Film makers in appeal for information on Bandon killings  

Over two nights in April 1922, the 13 men were shot dead in an area which until then had the highest concentration of Protestants in the Republic

The School of History at University College Cork is providing academic support and interview contributions using its experience and methodology to establish the circumstances in each of the 13 Protestant murders of April 1922. Picture: Gavin Browne

TG4 documentary makers are appealing for information to aid them with a programme on the killings a century ago of 13 Protestant men in the Bandon Valley, Co Cork. The documentary is set to air later this year.

Over two nights in April 1922, the 13 men were shot dead in the middle of the Truce, in an area which until then had the highest concentration of Protestants in the Republic.

The documentary for TG4 will deal with ‘allegations of war crimes and sectarian killings’ levelled against the IRA in West Cork during and after the Irish War of Independence.

The programme will explore the ongoing debate over events in West Cork and what it suggests about the fundamental nature of the Irish revolution itself. Was it a war of liberation from the British empire, a sectarian war between Catholics and Protestants or both?

At the time the murders attracted widespread condemnation, but the memory faded with the passing years. It fell to a young Canadian historian to bring it back into the limelight 75 years later.

According to Peter Hart’s 1998 book, The IRA and its Enemies, the 13 were shot because they were Protestants — sectarian killings carried out by members of the IRA. 

Nationalist revolution a sectarian one

He concluded from his study of events in West Cork that, ‘the nationalist revolution had also been a sectarian one’.

The TG4 programme will examine the West Cork murders against the background of widespread sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland in 1922 and in particular against the counterinsurgency measures of the British Essex Regiment in Bandon and K Company of the Auxiliary Division in Dunmanway during the War of Independence.

That led to a harsh republican response against active loyalists.

The documentary makers said they will examine whether some of those suspected of collaborating with Crown Forces in the War of Independence were among those killed in April 1922, or among those who fled.

The Irish Examiner and Century Ireland are helping to keep readers informed on events of the time. 

The School of History at University College Cork is providing academic support and interview contributions using its experience and methodology to establish the circumstances in each of the 13 Protestant murders of April 1922.

TG4 is asking people who have copies of old photos, letters, documents, or family recollections about the killings or about the revolutionary period in West Cork in particular to send it to their researchers. 

The channel says no details will be shared or broadcast without the sender’s permission.

Those who are willing to provide such information are asked to email any such material to: [e-mail] or to post it to Laravoulta Pictures, PO Box 13468, Glenageary, DSU Co Dublin.