1919-Beginning of the War of Independence

Advertisement for the Irish drama 'The Insurgent Chief' from the periodical Ár n-Éire/New Ireland Vol. VIII No. 18, 6th September 1919.

Extract from The Catholic Bulletin (Vol. IX No. 6), June 1919.

Attacks on police patrols became more frequent as the year moved on, especially in Munster and by June the number of fatalities was nearing double figures. In Limerick, the killing of a constable in an attempt to rescue the republican prisoner Robert Byrne who also died, resulted in the declaration of military law throughout the county in early April. This operation was spearheaded by the Cork born Brigadier General Joseph Griffin and strong local reaction was enhanced when an inquest into Byrne’s death was seen to exonerate the police. Walk outs from various factories escalated into a general strike until a self declared soviet ran the city for 12 days from April 15^th. The leading figure was one John Cronin and a John Dowling, originally from Cobh, was also prominent. The soviet controlled the production and distribution of food in the city and its environs. Other local concerns including the press had to pay homage. The soviet even issued its own currency but lack of support from the wider trade union movement and clerical pressure brought the affair, which had received international coverage, to an early end.

In April, Dáil Éireann called for the ostracisation of police and their families, as the Irish Volunteers came to be known as The Irish Republican Army. They became the official standing army of the Irish Republic in August, after a Dáil motion from defence minister Cathal Brugha. In June, De Valera had departed for the United States where he would spend the next eighteen months seeking recognition for the Irish Republic and funds for the Dáil and the IRA. Some of his rallies were well attended, as for example 70,000 turned out for his Boston appearance and he was famously photographed at another gathering as an Indian Chief. Brugha, Michael Collins and others rose in influence during his absence.

The first attack on a British army unit since 1916 took place in Fermoy, Co. Cork on September 7^th when members of the King’s Shropshire Light Infantry were shot at on their way to church with one fatality. The IRA unit was lead by Liam Lynch and when an inquest did not bring in a verdict of murder, soldiers sacked Fermoy in the first reprisal by Crown forces against civilians. This escalation may have speeded up a decision by the British authorities to ban the Dáil.  They already resented the success to date of the Dáil against considerable odds. They now viewed it as a potential threat, especially after the IRA took an oath of allegiance to it. The ban was declared on September 12^th and was preceded by a raid on Sinn Féin's Dublin office in which the Cork TD Paddy O’Keeffe was among those arrested. Some days later “The Cork Examiner” was among a number of publications suppressed for carrying an advertisement for the Dáil loan.  These reactionary measures inevitably lead to an upsurge in violence. The Dáil continued to function covertly despite the best efforts of the authorities who raided premises used by Dáil departments in order to confiscate documents and attempted to seize money raised for the national loan. That the Dáil managed to operate at all in these difficult circumstances was due to a small group of dedicated civil servants who arranged secret meetings and did the necessary paper work. 

However, the Dáil was no longer officially functioning and this hiatus inevitably brought about an escalation of military activity. Parts of the country had already become virtually impossible to govern and on the day after the banning of the Dáil, County Tipperary was declared a “Special Military Area” after the killing of yet another policeman there. The “Premier County” had been something of a hotspot for republican activity throughout the year. In May, two policeman were killed at Knocklong Railway Station in the rescue of Sean Hogan who had been involved in the Soloheadbeg ambush.  A senior policeman met the same fate at Thurles in July, and as activities extended into the adjoining counties of Clare and Limerick, a number of organisations including Sinn Féin were banned there. The get tough policy intensified towards late September as all republican newspapers were banned and Paddy O’Keeffe was jailed for two years for a seditious speech.  The number of police raids on private houses rose exponentially and in October, Sinn Féin was proscribed. This did not stop the republican group from holding their annual conference and in November the first issue of “Bulletin”, the official Dáil newspaper, was published.