Tom Barry (44 page)

Order was restored in the Free State by the end of 1924. The ideals of many Republicans were shattered. Released from jail to face unemployment, their best option was the emigrant ship, mainly to America or Canada. Large numbers of those who had fought, especially on the anti-Treaty side in the Civil War, without counting the cost, decided to make a new life, in what had been known to their forefathers as, ‘the land of opportunity'.

Tom Barry had been married since the autumn of 1921 but had not seen his wife Leslie more than a few dozen times as he had been ‘on the run'. At last peace reigned, but not for too long because Tom Barry, the soldier, had begun a job for his country which was not completed to his satisfaction. However, his next task was to get work to support his wife who was living on private means – staying mainly with the Barrett family at Killeady near Crossbarry. Up to now his only job had been soldiering, and he admitted he would have left with all the others on an emigrant ship for the USA and taken his wife with him if he had had the money. He obtained a job with Cleeves Milk Company, based in Limerick. He spent some time there and also at a branch in Clonmel. Leslie had considered ‘buying a pub and general shop in Bandon' in 1922. At the time her friend Jennie Wyse Power ‘was very sorry' for Leslie. ‘Talk about marrying in haste'.
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However, it does appear that neither Leslie nor Tom had any regrets, they were prepared to live this turbulent way of life.

During 1925, because of insufficient American funds, there was a cutback in all Republican activities. Though some of the IRA executive (men like De Valera, Aiken and Lemass) had been placing their sights on a political arena, a large number of men including Tom Barry, Seán MacBride, Maurice Twomey and others remained apolitical.

On 14 November a general army convention opened in Dalkey. A new constitution and a new direction, mainly the work of Aiken, was drawn up. The soldier in Barry again began to stir. There was a strong condemnation of the failure of the army council to continue to train; he suggested that ‘A definite time be laid down within which a revolution shall be attempted, say five years.'
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Peadar O'Donnell in a resolution demanded that ‘the army of the Republic sever its connection with the Dáil, and act under an independent executive, such executive be given the power to declare war when in its opinion, a suitable opportunity arises to rid the Republic of its enemies and maintain it in accordance with the proclamation of 1916.'
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A stampede almost broke out when Mick Noel Murphy, CO Cork No. 1 Brigade urged a positive vote on Peadar O'Donnell's motion to save the IRA from the jaws of Leinster House. Barry supported him and the motion was carried. A new army council was elected with Andy Cooney as chief-of-staff getting an implicit mandate to lead the IRA back from the steps of Leinster House to the field of battle.

After the convention many important IRA men were arrested and in jail, and so the new executive (following a plan by George Gilmore) carried out a dramatic rescue in November, freeing 19 prisoners from Mountjoy. An extraordinary Árd Fheis of the Sinn Féin executive, held on 9–11 March 1926, brought about a split and a new departure from the Republican movement. Both factions had the same objectives, but could not agree on the means of achieving them. A majority of Sinn Féin did not want a split. De Valera resigned as president, withdrew from Sinn Féin and set about organising his followers into a new party, later to be known as Fianna Fáil, in preparation for entering the Dáil – once the problem of the oath to the British crown had been removed.

The army council, of which Barry was again a member, suggested proposals for co-operation between the army council, Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil hoping to halt the split in view of the forthcoming election in June 1927.
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Barry was in touch with Dr P. McCartan regarding the IRA and co-operation with other Republican bodies for the achievement of ‘unity in Ireland for the cause of Ireland' for which he had fought.
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Peadar O'Donnell also made efforts to salvage something from the 1927 political split. The Fianna Fáil executive found the proposals ‘unacceptable'. Nevertheless the army council pursued the issue and wrote specifically to De Valera in the belief that co-ordination between Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin and Óglaigh na h-Éireann would present ‘a favourable opportunity of defeating the Free State parties at the election'.
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Efforts to weld together the Republican parties were unsuccessful at this juncture.
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A significant change took place when De Valera led the Fianna Fáil members (having won 44 seats) to Leinster House on 12 August. He pushed the Bible aside, signed his name and passed through the portals towards power.

However, the IRA, since the dumping of arms in the previous years, re-organised, maintained the structure and kept contact with Clan na Gael in America. Due to its organisational ability the IRA was now a strong underground revolutionary force. army council meetings and GHQ conferences continued, with talented men like Tom Barry, Moss Twomey, Mick Price, Seán MacBride and several others, promoting ideas and all agreeing that the achievements of the past must hold the key to the future.

Barry, with Seán Buckley, decided that the past should be remembered and set about organising a parade through Bandon, but the chief superintendent of the gardaí warned them that he wouldn't be responsible for the number of men killed as parades were officially banned. Deciding the time was not yet right, the men abandoned their idea.
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When members of the general army convention met in January 1929, they found themselves confronted with problems similar to those they had faced at the previous convention. New men like Frank Ryan were admitted; but the inner circle still contained strong militaristic men like Barry. Out of this old group many strands of opinion developed and new groups were formed.

Down in West Cork as the early 1930s dawned, Barry was no longer content to leave the arms in the dumps, so he intensified his secret drilling. Events were taking a turn for the worse. In Dublin, in January 1931, P. J. Carroll was shot and in Tipperary Superintendent Curtin was shot.

An old IRA comrade, Flyer Nyhan, was being buried in Clonakilty and Barry organised a ‘firing party', though the use of firearms was prohibited. Following the funeral those in the firing squad were arrested and tried some days later in court. Barry, who was in command but not in the (visible) possession of a gun, was not arrested, but sat in the gallery listening to the trials. Upon hearing the judge passing a sarcastic remark about Barry and his flying column, the incensed Barry, overflowing with aggression, shouted ‘You shoneen bastard!' leaped from the gallery and landed on the judge's back, thus earning a few months in prison for himself.
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He was out in time for the big rally held on 21 June to commemorate Wolfe Tone at Bodenstown – an opportunity to display the extent of the IRA strength.

In October 1931 the Cumann na nGaedheal government declared the IRA and several other organisations to be unlawful, and followed this by setting up the ‘Special Powers Tribunal' consisting of five military officers. This, with an election looming, strengthened Barry's hand and those in the military IRA wing, to focus on getting De Valera and his party into power.

In late 1931 and in the early days of 1932 Barry had many men in secret military training; these were young boys during the War of Independence. John O'Donovan, whose brother Pat had been one of the men at Kilmichael, was only nine years old in 1921 when he was taking a message for the IRA and was almost caught in cross-fire between them and the Tans. Ten years later he remembers Barry telling them where the ‘dumps' were and instructing them to secure the arms.

‘We were out in the fields training and our target practice was a poster of Cosgrave – his electioneering poster. His nose was the bull's eye. The weeks before the 1932 election we were under intensive training' under Barry.
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This was a crucial general election, as it meant the installation of Eamon de Valera whom the Republicans – the anti-Treaty element – recognised as their leader. They firmly believed that not alone would it mean a change of government, but also that the army, the police force and the civil service would all be under Republican control.

During his electioneering, De Valera promised the IRA that if elected political prisoners would be released within hours of his announcing his cabinet. Also there was pride, born out of the bitterness of Civil War, involved in the fighting through the ballot box of this election. If that did not succeed, as far as Barry was concerned, they would again resort to arms – they would make it quick and decisive. They were ready. Cork was ready.

Dan Cahalane says West Cork was well organised by Barry, though the matter has been kept relatively secret over the years. ‘I remember well,' he says, ‘on the night that the results of the election were being announced. Donovans in Drominidy was one of the few houses who had a wireless, and we were all there ... People were hanging from the ceiling. When the ten o'clock news came, a cheering wave of relief gushed through the house and the yard. However, we waited for the late news before we went home happily to our beds.'
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With De Valera back in power the military tribunal was suspended and the declaration orders, that made the IRA, Saor Éire and other organisations unlawful, were revoked. Barry and Seán Russell ‘believed De Valera would re-declare the Republic and resume the national advance.'
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On all fronts De Valera moved rapidly. He introduced legislation to remove ‘the hated' oath of allegiance and informed the British that his government would no longer pay the Land Annuities. The British government reacted by putting higher taxes on Irish products exported to Britain, and so the ‘Economic War' began.

Against this background an association comprising ex-members of the National Army – the Army Comrades Association – came quietly into being. This organisation was strongly pro-Cumann na nGaedheal and moved toward the formation of the militant Blueshirts
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The IRA continued to drill. They felt that now was the time to push forward for a 32-county Republic, and amongst its strong advocates were men like Tom Barry and Peadar O'Donnell.

Again the men in West Cork drew Tom into military matters. Seán Buckley approached him and told him that ‘a chap' named Tadhg Lynch was ‘anxious to get in touch' with him ‘with a view to re-organising the Old Cork 3 Area of the IRA'. After Barry met some young men he told CS Moss Twomey, ‘in short, some of them wanted me to go out and get the organisation restarted in that area.' He suggested that Twomey should send somebody from GHQ, so that an organiser and staff be appointed ‘as a first attempt' at ‘re-organisation'. Tadhg Lynch was ready to take over the mantle, and Barry suggested that Lynch be appointed ‘official organiser'. Seán Buckley and Barry agreed to meet a group some evening. ‘It is not my mission to do anything to prevent the extension of the organisation', but to continue ‘with the maintenance of the army until freedom is achieved', Barry wrote.

However he would not accept ‘a social programme' at present being mooted, as the IRA's aim. They had ‘no moral right to make war' on this issue. (Peadar O'Donnell had advocated this view.) ‘I am ready again to take up arms against any government which is not based on a suffrage of a free people, I am not prepared to do so if the objective is a government by any section to enforce any particular social code,' Barry wrote. War for ‘complete independence of the country' was justified but he could not accept the right of any organisation ‘to make war' to obtain a ‘social programme against the wishes of the majority of the people'. Barry felt obliged to let Moss Twomey ‘know' his views, otherwise, he said, ‘I should not feel quite honest.
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A series of communications between Moss Twomey, Mick Price and Barry were pursued to establish the appointment of Tadhg Lynch as an IRA organiser in Cork
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In early July, at De Valera's request, Barry had ‘one and a half hours conversation' with him in Cork regarding ‘National Defence' – the organisation of ‘a volunteer force by the Free State'. Barry, favourable to the suggestion, maintained that this could bring Fianna Fáil ‘up against the British government', leading to a positive outcome regarding the north of Ireland. However, Barry ‘would not rule out the possibility of armed conflict developing'. He suggested that ‘the IRA executive should consider the question of forming part of the new force.' Though not a member of the IRA executive at the time (until later in the year), he ‘promised Mr de Valera that he would meet the IRA executive and [then] let him know their
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On 15 July, 1932, Barry went to Dublin, put forward his views on the De Valera meeting to the army council, and suggested ‘the development of close co-operation between Fianna Fáil, IRA and Labour bodies to meet the crisis' as ‘the situation must be met by political action'. Members would not agree to ‘the abolition of the IRA' or its' fusion with Free State forces because they were ‘bound to maintain the separate existence and independence of the army'. Moss Twomey, CS, found it difficult to convince Barry of the feasibility of any other action except ‘a united military organisation'. Barry explained that his wish was for ‘a new force', taking in the existing IRA, for full control ‘to be used politically to force any government to declare the Republic.'
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Barry met Aiken, but De Valera was unable to keep a further appointment. On the night of 16 July 1932, Tom Barry, Frank Aiken, Seán MacBride and army council members met. Barry instantly suggested ‘the forming of a military organisation under the Free State ministry of defence, to meet the crisis with the British'. He ‘pleaded' that should ‘a military clash' arise the best ‘gesture to steady the country' would be ‘a force which the IRA would join'. The army council suggested that ‘the situation could best be met by political agreement' as ‘a military force if formed is not enough'. They found Aiken, who spoke on behalf of the government, ‘cautious'. He ‘offered very little information' but ‘hoped the IRA would see their way to join'. Next day, Sunday, Barry again met the army council; he said he was not ‘advocating' the dissolution of the IRA nor of the body ‘joining the Free State army'. The force he contemplated ‘would not be a Free State army', but ‘the force should recognise the Free State government and submit to the authority of the ministry of defence'. Barry's optimism was high. The present government he felt ‘was travelling as fast as could be expected to the stage when the Republic could be again proclaimed and function.
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