Louth features among Last Voices of the Irish Revolution book

The Irish Civil War ended in 1923. Eighty years on, author and documentary-maker Tom Hurley wondered if there were many civilians and combatants left from across Ireland who had experienced the years 1919 to 1923, their prelude and their aftermath. What memories had they, what were their stories and how did they reflect on those turbulent times?

In early 2003, he recorded the experiences of 18 people, conducting two further interviews abroad in 2004. Tom spoke to a cross-section (Catholic, Protestant, Unionist and Nationalist) who were in their teens or early twenties during the civil war. The chronological approach he has taken to his book spans fifty years, beginning with the oldest interviewee's birth in 1899 and ending when the Free State became a republic in 1949.

Although none of the interviewees were natives of Co. Louth, some of them did have connections to the county which they discuss in the book. The names of those they mentioned may also ring a bell for some readers of this newspaper.

For example Patsy Holmes from Cork, aged 101, had been interned for a year in Ballykinar Internment Camp in Co. Down during the Anglo-Irish War. On being released in December 1921 he spoke about the great reception he and his comrades got when their train arrived in Dundalk on route to Dublin. There was a huge crowd turned out to greet them with many of them waving tricolours. 

Another interview is Dan Keating, born in 1902, who hailed from Co. Kerry. Having taken the anti-treaty side during the civil war, he was arrested in 1922 and jailed in Portlaoise (Maryborough) Gaol. He discusses some of the men he met in the gaol: “You had a grand crowd from Dundalk and Drogheda. The Lawlesses now, they were a law unto themselves, Johnny Greene, Cooney, Pat Fitzsimons and oh, some others from Dundalk. They were great.”

Dubliner Jack Duff, aged 100, was also interviewed for the book. He joined the Free State Army in 1922 and was later posted to Dundalk. He remembered that after the civil war soldiers had to do an exam in Dundalk so as to remain on in the army. There was a man named Washington, who was a sergeant from the transport division, sitting next to him during the exam. As this man was just sitting there looking at his paper, the officer came down and asked him whether he was going to commence his examination. Washington replied ‘No’ because he couldn’t write. There are other stories concerning Co. Louth in the book also.

100 years after the Civil War ended, these 20 interviews recorded by Tom Hurley come together to create a unique oral account of the revolutionary period and the tensions that were brewing in the run-up and aftermath. Together, theirs are the Last Voices of the Irish Revolution.

Last Voices of the Irish Revolution by Tom Hurley is available in bookshops throughout the country and can also be ordered online. It is published by Gill Books.