Burning of the Curragh

FOLLOWING the introduction of internment in the 26 Counties in January 1940, almost a year after the beginning of the IRA bombing campaign in England, hundreds of republicans were arrested and interned.

The internees were held in a new prison camp. “Tin Town”, at the Curragh in County Kildare. Conditions at the Curragh during 1940 were deplorable. Tin Town – a cordoned-off section of the military camp surrounded by galvanised tin, and barbed wire – contained damp, dreary and draughty huts which housed almost 800 internees. 

 Constant harassment of the prisoners by the military police, led to tension that came to a head on Saturday 14 December 1940 when complaints to the camp commandant about the restriction of food rations were ignored. Resentment boiled over and selected huts were set on fire by the internees as a protest.

GAUNTLET

The suspected leaders were made to run the gauntlet of Free State soldiers and arrived at the ‘glasshouse’, beaten and bruised. The rest of the internees were locked in the remaining huts where they were held without food until the following Monday.

On the Monday morning, when the internees were released from the huts, the Free State soldiers were waiting outside, armed to the teeth. When the men began to line up for breakfast, as was the custom, soldiers opened fire. Barney Casey, a native of Longford, was shot in the back and died two hours later.

Four other internees – Martin Staunton, Walter Mitchell, Bob Flanagan and Art Moynihan – were wounded.

INQUEST

At Casey’s inquest it was claimed that the internees had been moving towards the main gate in an attempt to escape. Seán MacBride, who appeared for Casey’s next-of-kin, pointed out that Casey had been shot in the back. The inquest was adjourned at once and never resumed. The Fianna Fáil government was determined that the Irish people should know as little as possible of what was happening behind the barbed wire of the Curragh Internment Camp.

The men held in the ‘glasshouse’ were charged with malicious damage and in January 1941 were sentenced to terms of imprisonment ranging from 8 months to 10 years.

The burning of the Curragh Internment Camp took place on 14 December 1940, 75 years ago this week.