Religion had nothing to do with the struggle for independence
But why should Fr Shinnick have been shot? He never had anything to do with the British Army and nobody suggested he was an informer or spy. His only action was to advise the IRA to evacuate the ambush position for their own safety. He was perfectly within his rights in doing that. Indeed, his advice should have been followed. I think the IRA commander was guilty of a great lapse in security by remaining in the ambush position too long.!
But the action of Mrs Lindsay in calling to Ballincollig Military Barracks and alerting the army of occupation was an act of terrible treachery that cannot be excused. What would happen to a French woman who alerted the Gestapo about the activities of the French underground during the German occupation of France? Everybody knows the answer.
Mrs Lindsay (and her religion had nothing to do with it) was responsible for the tragic consequences — the capture and execution of five of her neighbours. Surely she was aware that the British never bothered with the terms of the Geneva Convention and executed prisoners of war.
It is of interest to note that the IRA attempted to negotiate a very favourable deal with General Strickland, the officer commanding the first division stationed in Victoria Barracks in Cork — commute the death sentence on the volunteers and we will not harm your people. This arrangement was supported by a personal letter from Mrs Lindsay to the General, who she addressed as “Dear Sir Peter”. Both letters were delivered by hand to the barracks gate by a young boy on a bicycle who told the sentry a stranger had asked him to deliver it.
But it seems that the General had as little respect for the life of Mrs Lindsay as he had for prisoners of war. The execution by firing squad of six prisoners (apart from the Dripsey men, there was another man from Co Tipperary) meant the IRA was forced to retaliate by executing its prisoners. On the day of the execution British troops were ambushed on the streets of Cork and six were killed. So we have 14 deaths, all unnecessary and due totally to the action of Mrs Lindsay and the arrogance of General Strictland.
It must always be remembered that the deaths of Irish people and their own soldiers was the sole reasonability of the ruling junta in London. The unfortunate British working people were not guilty. They never agreed by vote or otherwise to the mad imperial schemes of their leaders that led to such appalling sufferings in Ireland and throughout the world.
Nor did the ordinary English person give consent to the refusal by the British government to recognise the lawfully elected government of the Irish people — Dáil Éireann. In the 1918 election (women had votes for the first time but they had to be over 30), over three-quarters of the seats were won by Sinn Féin. That expressed the wish of the Irish people for independence.
If girls between the age of 21 and 30 had been given the vote, Sinn Féin would have even won more seats. Nobody, not even the most ardent revisionist, would suggest that young factory girls in Dublin or Cork or young farmers’ daughters would come out and vote unionist or for the discredited Irish Parliamentary Party that had dragged Ireland into a war that was no concern of ours and resulted in the deaths of more than 50,000 unfortunate Irishmen.
Religion, of course, had nothing to do with the struggle for Irish independence. Protestants fought in the 1916 Rising. Three female members of the Irish Citizen Army were Protestant. Not alone did Protestants take a major leadership role in 1798, 1803, 1848 and in the Fenian Rising but we can recall with pride the names of two Cork Protestants who made a major contribution to the struggle for independence. One was Sam Maguire (the cup named in his honour) and the other was Gobnait Ní Bhruadair, the sister of Lord Midleton who at the time was a leader of the Southern Irish Unionists.
Some of the greatest Irish patriots were Protestants and some of the worst west Brits were Catholic, and that included, unfortunately, most of the Catholic Bishops. There were of course honourable exceptions, such as Archbishop Croke of Cashel and Bishop Thomas O’Dwyer of Limerick, but they were very few.
The struggle for Irish independence, “the hope that shone a far light” as described by Thomas Davis (another Protestant), had nothing to do with sectarianism but everything to do with separation from England and a criminal empire, the establishment of a republican form of government and a just social order. A noble ideal served by noble people and their actions also “shone a far light” for native populations enslaved by the English and other empires.
All humanity and not just Irish people are deeply in their debt.! Padraig Ó Cuanacháin
Dún an Óir
Corcaigh
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