Category Archives: Cork History

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 16 December 2021

Cork History, Kieran's Council Work, Uncategorized
1130a. Released prisoners from Maryborough Internment Camp, Portlaoise, celebrating while standing on an engine (source: Illustrated London News, 17 December 1921).

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 16 December 2021

Journeys to a Truce: The Release of the Internees

Within forty-eight hours after the details of the Articles of Agreement were signed on 6 December 1921, the British government approved the release of all people who had been imprisoned under the Restoration of Order (Ireland) Act, known to many as the Coercion Act. The order did not extend to prisoners who had been either convicted or who were under trial. Between 3,000 and 4,000 prisoners were released from Ballykinlar Camp in County Down, the Rath Camp in the Curragh, Portlaoise Jail as well as from Waterford, Cork, Kilmainham, Mountjoy and other prisons respectively. Special train services have been arranged to transport the liberated men and women home.

At Ballykinlar, County Down, on Thursday 8 December the southern internees were up at 6am and marched from the camp to the nearest station, TullyBridge, where they connected with the Great Northern Railway. Three special trains brought the men to Dublin, from where the internees made their own way to their home counties. Their luggage was taken in military lorries. The previous night the men were allowed to wander about the camp freely.

The Cork Examiner describes that on one train Sinn Féin flags were displayed, and at Newcastle a large crowd welcomed the ex-prisoners and supplied them with tea, cigarettes and fruit. The train proceeded with its journey. At Katesbridge near Banbridge, County Down, stones and nut bearings were flung at the train by Loyalists and shots were also discharged. Two of the prisoners were slightly wounded. The last carriage had hardly passed out of Katesbridge station when a shower of stones from an unseen quarter rattled upon it. Several cars were struck, and windows broken.

In the next few hundred yards shots were fired from the left on side of the track, apparently from behind the hedge, and then shortly, two from the right came. One bullet passed through the window of a parked compartment, smashing the glass and sending splinters of the window pane over the prisoners. One was severely lacerated by the glass and the second had a very narrow escape. He was sitting by the window and a bullet passed right in front of his face and right out of the open window of the carriage door. In another compartment a John Fitzgerald of Kilbritain County Cork was struck in the head by flying glass. First aid was rendered by his companions. At Banbridge the train was again attacked after passing the station stones rattled off the carriage sides broke some windows.

The train eventually arrived at Dublin’s Amiens Street station (now Connolly Station) and crowds of people awaited the newly released interns. A mass of general public lined the platform on the station precincts and all along Talbot Street to the O’Connell Monument.

A Cork Examiner reporter spoke to a few of the released southern internees. They noted that they had no chance of reading yet the nature of the difference of opinion between the leaders as regards the Treaty terms and would not express any opinion on the matter.

The train bound for Cork City commenced its journey at 10am on Friday morning. It contained about 400 men, but of those, only about 100 came to Cork – the others having left the various stations on the way home. All along the route, the people crowded the station platforms patiently awaiting the train and the ex-internees were given a rousing welcome.

Long before the train is due in Cork City, the platform, the station precincts, and approaches were packed. Hundreds stood on the nearby bridge over the railway and many others occupied positions on the steps leading up to St Luke’s, and money were waiting along the Lower Road and MacCurtain Street.

The excited crowds on the platform gave even the passing of single engines and the lines of people increased with tears, surged to and fro, laughing and shouting, and the best of good humour. Many climbed on seats and railings to get a better view.

When the bell denoted the train approached the excitement became intense. The advent of the train a few minutes later at 2.30pm was greeted with thunderous cheers with fog signals released adding to the uproarious demonstration.

Three tricolours were fixed to the front of the engine and from every window flags were waved for the homecoming man. On each of the carriages such inscriptions and chalk, as “Up Spike”, “Sinn Féin abú”, were written, amongst other messages.

The eagerness to which the crowds rushed to the carriage doors made it impossible for the prisoners to step onto the platform, until a path had been cleared for them. Then the eagerness was replaced by conversations, laughter, congratulations, and personal welcomes. The crowd slowly left the platform. The released men left the station grounds on vehicles of all descriptions, and drove off with the relatives to the different parts of the city. Hundreds lined both sides of the road for some distance from the station entrance with the public cheering, waving hats and handkerchiefs with the ex-internees joyfully responding.

Four special carriages were dispatched out from Cork on Friday morning, 9 December on the West Cork Rail line to support the released internees from Bere Island. On Bere Island two hundred prisoners were loaded onto to War Office steamers to Bantry where the special train conveyed them to Cork. The whole Bere Island and the adjacent mainland was ablaze with bonfires on the release.

Caption:

1130a. Released prisoners from Maryborough Internment Camp, Portlaoise, celebrating while standing on an engine (source: Illustrated London News, 17 December 1921).

Kieran’s Question to CE and Motions, Cork City Council Meeting, 13 December 2021

Cork City Events, Cork History, Improve Your Life, Landscapes, S.E. Ward Local History, Uncategorized, Ward Development

Question to the CE: 

To ask the CE for an update on the opening of Marina Park and the final cost of its completion and the sources of funding? (Cllr Kieran McCarthy).

Motion:

That City Library’s Cork Past and Present website be put back together online as soon as possible. It plays a very supportive role in the study of local history and genealogy in the city and region (Cllr Kieran McCarthy). 

McCarthy: Marina Park set to open, 13 December 2021

Cork City Events, Cork History, Improve Your Life, Kieran's Council Work, Landscapes, S.E. Ward Local History, Uncategorized, Ward Development, Ward Events

Kieran’s Comments:

“The park looks great and will add immensely to The Marina district. It’s been a long two years with construction work stopping and starting due to Covid 19. Phase one works has also comprised the construction of a new public car park at the Shandon Boat Club end of the Marina, as well as a new cycle lane and pedestrian walkway – these are all now completed and are very well used”.

“One can also see that the installation of perhaps the most eye-catching part of the project – a noticeable red steel pavilion on the site of, and replicating, the central hall of the former Munster Agricultural Showgrounds. The showgrounds at its cultural height in the twentieth century attracted tens of thousands of people, who enjoyed what the Spring and Summer shows had to offer.

The new park is a modern offering on the site, which will attract citizens from across the city and region. The sides of the pavilion reflecting the society’s former buildings will not be enclosed, and there will be possibilities for coffee pods and outdoor seating and arts and crafts. The project is a e.10m investment into the area, of which nearly e.5m came from EU Urban Sustainable Funds, which are part of the EU’s structural funds and are a crucial source of funding for cities”. The EU source of income will need to be chased once again so that phase 2 of Marina Park can be delivered”, concluded Cllr McCarthy.

11 December 2021, ” “The new park is a modern offering on the site, which will attract citizens from across the city and region. The park or project represents an estimated €10m investment into the area, of which around €5m came from EU Urban Sustainable Funds — part of the EU’s structural funds and “a crucial source of funding for cities”, Cllr McCarthy said, New park in Cork city to open to the public from Monday, New park in Cork city to open to the public from Monday (echolive.ie)

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 9 December 2021

Cork History, Kieran's Council Work, National, Uncategorized
1129a. An artist at the Illustrated London News captured the British and Irish Treaty negotiation teams at work (source: Illustrated London News, December 1921).
1129a. An artist at the Illustrated London News captured the British and Irish Treaty negotiation teams at work (source: Illustrated London News, December 1921).

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 9 December 2021

Journeys to a Truce: A Provisional Treaty is Signed

The first memo to the public was a short one on the outcome of the talks of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921. It was hurriedly penned by Arthur Griffith, and issued to the world press directly after signing the Treaty on 6 December. It reads: “I have signed a Treaty of peace between Ireland and Great Britain. I believe that treaty will lay foundations of peace and friendship between the two Nations. What I have signed I shall stand by in the belief that the end of the conflict of centuries is at hand”.

It was a long and highly pressurised journey to an agreement for both sides. The threat of renewed violence hung over the signatories. The Treaty negotiations began in London on 11 October 1921. The British team was led by seasoned politicians Lloyd George and included Austen Chamberlain and Winston Churchill.

The Irish team was chaired by Minister for Foreign Affairs Arthur Griffith, after de Valera decided to stay in Ireland for strategic reasons. Arthur had established Sinn Féin in 1905 and nationally brought the party to the pinnacle of success in elections in 1920. Arthur was substitute president of Dáil Éireann for most of the War of Independence while de Valera was in America. With Arthur in London were Minister for Economic Affairs, Robert Barton and Minister for Finance Michael Collins. The other two Irish negotiators were solicitor Éamonn Duggan TD and Charles Gavan Duffy TD, a barrister and Dáil Éireann’s representative in Rome. The Dáil and de Valera described these representatives as ‘plenipotentiaries’, from the Latin for someone invested with full authority.

Over the seven weeks of negotiations, regional newspapers across the country reported on the tense negotiations and what was at stake between the two sides. The challenge of North Ireland and its historic loyalist base echoed throughout the myriad of news stories.

The discussions concluded in the early morning of 6 December 1921 with the signatures, by British and Irish negotiators, of ‘Articles of Agreement’ – better known as the Anglo-Irish Treaty (or the Treaty). The deal, as signed, was provisional, on consent in London’s Westminster and in Dublin’s Dáil Éireann.

The Anglo-Irish Treaty is a short document. It commences by declaring that the Irish Free State shall have the same constitutional status as the dominions of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Union of South Africa. This was a higher status than the previously sought ‘Home Rule’ for Ireland, and an achievement that was unimaginable when Sinn Féin was founded sixteen years earlier. The representative of the king in Ireland would be appointed in the same way as the governor-general of Canada.

Under the Treaty, Ireland also remained in the British Empire. For the first time in an official UK document the term ‘Commonwealth’ was used as an alternative to ‘Empire’. The final agreement did not require Dáil deputies to swear an ‘oath of allegiance’ to the king. The oath of allegiance was to the Constitution of the Irish Free State, with an oath of faithfulness to the monarch. Nevertheless, any oath to the king in any shape or form offended many Dáil deputies in their initial thoughts to the press.

The Treaty also gave the new state financial freedom, although the Irish agreed to pay a fair share of existing UK public debt.

Until the Irish Free State could undertake its own coastal defence, article six ensured that British forces were responsible for the defence by sea of Britain and Ireland. The Free State was also to let Britain use certain named harbours and other facilities. Initial thoughts by some Dáil deputies resented that Britain would retain ‘the Treaty ports’ of Cobh (then ‘Queenstown’), Berehaven and Lough Swilly. The issue of the Treaty ports was important because it made Irish neutrality quite impractical if not impossible in the event of war.

The Irish Free State agreed to pay fair compensation to public servants who were discharged or who retired because the change of government was not to their liking. This ‘article’ did not apply to the Auxiliaries and Black and Tans.

The Treaty gave Northern Ireland the right to opt out of the new Irish state; if it did so, however, a boundary commission was to be set up to “determine in accordance with the wishes of the inhabitants […] the boundaries between Northern Ireland and the rest of Ireland”. Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins believed that this would transfer counties Tyrone and Fermanagh to the Free State. But the procedure was a major sticking point for many Dáil deputies in their initial thoughts to the press. Even after 1922, however, the Boundary Commission never worked as they had hoped, and the border remained unchanged.

Overall, though in the days that followed the signing on 6 December, the Irish negotiators though not happy with the terms, were told by Lloyd George that non-acceptance would lead to a resumption of the war, which, at the point the Truce was called, was being lost by the IRA. The delegation recommended the Treaty to Dáil Éireann.

In those early days post the signing, a minority of Dáil deputies, including its president, Éamon de Valera, maintained that the Treaty did not go far enough and that the new state must be a republic outside the Empire (although perhaps associated with the Commonwealth externally). Some thought that fighting should resume, in an effort to force Northern Ireland into an all-island state. For others, an Irish Republic already existed and acceptance of the Treaty would substitute this with something less and accepting the Treaty meant voluntarily going ‘into the Empire’ for the first time.

The majority of deputies argued that the Treaty was a stepping-stone to greater independence. Between the signing of the agreement in December 1921 and its ratification in early January 1922 a series of progressively bitter debates occurred in Dáil Éireann.

Caption:

1129a. An artist at the Illustrated London News captured the British and Irish Treaty negotiation teams at work (source: Illustrated London News, December 1921).

McCarthy: Cork City Arts Strategy Open for Public Consultation, 4 December 2021

Arts, Cork City Events, Cork History, Improve Your Life, Uncategorized

Independent Cllr Kieran McCarthy is calling upon the community and artistic sector across the city and especially in the south east to engage with the public consultation on the new Cork City Arts Strategy. The Arts Office of Cork City Council are now developing a new strategy to guide their work over the next five years. They want to ensure that arts and culture in Cork City is the very best it can be. To help them with thinking and planning, they would like to understand more about what people think and feel about arts and culture in Cork City now and to gather their hopes and ideas for the future. 

Cllr McCarthy noted: “Cork City Council has consistently invested in and supported the arts. There are many different tools at their disposal for the development of the arts. These include ideas generation, funding support, infrastructural support, resource and staffing support. Planning for the future, assessing the impact of our work to date and consolidating cultural infrastructure are all crucial elements to plan for going forward”.

“On Cork City’s public consultation portal under the survey section (www. consult.corkcity.ie/en/surveys) is a short survey and gives you the opportunity to share your views and inform what we do in the years ahead. The survey is confidential and contains short questions looking for public input. The survey will remain open until 6 December at 5pm”, concluded Cllr McCarthy.

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 2 December 2021

Cork History, Kieran's Council Work, Landscapes, S.E. Ward Local History, Uncategorized
1128a. Front cover of Cork City Reflections (2021, Amberley Publishing) by Kieran McCarthy and Daniel Breen.
1128a. Front cover of Cork City Reflections (2021, Amberley Publishing) by Kieran McCarthy and Daniel Breen.

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 2 December 2021

Kieran’s Cork Books for Christmas

It’s only a few weeks to Christmas. There are two publications of mine, which readers of the column might be interested in. In my new book Cork City Reflections (Amberley Publishing, 2021), Dan Breen and I build on our previous Cork City Through Time (2012) publication as we continue to explore Cork Public Museum’s extensive collection of postcards.

 People have been sending, receiving and collecting postcards for well over 150 years. They have always come in a variety of forms including plain, comedic, memorial, and of course topographical. Their popularity reached its zenith in the two decades before the outbreak of First World War when people used postcards for a variety of everyday reasons from ordering shopping to making appointments. Postcards have been described as the ‘social media’ of the Edwardian period as it is estimated that about one billion penny postcards were sold annually in the United States alone between 1907 and 1915.

The old postcards within Cork City Reflections show the city of Cork to be a place of scenic contrasts. They are of times and places, that Corkonians are familiar with. Many of the postcards show or frame the River Lee and the tidal estuary and the intersection of the city and the water. The postcards show how rich the city is in its traces of its history. The various postcards also reflect upon how the city has developed in a piecemeal sense, with each century bringing another addition to the city’s landscape.

Some public spaces are well represented, emphasised and are created and arranged in a sequence to convey particular meanings. Buildings such as a City Hall, a court house or a theatre symbolise the theatrics of power. Indeed, one hundred years ago in Ireland was a time of change, the continuous rise of an Irish cultural revival, debates over Home Rule and the idea of Irish identity were continuously negotiated by all classes of society. Just like the tinting of the postcards, what the viewer sees is a world which is being contested, refined and reworked. Behind the images presented is a story of change – complex and multi-faceted.

We have grouped the postcards under thematic headings like main streets, public buildings, transport, and industry. The highlight of Edwardian Cork was the hosting of an International Exhibition in 1902 and 1903 and through the souvenir postcards we can get a glimpse of this momentous event.

The Little book of Cork Harbour has been published by The History Press (2019). Cork Harbour is a beautiful region of southern Ireland. It possesses a rich complexity of natural and cultural heritage. This is a little book about the myriad of stories within the second largest natural harbour in the world. It follows on from a series of my publications on the River Lee Valley, Cork City and complements the Little Book of Cork (History Press, 2015). It is not meant to be a full history of the harbour region but does attempt to bring some of the multitudes of historical threads under one publication. However, each thread is connected to other narratives and each thread is recorded to perhaps bring about future research on a site, person or the heritage of the wider harbour.

In the book the section, Archaeology, Antiquities and Ancient Towers explores the myriad of archaeological finds and structures, which survive from the Stone Age to post medieval times. Five thousand years ago, people made their home on the edge of cliffs and beaches surrounding the harbour. In medieval times, they strategically built castles on the ridges overlooking the harbour.

The section, Forts and Fortifications, explores the development of an impressive set of late eighteenth-century forts and nineteenth century coastal defences. All were constructed to protect the interests of merchants and the British Navy in this large and sheltered harbour.

The section, Journeys Through Coastal Villages, takes the reader on an excursion across the harbour through some of the region’s colourful towns. All occupy important positions and embody histories such as native industries, old dockyards, boat construction, market spaces, whiskey making and food granary hubs. Each add their own unique identity in making the DNA of the harbour region. 

The sections, Houses, Gentry and Estates and People, Place and Curiosities, respectively are at the heart of the book and highlight some of the myriad of people and personalities who have added to the cultural landscape of the harbour.

The section, Connecting a Harbour, describes the ways the harbour was connected up through the ages, whether that be through roads, bridges, steamships, ferries, or winch driven barges.

The eighth section, Tales of Shipping, attempts to showcase just a cross-section of centuries of shipping, which frequented the harbour; some were mundane acts of mooring and loading up goods and emigrants but some were eventful with stories ranging from convict ships and mutiny to shipwrecks and races against time and the tide.

The section entitled Industrial Harbour details from old brickworks, ship buildings to the Whitegate Oil Refinery. Every corner of the harbour has been affected by nineteenth century and twentieth century industries.

The last section Recreation and Tourism notes that despite the industrialisation, there are many corners of the harbour where GAA and rowing can be viewed as well as older cultural nuggets such as old ballrooms and fair grounds. This for me is the appropriate section to end upon. Cork Harbour is a playground of ideas about how we approach our cultural heritage, how were remember and forget it, but most of all how much heritage there is to recover and celebrate.

Both Cork City Reflections (2021) & The Little Book of Cork Harbour (2019), and Kieran’s other books are available in Waterstones, Vibes and Scribes and Nano Nagle Place.

Captions:

1128a. Front cover of Cork City Reflections (2021, Amberley Publishing) by Kieran McCarthy and Daniel Breen.

1128b. Front cover of The Little Book of Cork Harbour (The History Press, 2019) by Kieran McCarthy.

1128b. Front cover of The Little Book of Cork Harbour (The History Press, 2019) by Kieran McCarthy.
1128b. Front cover of The Little Book of Cork Harbour (The History Press, 2019) by Kieran McCarthy.

Kieran’s Statement & Press, Odlum’s Building, South Docks, Cork, 27 November 2021

Cork City Events, Cork History, Improve Your Life, Kieran's Council Work, Landscapes, S.E. Ward Local History, Uncategorized

“The proposal is to be warmly welcomed. This area of South Docks has been derelict for many years and crying out for a new use. O’Callaghan Properties have proven they can deliver what they say in a timely manner and have been great to draw in large companies into Cork. And to be fair to them, they also take feedback on board. From my perspective I am appreciative so far of their notes in their press releases on their focus on blending in the old Odlum’s Building and finding a cultural use for it. I think such a building will be a very special part of this corner of South Docks – it can be the space to retain the historical memory of the docks, whilst also showcasing modern cultural life in Cork.

I am disappointed though for the grain silos – I think part of them should be retained to add character to the development. I know in my own submission I will be making, I will be focusing in on that and making general comments on the need for place-making. In the past I have been critical of the creation of non-descript glass boxes, which don’t add to any sense of place. But I am grateful that the developers in North and South Docks have done some great restoration work. There is certainly a better balance being struck in retaining the sense of place compared to previous decades. I will be reading carefully the O’Callaghan property proposal carefully once it becomes available to the general public”.

Press:

27 November 2021, “In his website about Cork city entitled Cork Heritage, Independent cork city councillor and historian Kieran McCarthy states that Odlums operated their flour mills venture at the docklands from 1965. It followed a long history of milling in Cork,  Looking back at the historic Odlums Mills in Cork, Looking back at the historic Odlums Mills in Cork (echolive.ie)

25 November 2021, “The proposal is to be generally welcomed. This area of South Docks has been derelict for many years and crying out for a new use”, said Cllr McCarthy, No glass box on our docks!, No glass box on our docks! | Cork Independent

24 November 2021, Independent councillor Kieran McCarthy said the area proposed for development had been derelict for some time and that the proposals are to be warmly welcomed. He said he believed the redevelopment of the Odlum’s Building could be “a very special part of this corner of South Docks”. South Docks development a ‘further exciting phase’ in Cork’s development, South Docks development a ‘further exciting phase’ in Cork’s development (echolive.ie)

Cllr McCarthy to give talk on Sir John Benson and Nineteenth Century Cork

Cork City Events, Cork History, Kieran's Council Work, Landscapes, S.E. Ward Local History, Uncategorized

Independent Councillor and local historian Kieran McCarthy gives a zoom talk on this Thursday 25 November, 6.30pm. The topic is on the life and times of nineteenth century engineer Sir John Benson on his Cork works ranging from bridges to waterworks to special sites such as the Berwick Fountain. The talk is hosted by Engineer’s Ireland, Cork Branch, and the Friends of the Crawford. Booking details are here: www.engineersireland.ie/listings/event/7906

The talk reflects on the enormous legacy of engineer and architect Sir John Benson. His work as County Surveyor, Cork Harbour engineer and then City Engineer in Cork from 1846 to 1873 was notable. He was concerned with not only developing a public road network, developing river dredging works programme but also engineering a water supply for the entire city, and ultimately improving the quality of life in the city and region.

Cllr McCarthy noted: “Much has been written on many of John’s well-known works over the years such as the beautiful Berwick Fountain, the red bricked English Market exterior, the striking St Patrick’s Bridge and his work on designing the North Cathedral’s western tower”.

“John was passionate about his work and about Cork. His array of works he was involved in show he was a hard-worker and a visionary for his time. He was also a pioneer in designing National Exhibition buildings in Cork and in Dublin in order to showcase the products of the country. He is also remembered for his extensive railway line work being the engineer for the old Cork-Macroom rail line and the architect for the first Cork-Dublin railway terminus, which existed before the current Kent Station, and part of which still survives and is currently being preserved”, concluded Cllr McCarthy.

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 18 November 2021

Cork History, Kieran's Council Work
1126a. Tadhg Barry, c.1920 (source: Cork City Library)
1126a. Tadhg Barry, c.1920 (source: Cork City Library)

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 18 November 2021

Journeys to a Truce: The Fate of Tadhg Barry

Tadhg Barry has been written about by several historians over the past decades. Donal Ó Drisceoil’s new book on Tadhg’s life and times is now available in shops and is published by Mercier Press. Born in Cork city in 1880, Tadhg grew up in the Blarney Street area. Between 1899 to 1903, he worked as an attendant in the nearby Our Lady’s Hospital. After a short time working in London, he took up a job back in Cork with the newly-established Old Age Pensions Board in 1909.

Tadhg became an active member of the IRB and Sinn Féin. As a GAA member he was part of the group led by J.J. Walsh which restructured and rejuvenated the organisation in Cork. In 1913, Tadhg was a founding member of the Irish Volunteers in the city. He remained with the separatist wing after the 1914 split, and remained a core member. He was very engaged in the trade union activity in the city. In May 1915 Tadhg was one of a group who brought James Connolly to the city to speak at an Independent Labour Party meeting. He was also involved in Connolly’s January 1916 visit to Cork, when James spoke to circa thirty Volunteers on urban guerrilla tactics.

Tadhg also played a central part in the early stages of the renewal of the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union (ITGWU) in the city. In November 1916 he was arrested during a speech to the Manchester Martyrs commemoration in Cork. In January 1917, he was sentenced by court martial to two years, but only served eight months. He was released following a hunger strike in early July 1917. On release Tadhg resumed regular journalism with a weekly column on Cork city politics, labour and culture under the title Neath Shandon Steeple for the Skibbereen-based Southern Star. He also commenced contributing a series of articles to the ITGWU’s Voice of Labour.

Tadhg was lifted as part of the German Plot arrest swoop in May 1918 and sent to Usk prison in England, until March 1919. Following his release. He became a full-time ITGWU organiser and Cork No. 1 (James Connolly Memorial) Branch secretary.

In the January 1920 municipal elections Tadhg was elected as alderman for the Sunday’s Well/Blarney Street area on a Sinn Féin/Transport Union ticket and took his seat in Cork City Hall for the historic election of Tomás MacCurtain as Lord Mayor.

A year later, in January 1921, when Cork Corporation gathered to elect a new Lord Mayor, the police arrested nine of the councillors, including Tadhg. He was removed to Ballykinlar internment camp in County Down, where he joined over 2,000 others, including many union activists. Tadhg engrossed himself in camp life, and is recorded as having delivered lectures on labour and other social concerns as part of the educational activities arranged by the internees.

One of the most detailed accounts of Ballykinlar is by Frank O’Duffy, who was interned in Camp II, Ballykinlar, from January to December 1921. He acted as Prisoners’ Commandant in that Camp from June until the general release in December, 1921. He relates in his witness statement (WS665) in the Bureau of the Military History that about the middle of November 1921 the British Commandant told prisoners that he had permission to release a number of prisoners (about thirty) on parole from the camps, and he supplied a lorry to bring them to the railway station.

When the group were entering the lorry outside the camp gate, some prisoners (including Tadhg Barry) were standing a few yards inside the gate of Camp II. The sentry in the block-house overlooking the gate asked them to step back from the gate. Tadhg did not. The sentry fired at Tadhg and shot him dead through the heart. Another prisoner (Con O’Halloran) dragged Tadhg’s body back a few yards, and an angry crowd quickly gathered, some of them shouting at and denouncing the sentry, who had them covered with his rifle.

Frank outlines that the threatening situation was saved by the presence of mind of Sean O’Sullivan who called on the prisoners to kneel down and say the Rosary. In an instant all was calm Father Burbage attended to Tadhg, and the doctors pronounced life extinct.

In the meantime, an officer had entered the sentry-box, and another sentry was brought to replace the man who had fired the shot. Frank describes the situation; “So impressive was the scene inside our camp, and the instant change from angry abuse to prayer, that the British M.O. (Captain Harlow, who was not friendly to us) complimented me next day on the remarkable discipline of our men, and our control over them. It would be impossible to describe the shock which the tragedy produced on the prisoners. Their nerves were at high tension. The truce and treaty negotiations had lasted many months and the hopes and prospects of early release had been more eagerly debated every day”.

Frank describes that Tadhg Barry had been very active and popular in all the camp activities; he had volunteered to act as hut leader in what was described as the “old men’s hut” a hut specially fitted up to accommodate 25 of the oldest men in the camp.

Frank Duffy articulates that many of the British officers seemed to regret the tragedy. Even when a British Sergeant attempted to remove the Tricolour flag from the coffin, the Adjutant (Lieutenant Joselyn) forbade him. They consulted Frank and the Camp about arrangements to be made; Frank notes: “They offered accommodation for the body in a building outside the camp (open to the public), and agreed that a group of 24 prisoners from the camp might accompany it to supply a guard until the funeral left on condition that they gave their word not to escape”.

Utter Disloyalist, Tadhg Barry and the Irish Revolution by Donal Ó Drisceoil (2021, Mercier Press, Cork) and is available in all good bookshops.

Event: Kieran gives a zoom talk on Nineteenth Century Engineer Sir John Benson on his Cork works ranging from bridges to waterworks to special sites such as the Berwick Fountain, Thursday 25 November, 6.30pm, with Engineer’s Ireland, Cork Branch, and the Friends of the Crawford. Booking details here: www.engineersireland.ie/listings/event/7906

Caption:

1126a. Tadhg Barry, c.1920 (source: Cork City Library)

Cllr McCarthy: Push to Phase out Herbicides in Public Areas

Cork History, Improve Your Life, Landscapes, Uncategorized, Ward Development

Independent Cllr Kieran McCarthy has welcomed Cork City Council’s Parks and Recreation Division undertaking of trials researching various alternatives to herbicides. The research during the past three years has concluded that the alternatives are less effective and more costly. The alternatives included steam jet application, electric strimmer and organic herbicides. The disadvantage of the alternatives is that the control increases from one operation per year up to four for any one of the alternatives. That said the alternatives are by far more environmentally friendly in terms of greater biodiversity and pollinator friendly amenity areas.

Cllr McCarthy noted: “The Marina and The Atlantic Pond areas are core areas I have had phonecalls on and questions on the use of herbicide. The Roads Department are cognisant of general concerns regarding the use of glyphosate and have been conducting trials in the last three years with contractors using non-glyphosate products. These trials have incrementally ramped up to the point that in 2021 these trials cover 140km of the public road network, i.e., 28% of the road network. In the coming months, an evaluation of these trials will be completed with respect to effectiveness and costs, with a view to expanding the overall percentage of network treated with non-glyphosate products in 2022”.

“Providing the trials are deemed successful, contractors with effective non-glyphosate products are available, and costs match Council budget allocation, it is the Roads Departments intention to proceed with non-glyphosate products in the future treatment of the City’s road network”, concluded Cllr McCarthy.