Tom Barry (52 page)

Shortly after, some further deletions and editorial ‘interference' disturbed Barry again. He informed the editor that such ‘interference' would ‘have to be' accompanied by an ‘acknowledgement'. However, without his approval, he did not want any alterations involving ‘omitting important facts' such as had been done with his article on Kilmichael (1932). He wanted reassurance of their promise ‘to publish without the alteration of a single word.'
[24]

A few weeks later Barry again expressed his anxiety. ‘Adverse comment mounts,' he wrote on 4 June, ‘that the instalments are being cut too drastically. Those people will not understand the pressure of space and all the other valid reasons.'
[25]
He told his friend Connie Neenan, ‘The
Irish Press
is no friend of mine but I could not refuse to give it to them' because, he said, he wished to ‘counter' the ‘subtle British propaganda' in the
Independent
. His reference was to Winston Churchill's memoirs being highlighted in the
Irish Independent
at the time.
[26]

He disagreed with Liam Mac Gowan,
Irish Press
, that his reference to Bishop Coholan's excommunication decree should be toned down. ‘I consider it a very mild exposition of a treacherous act aimed to destroy the armed Independence movement by a man who should have been dealt with in a stronger manner … do not touch it at all', he wrote, and he wanted inserted ‘in italics, in brackets' a line of the ‘strong language' used by the author which has been omitted.
[27]
He wrote the paragraph that he wanted inserted. Finally with the help of M. J. Costello he succeeded in getting the paper to publish the toned-down paragraph.
[28]

On 25 June, Mr Sweetnam again responded to another letter from him.

‘I would like to assure you at once that we have no intention of altering your Mss, or allowing any member of the staff to alter the Mss, except for those necessary deletions of the kind I have already notified you.

‘I have looked into your complaint and find that certain mistakes were made at the “stone” where some matter in the galleys was transposed … I have taken steps to see that they are prevented in future as far as possible.

‘You will understand, however, that in the rush to produce a newspaper some mistakes are inevitable.'
[29]
It is obvious from the foregoing that Barry was a stickler for accuracy.

After a photo of Barry appeared with the second instalment he asked the editor, ‘Where, oh where did the
Irish Press
get today's photograph of me? I suspect it must have been when, at some meeting, I was attacking the Fianna Fáil Govt!'

The editor responded, ‘It was taken at a meeting when you were attacking, not the Fianna Fáil Government, but the
Irish Press
. That is what you get for not sending us an authorised photograph.'
[30]
Later when his book was being published the
Irish Press
were again seeking a photo. But Barry had ‘a feeling against it', and rarely ‘had a photograph taken deliberately'. He did not want to feel ‘a presumptuous ass.' However, he finally consented.
[31]

There were only a few dissenting voices during serialisation. Some were from those who claimed to be at venues or held titles, which clearly were untrue and one such was the claim by an alleged brigade OC in a certain area. (This correspondence is marked, ‘not for publication'.) Barry had checked the details with Florence O'Donoghue, who in the ‘course of his investigations for the Military Bureau' when he was assigned to it, claimed that the same man ‘is not quite sound on top without being actually a mental case'.
[32]

Meanwhile, Tom told Liam Mac Gowan,
Irish Press
, that he was taking a day off for the Phoenix Park races ‘provided I am not dam
(sic)
well broke before it, backing donkeys. Joe McGrath wrote me ten days ago that
Solar Slipper
is very well fancied to win the Derby tomorrow. Let's hope so, because if he does not, I will have to doff my hat and genuflect every time I pass my bank for the next few months.'
[33]

Notes

The serialisation of Barry's manuscript in the Irish Press brought him hundreds of letters from readers countrywide including Third West Cork Brigade comrades, and veterans countrywide and abroad who had participated in both the War of Independence and in the Civil War.

Pat O'Mahony wrote, ‘From the day I first met you, to this moment, I am convinced that without you it would be easy to write the history of our brigade.' Pat, later a policeman in Dungarvan, found that ‘no other area could produce such a combination as yourself, Charlie Hurley, Liam Deasy, Jim Hurley, etc. … But without you??? … You are far too modest where your own part is concerned.'
[1]
Pat Callaghan believed that there would be ‘no 26 County Republic only for Tom Barry.' Another correspondent Canon O'Connell, who heard the men's confession before the Kilmichael ambush (afterwards took the pro-Treaty side), described Barry as ‘a second Napoleon'.
[2]

People sent the
Irish Press
daily to friends in America, New Zealand, Australia and ‘to good Irishmen everywhere'. Words of praise from young and old came in floods of letters. So many believed that ‘you cannot read your tombstone when you're dead!' One letter finishes with, ‘Thank you for “Guerilla Days” and your service to Ireland.'
[3]
Another wrote, ‘You wield a pen as well as you wielded a gun in West Cork.'
[4]
Several of his former comrades wrote complimentary letters, including Pete Kearney, who was ‘very pleased' and glad of the special mention of ‘the medical group' from UCC. Tom's great friend, Seán Moylan, complimented him on ‘the very great labour entailed in the digging up and co-relating of the facts.'
[5]
A few weeks later Pete Kearney wrote again to Tom of ‘an eighty year old man in Clare who never read a paper had to have the
Press
delivered specially from Corofin every morning. Another old man from North Cork, on a visit to Co. Meath, made a great nuisance of himself to his rancher friend by producing copies of the paper.' Dan Breen looked forward to the book, because he wanted ‘a full mouthfull at one go', and Jim Hurley of UCC forwarded a letter he had received from the chairman of the General Council of County Councils to Tom: ‘Id like you to tell him [Tom] how proud I was to read of his epic courage and quality and of his epic telling of his services and those of his fellow soldiers. His is a proud chapter in our story and for us who have no story – there is the pride of a common blood to fill us full … it makes me very proud of Cork blood and Irish blood. Thank him from one half Cork man and one whole Irishman.'
[6]
A man without Cork connections wrote how glad he was that Tom was reminding ‘the present breed of young Irish men of what those who went before them suffered for Ireland.'
[7]

In a letter to the
Irish Press
two Kerry writers jointly questioned Tom Barry's statement that in 1921 members of the inner cabinet were not members of the I.R.B. Barry in his response wrote: ‘none of those mentioned attended a meeting of the I.R.B. from 1919 to the date of their death … Both Brugha and Stack believed with President de Valera that once the elected parliament of the Republic was set up, the need for the I.R.B. lapsed and that all activities of militant young Ireland should be handled and controlled through the Irish Republican army … No one who has read my views on De Valera and Brugha can have any doubt of my opinion that membership of the I.R.B. was not an essential for a believer of a fighting policy.'
[8]
Barry wrote to Robert Barton who clarified the issue for him. ‘I can safely state that Dev. and Cathal Brugha left after 1916, probably on account of the then spirit.' Barton believed that Stack remained a member ‘until after the general election of 1918 when his position as minister clashed. About Dev's membership I can vouch for as MacDonagh [executed 1916] mentioned it to me in Holy Week 1916. Collins approached me in 1917 to speak to Dev on the matter but Dev refused to rejoin.'
[9]

Brugha had discussed the position with Eamonn Dore (friend of Seán MacDermott executed 1916) and Eamon Price (Leslie's brother) ‘late in 1917' or the ‘beginning of 1918.' So Dore knew that there was ‘more to his [Brugha's] bitter campaign against the organisation' than ‘the secret movement' policy. Believing the IRB ‘had got into wrong hands and was moving that way', Brugha told Dore he would engage in a ‘crusade' against it. Despite Dore's appeal he did not relent. Dore was ‘convinced from the whole discussion that the rift between himself and Collins had started almost from their first meeting and that the “crusade” was a natural outcome.'
[10]

Laurence McVerry wrote to the
Irish Press
, of ‘the stirring episodes of immortal value. Ireland will long remember the Commandant General, firstly for the noble part he played in this epic struggle, secondly for the meticulous care he took in compiling the true facts about Ireland's gallant sons and daughters in their dealings with the enemy, and lastly for revealing to the world the shameful and cowardly action of the British government on this blessed land of ours … May the memory of the “Guerilla Days in Ireland” never grow old, and may God grant that the “Boys that licked the Black and Tans” will not have died in vain.'
[11]

In June 1948, the Corrigan Park Reconstruction committee in Belfast invited Barry to perform the opening ceremony of ‘Outdoor Week'.
[12]
Barry, ‘proud to accept the invitation' pointed out that his ‘position in the six counties under British Rule' was ‘not very secure'. He could be: (a) Stopped at the border and ‘served with an Exclusion Order'; (b) ‘Arrested for some previous speech within British held counties'; (c) ‘Arrested immediately after performing ceremony', consequently he made suggestions as to how he would travel. He would not stay ‘in a public hotel' but in a private residence and leave immediately afterwards. He said there were those who tried many times ‘to get' him and ‘may now wish to finish the job.'
[13]
Before travelling he asked if the committee had ‘any objection to my dealing with Partition', and ‘any objection to my speaking as strongly as I feel on this matter.' He suggested that if he was ‘arrested before the ceremony' his address could be ‘read by somebody else.'
[14]

Later in the month Tom, on behalf of the divisional staff of ‘the twenty-three Battalions which existed in Cork City and County on the date of the Truce with the British', invited President of Ireland, Seán T. O'Kelly to attend a dinner to be organised in his honour.
[15]

The president replied that ‘he would be disposed to give the most sympathetic consideration to the proposal if he could be assured' that the invitation had ‘full knowledge of all the former Officers of the units mentioned'. Neither should the occasion be ‘of a party or sectional character' due to the obligation of the ‘President's position'.
[16]
In his response Barry wrote that ‘of the 40 persons who might participate, 35 fought with the Republican forces in the Civil War, three against while two remained neutral … Because of this it is now felt that the inviting body might be considered as one with a very definite political tinge although indeed no such gathering was ever intended.' Barry appreciated ‘the special position of the President' and decided that the invitation should be postponed ‘to some later date'. He assured him that the intention was only to honour him ‘in his official capacity and to express our regard … for his life long services to our Nation.'
[17]

On 3 September 1948 Tom and Leslie were invited as guests to the ‘Conferring of Freedom of Cork City on President Seán T. O'Kelly'. It was a formal occasion with a military guard of honour. ‘Mr & Mrs Barry' were ‘distinguished guests with reserved places' in the Lord Mayor's room. The ceremony began in the City Hall and ‘about 12.50 p.m. cars took the party' to the Victoria Hotel for a sherry reception in the drawing-room. Then, on to lunch and a civic reception in the dining-room at 1.30 p.m. Tom sat beside the president's ADC and near Dr O'Rahilly, president of UCC. Leslie was at the top table side-seat, beside Dr Coholan, Catholic bishop of Cork. Following the after-lunch party and the president's speech, the Lord Mayor thanked the guests ‘for attendance and the party dissolved'. Later that afternoon the president officially opened, St Raphael's, the children's preventorium, where Leslie Bean de Barra, Red Cross, played a ‘welcoming role'.
[18]

Tom Barry did not leave any note about how he felt in such prestigious company, or whether he doffed his hat – one of his favourite phrases – to the Lord Bishop! It is not known what conversation Leslie had with Bishop Coholan, the man who had issued an Excommunication Order against her husband after the Kilmichael Ambush, 1920!
[19]

Though Fianna Fáil had ‘some fifteen months to run' in its majority government, De Valera called a surprise general election on 4 February 1948. Clann na Poblachta founded in 1946 by Seán Mac Bride promoted the Irish partition issue. This election brought a coalition of ‘no less than six parties with some independents' into power. They elected John A. Costello as Taoiseach. Despite De Valera's loss of office he went ahead in March 1948 with his already planned tour of American cities to drum up support for the Northern Ireland cause, and appealed for the ‘Reunification of Ireland'.
[20]
These activities were followed closely by Tom Barry.

John A. Costello of the Fine Gael-led government, was a guest of the Canadian Bar Association in Montreal on 1 September 1948, when he delivered an address on ‘Ireland and International Affairs' with the text approved by the cabinet before his departure.

On 5 September the
Sunday Independent
carried the headline EXTERNAL RELATIONS ACT TO GO. Two days later the Taoiseach gave a press conference in Ottawa confirming that this was the government's intention, and in November the Republic of Ireland Bill was introduced in the Dáil.

An Anti-Partition Association had been in existence since April 1948. They had written to Barry to ask his assistance.
[21]
Barry had been invited by the lord mayor of Dublin to deliver ‘an address on the 1798 Rising' in the Mansion House. Peadar O'Donnell with whom Tom had been working, suggested how Tom could use the occasion in his drive for a ‘United Ireland'.
[22]
He believed Tom should ‘set forth' his views for the lord mayor of Dublin and ‘ask him' to call ‘a conference' as a move towards a ‘National Convention which would readily' give people a ‘voice on freedom'. This could entail ‘a live ceremony and the re-dedication of Independence.' Barry, of course, did not miss the opportunity to use the occasion to further the cause of full independence.
[23]

After an announcement of a general election in Northern Ireland, the Taoiseach J. A. Costello invited the leaders of all political parties to a debate, on 25 January 1949, on how their ‘assistance can be given to anti-Partition candidates contesting.' At an all-party meeting two days later it was decided that a public subscription should be set in motion for an anti-partition fund. The Mansion House committee and its offspring the Anti-Partition League provided a flood of propaganda about partition and published a tide of pamphlets describing discrimination and gerrymandering. Over £50,000 was collected which was to be used in supporting anti-partition candidates in the north in the general election and in sending ‘anti-Partition speakers like Tom Barry and Denis Ireland on a tour of America and Britain to inveigh against the border (De Valera, too, went on a world tour to highlight the partition issue).'
[24]

Arising out of this, the Unionists pointed out that their sectarian fears were justified – they would be over-run by IRA and Roman Catholic policy, therefore the border should remain. On the other hand, this issue helped the young members of the IRA to consolidate their opinion that the border should go.

The Republic of Ireland Bill came into force on Easter Monday 1949. At one minute to the hour of midnight on 17 April 1949 a group stood on the steps of the City Hall, Cork, including Tom Barry, Col J. O'Hanrahan, OC Southern command and Col J. Hannon, OC First Brigade. Beyond the steps and over the bridge and all along the Mall stood a throng estimated to be well over 20,000. Long before midnight crowds began to converge on City Hall. According to the
Cork Examiner
, ‘they counted out the minutes of the old regime; they presented to the close observer a cross-section of the most eventful period of modern Irish history.

‘In that gathering were grey beards who had watched at the deathbed of the constitutional movement, and who, in their own way, had effectively advanced the cause of Irish freedom. There were the middle-aged, who in the enthusiasm of their youth had snatched the torch from older hands, and whose readiness to sacrifice for the cause gave substance to the dream of insurrection. Deprived as the great majority were through no fault of their own of the honour of fighting in 1916, they seized the later opportunity with both hands and helped to write a glorious page of Irish history in 1920–1921. The generation which has grown up since then was also fully represented there to witness the transition from partial to full independence.'
[25]

The last chime of the City Hall clock died away, military buglers sounded a fanfare and then all eyes turned to the steps of the building.

The naval corvette
L. E. Maev
under Lieut-Comd. J. Whyte, INS, was berthed nearby and ready for the occasion; her search-lights plus the flood-lights at the foot of the steps focused on Tom Barry reading the 1916 Proclamation:

Irishmen and Irishwomen ... We declare the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland, and to the unfettered control of Irish destinies, to be sovereign and indefeasible …