Dan Breen and the IRA (17 page)

Dan Breen was preparing for death. He tended sapling trees he'd planted in the grounds of Kilcroney. These trees, he believed, contained the spirits of those who had gone before him to the grave. He got into trouble with the authorities for smuggling rat poison into Kilcroney; squirrels were killing his saplings and had to be eradicated. He arranged to have a silver tea service, a wedding present, melted down and formed into a chalice for the altar in the Kilcroney chapel.

He died on 27 December 1969. The Northern Ireland troubles were about to erupt. In his last letter to Clonmel Fianna Fáil man, Frank Loughman, he asked, ‘When are we going to the north?'

In a final interview he talked about his own death.

‘Do you look forward to spring?' he was asked.

‘Ah, yes, when the buds and flowers come out and the birds start singing,' he replied. ‘Nature is marvellous. We'll have a great chorus of songsters here in a few weeks. There are a couple of great thrushes and they'll be trying to best each other with the singing.'

‘And, after spring, what do you look forward to?'

‘The long, long sleep. That's the only ambition I have left. The long, long sleep.'

‘It will be a happy one?'

‘It will be a happy one.'

POBLACHT NA hÉIREANN

Whereas
: The Irish Republican Army was established to maintain the Irish Republic and, having sworn allegiance to the Republic, is determined to resist every power, foreign and domestic, inimical thereto and

Whereas
: The setting up of the Free State government is inimical to the established Republic, and the majority of the dáil having contrived at the creation of the Free State government, have by that act forfeited the allegiance of all citizens of the Republic, soldier and civilian alike, and

Whereas
: The present dáil cabinet and the majority of general headquarters staff are avowed supporters of the ‘Articles of Agreement to the Treaty' signed in London on 6 December 1921, and are using the army which is the mainstay of the Republic to protect the Provisional Government which is determined to subvert the Republic.

– The attempt to set up the government of the Free State is illegal and immoral.

– All their orders, decrees, and acts have no binding force on the people of the south Tipperary Brigade area, or any other part of Ireland, and as such are to be resisted by every citizen of the Republic living in the area by every means in his power.

Séamus Robinson, Denis Lacey, Seán Fitzpatrick

Michael Sheehan, Jerome Davin, Patrick Ryan

Tadgh O'Dwyer, Brian Shanahan.

I joined the flying column in 1916,

In Cork with Seán Moylan,

In Tipperary with Dan Breen,

Arrested by Free Staters

And sentenced for to die,

Farewell to Tipperary

Said the Galtee Mountain Boy.

We crossed the pleasant valleys

And over the hilltops green

Where we met with Dinny Lacey,

Seán Hogan and Dan Breen

Seán Moylan and his gallant crew,

They kept the flag flying high.

Farewell to Tipperary

Said the Galtee Mountain Boy.

We crossed the Dublin Mountains,

We were rebels on the run.

Though hunted night and morning,

We were outlaws but free men.

We tracked the Wicklow Mountains

As the sun was shining high.

Farewell to Tipperary

Said the Galtee Mountain Boy.

I'll bid farewell to old Clonmel

That I ne'er will see no more

And to the Galtee Mountains

Where oft I have been before.

To the men who fought for liberty

And died without a cry,

May their cause be ne'er forgotten

Said the Galtee Mountain Boy.

TO THE ELECTORS OF TIPPERARY,

I offer myself as an independent republican candidate at the coming general election and I am prepared, if elected, to sit in the dáil. In taking this course I feel that I owe some explanation of my apparent change of attitude to those who supported me in the past.

Never since 1923 a convinced supporter of the policy of abstention, I did all in my power to prevent the disastrous consequences of Civil War. When the decision to fight was taken I was forced to submit my judgement to that of the majority of republicans, to take my stand with them in the conflict that followed and to abide by its result. The end of this struggle left me with no illusions as to what should be the future policy of intelligent republicans.

I saw, as all of you have seen, a national movement which had written the most glorious pages in the history of our country broken and robbed of its force and of its sanctity. I saw the men who since 1916 had united for the attainment of a common ideal shedding the blood and blackening the fame of former comrades in a quarrel as to the method of that attainment. I saw the imperial and anti-national forces rising to power by means of that unfortunate division and influencing the counsels of a government that had turned to them for support. On the other hand I saw republicanism beaten in the field and debarred from voicing in effective form the national aspirations of the people.

Faced with such a situation one thing and one thing alone could retrieve our position nationally: THE UNION OF ALL WHOSE IDEAL WAS STILL THE IDEAL OF 1916 TO 1921 AND THE DETERMINATION TO FORCE THE RECOGNITION OF THAT UNION AND THAT IDEAL ON THE NOTICE OF OUR PRESENT RULERS.

An undated letter from George Bernard Shaw to Dan Breen appears in some editions of
My Fight for Irish Freedom
. It concerns Breen's attempts to organise with an Irish film production company, S.A. Ltd, the filming of Shaw's plays in Ireland.

Shaw's filmic collaborator was producer Gabriel Pascal, one of the most extravagant figures of his time. In 1938,
Time
magazine listed him, alongside Adolf Hitler, as one of the world's most famous men. Pascal wrote the line, ‘The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain' for Shaw's
Pygmalion
. It subsequently went into the musical version of the play,
My Fair Lady
.

Breen is said to have met with Pascal to discuss the Irish proposal, but Breen seemed to have met an awful lot of the newsreel/
Time
superstars of his epoch. Shaw's biographer, Michael Holroyd, couldn't recall any reference to the affair in Shaw's archive, but the letter does have a Shavian authenticity about it:

Dear Dan,

Get all this sentimental rubbish out of your blessed old noodle. I have no feeling in business. You can't humbug me; and it grieves me that you have humbugged yourself to the tune of £1,000.

I have given you time to do your damnedest to raise Irish capital. The result is £40,000. For film purposes it might as well be 40 brass farthings. A million and a half is the least we could start with; and it would barely see us through two big feature films.

The simplest and perhaps the honestest thing for the S.A. Ltd would be to wind up and pocket its losses. But after the company has been advertised as it has been its failure would be a failure for Ireland. What is the available alternative? First to get rid of me and Pascal. The protestant capitalists will not back me because I am on talking terms with you, and do not believe that you will go to hell when you die. The clergy, now that they know that I will not write up the saints for them, will not back a notorious free-thinker. The catholic laity will not back a bloody protestant. The capitalists who have no religion and no politics except money-making rule me out as a highbrow in whom there is no money. All of them object to Pascal because he is a foreigner who throws away millions as if they were threepenny bits. So out we go with our contracts torn up.

Next, S.A. must cut film production out of its programme and become a studio building company raising capital wherever it can get it, from Rank, Korda, Hollywood, Belfast, Ballsbridge, Paddy Murphy, John Bull and Solomon Isaacs. It is true that the studios will cost two millions in two years; but when they are ready the company will be an Irish landlord gathering rent from all the producing companies on earth.

I can see no alternative to a winding up order except this. I have written it all to Dev; so don't try to gammon him about it; but believe me and face it. When … turned S.A. down with £10,000, the game was up. You all thought I was your ace of trumps; I knew that I might be your drawback, but thought I might as well have a try. It has been a failure. I apologise and withdraw. Still, ever the best of friends,

G. Bernard Shaw

Abbreviations

Augusteijn
: Joost Augusteijn,
From Public Defiance to Guerrilla Warfare
(Irish Academic Press, Dublin, 1996).

Conway:
an tAthair Colmcille Conway,
The Third Tipperary Brigade of the IRA
(unpublished).

Malone:
James Malone,
Blood on the Flag
, translated from Irish by Patrick J. Twohig (Tower Books, Cork, 1996).

Maher:
Jim Maher, ‘Dan Breen looks back 50 years from 1967',
Tipperary Historical Journal
, 1998
.

Ryan:
Desmond Ryan,
Seán Treacy and the Third Tipperary Brigade
(Alliance Books, London, 1945).

Statement
: Bureau of Military History Statement.

Survivors:
Uinseann MacEoin,
Survivors
(Argenta Publications, Dublin, 1980).

THJ: Tipperary Historical Journal
.

Chapter 1

Dan Breen
Statement
.

Ernie Hogan, conversation with the author.

D. R. O'Connor Lysaght, ‘Co. Tipperary; class struggle and national struggle' in William Nolan, Thomas McGrath (eds),
Tipperary; History and Society
(Geography Publications, Dublin, 1985). [Information on economic conditions in Tipperary].

Maher
[Breen's comments of Seán Treacy's interests].

Seán Dowling, conversation with the author.

Ryan
[Seán Horan comments].

Chapter 2

Augusteijn
[information on Eamon O'Duibhir, Seán Mac Dermott and Pierce McCan].

Deaglán Ó Bric, ‘Pierce McCan MP' in
THJ
, 1986 and 1989.

John Shelley,
A Short History of the Third Tipperary Brigade
(Tipperary, 1996).

Chapter 3

Augusteijn
[information on Volunteer recruitment, Thomas Ryan quote, Patrick ‘Lacken' Ryan quote, Eamon O'Duibhir speeches].

Ernie O'Malley,
On Another Man's Wound
(Rich & Cowan; London, 1937) [information on Volunteer arsenal].

Séamus Robinson
Statement
.

Eamon O'Duibhir
Statement
.

Thomas Ryan
Statement
.

Dan Breen
Statement
.

Survivors
[Thomas Malone quote].

Conway
[Mauric Crowe quote].

Tom Garvin,
Nationalist Revolutionaries in Ireland 1858–1928
(Clarendon; Oxford, 1987) [Robinson's letter to Frank Gallagher].

Chapter 4

Ernie Hogan, conversation with the author.

John D. Brewer,
The Royal Irish Constabulary; An Oral History
(Institute of Irish Studies; Belfast, 1999).

Seán Kavanagh,
The Irish Volunteers' Intelligence Organisation
(Capuchin Annual, Dublin, 1969).

Kenneth Griffith and Timothy O'Grady,
Curious Journey: An Oral History of Ireland's Unfinished Revolution
(Hutchinson; London 1987) [Martin Walton quote].

Michael J. Costello, conversation with the author.

Malone.

Chapter 5

Survivors
[Peadar O'Donnell quote].

Séamus Robinson
Statement
.

Michael Hayes,
The Importance of Dáil Éireann
(Capuchin Annual, Dublin, 1969).

Tadgh Crowe
Statement
.

Ryan
[Maurice Crowe quote].

Patrick O'Dwyer
Statement
.

Dan Breen
Statement
.

Chapter 6

Joost Augusteijn, ‘The Operations of the South Tipperary IRA',
THJ
, 1996 [RIC report].

Patrick O'Dwyer
Statement
.

Risteárd Mulcahy,
Richard Mulcahy (1886-1971): A Family Memoir
(Aurelian Press; Dublin 1999).

Malone
[Mulcahy's Frongoch speech].

Jerome Davin
Statement
.

Ryan
[information on Soloheadbeg inquest].

Séamus Robinson
Statement
.

Dan Breen
Statement
.

Patrick O'Dwyer
Statement
.

Ryan
[Maurice Crowe recollection].

Eamon O'Duibhir
Statement
.

Chapter 7

Ryan
[information on the fate of Soloheadbeg gelignite].

Tadgh Crowe
Statement
.

Chapter 8

Eamon O'Duibhir
Statement
.

Mick Davern
Statement
.

Ryan
[information on Knocklong rescue].

Chapter 9

Mick Davern
Statement
.

Joost Augusteijn, ‘The Operations of the South Tipperary IRA',
THJ
, 1996 [RIC report].

Séan Gaynor, ‘With Tipperary No. 1 Brigade in North Tipperary 1917–21',
THJ
, 1993

Chapter 10

Maher
[Breen on Dublin working-class].

Dan Breen
Statement
.

Risteárd Mulcahy,
Richard Mulcahy (1886-1971): A Family Memoir
(Aurelian Press; Dublin 1999).

Joe Leonard
Statement
[the foundation and purpose of the Squad].

Patrick O'Dwyer
Statement

Frank McGrath
Statement
.

Vinnie Byrne
Statement
.

Chapter 11

Patrick O'Dwyer
Statement
.

Frank McGrath
Statement
.

Dan Breen
Statement
.

Ryan
[Seán Hogan incident].

Vinnie Byrne
Statement
.

Chapter 12

Meda Ryan,
The Real Chief; The Story of Liam Lynch
(Mercier Press, Cork, 2004) [Conference between Breen, Lynch and others].

John D. Brewer,
The Royal Irish Constabulary; An Oral History
(Institute of Irish Studies; Belfast, 1999).

Augusteijn
[barracks attacks].

Survivors
[Thomas Malone on Kilmallock].

J. M. McCarthy
Statement
.

Jerome Davin
Statement
.

Dan Breen
Statement
.

Chapter 13

Dan Breen
Statement
.

Ryan
[Treacy's letter to Cait de Paor].

Eamon O'Duibhir
Statement
.

Jerome Davin
Statement
.

Maher
[Breen on Seán Treacy].

Chapter 14

Joost Augusteijn, ‘The Operations of the South Tipperary IRA',
THJ
, 1996 [RIC report] [internal dissent, Frank Drohan, Eamon O'Duibhir].

Thomas Ryan, ‘One Man's Flying Column',
THJ
, 1991.

Maurice McGrath
Statement
.

Patrick O'Dwyer
Statement
.

Chapter 15

Conway
[Bill Quirke incident].

Dáil Debates, 3 May 1921.

Michael Laffan,
The Resurrection of Ireland: The Sinn Féin Party, 1916-1923
(Cambridge University Press; Cambridge) [Breen's election campaign].

Eamon O'Duibhir
Statement
.

Chapter 16

Maher
[Breen on Civil War and Collins].

Conway
[Civil War narrative, including Thomas Ryan incident].

Tom Garvin
1922, The Birth of Irish Democracy
(Gill and Macmillan; Dublin, 1996) [Ryan's message to Dinny Lacey, reception of Prout in Clonmel].

An tAthair Colmcille Conway, conversation with the author.

Chapter 17

Mike Flannery interview, conducted by Nancy Kersey [information on Breen's speakeasy].

Correspondence between Michael Murphy and Professor Liam Kennedy, QUB concerning authorship of
My Fight for Irish Freedom.

Dan Breen
Statement
.

Dáil Debates. 6 April 1927.

Dáil Debates, 9 June 1944.

T. Ryle Dwyer,
Guests of the State: The Story of Allied and Axis Servicemen Interned in Ireland During World War II
(Brandon; Dingle 1994)
[
Grey's letter to Roosevelt, Breen's relationship with Fleischmann].

Ernie Hogan, conversation with the author.

Seán Treacy, conversation with the author.

Survivors
[Peadar O'Donnell quote].

Chapter 18

Séamus Robinson
Statement
.

Diarmaid Ferriter, ‘In Such Deadly Earnest',
The Dublin Review
, No. 12.

Chapter 19

Brian Inglis,
Downstart: The Autobiography of Brian Inglis
(Chatto & Windus; London, 1990).

Nicky Furlong, conversation with the author.

Diarmuid Crowley, conversation with the author.

Michael McInerney,
Peadar O'Donnell, Irish Social Rebel
(The O'Bien Press; Dublin 1974) [bishop story].