Internment in Ireland 1922-'23

Internment in Ireland 1922-’23

 According to writer J. McGuffin (1973) “when discussing interment in the Twenty-six Counties it is often difficult to know where to draw the lines. The Civil War, from mid 1922 to mid 1923,was a period of intense bitterness. It left a legacy of hatred that resulted in friend shooting friend and old comrade interning old comrade.

 “Internment under the aegis of Irishmen was no improvement upon internment under the English. New camps were establish at the Curragh, Co. Kildare: ‘Tintown No. 1’ was built to accommodate 600 men, and ‘Tintown No. 2’ held almost 2,000. The military governor of the camp was Commandant Billy Byrne. Most of the men in Tintown No. 1 were from Mayo, Limerick, Kerry and Dublin. The men lived in huts with serrated concrete floors. They eventually were allowed to cook their own food and organise themselves in a variety of activities. The only legitimate way out of the camp was to sign a declaration forswearing republicanism forever, and a few did this to join the new civic guards”.

 This introduction brings us to the stage where Mr. Fred Devere, that doyen of historians, on looking through musty files of the “Ballina Herald” wrote in his “Herald Jottings” column: “Stories of yesteryear, read in the light of the present age, take on new meanings, and distance often heightens the interest of many such stories as the one we present this week. It starts with a copy of the “Herald” of the 1^st November, 1923, bearing the following letter:

 “Tintown Camp

“Curragh,

“19/10/1923

 “My dear Mother – This is going with young Brogan. It probably will be the last for some time, as we decided entering on hunger-strike to-night for unconditional release, whatever the consequences entail. Our enemies have tried to fool us too long and break our moral spirit, so we will either smash them by this strike or die. The Staters would release me on Sunday last if I signed their infamous document. I wrote them to-day pointing out that if the signing of the document was to be a condition precedent to my release, whenever it does come, must unconditional absolutely. This is written on eve of hunger strike. Good-bye now, dear Mother. Say some prayers for our success. I just got this chance of sending you this.—Your fond son, Martin”.

 “The letter was signed with the name of Martin McGrath, to-day a candidate in yet another political struggle.

* * * *

 “There is a human interest story somewhere in this if it can be dug up, we told ourselves, and set out to excavate. As a result we now take you back to Tintown No. 2 Compound at the Curragh, back to the year 1923, and to a group of Ballina men who were to suffer for an ideal. The story comes from the lips of Denis Sheerin (or such of it as his modesty and some keen questioning would permit), and in it you will hear the story of the ‘heroic 67’ and of Hut 16.

 “The hunger strike started in Tintown No. 2 Compound a few days after a similar strike in Mountjoy Jail and it lasted a total of thirty-seven days. The measure was adopted to enforce the demand for a general release of prisoners held in compounds in various parts of the country. Our story concerns the inmates of Tintown No. 2 in which Ballina men – Denis Sheerin, Martin McGrath, Pappy Forde, Pappy Coleman, Michael Forde, the late Jimmy Walkin, Padhraig McAndrew and Bonniconlon’s Thomas Loftus were involved. The Camp Committee in Tintown decided on strike action, and when put to the individuals the 1,200 odd prisoners backed the demand to a man. Their determination was to be sorely tested in the grim days to follow.

THE STRIKE

 “Hardest part of the test was the first week or so, when the effects of a diet of warm water, salt and pepper began to take its toll of the will of Tintown No. 2. Despite the high morale and determination of the leaders, as the days wore on the number of inmates driven by hunger to break the strike began to mount. As man after man broke he was transferred by the authorities to another camp, and his companions, grim-lipped and pale, told that he had been released. With the alleged promise of freedom at the price of a mouthful of food, it is not to be wondered that many took the easy way out. Anyone who has done the fast at Lough Derg can speak eloquently of its rigours. Imagine ten days of plain water and salt, and wonder at the endurance of the men in the Curragh and elsewhere.

 “On the 11^th day of the hunger strike a meeting of the Camp Committee was held. For the sake of morale and the general good, it was decided that those who felt they couldn’t carry on the strike should break off immediately, while those who felt they should carry on would take the burden. On the final count it was found that sixty-seven men elected to remain on strike, while all the others broke it off. Two of the Ballina contingent who joined the sixty-seven were Denis Sheerin and Thomas Loftus, Bonniconlon. The rest abandoned the strike in the general breakaway following the committee meeting on the 11^th day.

HEROIC 67

 From what we could gather from Mr. Sheerin, no determined effort to break the strike or to feed the prisoners forcibly was made by the camp authorities. Following the decision of the 67 men, they were transferred from their usual billets and lodged in Hut 16. There they lived and lasted, adding their moral support to the movement that was already bring action elsewhere.

 “In Mountjoy the other strikers, led by Michael Kilroy and Tom Derrig  (present Minister for Lands), had a meeting with the Minister for Defence , General Mulcahy, and it was arranged that a big release of prisoners would take place immediately the strike ended, though not all would be released. With escort and transport provided by the authorities, the Mountjoy leaders set out to bring the news to strikers all over the country.

 “At three o’clock on the morning of the 23^rd November, Tom Derrig entered Hut 16 in the Tintown Compound to end the 37-day ordeal of the 67 men, mostly Cork and Kerry members. Derrig himself was on the 43^rd day of his hunger strike. By this time the men in Hut 16 had been reduced, through ill-health and breakdown, to 21, among them still the two Ballina men. ‘No real I.R.A. man broke the strike between the 1^st and 10^th day while there was spirit left,’ said Denis Sheerin in explanation, ‘and most of those who broke off were not members of the I.R.A’.

 “At any rate the sacrifices of Tintown No. 2 were not in vain. Following the agreement prisoners were released at the rate of 100 a day, though some did not receive freedom until the following year. Denis himself was released on the 13^th December, 1923, and hut 16 became something to recall with a quiet pride. It was quite an effort to get him to talk of those times, but another item of Ballina interest was the fact that the camp doctor at the time was another Ballina man—now Surgeon –Captain Vincent Walsh, Bridge Street, Ballina.

 “Note: The reference in Mr. McGrath’s letter to the signing of the “infamous document” refers to the paper presented by the Free State to prisoners guaranteeing consideration of the prisoner’s release by the Minister for Defence if the prisoner signed to the effect that he would not take part in I.R.A. activities and would give no assistance. “Very few I.R.A. men signed that, hardly any at all,” was Denis Sheerin’s reference to it.

UNIQUE DISTINCTION

 “The trials of a hunger strike were no novelty to Denis Sheerin on entering Tintown. In June, 1922, during the Truce between the Free State and the I.R.A. Convention at the Four Courts, he was arrested in Roscommon station. Free State troopers, searching the train for P. J. Ruttledge and Dr. Madden, took him into custody when he was recognised by Commdt.-General Fitzsimons. A solitary I.R.A. prisoner in Roscommon Jail, Denis went on hunger strike as a protest on the infringement of the Truce, and continued his strike from Monday to Friday, when he escaped to find his way back to Ballina. By that time the flame of Civil War had been lit in the country, and the man who, by his strike in Roscommon, found himself the only hunger-striker in Ireland at the time, went back to active service once more”.

                                                                                                                                 TATLER TWO

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ANOTHER LETTER

  Fred Devere, for whatever reason, left out another letter which appeared with the above in the same edition of the paper. It came from Padraig Hegarty, and it was sent from Gormanstown Interment Camp. It reads: “Gormanstown Interment Camp, Sunday, 23^rd November, 1923: My dear Mother—This is a little message to you, perhaps it may be the last, but don’t worry in the least. I am on hunger strike with the rest of my fellow prisoners for unconditional release or death. I know it will be hard on you considering you have already lost father and brother Eamon. Now I want you to be patient and brave. In a few short years we have all got to die. It is the way we are prepared to die that will matter; the material things of this earthly sphere will not count. We will be happy in the eternity of Heaven; have no fear of this. Mother, suffering here on this earth will only purify our souls for that great event. My conscience is clear in what I am undertaking. I harbour no revenge and bear no enmity or hatred against any man, forgiving all, as I hope to be forgiven for the sins of my life by my Creator. God bless you, dear mother, accept my fondest love. Love to Martin, Shawn, Bartley, Celia, Lill, Nell and children, and last but not least, Maureen. Give my love to all my old comrades and  friends. Goodbye now, dear.—Your devoted son, Padraig”.

 “P.S.: No need for you send any more parcels of any description”.