Why should we forget these good Irishmen?
Two constables, McDonnell from Co Mayo and O’Connell from Coachford in Co Cork, were escorting a cart load of explosives to a quarry in Soloheadbeg. They were set upon by a dozen masked and armed men.
According to the evidence of Patrick Flynn, the council employee with the cart, the armed men suddenly jumped over the roadside fence and shouted “hands up!” At the same moment he heard shots and the two constables fell dead.
Did they get a chance to surrender? Unlikely, even though there were only two compared to the large contingent led by Dan Breen and others. ‘Failing to surrender’ is the term often used in such cases. It is easy to describe them as part of the British system, but they were Irish Catholics who had few other employment options.
I knew a son of Constable McDonnell, a native Irish speaker, who was a widower with seven children. He was known to Dan Breen, which made it all the more bitter. His orphaned family suffered terribly and had to be scattered among relatives who reared them.
Should these men be forgotten? They were good and decent Irishmen who gave many children to the church and the professions. At the time there was widespread condemnation of, and revulsion at, the killings, but how things change (witness the present issue of the McCabe killers)
RTÉ did an excellent Léargas programme by Pat Butler on the RIC last year. In it a relative of one of two RIC members who disappeared and were killed in Kerry in 1920 made a plea as to the whereabouts of their bodies, or what happened them, but to no avail. At least the present IRA made some effort to try to hand up the bodies of those they killed in the recent troubles.
In the wake of the inclusive Good Friday agreement, why can’t these decent Irishmen be remembered and honoured? They were a good force who came from ourselves and had the broad support of the people, especially in peace time. It took a long time for the Irish soldiers of the Great War to be rehabilitated, and thanks is due here to President Mary McAleese, Kevin Myers and others for remembering those who did their patriotic duty at the time.
Brendan Cafferty
Creggs Road
Ballina
Co Mayo
