All the statements refer to activities before the split over the “Treaty” and those I’ve read do not appear to be influenced by antagonisms which arose after it.
Anyhow this is a short list including significant activists whose statements never get a mention from those charged commemoration of this decade of Centenaries
Michael Noyk, the Solicitor who acted for Arthur Griffith from about 1910, and for victims of British Censorship including The Daily Freeman’s Journal, and all ten Republicans hanged by the British in Dunlin in 1920 and 1921 is a mine of information. Fionan Lynch. Grandson of a Hedge Schoolmaster, a teacher himself, an IRB man, 1916 insurgent and committee member of the Keating Branch of the Gaelic League (itself a Who’s Who of 1916 Leaders and later leaders -in-waiting) illustrates the calibre of those who took on the most powerful and ruthless Empire of its time.
Eamon Broy, who later became Commissioner of the Gardai explains the different roles of the Dublin Metropolitan Police, an unarmed Service and the Royal Irish Constabulary and why the latter force had to be effectively neutralised if Dail Eireann and elected Local Governments fulfil the mandates given them by the electorate.
Frank Thornton explains how Republicans took counter-measures to neutralise the RIC and the political detectives of the G.Division (the original “G-Men”) of the Dublin Metroplitan Police, by co-opting them into the National Cause, dissuading them from attacking Republicans, and, if necessary, shooting them. When, in 1920, Britain organised a murder gang to wipe out the Republican leadership, the gang’s membership and places of residence were established, and waste-paper collected. A joint meeting of Dail Ministers and IRA Army Council examined the evidence collected, and authorised the destruction of the Murder Gang. The narrative should thrill every Dubliner as a great number of the action were in buildings still standing. And many grandchildren, and even the children of those who took part in the epic struggle, still live in the city.
I previously mentioned the witness statement of Robert Brennan, and his Memoir “Allegiance”. A wonderful man and A wonderful writer. His daughter Maev Brennan for years wrote a column for The New Yorker. Maev was a Grand-Aunt of Roddy Doyle, who, like yours truly, is an Alumnus of St Fintan’s CBS, Sutton. I attended there 1948 to 1957. He was born in 1958.
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