In a recent reply to a question posed by Cllr Kieran
McCarthy at the mid May City Council meeting, Cork City Council have noted revised
the completion date of phase 1 of Marina Park. Due to Covid 19, delaying
construction works, the completion date is now late August/early September this
year. The revised opening date is late September/early October.
Cllr McCarthy noted: The phase one works comprise 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. 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 sides of the
pavilion will not be enclosed, and there will be possibilities for coffee pods
and outdoor seating and arts and crafts”.
“Another feature will include water jets for children to play in as well
as the provision of public toilets. The
public can now see the sunken lawn areas and the diversion of a watercourse, as
well as new pathways – all of which are taking shape at present. The project is
a e.10m investment into the area, of which nearly came from EU Urban
Sustainable Funds, which are part of the EU’s structural funds and are a
crucial source of funding for cities”, concluded Cllr McCarthy.
1101a. Front cover of Kieran’s new book, Irish International Trading Corporation, Cork, Celebrating 100 Years (2021, IITC).
Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,
Cork Independent, 27 May 2021
Journeys to a Truce: The
Irish International Trading Corporation (Cork)
Details on the tit-for-tat violence between
the IRA and Black and Tans during the War of Independence fill vast pages of
Irish history books. However, not much is known on those who were Independence
supporters in Ireland’s cities and regions, but who were also pragmatic and
economically preparing for a Brexit of sorts from the British Empire. The
question of “if we get Independence what do we do next” had not been quite
resolved especially where Britain was also Ireland’s main trading ally.
To resolve such a question in Cork city and
region the creation of Irish International Trading Corporation (Cork) was set
up in 1920 to facilitate international trade, both import and export, for local
businesses. Its story is the subject of my new book, which is published by the present
company, whilst also charting its journey in more modern times.
The company’s origins lay in the ambition of
the Cork Industrial Development Association (IDA),
which was founded in 1903 after the Cork International Exhibition. During the Irish War of
Independence period, the Cork IDA played no small part in formulating schemes
for the economic rehabilitation of the country. Without the cooperation of the
Cork IDA, the Irish Consuls resident at New York, Paris and Brussels would have
been very much restricted in their Consular activities on behalf of the trade
and commerce of Ireland. Important national work was conducted through the
agencies of these Consuls, for which the Cork IDA kept business connections open with.
In 1920 two important
companies are highlighted as closely linked to the work of the Cork IDA – (a)
Messrs Dowdall and Company, Shipping Agents of the Direct Lines to USA and
French ports, and (b) the Irish International Trading Corporation (Cork) Ltd. The
first named company aimed to promote direct trade whilst IITC aspired to build
up business by purchasing from and selling direct to Continental and American
firms. A gentleman’s agreement stood that no goods would be introduced into the
Irish market, which would compete unfairly with the products of Irish
industries.
The
proposal to form the Irish International Trading Corporation (Cork) Ltd for the development of direct trading between
Irish merchants and traders of other countries was generally welcomed by
commercial circles in Cork. The company was in effect a private,
self-help version of what state agencies do to support trade.
On 4 May
1920, the Cork Examiner recorded a preliminary meeting of persons
interested in the company, which was held in the offices of the Cork IDA, under
the Chairmanship of Mr James C Dowdall. Steps were taken to have the prospectus
issued at an early date. Promises of substantial financial support were
forthcoming from those present. The promoters aspired to secure outward as well
as inward cargo for the vessels then running between Cork and the United States
ports, and also for the vessels about to run between Cork and Continental
ports. The company’s temporary offices were at 27 Grand Parade.
Central to the work of the Irish International trading Corporation (Cork) Ltd
was its Company Secretary Liam De Róiste (1882-1959). Liam was an original
member of the Irish Volunteers in Cork. In late 1916 and throughout 1917 Liam
was an important figure to keep the re-organisation of Sinn Féin going in Cork,
especially with Terence MacSwiney and Tomás MacCurtain being imprisoned for
long periods of time during the years 1916-1918. Liam kept the re-organisation
of the party strong, being involved in organising rallies in Cork in late 1917
for Arthur Griffith, Countess Markievicz, and Eamon de Valera. He was elected a Sinn
Féin Councillor for Cork City in January 1920.
The American link for the new
company was Diarmuid J Fawsitt who was born near Blarney Street in Cork’s
northside in 1884. Diarmuid was active in cultural, industrial and nationalist
circles, including the Celtic Literary Society, Sinn Féin, the Gaelic League,
Cork National Theatre Society, and especially with the foundation of the Cork
IDA. During the War of Independence, Arthur Griffith sent Fawsitt to the United
States as consul and trade commissioner of the Irish Republic. He was based in
New York.
With Fawsitt in New York searching for
opportunities, Liam De Róiste as an enthusiastic secretary of the Corporation, a strong chairman was also required to
lead the new company. James Charles Dowdall had a prominent role in
industrial development and was president of the Cork IDA for a time in its
early years. He was educated at the Presentation Brothers
College, Cork, and in Denmark and Sweden. On the death of their uncle, James
and his brother Thomas joined with their cousin, Mr J B O’Mahony, in forming
the now well-known firm of Dowdall O’Mahony and Company Ltd. This company was
based at Union Quay, Cork, with branches at Manchester and Cardiff and
was engaged in the manufacture of butter and margarine.
As
the months passed in 1920 and 1921, the business of Irish International Trading
Corporation (Cork) expanded. By December 1920, an array of import destinations was
in place. Payment were given to Clyde Shipping Company Ltd for freight charges
and the Bank of Ireland for Siemen’s and Company who brought in raisins from
Malaga, Oosthock and Zoon Company, Holland for slated ties, the Lyon and Quin
Company, Prague for chairs, the ZRB Hirdes, Holland for yarn, Verrieries de
Dampremy, Belgium for Glass, Victor Zorn, Berlin for scissors and enamelware,
National Glass Company, Philadelphia, USA for bottles, and baking powder from
the Calumet Baking Powder Company, Chicago, USA as a trial order. Exports from
Cork mainly encompassed butter boxes and egg cases.
Kieran
McCarthy’s new book Irish International
Trading Corporation (Cork), Celebrating 100 Years is a
commission of the company and is now available from the company’s premises on Tramore Road, Cork, or telephone 021 4705800 or
email info@iitc.ie
Captions:
1101a. Front
cover of Kieran’s new book, Irish International
Trading Corporation, Cork, Celebrating 100 Years (2021,
IITC).
1101b. Letter
head for Irish International Trading Corporation (Cork), 1927 (source: Company
Archives)
1101b. Letter head for Irish International Trading Corporation (Cork), 1927 (source: Company Archives)
8 June 2021, 19:30 – 20:30, In association with Cllr Kieran McCarthy.
Cork City’s growth on a swamp is an amazing story. The city possesses a unique character derived from a combination of its plan, topography, built fabric and its location on the lowest crossing point of the river Lee as it meets the tidal estuary and the second largest natural harbour in the world. Indeed, it is also a city that is unique among other cities, it is the only one which has experienced all phases of Irish urban development, from circa 600 AD to the present day. Hence its bridges all date to different times of urban growth and possess different architectural traits. This zoom presentation explores the general development of the city’s bridges and why they were historically so important and are still so important in connecting the different parts of Cork City together.
Daly’s Bridge, AKA Shaky Bridge, present day (picture: Kieran McCarthy)
– Bridges of Cork Treasure Hunt:
12 June 2021, 13:00 – 13:15, In association with Cllr Kieran McCarthy.
They say the best way to get to know a city is to walk it – in Cork you can get lost in narrow streets, marvel at old cobbled lane ways, photograph old street corners, look up beyond the modern shopfronts, gaze at clues from the past, be enthused and at the same time disgusted by a view, smile at interested locals, engage in the forgotten and the remembered, search and connect for something of oneself, thirst in the sense of story-telling – in essence feel the DNA of the place. This treasure hunt is all about looking up and around and exploring the heart of Cork City whilst exploring the stories and place of the city centre’s bridges.
Suitable for all ages, approx. 2hr self-guided walk, mixed footpaths on city’s quays.
FREE, Join: Meet Cllr Kieran McCarthy at National Monument, Grand Parade, Cork, between 13:00-13:15, no booking required. Bring a pen. Self guided heritage treasure hunt.
St Patrick’s Bridge, Cork, present day (picture: Kieran McCarthy)
– The Marina – Self Guided Audio Trail:
4 June 2021 – June 14, 2021, 06:00 – 23:55,In association with Cllr Kieran McCarthy, FREE
A stroll down The Marina is popular by many people. The area is particularly characterized by its location on the River Lee and the start of Cork Harbour. Here scenery, historical monuments and living heritage merge to create a historical tapestry of questions of who developed such a place of ideas. Where not all the answers have survived, The Marina is lucky, unlike other suburbs, that many of its former residents have left archives, autobiographies, census records, diaries, old maps and insights into how the area developed. These give an insight into ways of life and ambitions in the past, some of which can help the researcher in the present day in understanding The Marina’s evolution and sense of place going forward. Take a walk with us and discover more.
Independent
Cllr Kieran McCarthy has called on the City Council and the ESB to work on a
joint programme of works to return the sub-station on Caroline Street to an art
gallery/ cultural space.’
The sub station
on Caroline Street is in the ownership of the ESB. Until recently the Sub
Station was advertised for Commercial Let. Cllr McCarthy has been informed that
Cork City Council does not have sight of the ESB’s plans for the building. And
that the wider needs in terms of cultural infrastructure in the city will be
reviewed in the context of the forthcoming Arts & Culture Strategy, currently
under development.
Cllr McCarthy
noted; “there is massive scope to do a joint partnership in re-opening the disused ESB substation as a cultural space.
It has a very rich industrial history. It was built in 1931 and was originally
used to convert direct current electricity to alternating current. This
substation is representative of the design employed by the ESB in the first
part of the twentieth century in Ireland.
“In 1932, the ESB
could boast cables running from Ardnacrusha Hydro Electric Station to Cork as
well as having the old generating station and offices at Albert Road, a Station
at Kilbarry, a transformer station at Fords, and the central substation in
Caroline Street. The annual consumption of electricity in Cork City was 8
million units by 1934 and 16 million units by 1945”.
“The
National Inventory of Architectural Heritage notes of this building: “This
functional building is a well-articulated building, with a high level of
architectural design. The building retains many interesting original features
and materials, such as the metal casement windows and metal folding doors”.
“It
is also ten years ago when the Triskel Arts Centre, whilst waiting for the
renovation of Christ Church, moved its gallery off site to the ESB
substation on Caroline Street and did a great job in utilising the space. In
addition, in 2018, Brown Thomas teamed up with Cork City Council and artist
Shane O’Driscoll to transform the exterior of the then disused ESB station
building which had fallen into disrepair. The City Centre Placemaking Fund from Cork City Council was
used to support the project”.
“It is a real shame that such a prominent building remains vacant with so many possibilities for its use. I will be continuing my lobbying of the City Council to partner up with the ESB in finding an appropriate cultural use for the building”, concluded Cllr McCarthy.
Press, 25 May 2021, “The abandoned substation has massive scope for transformation now that Cllr. Kieran McCarthy is urging the city council and ESB to turn it into a new entertainment venue for Leesiders. Originally built in 1931 in the art deco style favoured by ESB at the time, the substation was last used by Triskel Arts ten years ago”, Endless possibilities for this gem of a building on Caroline Street to be transformed as council consider new proposal, Derelict Art-deco substation could become amazing Cork city music and arts space – Cork Beo
Caroline Street Former ESB Sub Station, Cork present day (picture: Kieran McCarthy)
Independent Cllr Kieran McCarthy has welcomed the conclusion of the
Douglas Flood Relief Scheme. “In the past two months, the contractor on the
Douglas Flood Relief Scheme has substantially completed all construction works
on the project. The remaining works consist of some minor snags, fence
installations and completion of final landscaping works”.
“What has emerged are enhanced recreational jewels in the heart of
Douglas Village with a larger focus on connecting The Mangala and Ballybrack
Woods across to Douglas Community Park. The flood prevention measures, which
have incorporated new seating and biodiversity areas and corridors, as well as
creating a stronger visual element upon the adjacent stream are most welcome”.
“It has been great in the past few weeks to see people sitting out
enjoying the new vistas and ultimately embracing an enhanced community space.
Great credit is due to Cork City Council, Arup Engineering and to the OPW. It
has been a long process over eight years from draft plans drawn up in
connection with Cork County Council to implementation under Cork City Council’s
watchful eye. In the past year, the advent of COVID also slowed down construction
work, which required much patience by the people
and businesses of Douglas”.
“There have also been status orange rainfall events in Cork, since the start of the year and the new flood defences in Douglas worked as expected and carried a huge volume of water through the village safely. From observations and experience on site it is believed that had the defences not been constructed, there would have been considerable flooding in the Ravensdale and Church Road area”, concluded Cllr McCarthy.
1110a. Western Road with the Cork-Muskerry Tram, c.1910 from Kieran McCarthy’s and Dan Breen’s Cork City Through Time (2012, Amberley Publishing).
Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,
Cork Independent, 20 May 2021
Journeys to a Truce: Stories from the
Active Service Unit
Patrick Murray was Officer-in-Charge of C Company of the
1st Battalion of Cork No.1 IRA Brigade. In his witness statement in
the Bureau of Military History (WS1443) by May 1921, he was a core part of the
Active Service Unit for Cork City. Much of the work of the Unit during this
period comprised patrols, moving materials from place to place and taking arms,
to columns. The assigned intelligence officers were daily seeking information,
which might lead to a successful ambush of Crown forces.
Patrick describes that a number of spies were executed at
this time, and a captured report from the British, sometime around May 1921,
stated that the last of their intelligence officers in the city had been
executed and that they were now without civilian intelligence in the city. This
particular type of work was very severe on the mental health of Seán Twomey,
who was in charge of the Active Service Unit.
About the beginning of May 1921, a special order was
received from IRA divisional headquarters that every effort was to be made by
each unit in the division, to carry out an attack on Saturday, 14 May. The Unit
decided to concentrate upon Captain Campbell Kelly, who was the principal
British intelligence officer in Cork and who had been responsible for the
torture of many IRA volunteers and had been sought by the IRA for over five
months. He frequently travelled in a motor car to Cork Jail off Western Road, and
it had been noticed by the Active Service Unit intelligence officers that
Saturday morning was one of his regular mornings to visit the jail.
It was decided that the Unit would take up duty from
eight o’clock in the morning along the route usually taken by Kelly. Seán Twomey
and Patrick Murray took up position in St Patrick’s Street at about nine
o’clock. Things did not go according to plan as Seán faced a an anxiety attack.
Patrick got him home but during this time, Kelly had gone up to the jail in an
open car and returned from it in an armoured car.
Patrick recalls: “Immediately all members of the A.S.U.
and helpers were concentrated in one or two parts of the city to see if
something could not be done. Late in the evening, the men on duty at the north
side of the city were informed that an R.I.C. patrol had gone down O’Connell
Street, Blackpool. They immediately ran to the attack and threw some bombs,
killing one and wounding three policemen”.
On the morning of 23 May 1921, plans were again made to
ambush Captain Kelly, this time on Washington Street. Two groups from the
Active Service Unit took up positions along the street. An intelligence officer
was placed some fifty yards or so beyond Patrick and another man. Three other
members of the Unit were placed about seventy-five yards below Patrick’s group.
Captain Kelly came from the jail in an open car on this
particular morning and had practically passed the intelligence officer before
he was recognised. Patricks recalls the throwing of the bombs: “When we got the
signal, the car had passed us, and we signalled to the men further down. The
car was going so fast that it was practically past them before they threw the
bombs. One bomb was thrown into the car but failed to explode. The second bomb
hit the hood of the car and rolled on to the roadway. Some shots were also
exchanged, but Kelly escaped”.
Days later Seán Twomey was arrested, subsequently walked
out of the police barracks, and was fired on by soldiers, receiving some six or
eight wounds. Peter Donovan, the new Officer-in-Charge was arrested practically
immediately after his appointment. About a week later, Patrick was appointed as
Officer-in-Charge of the Active Service Unit. For a week or two he tried to re-group
the battalions and replace arrested officers. At that time, everyone in Cork
City who was known to have had any association with the Volunteers had been
arrested, and casualties among the officers were substantial.
After the attack on the patrol at Blackpool, police
patrols became less frequent; in fact, they often did not appear on the streets
for five or six days. The Active Service Unit were patrolling the streets
regularly at this time, and their intelligence officers were constantly engaged
in trying to find out the movements of the police. They noticed that they
congregated outside the different barracks for a short time in the evenings and
decided to attack them outside Tuckey Street and Shandon Street RIC barracks (on
North Abbey Street). To do this, they got two motor cars.
Unfortunately, the driver of the car attacking Tuckey
Street had some trouble with the motor and drove the car to the attack about
two minutes before the agreed time. As a result of this, some thirty or forty
Volunteers, who were leaving their own points to converge on Tuckey Street,
heard the bombs before they were in a position to attack. Patrick was forced to
withdraw his men. Bombs were thrown though at Shandon Street barracks and
Douglas barracks was attacked with gunfire.
Up to this time, the Active Service Unit was equipped
only with revolvers and bombs and operated in the city area only. As a result
of the attacks on patrols and barracks, the movements of the British were
restricted to travelling through the city area in lorries, protected by
armoured cars. With this change of tactics on the part of the British
authorities, it was decided that the Active Service Unit would extend its
operations to the suburbs and country areas.
This article marks the 1100th
article in the Our City, Our Town series. Check out the index to the
series and the new history trails section on my blog, www.corkheritage.ie.
Captions:
1110a. Western Road with the Cork-Muskerry
Tram, c.1910 from Kieran McCarthy’s and Dan Breen’s Cork City Through Time
(2012, Amberley Publishing).
Independent Cllr
Kieran McCarthy has welcomed the good progress on the Old Railway Line Walk
works. Construction has already began on a new access ramp linking the Marina
and the old Railway Line walk.
Cllr
McCarthy noted: “This new access point will benefit pedestrians, cyclists,
people with disabilities and ensure better access to local communities and
visitors. At present, people with disabilities cannot access the greenway
between Pairc Uí Chaoimh and the Mater Private access point”.
“A giant game of ‘Snakes
and Ladders’, which will include ladders and slides, will form part of the
green terraced area surrounding the new access ramp. New seating will
also be incorporated, new lookout points and water drinking facilities. There
will also be extensive soft landscaping works including significant new tree
planting, shrub planting and wildflower meadow planting with native pollinator
friendly species”, concluded Cllr McCarthy.
From 10 May, works
to resurface, widen and install public lighting on the Blackrock Greenway mean
that a section of the amenity between Atlantic Pond and Blackrock Station, will
be temporarily closed. Pedestrians and cyclists will be asked to observe the
diversions in place. These upgrade works are expected to continue for up to 10
weeks.
The Blackrock-Mahon Greenway Improvement
Scheme has been designed to enhance this popular route due to increased usage
by pedestrians and cyclists for recreation and commuting. The works are also to
encourage and prioritise its ongoing development as a green living corridor
with significant health and well-being benefits.
Independent Cllr
Kieran McCarthy has welcomed the good progress on the Old Railway Line Walk
works. Construction has already began on a new access ramp linking the Marina
and the old Railway Line walk.
Cllr
McCarthy noted: “This new access point will benefit pedestrians, cyclists,
people with disabilities and ensure better access to local communities and
visitors. At present, people with disabilities cannot access the greenway
between Pairc Uí Chaoimh and the Mater Private access point”.
“A giant game of ‘Snakes
and Ladders’, which will include ladders and slides, will form part of the
green terraced area surrounding the new access ramp. New seating will
also be incorporated, new lookout points and water drinking facilities. There
will also be extensive soft landscaping works including significant new tree
planting, shrub planting and wildflower meadow planting with native pollinator
friendly species”, concluded Cllr McCarthy.
From 10 May, works
to resurface, widen and install public lighting on the Blackrock Greenway mean
that a section of the amenity between Atlantic Pond and Blackrock Station, will
be temporarily closed. Pedestrians and cyclists will be asked to observe the
diversions in place. These upgrade works are expected to continue for up to 10
weeks.
The Blackrock-Mahon Greenway Improvement Scheme has been designed to enhance this popular route due to increased usage by pedestrians and cyclists for recreation and commuting. The works are also to encourage and prioritise its ongoing development as a green living corridor with significant health and well-being benefits.
Independent Cllr
Kieran McCarthy has expressed several concerns for the proposed boardwalk
concept that was recently presented as part of the ongoing Greenway consultation
behind St Gerald’s Place on the Rochestown Road.
Cllr McCarthy noted: “I
have walked the foreshore route with the local residents at St Gerard’s Place
at low tide and physically a boardwalk would abut many of their back doors,
which would be severely intrusive. There is an impression out there that the
partial trackways behind the houses can host a 4-5m wide boardwalk. The
trackways themselves are just 2m wide with backdoors of some houses fronting
onto them. Hence, a safe boardwalk 4-5m wide would literally be passing outside
people’s kitchen window. This isn’t even about taking people’s back gardens. There
is no physical space there to adapt any kind of laneway.
The other alternative
that is being proposed in social media is that to avoid the ‘outside the
people’s backdoor’ concept, a raised boardwalk structure could be constructed
at the foreshore edge. I have also been back to the site at high tide and high
tide comes all the way up to the foreshore edge. Hence, a raised boardwalk concept would
literally rip up the upper shoreline. A 4-5m wide boardwalk and something
over 300 metres long plus 3- 4 metres high off the shoreline would be highly
intrusive and damage the adjacent Special Protected Area of Lough Mahon.
There is also the
impression that the old Cork Blackrock and Passage Railway Line ran directly by
the shoreline. That is also a misnomer. The line in the mid nineteenth century was
built along the Rochestown Road to avoid the high cost of engineering anti shoreline
erosion features.
If the greenway must
come back to the roadside, it is important that every measure is put in
place to have a proper safe and sustainable greenway stretch. I welcome the
ongoing dialogue between local residents and Cork City Council to find a
solution – of a protected greenway and a widened Rochestown Road space.
And last and most of
all, I have concerns about the ongoing bullying of residents on social media and
from various opposing sides, and especially by individuals who operate
anonymous accounts and who do not sign their name. I am all for dialogue and
several people – who did sign their names – have contacted me asking for
feedback on the public consultation, who I have laid out my concerns with, but
the anonymous trolling has had a huge impact on the mental health of local
residents involved in the consultation process, and needs to stop”, concluded
Cllr McCarthy.
1099a. Fr James O’Callaghan, c.1917 (source: O’Brien family archive).
Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,
Cork Independent, 13 May 2021
Journeys to a Truce: Fr O’Callaghan’s
Last Stand
Ireland experienced a tragic
Whitsuntide bank holiday weekend in mid-May 1921. Many deaths amongst civilians
and Crown forces were reported from various parts of the south of the country.
About four o’clock on
Saturday evening, 14 May, a bomb was thrown at police in the Blackpool
district, near O’Connell Street. One constable was killed and three wounded.
One died later on. Large swathes of military and police searched the area with
much of Blackpool ransacked. Several arrests were made across the city.
One tragic outcome was the quest to arrest
Alderman Liam De Róiste of Sinn Féin on Cork Corporation. In the search for
him, instead of Liam being arrested, a renter within his house was shot and
died from his wounds. On Saturday night/ Sunday morning, 15 May, Father James O’Callaghan
was staying at Liam’s residence in Upper Janemount, Sunday’s Well.
From the Templemartin district, County Cork,
Fr O’Callaghan was ordained at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth in 1908. He was a
fluent Irish speaker and was a valued Irish teacher in Ballingeary Irish
College. He had a ministry abroad between 1908 and 1912 and was curate in
Ballingeary from 1912 to 1917. He then became Chaplain at the Good Shepherd
Convent between and 1917 and 1920. In 1920 he was made curate of the North
Cathedral Parish and at Clogheen Church. he was attached to the convent of the
Good Shepherd’s.
Fr O’Callaghan’s new post in
the North Cathedral left him with no living quarters. He was an acquaintance of
Sinn Féin Corporation member and Teachta Dála Liam de Róiste. He asked Liam
for hospitality and was invited to stay at the parliamentarian’s house.
According to a report which Liam
sent to Bishop Cohalan after Fr O’Callaghan’s murder, Crown forces raided his
house only a few days after Fr O’Callaghan had moved in and treated him roughly.
At the General Elections
held in May 1921 under the provisions of the 1920 Government of Ireland Act, Liam
De Róiste was an unopposed Sinn Féin candidate for the Cork borough
constituency. Afraid that this situation would draw hostile interest from the
Crown forces, Liam decided not to sleep in his house at night, leaving Fr O’Callaghan
there together with his wife, his mother-in-law and the priest’s housekeeper
Katie Kearney. Katie was from Inchigeela and had been a housekeeper of the
priest for fourteen years.
On Saturday night /Sunday morning, 15 May
1921 between 3.30am and 4am, a number of armed men broke open the
glass-panelled door and rushed into the house. Liam De Róiste was fortunately
not there at the time. Liam’s wife Nora, detailed to the Cork Examiner
in the days that followed and to her husband for his diary that her mother was
present and that both occupied bedrooms immediately over the hall door. Fr O’Callaghan
and Katie had their respective rooms at the other side of the house.
Nora enquired who was there and got an order
to come down and open the door. She declined. One of the men climbed up a
garden trellis and entered a bedroom through the window. She grappled with him
and a revolver fell from his hands. Threatening him with a clothes brush she
made him back out the window.
Meanwhile, other members of the party of men
had forced the opening of the half-door and one man walked up two flights of
stairs and branched off to the two other rooms in the house – occupied by Fr
O’Callaghan and Katie respectively. They both met the intruder outside their
bedrooms. A scuffle ensued between the man and Fr O’Callaghan.
Katie Kearney (years later) penned her memory
of the evening and recalls of the scuffle; “As the Tan came up the stairs,
he had a cap on his head and a scarf on his neck. I put up my hand to pull off
the cap and scarf and was not able to do so. I said to them ‘This is Fr O’Callaghan,
you won’t shoot him’. He drilled towards me and the Priest went backwards a few
steps. The Tan followed him and pulled him to the bedroom door. I saw him
prepare the revolver and I grasped it by the muzzle and as I did one shot rang
out against the partition. He shook the revolver out of my grasp and pulled
over the Priest and shot him through the spine and paralyzed him, he fell on
the corridor, the Tan walked down the stairs and away”.
Father O’Callaghan was seriously wounded in
his liver and spine before the raiders took their departure. The Corporation
ambulance was summoned, and Fr O’Callaghan was conveyed, still conscious to the
North Infirmary. It was there that he detailed that he knew his attacker – a Black
and Tan who was on regular duty in and around Shandon Street. Some hours later
at 6pm he succumbed to his injuries in the presence of a nurse and Liam De Róiste
who prayed for the priest by his side.
Originally the internment of
Fr O’Callaghan was fixed for St Joseph’s Cemetery, but by request of the
residents of Clogheen, where the deceased ministered, the place of burial was
changed to Clogheen. Despite widespread warnings the streets and roads were lined
to mark their respect as the funeral cortege passed. A cross now marks his
burial place at the Church of the Most Precious Blood. Over many decades, the
story of the murder has been passed down by many historians and especially by the
O’Callaghan family. Fr O’Callaghan’s coat complete with bullet marks has
survived as part of their family heirlooms. Remembrance was also shown through
the name of Cork’s Fr O’Callaghan’s GAA Club for several decades.
Many thanks to Mary and Donal Healy, Maureen and Mary O‘Brien, Rita
O’Brien, Cork City and County Archives, and Cllr Ken Collins for their help and
insights with this article.
Captions:
1099a. Fr James
O’Callaghan, c.1917 (source: O’Brien family archive).
1099b. Mary Healy (nee
O’Brien) and Mary O’Brien with Fr James O’Callaghan’s priest jacket, present
day (picture: Kieran McCarthy).
1099c. Burial place of Fr James O’Callaghan, Clogheen Church, present day (picture: Kieran McCarthy).
1099b. Mary Healy (nee O’Brien) and Mary O’Brien with Fr James O’Callaghan’s priest jacket, present day (picture: Kieran McCarthy).
1099c. Burial place of Fr James O’Callaghan, Clogheen Church, Cork, present day (picture: Kieran McCarthy).
To ask the CE for an update on the progress of Marina Park? (Cllr Kieran McCarthy)
Motions:
That the double yellow lines be returned to the corner of Park Hill and Skehard Road. Cars are parking on the corner making vehicles difficult to exit and enter with ease (Cllr Kieran McCarthy).
That the City Council and the ESB work on a joint programme of works to return the sub station on Caroline Street to an art gallery/ cultural space (Cllr Kieran McCarthy).
That appropriate trees be replanted at the Japanese Gardens, Ballinlough, following the recent cutting due to health and safety (Cllr Kieran McCarthy).
