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Maurice O'Neill | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1917 Cahersiveen, Kerry, Ireland |
| Died | November 12, 1942 Mountjoy Gaol, Dublin, Ireland |
| Allegiance | Anti-Treaty Irish Republican Army |
| Memorials | Maurice O'Neill Memorial Bridge |
| Relations | Sean O'Neill |
Maurice O'Neill was an Irish Republican militant and martyr from County Kerry, Ireland who was executed in 1942 for his role in a shootout that killed a Garda Síochána detective.[1]
Early Life
Maurice O'Neill was born in 1917 in Caherciveen, County Kerry, Ireland to Maurice O'Neill Sr. and Catherine O'Neill.[1][2] He came from a Republican family, with his brother Seán participating in Anti-Treaty Irish Republican Army activities throughout his life and later becoming involved in Republican Sinn Féin.[3]
IRA Activity and Arrest
In the early 1940s the government of Ireland harshly repressed the IRA, with the Emergency Powers Act and the Offences Against the State Act both in place, leading to internment without trial and a 'shoot-to-kill' policy by the Garda Síochána.[1]
During this period, in 1942 Maurice O'Neill was called to Dublin after the murder of Tom Williams at the hands of the British government's occupation of Northern Ireland. The IRA was planning a push against targets on the Northern Ireland Border. This plan collapsed and IRA leaders and members in Dublin went into hiding.[1]
One of these leaders was Harry White, then Quartermaster of the Anti-Treaty Irish Republican Army. O'Neill and White were staying at an IRA safehouse at 14 Holly Road, Donneycarney, Dublin. On October 24, planning to meet with fellow Republicans in the North, the pair left the house and were fired at by, unbeknownst to them at the time, Garda officers including a detective named Mordant.[1][2]
These officers had taken positions outside the house and intended to murder the two under the 'shoot to kill' laws in place. The IRA men fired back, and by the end of the gun battle Harry White was injured by a shot to his leg, the detective was dead, and O'Neill was captured.[1]
White managed to escape through the back door of the house and climbed over the wall, lying in the thicket past it for two days, after which he got onto a bus and made his escape to a safehouse in Summerhill, Dublin.[1]
Trial and Execution
It was immediately clear that Harry White had shot the detective, not O'Neill, and that it was likely O'Neill was completely unaware of the killing due to being in another part of the house. Regardless of this fact, under the Emergency Powers Act nearly any crime committed during IRA activity could result in a death sentence. O'Neill was charged with 'shooting with intent' and was imprisoned first in Dublin Castle, then in Bridewell, and finally in Arbour Hill Detention Barracks.[1][2]
His trial began on November 2. Former Chief of Staff of the IRA and future Nobel Peace Prize winner Sean MacBride was his defense attorney. The court consisted of 3 military officers and there was no option to appeal. He was sentenced to death.[2]
O'Neill was executed by firing squad on November 12, 1942 at Mountjoy Jail.[1]
Legacy
At the time of his death O'Neill was widely popular in his home County Kerry and throughout Ireland, and his judicial murder was widely protested.[2]
At the time of his death executed prisoners in the Republic of Ireland were buried within the prisons they were executed in. In 1948, after years of advocating for the return of the remains of IRA martyrs to their homes, the bodies of O'Neill and others were released.[4]
On September 19, 1948 a funeral was held for O'Neill in his home of Caherciveen. It was attended by many people from throughout Kerry and Ireland, including his former comrades in the Anti-Treaty IRA, and representatives from Cumann na mBan and Fianna Éireann. Republican Sean Ryan delivered the oration at his grave.[2]
A number of songs and poems were written about O'Neill, including two by Irish Republican Poet Brian O'Higgins, one by Irish Republican political prisoner Brid Ni Cuinneagain and one by Domhall Ó Curnáin.[5]
The bridge between mainland Ireland and Valentia Island in County Kerry is called Maurice O'Neill Bridge.[6] A Republican Sinn Féin Cumann in Kerry is also named after him.[7]
Further Reading
Library works about Maurice O'Neill on the Prolewiki library
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 ART Mac EOIN (2001-11-15). [https://www.anphoblacht.com/contents/8082 "Remembering the Past Maurice O'Neill executed"] An Phoblacht.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 "ÓGLACH MAURICE O’NEILL" (2013-05-16). Irish Republican History and Remembrance.
- ↑ "Seán Ó Néill" (1997-04). Saoirse - Irish Freedom.
- ↑ MÍCHEÁL Mac DONNCHA (2008-09-18). "Remembering the Past: Executed IRA men reinterred" An Phoblacht.
- ↑ The poems by O'Higgins on the Prolewiki library: They've Murdered Young Maurice O'Neill Poem on Maurice O'Neill's 'In Memoriam' CardThe poem by Brid Ni Cuinneagain on the Prolewiki library: A Vigil The poem by Domhall Ó Curnáin on the Prolewiki library: Young Maurice O’Neill
- ↑ "Maurice O'Neill Memorial Bridge". The Historical Marker Database.
- ↑ “At a convention on February 13 in Cahersiveen, Co Kerry, the Maurice O’Neill Cumann selected Pádraig Garvey to contest the South and West Kerry constituency.”
"Irish Republican Information Service (no. 323)" (2014-02-24). Republican Sinn Fein.