Executions during the Irish Civil War

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Memorial to the Republican soldiers executed by Free State forces at Ballyseedy, County Kerry.

The executions during the Irish Civil War took place guerrilla phase of the Irish Civil War (October 1922 - May 1923) This phase of the war was bitter and both sides, the Government forces of the Irish Free State and the Anti-Treaty IRA insurgents, used executions and terror in what developed into a cycle of atrocities. From November 1922, the Free State government embarked on a concerted policy of executing Republican prisoners in order to bring the war to an end. Many of those killed had previously been allies and in some cases close friends (during the Irish War of Independence 1919-1921), of those who ordered their deaths in the civil war. In addition, government troops summarily killed prisoners in the field on several occasions. The executions of prisoners left a lasting legacy of bitterness in Irish politics.

1 Context
2 The first executions and reprisals
3 Official executions
4 Unofficial killings
- 4.1 March 1923
5 Effects
6 See also
7 Sources

[edit] Context

The use of execution by the Irish Free State in the civil war was relatively harsh. By contrast with their 77 official executions, the British had executed only 14 IRA volunteers during the War of Independence. One of the reasons for the draconian Free State policy from October 1922 was the death of Michael Collins, the commander of Free State forces in an ambush on 22 August. Whereas Collins had hoped for a speedy reconciliation of the warring Irish nationalist factions, after his death the Free State government, led by W.T. Cosgrave, Richard Mulcahy and Kevin O'Higgins, took the position that the anti-Treaty IRA were conducting an unlawful rebellion against the legitimate Irish government and should be treated as criminals rather than as combatants. O'Higgins in particular voiced the opinion that the use of terror was the only way to bring the war to an end.

Another factor contributing to the executions policy was the escalating level of violence in country. In the first two months of the Civil War (July-August 1922), Free State forces had successfully taken all the territory held by Republicans and the war seemed all but over. However, after the Anti-Treaty side resorted to guerrilla tactics in August-September, National Army casualties mounted and they even lost control over some of the territory taken in the Irish Free State offensive. The town of Kenmare, for example, was re-taken by Anti-Treaty fighters on September 9 and held by them until early December.

On September 27, 1922, the Free State's Provisional Government put the "Public Safety Bill" before the Dail, setting up military courts which allowed for the execution of men captured bearing arms against the state and aiding and abetting attacks on state forces. It was passed by 48 votes to 18, despite the opposition of the Irish Labour Party. W.T. Cosgrave told the Dáil, "although I have always objected to the death penalty, there is no other way that I know of in which ordered conditions can be restored in this country, or any security obtained for our troops, or to give our troops any confidence in us as a government".

On October 3, the Free State offered an amnesty to Anti-Treaty fighters who surrendered their arms and recognised the government. However there was little response.

On October 15th 1922, the Public Safety Bill came into effect. On the same day, directives were sent to the press by Free State director of communications, Piaras Beaslai to the effect that; Free State troops were to be referred to as the "National Army", the "Irish Army", or just "troops". The Anti-Treaty side are to called "Irregulars" and were not to be referred to as "Republicans", "IRA", "forces", or "troops", nor were the ranks of their officers allowed to be given. From now on, the Free State was prepared to treat the Republican fighters as criminals rather than as combatants.

[edit] The first executions and reprisals

On 17 November, in the first use of the powers enacted under the Public Safety Act, five anti-treaty IRA men who were captured with arms were shot by firing squad in Dublin. On November 19, three more Anti-Treaty IRA men were executed, also in Dublin. On 24 November, acclaimed author and treaty negotiator Robert Erskine Childers was executed by the Free State, having been captured on November 10 in possession of a pistol, which ironically had been given to him by Michael Collins. Childers was the Republican head of propaganda and it was widely speculated that eight low ranking Republicans were shot before Childers so that it would not look as if he had been singled out for special treatment.

In response to the executions, on November 30, Liam Lynch, Chief of Staff of the anti-treaty IRA, ordered that any member of Parliament (TD) or senator who had signed or voted for the "murder bill" should be shot on sight. He also ordered the killing of hostile judges and newspaper editors. On the same day, three Republican prisoners were executed in Dublin.

On December 7, Anti-Treaty IRA gunmen shot two TDs outside the Dáil, Sean Hales and Pádraic Ó Máillie. Hales was killed and O Maille badly wounded. After an emergency cabinet meeting, the Free State government decided on the retaliatory executions of four prominent Republicans (one from each province). Accordingly, on 8 December 1922, the day after Hales' killing, four members of the IRA Army Executive, who had been held since the first week of the war - Rory O'Connor, Liam Mellows Richard Barett and Joe McKelvey- were executed in revenge. This was an illegal act, as the four Republicans had been captured before the Dáil passed the legislation authorising executions. One of the tragic aspects of the incident was that O'Connor and Kevin O'Higgins were close friends, O'Connor, just a few months previously had been best man at O'Higgins' wedding.

Sean Hales was the only TD to be killed in the war. However, Republicans continued to attack elected representatives in reprisal for executions of their men. On 10 December, the house of TD James McGarry was burned down, killing his seven year old son. In addition, hundreds of homes of Senators were among the 192 burned or destroyed by the IRA in the war. In February 1923, Kevin O'Higgins' elderly father was murdered by Republicans at the family home in Stradbally.

[edit] Official executions

In all, the Free State formally sanctioned the execution of between 77 and 81 anti-treaty fighters during the war. Republican historian Dorothy Macardle popularised the number 77 in Republican consciousness, but she appears to have left out those executed for activities such as armed robbery. Those executed were tried by court martial in a military court and had to be found guilty only of bearing arms against the State.

After the initial round of executions, the firing squads got underway again in earnest in late December 1922. On the 19th, seven IRA men from Kildare were shot in Dublin and ten days later, two more were shot in Kilkenny. Most of those executed were prisoners held in Kilmainham and Mountjoy Gaols in Dublin, but from January 1923, Kevin O'Higgins argued that executions should be carried out in every county in order to maximise their impact. Accordingly, in that month, 34 prisoners were shot in such places as Dundalk, Roscrea, Carlow, Birr and Portlaoise, Limerick, Tralee and Athlone. From 8-18 February, the Free State suspended executions and offered an amnesty in the hope that anti-treaty fighters would surrender. However, the war dragged for another two months and witnessed at least twenty more official executions.

Several Republican leaders narrowly avoided execution. Ernie O'Malley, captured on November 4 1922, was not executed because he was too badly wounded when taken prisoner to face a court martial and possibly because the Free State was hesitant about executing an undisputed hero of the recent struggle against the British. Liam Deasy, captured in January 1923 avoided execution by signing a surrender document calling on the anti-treaty forces to lay down their arms.

The Anti-Treaty side called a ceasefire on April 30 1923 and ordered their men to "dump arms", ending the war, on May 24. Nevertheless, executions of Republican prisoners continued after this time. Four IRA men were executed in May after the ceasefire order and the final two executions took place on 20 November, months after the end of hostilities. It was not until November 1924 that a general amnesty was offered for any acts committed in the civil war.

In highlighting the severity of the Free State's execution policy, however, it is important not to exaggerate its extent. The Free State took a total of over 12,000 republicans prisoner during the war, of whom roughly 80, less than 1% were executed. How those who were executed were chosen from the others captured in arms is unclear, however many more men were sentenced to the death penalty than were actually shot. This was intended to act as a deterrent to anti-Treaty fighters in the field, who knew that their imprisoned comrades were likely to be executed if they kept up their armed campaign.

Richard Mulcahy - the Free State General who instituted the policy of executions of republican prisoners

[edit] Unofficial killings

In addition to the judicial killings, Free State troops conducted many unauthorised killings of captured Anti-Treaty fighters. Such activity was perhaps inevitable in a war that was defined by killings and reprisals on both sides. However, from an early point in the war, from late August 1922 (coinciding with the onset of guerrilla warfare), there were many incidents of National Army troops killing prisoners.

In Dublin, there were a number of killings carried out by the new Civic Guard (police) Intelligence service, the Crime Investigation Department (CID), which was headed by Joseph McGrath and was based in Oriel House in Dublin city centre. By 9 September, a British intelligence report stated that "Oriel House" had already killed "a number of Republicans" in Dublin. In one case, two Anti-Treaty men were taken out of a car in Drumcondra, shot dead and left on the street. In October, three young men found carrying republican propaganda posters were shot and dumped in a ditch in Clondalkin. There were also allegations of abuse of prisoners during interrogation by the CID. Republican Tom Derrig had an eye shot out while in custody [1].

County Kerry, where the guerrilla campaign was most intense, would see many of the most vicious episodes in the civil war. On August 27, two anti-treaty fighters were shot after they had surrendered in Tralee, county Kerry. One of them, James Healy, was left for dead but survived to tell of the incident. Republicans also killed prisoners. After their successful attack on Kenmare on September 9, the Anti-Treaty IRA separated National Army officer Tom "Scarteen" O'Connor and his brother from the 120 other prisoners and shot them dead. O'Connor was a former commander of the IRA in Kerry and his killing is thought to have been revenge for his siding with the Free State. On September 19, another Republican was summarily shot in Killarney. Another, James Galvin, was shot and dumped in Ballyseedy wood, near Tralee on the 28th, after he admitted to the killing of a National Army officer. Also in September, a party of nine anti-treaty fighters was wiped out near Sligo by Free State troops. Four of them, (including the John MacNeill, the son of Eoin MacNeill) were later found to have been shot at close range in the forehead, indicating that they had been shot after surrendering.

[edit] March 1923

There were a steady stream of similar incidents after this point, culminating in a series of high profile atrocities in the month of March 1923.

The killings were sparked off when five Free State soldiers were killed by a booby trap bomb while clearing a road at the village of Knocknagoshel, county Kerry, on March 6. The next day, the Dáil authorised the use of Republican prisoners to clear mined roads. National Army troops may have interpreted this as permission to take revenge on the anti-treaty side. On March 7, nine Republican prisoners were taken from Ballymullen barracks in Tralee to Ballyseedy crossroads and tied to a landmine, which was exploded and the survivors machine-gunned. One of the prisoners, Stephen Fuller, who later became a Fianna Fail TD, was blown to safety by the blast of the explosion and, although badly injured, escaped to tell of the event afterwards. The Free State troops in nearby Tralee had prepared nine coffins and were surprised to find only eight bodies on the scene.

This was followed by series of similar incidents with mines within twenty four hours of the Ballyseedy killings. Five Republican prisoners were blown up with another landmine at Countess Bridge near Killarney and four in the same manner at Caherciveen. Another Republican prisoner, Seamus Taylor was taken to Ballyseedy woods by National Army troops and shot dead.

The Free State unit, the Dublin Guard, and in particular their commander Paddy Daly, were widely held to be responsible for these killings. They, however, claimed that the prisoners had been killed while clearing roads by landmines laid by Republicans. When questioned in the Dail by Irish Labour Party leader Thomas Johnson, Richard Mulcahy, the National Army's commander-in-chief, backed up Daly's story. It has since emerged, however, that the prisoners were beaten, tied to explosives and then killed. At Cahirciveen, the prisoners were reportedly shot in the legs before being blown up to prevent them escaping. On March 28, five IRA men, captured in an attack on Cahirciveen on March 5 were officially executed in Tralee. Another, captured the same day summarily shot and killed.

In addition to the bloody events in Kerry, two similar episodes took place elsewhere in the country in the same month.

On March 13, four Republican fighters were judicially executed in Wexford in the south east. In revenge, Bob Lambert, the local Republican leader, had four national army soldiers captured and killed.

On March 14 at Drumboe Castle in county Donegal, in the north west, four anti-Treaty IRA fighters were captured and summarily shot.

What exactly prompted this outbreak of vindictive killings in March 1923 in unclear. While the National Army troops in Kerry were clearly enraged by the killings of their comrades at Knocknagoshel, a total of 68 Free State soldiers had been killed in the county and 157 wounded up to that point. Why the deaths at Knocknagoshel prompted such a savage response remains an open question. However, it has never been proved that the National Army atrocities of March 1923 were authorised by the Free State government or the National Army high command.

Even after the war had ended in May 1923, Free State troops continued killings of anti-Treaty fighters. For example, Noel Lemass, a captain in the anti-Treaty IRA, was abducted in Dublin and shot by Free State forces in July 1923, two months after the war had ended. His body was dumped in the Dublin Mountains, near Glencree, where it was found in October 1923. The spot where his body was found is marked by a memorial erected by his brother Sean Lemass - a future Taoiseach of Ireland. We have no conclusive figures for the number of unofficial executions of captured anti-treaty fighters, but Republican officer Todd Andrews put the figure for "unauthorised killings" at 153.

[edit] Effects

Arguably the Government policy of executions did help to end the Civil war. After the executions in reprisal for the killing of Sean Hales, there were no further attempts to assassinate members of Parliament. The Anti-Treaty leaders were also aware that continuing the war would mean exposing their prisoners to further executions. This was probably a factor in Frank Aiken calling a halt to the anti-Treaty campaign in April 1923.

Unarguably, however, the executions and assassinations of the Civil War left a poisonous legacy of bitterness in Irish politics. The Free State's official executions of 77 Anti-Treaty prisoners during the civil war was recalled by Fianna Fáil (the political party that emerged from the anti-Treaty side in 1926) members with bitterness for decades afterwards. In the hardline Irish republican tradition, those IRA members executed in the civil war became martyrs and were venerated in songs and poems. (For example, the Republican ballad Take It Down From The Mast)

As a result of the executions in the civil war, many Republicans would never accept the Free State as a legitimate Irish government, but rather as a repressive, British-imposed state. This attitude was partially alleviated after 1932, when Fianna Fáil, the party who represented the bulk of the Republican consticuency, entered government peacefully and introduced a new constitution in 1937. The Free State officially became the Republic of Ireland in 1949. However, to a small group of purist republicans, this state is still an illegitimate usurpation of the Irish Republic created in 1919.

Kevin O'Higgins, whom republicans felt was most directly responsible for the executions, himself fell victim to assassination by the IRA in 1927 - becoming one of the last victims of the Civil War era violence in Ireland.