
The Men Will Talk to Me: Clare Interviews: Clare Interviews by Ernie O'Malley
By: | Ernie O'Malley, Padraig Og O Ruairc |
Publisher: | The Mercier Press Ltd |
Published: | June 2016 |
Pages: | 224 |
Categories: | Biography |
Language: | English |
Available as: | Paperback |
On sale at: |
Including dramatic first-hand accounts of the activities of the IRA in Clare during the War of Independence and the Civil War, this book adds missing voices to the Irish revolutionary narrative, especially from the anti-Treaty IRA who were unwilling to engage with the 'Free-Staters' in the Bureau of Military History. This book contains interviews with members of the IRA's Mid Clare and East Clare Brigades. It includes details of the Rineen Ambush, which was, at that time, the largest and most successful operation that the IRA had conducted against the RIC. It also includes an eyewitness account of the reprisals in Miltown Malbay carried out in revenge for the ambush and a fascinating account of IRA operations in Ennis during the War of Independence, including details of Republican sympathisers within the RIC garrison who provided the IRA with information, and the activities of local loyalists who assisted the British forces. There is also an account of the 'Scariff Martyrs', who were killed by members of the RIC Auxiliary Division on Killaloe Bridge. The Civil War also features prominently, with Paddy MacMahon discussing his capture during the 'Battle of the Four Courts' in Dublin. Ernie O'Malley was a medical student in Dublin when the 1916 Rising broke out. Although initially indifferent, he soon came to sympathise with the Republican viewpoint and joined the Irish Volunteers, later to become the IRA. He quickly rose through the ranks and was soon organising the IRA around the country, reporting directly to Michael Collins and Richard Mulcahy. Padraig Og O Ruairc, originally from Co. Clare, lives in Co. Cork and works for the OPW. He has published extensively on the revolution in Ireland, most notably 'Revolution: A Photographic History of Revolutionary Ireland 1913-23'.