the front walls had very serious cracks from the blast, it was thought that the remaining walls of Dr Donovan’s house would have to be pulled down.

Such was the force of the explosion that the walls of the Coliseum on the opposite side of the street were extensively dented with marks of stone and splinters, bits of timber being even stuck into the walls. The Coliseum filled with powder smoke and dust. The lights were still up as the exhibition of ‘pictures’ had not started. In a second the larger portion of the audience, which comprised of women and children shrieked with terror and scramble to the exits.

For fears of a sequel to the MacCurtain Street event, many citizens owning large shops in St Patrick’s Street and other thoroughfares took precautionary measures in the way of putting up temporary shuttering on their premises. Patrols were supplemented by posses of military carrying rifle bayonets. Several miniature Union Jack flags were hung from the windows of the MacCurtain Street RIC barracks and the wall of the dayroom was stuffed with sandbags.

Kieran’s new book Witness to Murder, The Inquest of Tomás MacCurtain is now available to purchase online (co-authored with John O’Mahony 2020, Irish Examiner/ www.examiner.ie).

Captions:

1055a. Postcard of King Street, now MacCurtain Street, with RIC Barracks shown on the right, c.1900 from Cork City Through Time by Kieran McCarthy & Dan Breen.

1055b. The red brick building is the former RIC Station site on MacCurtain Street (picture: Kieran McCarthy).

In line with the accelerated Government roadmap, our public counters in City Hall, Anglesea Street, Cork will reopen from Monday June 29, from 10 – 4 pm, Monday to Friday.

However, they are asking residents, business and communities to telephone our Customer Service Unit at 021 492 4000 or to visit our website www.corkcity.ie before coming to City Hall.

For your safety, strict social distancing measures will be in place including:
Meetings by appointment where possible;
Supervised queuing system outside the building;
Limitation on numbers in the building;
Maximum of two callers per household.

Many of our services are available online or over the phone so you may be able to avoid an unnecessary journey. Our dedicated Customer Service team will help you to make an appointment with the right department, should you need one.

The following services can be accessed online or over the phone in the following ways:

Housing:
HAP tenants can contact the Council via the Customer Service Unit at 021 492 4000, email hap@corkcity.ie or via www.corkcity.ie

The Accommodation Placement Unit is now located at City Quarter, Lapps Quay and can be telephoned at 021 – 4924248 or by email homeless@corkcity.ie
Housing tenants with urgent queries, including emergency housing maintenance repairs, can contact our Customer Service Unit at 021 492 4000.

Parking:

The following services are available online at www.corkcity.ie :
Resident parking permit applications;
Payment of parking fines;
Parking fine appeals can be posted or emailed to parkingappeals@corkcity.ie.

From Monday 29 June shoppers and visitors to the city centre can avail of two hours free parking at North Main Street and Paul St multi-storey car parks.
There are over 900 parking spaces between both sites.
Normal charges will apply after two hours. This parking promotion will continue until August 31.

Libraries, leisure and cultural spaces:

Cork City Libraries are delighted to re-open their doors on a managed basis in line with national public health requirements tomorrow, June 29.

The City Library on Grand Parade will open its Childrens, Music and Lending Department for borrowing and return, as will Bishopstown Library.

On Tuesday, 30 June, Ballincollig, Blackpool, Glanmire, Hollyhill, Mayfield and Tory Top Libraries will open for borrowing and return.

Due to social distancing, Blarney Library will continue operate a Phone, Collect, Return service only and Douglas pop-up is closed.

Please note that the Reference Library and Local Studies will not open but are operating a phone and email service.

Priority hour for elderly or at risk patrons is 10 am – 11 am and all under 12s must be supervised at all times. As maximum numbers will apply we ask that you limit your time to a quick visit.

Please note all other services, public PCs, photocopying, printing, newspapers, magazines and so on are not available in our libraries at the moment due to hygiene and social distance rules.

For full information https://www.corkcitylibraries.ie/…/us…/covid-19-information/

Under 12s must be supervised at all times. Returned books will be quarantined for 72 hours. Please observe social distancing, good hand hygiene and cough/sneeze etiquette on your visit to the library.

As maximum numbers will apply, we ask that you limit your visit to a quick visit.

Cork City Libraries have many online resources at www.corkcitylibraries.ie where you can still borrow eBooks, eMagazines, listen to music, take an online course or renew your borrowed books – all free with your library card.

Independent Cllr Kieran McCarthy wishes to remind business owners to apply for the Government Restart Fund Grant, which has been created nationally by the Minister for Business, Enterprise, and Innovation to help micro and small enterprises with the costs of reopening during Covid-19. Cllr McCarthy noted: “Companies can apply to their local authority for a grant of an amount equivalent to no more than their 2019 rates bill. There will be a cap of €10,000. The grant can be used to pay ongoing fixed costs, for replenishing stock and for measures needed to ensure employee and customer safety”.

To receive the grant from Cork City Council a business must have an existing rate account with the Cork City Council, have an annual turnover of less than €5 million and employ between 1 to 50 people, have closed or suffered a projected 25% or more loss in turnover to the end June 2020, commit to remain open or to reopen if it was closed, declare the intention to retaining employees that are on the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme and to reemploy staff on the COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment where applicable.

            Cllr McCarthy continued: “businesses can make an online application for the Cork city grant.  There is also a great Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on the grant scheme, which is available on the front page of the www.corkcity.ie website. The Closing date for receipt of applications is 31 August 2020. For any other queries, please contact Cork City Council’s Customer Services Unit at 353 21 4924000”.

Cork City Council has launched a consultation process for the preparation of the vitally important City Development Plan (CDP) 2022-2028 which will provide the framework for how the city will grow and develop in the coming years.

This CDP comes at an extraordinary time for Cork.  Last year, the city’s population grew to 210,000 following an extension of the city boundary which positioned Cork as a city of scale. Furthermore, it has been set government targets to grow by 50% over the next 20 years so that it can provide a counterbalance to Dublin.

As part of this initial consultation, Cork City Council is seeking the views of the public on how to best develop Cork City to meet the changing needs of our society, environment and economy while realising the ambitions set for our city.

The public is invited to read the ‘Our City – Our Future’ issues paper which is available at www.corkcitydevelopmentplan.ie , at Cork City libraries and by appointment at the Planning Counter at Cork City Hall. A submission on the plan can be made as part of this initial public consultation from today, June 26 until August 21 2020.

Cork City Council will engage in an extensive public consultation process to gather the views of people around the City Development Plan. This will include webinars, community engagement, surveys, a photographic competition for young people and we intend to hold a public meeting in August, whilst ensuring public health guidelines are upheld. 

The preparation of a City Development Plan involves a 13 step process, with three separate public consultation phases. The City Development Plan process should be completed within a two year period.

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 25 June 2020

Remembering 1920: The Return of the White Star Line

In the summer of 1920 there was much excitement at the resumption of the call to Queenstown (now Cobh) by the White Star Line and their America to Europe line of ships. The connection to Queenstown had been broken since 1907. In late April 1920 the ships RMS Celtic and RMS Baltic were scheduled by the White Star Line to arrive at Queenstown on the outward bound route to New York, from 3 June to 23 September 1920.

The linkage to such a prominent liner company and its heritage was important for Cork and the country. In 1845, John Pilkington and Henry Wilson in Liverpool established the first company displaying the name White Star Line. It concentrated on the UK–Australia trade, which grew subsequent to the discovery of gold in Australia. In 1871 White Star began their journey across the North Atlantic between Liverpool and New York (via Queenstown) developing six nearly identical ships, known as the ‘Oceanic’ class.

The White Star Line is more famous for its losses more so for what its passenger liners achieved. These included the wrecking of the RMS Atlantic at Halifax in 1873, the sinking of RMS Republic off Nantucket in 1909, the loss of the RMS Titanic in 1912 and the RMS Brittanic in 1916 while serving as a hospital ship. However, the company retained a prominent hold on shipping markets around the globe before falling into decline during the Great Depression, which ultimately led to a merger with its chief rival, Cunard Line. The Cunard-White Line lasted until 1950.

The RMS Celtic was an impressive liner, which was built at Harland & Wolfe in Belfast in 1901 and was over 21,000 gross tons in weight. Leaving New York on 15 May 1920 the liner was bound for Liverpool with a stop at Queenstown. Over a week later on 23 May 1920, “Celtic Abreast” was the radio message received at the White Star Wharf in Queenstown. The Cork Examiner records that the Clyde Shipping Company’s tender Ireland cast off about 3.30pm from Queenstown and proceeded out the harbour to await the liner coming along the coast from the Old Head of Kinsale.

 Approaching Spike Point those on the tender could see that a thick fog was coming in as Roche’s Point was approached. But this was where Pilot James O’Donovan was taken on board. Locating the RMS Celtic would not be an easy matter. After a time the tender began to steer due south towards Daunt’s Lightship. Before reaching she blew her siren to alert the RMS Celtic. There was no sign of the liner in any direction. The fog at this time, was very dense, and appeared to be much more so further out.

The lonely lightship Fulmar, which marked Daunt’s Rock, ten miles south of Queenstown loomed up out of the fog and a megaphone message to the crew on board brought the disheartening response: “Yesabout half an hour ago, we heard her siren going  it seemed to be coming from about two miles astern, and the ship sounded as if travelling to the eastward”.

This dispelled all hope of the RMS Celtic stopping to land the 380 passengers due to disembark at Queenstown and after a short interval the tender’s bow was put towards Scot’s Wharf at Queenstown – a town which was decked with flags to celebrate the beatification of Oliver Plunkett at the time. It was estimated that the fog cost the town a loss of £1,000 – the loss being to the hotels, boarding houses.

The RMS Celtic made for Liverpool where passengers for Queenstown and Ireland were transferred and sent via Holyhead to Dublin. On 26 May 1920 they arrived at Dublin’s North Wall just in time to meet the Railwaymen’s strike arising out of refusal to carry British munitions to meet the ongoing War of Independence. The strikers downed tools and left the passengers’ luggage buried deep in the hold of the Dublin-Holyhead ship the Curraghmore. The Americans were kept all day at North Wall Station, where they sat surrounded by cabin boxes and light luggage until the evening train to came to move the heavy goods from wall.

On 3 June 1920, the RMS Celtic arrived to Cork Harbour again bound for New York. This time the tender did connect with her. Upwards of 500 people wished to travel on the steamer. One of the noted passengers on board was merchant and yachtsman Thomas Lipton, who was presented with a series of addresses of presentations by Crosshaven yacht Club and Cove Sailing Club.  Thomas Lipton was a Scotsman with Irish parentage. He pursued broad advertising for his chain of grocery stores and his brand of Lipton teas. As a keen yachtsman between 1899 and 1930 he challenged five times the American holders of the America’s Cup through the Royal Ulster Yacht Club. His yachts were named Shamrock through to Shamrock V. His endeavours met with failure but were so well-publicised that his tea became famous in the United States and made the cover of Time magazine in November 1924.

Cork Harbour as a call location for the RMS Celtic lasted for 8 years till her dashing off the rocks adjacent Roches Point on 10 December 1928 by a southerly gale. Her two hundred and sixty-six passengers were placed on tenders and landed at Queenstown at noon. At low tide the RMS Celtic was virtually high and dry about thirty yards from Calf Rock, hump of rock, and lying parallel to the mainland, three hundred yards distant.

Kieran’s new book Witness to Murder, The Inquest of Tomás MacCurtain is now available to purchase online (co-authored with John O’Mahony 2020, Irish Examiner/ www.examiner.ie).

Captions:

1054a. Postcard of RMS Celtic, 1920 (source: Cork City Library).

1054b. White Star Wharf at Queenstown (now Cobh), c.1910 (source: Cork Harbour Through Time by Kieran McCarthy, Dan Breen & Cork Public Museum).

Great news for Old Court Woods at Garryduff People power wins out! Officially, the application for the road has been withdrawn 🙂

I look forward to engaging with An Coillte at the Local Area Committee Meeting in the days to come. There are alot of questions to ask on what their future plans are.

I received the email below this morning.

“Dear Sir/Madam,

I refer to an application for a forest road licence, reference CN86326, and to your recent submission.
The Department has been advised by the applicant that they have decided to withdraw this application.
The Department will therefore not consider the application further.

Best regards,

Approvals, Forestry Division
__
An Roinn Talmhaíochta, Bia agus Mara
Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Eastát Chaisleán Bhaile Sheáin, Co. Loch Garman, Y35 PN52

Johnstown Castle Estate, Wexford, Y35 PN52″

Fourteen sections/ parts of main roads in the south east were officially signed off on 19 June 2020 by ward councillors; they are listed in green on the attached picture.

Usually 5-6 housing estates are sanctioned for resurfacing each year. However due to the economic downturn in the Council’s financial income arising from Covid-19, only a large section of just one estate is going to be done – that of Pic Du Jer Park in Ballinlough.

All works are to be completed over the summer of 2020.