Flying the flag in Tipperary to mark historic milestone and pay tribute to volunteers

The old adage says, “Man proposes but God disposes”. That proved all too true in the case of the preparations made by the Third Tipperary Brigade Old IRA Commemoration Committee to commemorate the burning of the Hollyford RIC barracks a century ago on May 10/11 1920.
Providence intervened, and disposed, in the guise of the Covid 19 pandemic. In keeping with the advice of the Government and medical and scientific experts, the Committee cancelled its plans for a fitting tribute to the Volunteers who’d burned out the Peelers.
The IRA’s campaign of burning RIC barracks began in Drombane and Holycross in January 1920. Both attacks were unsuccessful, as was the one in Doon in March. The assault on Hollyford RIC barracks was the first organised and carried out by the Third Brigade. It was also the first where the primary attack on the building was through the roof rather than through a wall. The operation was planned and personally led by the Brigade’s commander, Seumas Robinson. Commdt. Tadg Dwyer, OC Third Battalion, was charged with organising the personnel and logistics. All three Tipperary Brigades and the East Limerick one participated in the operation.
It wasn’t an easy first such operation. No less than seven roads led into the village. Each of them would have to be closed and blocked, with a squad of well-armed Volunteers at each roadblock. That utilised a large number of men along with scarce rifles and even scarcer ammunition. There was a scarcity of explosives too.
But the difficulties and dangers involved in the destruction of a barracks were well worth the advantages that accrued from it. At that time Dáil Éireann and the Volunteers were not just waging a war of independence, they were in the process of building a new state. That necessitated the replacement of the British administration with a native one. The RIC and their barracks were the symbol and embodiment of British rule in every town and village in the country. So their destruction and expulsion was a powerful sign of freedom and independence. The Peelers were the eyes and ears of the alien administration, so expelling them destroyed the Government’s intelligence–gathering capability. There was the not insignificant opportunity to capture the police rifles and ammunition when they surrendered. And the absence of a permanent police presence meant that the Volunteers could operate and move about the area in relative safety.
Hollyford barracks was a large, sturdy building. Its defensive capabilities had been strengthened by the fitting of loop-holed steel shutters on the doors and windows. It was garrisoned by a dozen well- armed and supplied RIC men. Dug in defenders have at least a four-to-one advantage over attackers. Apart from a squad of Volunteers armed with less than efficient shotguns, the attackers had only thirteen rifles. Each rifleman had only twenty rounds of ammunition.
When Ernie O Malley asked Lt. Jim O Gorman of the local Company how they’d crater the approach roads without sufficient gelignite, O Gorman pointed to a large squad of men armed with spades, shovels, pickaxes and crowbars. “Don’t worry, Ernie,” he assured him, “These lads will throw the roads over the ditches”. The Volunteers manufactured grenades at Shanahan’s house in Foilmacduff. They also practised using ladders to scale the two story house there as it resembled the barracks. As it was some forty feet in height they had to lash three or four ladders together to gain access to the roof. A squad from First Brigade in stockinged feet placed the ladder against the north gable.
Robinson and O Malley, burdened with sledges, revolvers, grenades, sticks of gelignite, sods of smouldering sods of turf in tins, and carrying buckets of paraffin oil, climbed onto the roof. The first hint the Peelers got of their presence was the sound of sledges smashing the slates. Immediately the squad of snipers led by Seán Treacy opened aimed fire at the loop holes to keep the garrison occupied and divert attention from the pair on the roof. They broke through the slates, poured the paraffin into the holes, and then threw in the smouldering turf. Next they lobbed in grenades and sticks of gelignite, and emptied their revolvers down after them. A chain of men with buckets kept the attackers well supplied with paraffin from a store they’d amassed in the local creamery. Soon the building was an inferno. So intense was the heat that the hair was singed off Robinson and O Malley, their faces and hands were burned, and their clothes smouldering.
Inside the blazing barracks the Peelers were in real danger of being burned alive. Common sense would have dictated that they should surrender and save themselves. Instead they took refuge in a sturdy lean-to at the rear of the building. That too must have been like an oven. Their actions are an example of the mind-warping and corrupting effects of foreign rule on a colonised people. They’d entered the king’s service, they wore his uniform, they’d taken his shilling, and they’d sworn loyalty to him. Now they preferred to suffer, and perhaps die, in the service of the King of England rather than surrender to the Volunteers. They were saved from a gruesome death by the dawn.
With the coming of the light Seumas Robinson called off the attack, much to the disappointment or frustration of many of the attackers. But he always had an overriding concern for the welfare and safety of his men. He knew that the light would bring strong, well-armed relieving forces and he refused to place his men in danger. So he ordered them to disperse. They left the barracks a smouldering ruin. While he’d been interned following the Easter Rising he determined to devote the rest of his life to fighting for Ireland’s freedom. As he wrote, he’d decided to “make the king’s writ RUN in Ireland”. A century ago he and his Volunteers had made the king’s writ run out of Hollyford – and it kept on running and never returned.
Such a significant and momentous occasion in Hollyford just had to be marked. No ceremony or gathering could be held. But Hollyford man and Commemoration Committee Treasurer, Joe O Connell, encouraged his neighbours to fly the tricolour at every vantage point. He hoisted the flag at the Republican Plot opposite the chapel. At the bridge, opposite the former barracks, he erected a troika of flags. As proper etiquette requires, the tricolour held pride of place. Flanking it on one side was the flag of Cumann na mBan, a small acknowledgement of the vital role player by women in the freedom struggle. On the other flank flew the iconic green flag with “Irish Republic” emblazoned on it in letters of gold. The original had flown over the GPO all during Easter week 1916. The village was awash with tricoloured flags and bunting. The Third Brigade’s Commemoration Committee had also commissioned a plaque to mark the place and event. It still rests in the mason’s yard – but in the fullness of time it will be unveiled in Hollyford with full pomp and ceremony.
This week a century ago Hollyford’s most famous son, Vol. Phil Shanahan, TD and 1916 veteran, read of the destruction of the barracks in his pub in Foley Street, Dublin. Addressing the patrons slaking their thirst there he solemnly and insincerely stated, “I shall never speak to Seán Treacy again! He has burned the only decent house in my native village of Hollyford!”