This Sunday, July 10th marks, to the day, the 101st anniversary of one of the most intense and fiercest battles of the War of Independence, which was fought on the streets, lanes, back yards and fields around Castleisland from 7:15pm on this day in 1921.
The bloody event will be commemorated at the Republican monument at Rice’s Height on the Cordal Road on this Monday evening July 11th at 7:30pm.
Then, the Castleisland Sinn Féin Cumann will hold a wreath-laying ceremony there to commemorate the bravery of the men who fought and gave their lives for the freedom we enjoy today. A roll of honour to commemorate all those from the area who died for the cause will be read out at the ceremony.
Shanahan, Flynn and Prendiville
On that fateful summer’s evening, three of the Kerry No. 2 Brigade of the IRA were killed in action in the vicinity of where the monument now stands.
The local cumann will remember the men who fought for Irish freedom and in particular Richard Shanahan, Jack Flynn and Jack Prendiville who gave their lives for the cause on that night.
At last year’s centenary commemoration at the monument, historian Dr. Tim Horgan delivered a memorable speech to the huge gathering. He outlined, in the course of its delivery, the cause for which these men fought and died and the invaluable legacy their sacrifices have left us.
The following is Dr. Horgan’s speech on the
occasion:
Castleisland Centenary Oration
By: Dr. Tim Horgan
The past is not dead, it is not even past. The ‘wise men’ have told us that it all happened long ago and is now best forgotten and, if it must be recalled at all, it is more ‘mature’ to do it in their prescribed, all-inclusive manner.
But we in Kerry do not agree – to us the past is important and it defines who we are as we move on to an always uncertain future.
What Is Important and What Is Not
The past tells what is important and what is not, what is worth living for and what is worth dying for, and tells us that there is a difference between these three selfless Irish soldiers who had no price and those colonised Irishmen who could be easily purchased.
So great was their idealism and their dedication to that cause that patriots such as Richard Shanahan, Jack Flynn and Jack Prendiville do not belong in the past.
When actions and not words were required, they acted, regardless of the personal consequences.
An Example For Today
They belong to the present, and to the future, their legacy being an example for today and a guide for tomorrow.
As so we come together here this evening where great men fell fighting for the freedom, the total freedom, of our country. We gather not because we were summoned, not to be seen, not to garner votes, not for a photo opportunity, but because we should – we gather because it is our duty to remember Jack Flynn, Richard Shanahan and Jack Prendiville such is the debt we owe them.
Belittled, Disregarded and Forgotten
We have been told that our history will make others feel uncomfortable; That it might be better to consign those who paid for our liberty to the national amnesia, that Alzheimer’s of the political elite where the past, its beliefs, its culture, our Christian traditions and our heroic history are all to be belittled, disregarded and forgotten.
But by your presence here today, we acknowledge that those whom we honour did not endure death so that we, as a nation, might shrink back in order to make somebody else feel more comfortable.
Be Proud in Remembering
The ideals of those Irish men who gathered here a century ago should be our nation’s creed, their deeds our country’s song, we should be loud, we should be proud in remembering our heroic past.
The manicured history we are given today suggests that Michael Collins and Eamon DeValera almost single-handedly drove the British from Ireland – Ireland of course being defined as 26 counties and not the national territory of the 1916 proclamation.
However, Eamon DeValera never fired a shot at the enemy and the only gun fired in anger by Michael Collins was in the minutes before he died in 1922.
War Against the British
Those who actually won our liberty, or such of it that we have, were the men who fought in the fields and ditches of Ballymac, Cordal, Scartaglin and Currow, in the lanes of our small towns, on Castleisland’s Main Street.
The war against the British began in Gortatlea in 1918 when Jack Flynn and his six ill-armed comrades confronted the forces of the Crown.
Three years later, better armed, he and over thirty other battle-hardened comrades, bravely confronted Britain’s army on the final day of that war. When the firing ceased, Jack Flynn lay dead beside Richard Shanahan and Jack Prendiville.
Ambitions Achieved
Unlike that of the five British soldiers who also died that evening, the three volunteers deaths had not been in vain, their short lives’ ambition had been achieved. Irishmen and women could walk along Castleisland’s streets again as a free people for the first time in eight hundred years.
This they did in their thousands three days later as they followed the three tricoloured draped coffins of the men who paid for that freedom.
It is not by chance that we gather here on Castleisland’s main thoroughfare for on this street the history of Ireland could be written.
Tyrannical Landlords Harried
The Earl of Desmond made his final stand in the hills overlooking us. In 1798, heads of our patriots were placed on British pikes at the other end of the street, Whiteboys harried tyrannical landlords, Bob Finn and his Fenians conspired and the Moonlighters acted in defence of their people’s rights during the Land War in which the Shanahan family were prominent. Poff, Barrett and Twiss walked this street, Dan O’Mahony and his comrades of 1916 passed along this way.
Castleisland – The Crossmaglen of Kerry
In the Black and Tan war, Castleisland was the Crossmaglen of Kerry and during the Civil War the blood of patriots was spilled on this street.
The torch of history, that flame of freedom, has been handed down here in Castleisland from generation to generation, and from century to century, and your presence here tonight ensures that the spirit that brought these three patriots to their deaths on this spot will not be allowed to fade.
For a hundred years, people have come to this site. Sometimes in large parades, often in small groups, frequently in ones and twos, but always there were those who would not forget even when remembrance was frowned upon and commemoration deemed a crime.
Heads Bent in Respect
Flowers would be laid, heads bent in respect and silent prayers said by your people, many of whom have long passed.
The sacrifice of these patriots was committed to stone in the monument, in Kilbanivane graveyard and on the Ballyseedy memorial and such memorials proudly cared for.
For this we are grateful to you who came and cared; to the many long dead who would not let us, let Castleisland, let Ireland forget – great men died here for liberty.
The Price of Our Freedom
Freedom is never for free, these men have paid the price that you might be free.
It might come as a surprise to those who seek to guide the commemoration by the Irish people of our past, but there is a difference between those who fought for liberty and those who were paid to kill so that the flame of freedom would be quenched, there is a moral difference between those who defended their land and those who served a foreign empire, there is a difference between those who fought for the Irish Republic and those who sought to suppress it.
Here on this street one hundred years ago, there was a difference between our three dead patriots and those who gunned them down.
Unfettered By Foreign Occupation
This difference may be lost on a Taoiseach as he wears a poppy in Fermanagh to commemorate the gun men of the empire.
It may be lost on those academics who would seek to revise your history or to those journalists who would distort your nation’s past.
Jack Prendiville, Jack Flynn and Richard Shanahan died not for any political party but for Ireland, for a totally independent Ireland, unfettered by foreign occupation.
Enough To Know They Dreamed
They died for their people, for their community and so it is fitting that they are remembered here by that community, regardless of anybody’s present day political affiliations.
To quote WB Yeats, “we know their dream; enough to know they dreamed and are dead”.
Their dream may have become an embarrassment to many of today’s politicians in their search for a royal handshake or approval from our former colonial masters.
But we know their dream and though they are dead that dream will not be allowed to die.
History has always spoken a different language than that the laws which condemn Irish men who fight for Ireland’s freedom.
However, that history and the hopes of our patriot dead have yet to rhyme.
Castleisland Remembers, Kerry Remembers
The past is not dead and thanks to you gathered here today, it lives on as it should, so that that future generations will know that three heroic men sacrificed everything for liberty.
Jack Flynn, Richard Shanahan and Jack Prendiville died on this spot for Ireland’s freedom, for your freedom, one hundred years ago.
Castleisland remembers, Kerry remembers, and Ireland will not be allowed to forget.
Dr. Tim Horgan is a Tralee based author and historian.
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