The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
Paul Minihan gives the background on the centenary of a significant action from the Civil War in Clare FROM July 1 to 25, 1922, Corofin was the focal point of the Civil War in Clare. In 1922, the Clare Brigades of East-Clare, Mid-Clare and West-Clare formed part of the 1st Western Division, that also comprised the South-East Galway, and South-West Galway Brigades. This latter Brigade included the city. In the wake of the Treaty, the IRA slowly began to rupture throughout the spring of 1922. On the eve of the Civil War, there were two opposing 1st Western Divisions – one Pro-Treaty or ‘Free State’, under Michael Brennan, and one Anti-Treaty or ‘Republican’, under Frank Barrett, former O/C of the Mid-Clare Brigade. As the British Army withdrew from various barracks from January to May 1922, many of these were occupied by the IRA – in some cases Pro, in some cases Anti-Treaty. In Ennis, Republican troops had occupied the main …
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