#OTD in 1927 – Kevin O’Higgins, the Free State Minister for Justice, is assassinated while on his way to Mass at the Church of the Assumption by three anti-Treaty members.

Kevin O’Higgins the Irish Minister for Justice is gunned down by Anti-Treaty activists on his way to Sunday Mass. O’Higgin’s own father had been gunned down by the IRA in 1923. Kevin O’Higgins had attracted the hatred of the anti-Treaty IRA for his actions in the name of the Free State, Ireland’s newly-formed nationalist government […]

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#OTD in 1922 – Anti-Treaty forces abandon The Four Courts in Dublin which was bombarded for two days under the orders of Michael Collins.

Anti-Treaty commander in the Four Courts, Paddy O’Brien is wounded by shrapnel. Ernie O’Malley assumes command. In the morning there is a truce to remove the wounded. Shortly afterward, a massive explosion destroys the western wing of the Four Courts and the Irish Public Records Office along with it. Forty advancing Free State troops were […]

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#OTD in 1922 – The Four Courts garrison kidnaps Free State General JJ O’Connell in retaliation for the arrest of Leo Henderson I/C Belfast Boycott.

On 26 June 1922, a raiding party of anti-Treaty IRA men arrived at Ferguson’s garage on Dublin’s Baggot Street, accusing them of doing business with Belfast. They said, it was in violation of the boycott the IRA had placed on the city due to violence against nationalists there. Leo Henderson, their leader, seized a number […]

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#OTD in 1923 – Frank Aiken orders the Anti-Treaty fighters to “dump their arms” and return home.

After General Liam Lynch was shot by Free State soldiers in the Knockmealdown Mountains and died later that evening in Clonmel, Co Tipperary, many historians see his death as the effective end of the Civil War, as the new IRA chief of staff Frank Aiken declared a ceasefire on 30 April and on 24 May […]

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#OTD in 1922 – De Valera and Collins agree to a pact whereby a national coalition panel of candidates will represent the pro- and anti-Treaty wings of Sinn Féin throughout Ireland in the forthcoming general election.

As in the Irish elections, 1921 in the south, Sinn Féin stood one candidate for every seat, except those for the University of Dublin and one other; the treaty had divided the party between 65 pro-treaty candidates, 57 anti-treaty and 1 nominally on both sides. Unlike the elections a year earlier, other parties stood in […]

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#OTD in 1880 – Birth of political activist, Sean Hales, in Ballinadee, Co Cork.

During the 1921 elections, Hales was elected to the Second Dáil as a Sinn Féin member for the Cork Mid, North, South, South East and West constituency.   During the 1922 general election, he was elected to the Third Dáil as a Pro-Treaty Sinn Féin Teachta Dála (TD) for the same constituency. He received 4374 […]

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#OTD in 1923 – As the Civil War petered out into a de facto victory for the pro-treaty side, Éamon de Valera asked the IRA leadership to call a ceasefire, but they refused.

The Anti-Treaty IRA executive meets in the Knockmealdown mountains, Co Tipperary to discuss the war’s future. Tom Barry proposes a motion to end the war, but it is defeated by 6 votes to 5. Éamon de Valera is allowed to attend, after some debate, but is given no voting rights. SaveSaveSaveSave

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#OTD in 1922 – An IRA anti-treaty army convention announced it would no longer accept the authority of Free State Minister for Defence Richard Mulcahy.

Further movement to Civil War: An IRA convention was held in the Mansion House in defiance of a Dáil Éireann 15th March 1922 decree, despite the Dáil prohibiting it. Richard Mulcahy, the new Minister of Defence having succeeded the anti-Treaty Cathal Brugha, promised that the IRA would remain loyal to the government. However, the army […]

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#OTD in 1923 – Republican officer Tom Barry, after contacts with some former IRA comrades on the Free State side, proposes that the Anti-Treaty IRA call a truce. Liam Lynch turns down the idea.

Tom Barry was born in Killorglin, Co Kerry, the son of a former RIC officer who had become a shopkeeper. His family moved to Rosscarbery, Co Cork in his youth, and he was educated for a period at Mungret College, Co Limerick from 25 August 1911 to 12 September 1912. The reason for his short […]

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#OTD in 1927 – Kevin O’Higgins, the Free State Minister for Justice, is assassinated while on his way to Mass at the Church of the Assumption by three anti-Treaty members.

Kevin O’Higgins the Irish Minister for Justice is gunned down by Anti-Treaty activists on his way to Sunday Mass. O’Higgin’s own father had been gunned down by the IRA in 1923. Kevin O’Higgins had attracted the hatred of the anti-Treaty IRA for his actions in the name of the Free State, Ireland’s newly-formed nationalist government […]

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