| Patrick Moran | |
|---|---|
| Born | 14 March 1888 Crossna, Co. Roscommon |
| Died | 14 March 1921 (aged 33) at Mountjoy Gaol, Dublin |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Other names | Paddy Moran |
| Occupation | grocer's assistant |
| Known for | Executed IRA volunteer : One of the Forgotten Ten |
Patrick Moran (13 March 1888 - 14 March 1921) was a grocer's assistant and member of the Irish Republican Army executed in Mountjoy Prison along with five other men on 14 March 1921.
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Moran was born in Crossna, County Roscommon.[1] He was the third of eleven children of Bartholemew and Brigid Moran and attended primary school in Crossna before going to work as a grocer's assistant in Boyle.[1] In 1911 he settled in Dublin.[2]
He was an active member of the G.A.A.. He was involved in the 1913 Dublin Lock-out.[1] He was a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and the Irish Volunteers. As Adjutant of D Company, 2nd Battalion of the Dublin section of the Volunteers he fought in the Jacob's Factory Garrison during the Easter Rising of 1916 under Thomas MacDonagh.[1][2] In the aftermath of the Rising he was imprisoned at Knutsford Prison, Wormwood Scrubs and later at Frongoch. He was released in July 1916.[1]
In 1917, he was a founder of the Irish National Union of Vintners, Grocers and Allied Trades. He went on to serve as the organisation's president and chairman of its Kingstown branch.[1]
After his release from internment he became a captain in 'D' Company of the 2nd Battalion, Dublin Brigade, IRA. He was arrested on two occasions in early 1920 before being rounded up after Bloody Sunday and charged with the murder of a member of the Cairo Gang of British intelligence agents.
While in detention at Arbour Hill Prison, he was identified as being one of a group of men who had killed Lieutenant Ames at 38 Mount Street, Dublin. Moran strongly protested his innocence of any involvement in Bloody Sunday. Indeed, he had a solid alibi since he was at Mass in Blackrock (over four miles from the scene of the shooting) at the time and seen there by several people including a member of the Dublin Metropolitan Police.[3]
Moran was tried the day following the break out in He was transferred from Arbour Hill to Kilmainham Jail and incarcerated in the so-called 'Murderers' Gallery', two cells away from Ernie O'Malley, with whom he became good friends.[4] On 14 February 1921, Moran, O'Malley and Frank Teeling broke through the padlock on an outer gate of the prison. However Moran refused to take the opportunity to escape since he felt the authorities would interpret it as an admission of guilt, telling O'Malley "I don't want to let down the witnesses who gave evidence for me."[5] Instead Moran started a concert to distract the guards while the men escaped, with Simon Donnelly taking Moran's place. The event is related in detail in O'Malley's memoir On Another Man's Wound. City Hall, Dame Street, Dublin.[1] Despite the evidence of his innocence Moran was convicted of murder three days later and sentenced to be hanged on the 14th March 1921. The Archbishop of Dublin spoke out against the sentence.[5] The Irish National Union of Vintners' Grocers' & Allied Trades' Assistants, of which Moran had been an active member, called a half-day general strike on the morning of the executions and over 40,000 people gathered outside Mountjoy to pray for the six men who were hanged between 6am and 8pm.[3]
In 1961 a park was opened in Moran's memory in Dún Laoghaire.[3]
He is one of a group of men hanged in Mountjoy Prison in the period 1920-1921 commonly referred to as The Forgotten Ten. In 2001 he and the other nine, including Kevin Barry, were exhumed from their graves in the prison and given a full State Funeral. He is now buried in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin.
O'Malley, Ernie : On Another Man's Wound: A Personal History of Ireland's War of Independence : 2002 : ISBN 9781589790049