seamus dubhghaill

Promoting Irish Culture and History from Little Rock, Arkansas, USA

Tag Archives: Barracks


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Anti-Treaty IRA 4th Northern Division Attacks Dundalk

On August 16, 1922, three hundred men of the Anti-Treaty Irish Republican Army’s (IRA) 4th Northern Division, commanded by Frank Aiken, launches an attack on Dundalk in County Louth during the early phase of the Irish Civil War. This operation is part of a broader campaign by Anti-Treaty forces to resist the newly established Irish Free State army and to disrupt Free State control in the border counties.

By mid-1922, the Irish Civil War begins after the Anglo-Irish Treaty splits the IRA into pro- and anti-Treaty factions. The 4th Northern Division, based in counties Armagh, Down, and Louth, is one of the most formidable Anti-Treaty units in the region. Frank Aiken, a veteran IRA commander, has rebuilt this division during the Truce period, using it for guerrilla operations and border raids.

The Free State Army, under the National Army, is consolidating control in southern and midland counties, while Anti-Treaty forces focus on border counties to prevent Free State expansion and to maintain resistance.

The August 16 assault on Dundalk is a border raid aimed at disrupting Free State supply lines and communications, isolating and weakening Free State positions in the Louth area and demonstrating Anti-Treaty strength to other IRA units and the wider population. They use two mines to breach the walls of the barracks and temporarily take over the town.

Seven Free State soldiers are killed and fifteen are wounded. Two republicans are killed, accidentally by one of their own mines, and thirty are wounded. About 240 republican prisoners are freed from the prison and 400 rifles are taken. Aiken, however, does not try to hold the town and, while in possession of it, calls for a truce in a meeting in the town square.

While the attack is significant in symbolic terms, it does not achieve a decisive strategic breakthrough. Free State forces are able to regroup and counterattack, and the operation highlights the challenges Anti-Treaty units face in sustaining large-scale offensives against a better-equipped and more mobile National Army.

The raid exemplifies the “war along the border” strategy, where Anti-Treaty forces target Free State-held border towns and infrastructure. Aiken’s leadership as commander of the 4th Northern Division underscores his reputation as a skilled guerrilla leader. The attack reflects the early Civil War pattern of small-scale, mobile raids by Anti-Treaty forces against Free State-held towns and garrisons.

In summary, the August 16, 1922, Dundalk attack is a notable Anti-Treaty IRA operation that showcases the 4th Northern Division’s capabilities but also the limitations of their conventional-style assaults against the Free State’s growing military presence.

(Pictured: Frank Aiken and the 4th Northern Division of the Irish Republican Army)


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Birth of Patrick Sarsfield Donegan, Fine Gael Politician

Patrick “Paddy” Sarsfield Donegan, Irish Fine Gael politician, is born on October 29, 1923, in Monasterboice, County Louth. He serves as a Senator for the Agricultural Panel from 1957 to 1961, a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1954 to 1957 and 1961 to 1981 and a government minister from 1973 to 1977

Donegan is the son of Thomas Francis Donegan, a publican and farmer, and Rose Ann Donegan (née Butterly). He is educated at Fieldstown and Tenure national schools, a Christian Brothers school in Drogheda, County Louth, and Castleknock College, a voluntary Vincentian secondary school for boys in Castleknock, County Dublin. After working as a buyer of malting barley for Guinness, he purchases and successfully develops a seed merchant’s and milling company. His extensive farming interests include the breeding of Belgian Blue and Limousin cattle, at a time when continental breeds are new to Ireland.

Bypassing the customary apprenticeship on local government bodies prior to a career in national politics, Donegan is elected as a Fine Gael TD for the Louth constituency at the 1954 Irish general election. He loses his seat at the 1957 Irish general election but is elected to Seanad Éireann as a Senator for the Agricultural Panel. He regains his Dáil seat at the 1961 Irish general election.

In the Fine Gael–Labour Party coalition government which takes office after the 1973 Irish general election, Donegan is appointed as Minister for Defence. In October 1976, he makes a speech on an official visit to the opening of new kitchen facilities in an army barracks at Mullingar, County Westmeath in which he describes as a “thundering disgrace” President Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh‘s refusal to sign the Emergency Powers Bill 1976. Ó Dálaigh had instead exercised his powers under Article 26 of the Constitution of Ireland to refer it to the Supreme Court. The Taoiseach, Liam Cosgrave, refuses Donegan’s resignation. On October 21, Fianna Fáil proposes a motion in the Dáil calling on the minister to resign, which is defeated. Ó Dálaigh views the refusal to remove the minister as an affront to his office by the government and resigns on October 22, 1976.

In December 1976, Donegan is appointed as Minister for Lands. In February 1977, this office is restructured as the Minister for Fisheries. He serves in cabinet until the government loses office after the 1977 Irish general election.

Donegan retires from politics at the 1981 Irish general election. He dies at his home in County Louth on November 26,2000, following a long illness. Tributes in the Dáil are led by John Bruton as Fine Gael leader. He is buried in his hometown of Monasterboice, County Louth.


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The Ballytrain Barracks Attack

An Irish Republican Army (IRA) unit commanded by Ernie O’Malley and Eoin O’Duffy captures a Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) barracks at Ballytrain, County Monaghan, on February 14, 1920 during the Irish War of Independence.

After a month of intense IRA activity across the country, the War of Independence continues unabated in February 1920. Becoming more daring in the process, the IRA continues to target the RIC and their barracks. Elsewhere, local issues and tensions also surface, and in some cases, they become embroiled in the struggle for Independence. February 1920 is a month of chaos across the country.

Described by the newspapers of the day as a ‘fierce affray’ the three-hour assault on the RIC barracks at Ballytrain, County Monaghan is a significant engagement for the Monaghan IRA during the War of Independence. Launched at 2:00 AM on a Sunday morning and led by Eoin O’Duffy, later a Commissioner of An Garda Siochana, the attack had been carefully planned.

Located eight miles from Castleblayney, the RIC barracks in Ballytrain is manned by Sergeants Lawson and Graham and four constables, Roddy, Gallagher, Murtagh, and Nelson, all of whom it is said fight against the odds for over three hours. At 5:00 AM, when ‘the leader’ of the IRA party demands the officers surrender it is met by continued firing from the police. O’Duffy then gives the order to plant explosives at the gable wall, which instantly collapses. Four RIC officers are buried in the rubble of the building and are later transferred to Carrickmacross hospital for treatment. About fifty men then rush the building carrying off a quantity of weapons.

A house belonging to a man named Mitchell is raided before the attack, where four members of the family are held hostage throughout the night. The IRA smashes all of the windows in the house allowing them to fire on the barracks. As many as 150 men take part in the raid, which also sees some men taking up position in cattle byres, which had been cleaned out in order to give protection. It is later alleged that O’Duffy had told the RIC men that he was glad no one had been killed in the exchange, saying, “We did not come here to do injury, but only for arms.” It is hardly the welcome Sergeant Graham had expected having only arrived in the barracks three days earlier.

(From: Irish Newspaper Archives, irishnewsarchive.com, February 17, 2020)