One hundred years ago this month many families in Ireland were in mourning in the aftermath of the tragic Civil War. But even after the war officially ended more people were plunged into grief and last weekend several generations of a wide family group gathered to recall one of the less well remembered fallen of that time - Harry McEntee of the IRA’s Dublin Brigade. Free article

By August 1923 there were over 11,000 Republican prisoners in Free State jails and prison camps, the vast majority of them interned without trial. The Civil War was over but the Free State government showed no sign of releasing prisoners, instead that month it passed another Emergency Powers Act to give itself more legal powers to detain citizens. Free article

“We are the generation who are going to deliver on what Neil ‘Plunkett’ O’Boyle and so many others gave their lives for”. These were the words of Sinn Féin TD for Donegal Pearse Doherty speaking at a centenary dinner in Motherwell commemorating Donegal and Newmains republican Neil ‘Plunkett’ O’Boyle. Free article

At a recent lecture on Ernie O’Malley by the historian and Sinn Féin Councillor Mícheál Mac Donncha, I was chatting with Belinda Nugent from the O’Malley/Russell Cumann and I mentioned that my Granda Michael Smyth knew Ernie O’Malley and was instrumental in his famous escape from Kilmainham Gaol in 1921 along with Simon Donnelly and Frank Teeling. Free article

On Saturday 29 April, eve of the centenary of the 1923 IRA ceasefire, Sinn Féin in Ennis, County Clare, unveiled a refurbished plaque to three Volunteers executed in the Free State barracks 100 years ago, some of the final Civil War executions. Speaking at the event Mícheál Mac Donncha looked back at the Counter-Revolution and how its centenary has been marked. This article is based on that address. Free article

Liam Lynch died around 8.45pm on the evening of 10 April 1923, 100 years ago. His death signalled the end of the war and moves were made soon after to conclude that phase of the IRA’s campaign. Free article

November 1922 saw a general sweep by Free Staters through Donegal in an effort to end Republican opposition in the county. This sweep was successful in that it captured the vast bulk of Volunteers operating in the county or forced them to go on the run in other counties. Free article

By the beginning of March 1923 the Civil War had taken a terrible toll across Ireland and worse was yet to come, especially in County Kerry. The war was intense there, with fierce fighting and many casualties between the strongly anti-Treaty Kerry IRA and the Free State forces that had invaded by sea at Fenit and captured Tralee the previous August. Free article

Mícheál Mac Donncha interviews author and historian Gerard Shannon on his new biography of Republican leader Liam Lynch. Free article

One hundred years ago, the Liverpool-born IRA Volunteer, George King was fatally wounded by Free State forces. On his centenary weekend, Irish republicans from across Ireland and Britain gathered in Liverpool to commemorate his life and sacrifice. Free article

Joseph MacDonagh, dedicated Irish Republican and Sinn Féin TD died on Christmas Day 100 years ago after six years of tireless work for Ireland. Free article

By Christmas of 1922 it was clear that the Free State Government had all but won the war. They had executed 21 republican prisoners in jails and internment camps. Thousands of prisoners were held in both partition states. In the countryside and the few towns where they still held out, the IRA’s forces were dwindling and in retreat. Free article

The Curragh Camp in County Kildare was for decades the chief British military base in Ireland. It was handed over to the Free State army in May 1922 but it was shortly the scene of imprisonment and execution of some of the same republicans who had fought the British. Free article

Mary Lou McDonald, Castletown, Co. Wexford. Sunday, December 11, 2022 Free article

The new Irish Free State of 26 Counties officially came into existence on 6 December 1922. Two days later on 8 December its government committed an act that was to define its treacherous nature in the eyes of Republicans for many years - the execution of Liam Mellows, Rory O’Connor, Joe McKelvey and Richard Barrett in Mountjoy Jail. Free article