Mid Ulster Council Chairperson addresses Drumboe Martyrs Spring School

Speaking from the Drumboe Martyrs Spring School held in Ballybofey, County Donegal at the weekend, Chairperson of Mid-Ulster council, Cllr Córa Corry (Sinn Féín) stated that is was a great honour to be invited to open the programme section dealing with ‘Public Opinion and Strategic Thinking on a United Ireland’. This section was addressed by keynote speaker and eminent scholar, Brendan O’Leary, Lauder Professor of Political Science at University of Pennsylvania.

Councillor Corry said: “Every spring since 1924, republicans in Donegal and surrounding counties have commemorated three Kerry men and one Derry man who were executed in Drumboe Woods towards the end of the Irish Civil War. This weekend’s spring-school remembered four brave republican soldiers, and in extension, all those who fought for the Republic in those turbulent years and since.

“Charlie Daly, Daniel Enright and Timothy O’Sullivan as well as Seán Larkin from The Loup, were four young men, the oldest being 26, who were the victims of the policy of official executions by the Free State Government.  They were four of 77 executed under the provision of Emergency Powers in the space of less than a year – though recent research shows that this number could be 81.

“Today’s spring-school is an apt way of incorporating the story of the Drumboe Martyrs into the wider history of the time. The excellent panel of academics and a local historian looked at the stories of the events leading up to the executions at Drumboe and how they were articulated and understood at the time as in Breandán Mac Suibhne ‘Remembering Drumboe and with Fearghal Mac Bhloscaidh ‘Charlie Daly: Partition, Republican Brothers and Objective Guilt’ and also Dr Tómas Mac Con Mara’s oral history of this period ‘Hurled into Eternity: The Drumboe Martyrs – Private Memory and Public Commemoration’.

“The wider republican struggle was explored through the lens of Cumann na mBan - locally by Helen Meehan and nationally by Mary McAuliffe, while Linda Connolly looked at the broader role of Women and the Irish Revolution. Hilary Duffy then expanded on the Civil War and the aftermath by examining the life and archive of that stalwart republican activist, Máire Comerford.

“Finally Professor Brendan O’Leary explored public opinion and strategic thinking on a United Ireland. This was a fitting end to the day of discussion and history by exploring the possibilities of a united Ireland which ultimately was central to the Irish republican objectives of the Drumboe Martyrs.

“The spring-school was a very successful and enjoyable event with large numbers of interested people, representative of all sections of Irish society, attending and participating in discussions. It was great to meet  many relatives of the executed men who travelled from far flung parts of the world to be part of this special centenary event. As always, it was great to have Sean Larkin’s nephews, Turlough and Dermott McKee, in attendance.”