Dan Breen and the IRA by Joe Ambrose
Authors: Joe Ambrose
Tags: General, History, Biography & Autobiography, Political, Biography, Europe, Political Science, Revolutionary, Ireland, Revolutionaries
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It used to take me five days to walk to Cork across the fields.â
The absence of these enterprising young men from their homes in Tipperary hit their relatives hard. Treacy and Breen were the main providers for their respective families. Eamon OâDuibhir was summoned to Dublin in 1919 by Tom Johnson and William OâBrien from the Labour Party. Acting on behalf on the National Aid League, they offered him £200 to help meet his expenses. He turned it down but was advised by the Labour men to find out if anything useful could be done with the money back in Tipperary. He discussed it with Cumann na mBan and they pointed out that certain local families, such as Dan Breenâs mother, were in a very bad way financially. National Aid gave OâDuibhir some money for these families; Mrs Breen got £80.
11 â Ambushing Lord French
Lord John French was the Kingâs representative in Ireland and the day-to-day ruler of the island. An army officer back from the Great War bloodbath, he gradually introduced into Ireland a succession of belligerent military methods which effectively hampered the burgeoning insurgency. Collins was determined to assassinate him on both practical and public relations grounds. There were at least twelve serious attempts to kill him and Volunteers from the country were regularly recruited for these endeavours.
Paddy OâDwyer, one of the Soloheadbeg team, was approached by Maurice Crowe and asked if he would be prepared to go to London to take part in an attack there on French. âHe was not prepared to give me any details,â said OâDwyer, ânor would he disclose to me at that stage the names of any other men who were being invited to travel ⦠This conversation with Maurice Crowe took place some months before the attack on Lord French at Ashtown.â
Frank McGrath, commandant of the north Tipperary IRA, was also sounded out: âSome time before the attack on Lord French at Ashtown ⦠I was called to GHQ. There I met Michael Collins, who directed me to a room in which were Cathal Brugha and Dick Mulcahy. I learned from Brugha and Mulcahy that it was proposed to make an attack on Lord French and they asked me if I was in a position to supply a number of men to assist in the operation and, if so, how many. I replied that I was confident that the men could be got but that offhand I could not give the number. I undertook that on my return home I would find out definitely and furnish the names of men agreeable to take part. This was considered satisfactory and they asked me to communicate the information within four days. No mention was made of where the proposed attack was to take place or of how the men were to be armed, but I assumed that GHQ would provide the arms. On leaving the room I met Liam Deasy from Cork, who was evidently required on a similar mission to mine, for Michael Collins sent him into the room I had just left.
âOn my return home, I interviewed members of the brigade and, as a result, I sent forward to GHQ a list of some fifty names (including my own) of men who were prepared to take part in such an engagement at any time.â
It seems that GHQ favoured country men for a job which, in all likelihood, would have to be done in Dublin. Being the Kingâs plenipotentiary in a territory more or less at war, French was heavily guarded wherever he went. In Dublin, however, he performed a number of semi-public ceremonial duties necessary to maintain the âbusiness as usualâ stance favoured by the British.
The several Dublin attempts to eliminate him fell within the remit of the Squad and members of the Big Four were normally involved. Dan Breen said that: âWe all arranged to stay somewhere that we could be easily reached by phone, but Robinson, who was staying in Heytesbury Street, could not be contacted by phone. So I went on one of these occasions to warn him of a proposed attack, but he informed me that he was
The absence of these enterprising young men from their homes in Tipperary hit their relatives hard. Treacy and Breen were the main providers for their respective families. Eamon OâDuibhir was summoned to Dublin in 1919 by Tom Johnson and William OâBrien from the Labour Party. Acting on behalf on the National Aid League, they offered him £200 to help meet his expenses. He turned it down but was advised by the Labour men to find out if anything useful could be done with the money back in Tipperary. He discussed it with Cumann na mBan and they pointed out that certain local families, such as Dan Breenâs mother, were in a very bad way financially. National Aid gave OâDuibhir some money for these families; Mrs Breen got £80.
11 â Ambushing Lord French
Lord John French was the Kingâs representative in Ireland and the day-to-day ruler of the island. An army officer back from the Great War bloodbath, he gradually introduced into Ireland a succession of belligerent military methods which effectively hampered the burgeoning insurgency. Collins was determined to assassinate him on both practical and public relations grounds. There were at least twelve serious attempts to kill him and Volunteers from the country were regularly recruited for these endeavours.
Paddy OâDwyer, one of the Soloheadbeg team, was approached by Maurice Crowe and asked if he would be prepared to go to London to take part in an attack there on French. âHe was not prepared to give me any details,â said OâDwyer, ânor would he disclose to me at that stage the names of any other men who were being invited to travel ⦠This conversation with Maurice Crowe took place some months before the attack on Lord French at Ashtown.â
Frank McGrath, commandant of the north Tipperary IRA, was also sounded out: âSome time before the attack on Lord French at Ashtown ⦠I was called to GHQ. There I met Michael Collins, who directed me to a room in which were Cathal Brugha and Dick Mulcahy. I learned from Brugha and Mulcahy that it was proposed to make an attack on Lord French and they asked me if I was in a position to supply a number of men to assist in the operation and, if so, how many. I replied that I was confident that the men could be got but that offhand I could not give the number. I undertook that on my return home I would find out definitely and furnish the names of men agreeable to take part. This was considered satisfactory and they asked me to communicate the information within four days. No mention was made of where the proposed attack was to take place or of how the men were to be armed, but I assumed that GHQ would provide the arms. On leaving the room I met Liam Deasy from Cork, who was evidently required on a similar mission to mine, for Michael Collins sent him into the room I had just left.
âOn my return home, I interviewed members of the brigade and, as a result, I sent forward to GHQ a list of some fifty names (including my own) of men who were prepared to take part in such an engagement at any time.â
It seems that GHQ favoured country men for a job which, in all likelihood, would have to be done in Dublin. Being the Kingâs plenipotentiary in a territory more or less at war, French was heavily guarded wherever he went. In Dublin, however, he performed a number of semi-public ceremonial duties necessary to maintain the âbusiness as usualâ stance favoured by the British.
The several Dublin attempts to eliminate him fell within the remit of the Squad and members of the Big Four were normally involved. Dan Breen said that: âWe all arranged to stay somewhere that we could be easily reached by phone, but Robinson, who was staying in Heytesbury Street, could not be contacted by phone. So I went on one of these occasions to warn him of a proposed attack, but he informed me that he was
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