N22 roadworks to 'disrupt' commemoration of War of Independence ambush 

A section of the new bypass will cross the N22 near the Republican memorial about 2km from Ballyvourney, Co Cork. Picture Dan Linehan

Next month’s centenary commemoration of a War of Independence ambush will be marred by construction of the N22 bypass through the ambush site, historians claim.

Work on the Macroom-Baile Mhúirne bypass has already begun near the site of the Coolnacaheragh (Cúil na Cathrach) ambush with took place on February 25, 1921, and involved an IRA attack on a convoy of RIC and auxiliaries.

The history faculty of the Acadamh Fódhla, a ‘hedge’ university based in the Múscraí Gaeltacht, criticised the “needless and deliberate desecration” of the site, where construction will be in “full swing” on the centenary date.

Including lookouts and runners, the attack involved 253 participants on the IRA side, according to the Acadamh, which says the ambush was “one of the most effective, from a national point of view, during the War of Independence”.

Auxiliary Commandant Major James Seafield-Grant, who led the convoy, was killed during the four-hour engagement, Cadet Cleve Soady and RIC Constable Arthur Cane dying later, though there were conflicting reports of the numbers dead and wounded. A plaque at the site puts British casualties at 28. The IRA volunteers, under Seán O’Hegarty, reported no casualties.

The rugged terrain of Coolnacaheragh, two miles from Baile Mhúirne, was an important factor in the outcome of the ambush, which according to the Acadamh Fódhla’s history faculty, the Dáimh Staire, was one of three key ambushes, along with those at Clonbannin and Crossbarry in March 1921, that were “major factors in achieving the Truce” that July.

Several routes were proposed before the 22km bypass was granted planning permission in 2011, the €280m project gaining Cabinet approval in 2019.

The Acadamh Fódhla, which argued for an alternative route avoiding the ambush site, was represented at an oral hearing on the bypass in May 2010.

Nine prominent historians wrote to An Bord Pleanála regarding the site’s preservation, including Dr John Borgonovo of UCC, later co-editor of ‘The Atlas of the Irish Revolution’. He told the hearing that following the ambush, British forces ceased patrols west of Macroom, that strategically and politically Coolnacaheragh was very important, and the bypass would destroy the site, “cutting right through the centre of it”.

The hearing was told of plans to highlight the ambush site using artwork, sculpture, or an information plaque on the existing N22. A Dáimh Staire representative told the Irish Examiner this was a “hypocritical proposal” and “effectively a monument to the destruction of the site”.

The Republican memorial about 2km from Ballyvourney, Co Cork. A plaque at the site puts British casualties at 28. The IRA volunteers, under Seán O’Hegarty, reported no casualties. Picture Dan Linehan

Peadar Ó Riada, also a member of the Dáimh and founder of the Acadamh Fódhla, said: “We have not been approached by the authorities in relation to a suitable monument. They said they were going to put a special marker on it. That was part of the planning board’s ruling but they’ve never spoken to us about it.”

In 2015, the Acadamh erected flags at the site, marking key positions taken in 1921, and Mr Ó Riada said these flags will be maintained following the bypass construction.

“The reason we have flags flying there is to show people the extent of the site and to remind people that it was one of the most important ambushes,” he said, adding that Covid-19 permitting, the Acadamh will go ahead with centenary commemorations.

“The damage is done,” he said. “They’re going through the middle of the site, which is a travesty, and the irony of it is they’ll probably be ploughing through it on the very anniversary.”