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Tag Archives: Tomas Mac Conmara

Martyrs lecture 101 years after the incident

ACCLAIMED historian Tomás Mac Conmara, will provide a lecture on a very significant subject – The Scariff Martyrs on Wednesday, November 17th at the Lakeside Hotel at 7.30pm. Hosted by the Killaloe Ballina Historical Society, this will be the first in person talk since February 2020 due to Covid-19 restrictions. Interestingly, it will be held on the 101st anniversary of their tragic deaths on Killaloe Bridge. Tomás will provide the facts, photographs and audio from the extensive research conducted over a 17-year period for his new book on The Scariff Martyrs, War, Murder and Memory in East Clare. It has been 101 years since the Scariff Martyrs – Michael Egan, Brud McMahon, Alphie Rodgers and Martin Gildea – were shot by Crown forces in Killaloe. The story includes commitment of the young rebels, their betrayal, subsequent torture, refusal to give up others, the nature of their death, the subsequent withholding of their bodies, and the collective burial. Tomás, who lives …

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Clare historian brings 17 years of labour to book with martyrs’ story

A HISTORY project of exhaustive research and work spanning 17 years will culminate with the launch this Saturday of Tomás Mac Conmara’s seminal book on the Scariff Martyrs. A well-known figure around the county, Tomás, who has done a huge amount of work to record Clare’s oral history, has long been fascinated by the fate of the martyrs and the time they lived in. “Only since the release was confirmed my mother found a photograph taken in April 2004 with Paddy Gleeson. That would have been the very first interview that I did relating specifically to the Scariff Martyrs. “It really makes you think back, I was 23 then and I’m 40 now, there were 17 years of research in different ways. “Obviously you’re not working solely for 17 years on it but for those 17 years you’re observing, taking any opportunity to find more information or to deepen your understanding. That photograph really brought it home that it’s been …

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Clare’s hurling heroes of 1914

THE year 1914 was significant in both a national and international context. In June, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated by Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian nationalist, in Sarajevo, an incident which would lead to the outbreak of World War 1. John Redmond’s Woodenbridge call to arms for that war, in September 1914, created a split in the Irish National Volunteer Force from which would emerge the National Volunteer Force and the Irish Volunteers. The latter would go on to shape the Irish political landscape in the years following the 1916 Rising. However, during this turbulent time, the subject dominating the headlines, in the Banner County at least, was the fact that the Clare hurlers had made history by becoming the first county to capture All-Ireland senior and junior honours in the same year, beating Laois in both finals. By Tomás Mac Conmara The story of 1914 in Clare, from a sporting, social and historical context, is told  in  this week’s …

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John Michael Tobin, 101, laid to rest

By CAROL BYRNE THE community of Feakle has laid to rest centenarian John Michael Tobin. He died last week in his 102nd year. The 101 year old from Laccaroe, Feakle died peacefully at Limerick Regional Hospital on Thursday, February 13. He was laid to rest in the local cemetery following funeral mass on Saturday at St Mary’s Church, Feakle. He lived with his son, JJ in Feakle, up to his death and he is also survived by his daughter, Martina, extended family and friends. John Michael was a post man in Feakle and a farmer. Hewas the last remaining person to have attended the funeral of the Scariff Martyrs, four men who were shot by Auxiliaries on Killaloe Bridge on November 16, 1920. John Michael attended their funeral with his mother on November 20, 1920. Each Easter Sunday, a memorial event is held to these men organised by East Clare Memorial Committee. John Michael has laid a wreath at the …

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