Tom Barry

by Meda Ryan

  Barry loved to help the young and was always conscious of those unable to fund further education, so from time to time he discreetly and confidentially sponsored ‘a few lads in university’.[12]

  The Co-operative philosophy appealed to him, so when Fr James McDyer, in Donegal, sought his help he agreed. However, when some members of the community decided to sell their produce outside the Co-op, he said, ‘The Irish people are not worth fighting for.’[13]

  ‘Barry was an intelligent man, there were very few subjects, whether commerce, economics, the industry of the country, all phases of history or whatever, that he could not discuss. He wasn’t a man that just went out and got a gun to free Ireland, he knew the kind of Ireland he wanted.’[14]

  He was not ‘a Socialist’ as ‘some would describe it’, he told Brian Farrell on a television programme. ‘But I have a social conscience. I believe the poor and the less well-off should always be helped … I’m an individualist – that’s all!’ He insisted that those who had worked hard yet had financial problems or ‘fell on hard times’, should be assisted by those who could afford it. Share the wealth, and relieve hardships for fellow Irish, was his motto.[15]

  But it was for his military achievements, he was most noted worldwide. Even thirty years after his guerilla activities, Tom was in demand for training young men. Ché Guevara of Cuba wrote to him, acknowledging his achievements as a guerilla commander and asked if he would train and advise his men, but Barry turned down a lucrative offer. He also gave a negative response to a similar offer from Menachen Begin, Israel. He had fought in Ireland for the freedom of his own country and could never be a mercenary soldier.[16]

  Jim Wall found he was the only man of the IRA executive who returned to the houses at the Knockmealdown slopes where meetings were held to consider the ending of Civil War. His visits to these places, including where Liam Lynch was shot, was his method of recalling how history was made; also he wanted to thank the people for their kindness.[17]

  Though he had disagreed with de Valera’s stance against the IRA throughout the decades from the 1930s on, was angry with him at the suffering of many families and had strong words with him in the 1950s, he decided to visit Dev during the later stage of his life in Áras an Uachtaráin and ‘make his peace with him’. Despite spending some hours in discussion, Barry never disclosed to anybody what occurred.[18]

  Notes

  [1] Thomas McCarthy to author 14/2/1981.

  [2]Den Carey, author interview 11/1/1981; Criostóir de Baróid, author interview 12/1/ 1981; Jerh Cronin, author interview 10/1/1981; Brendan O’Neill, author interview 10/1/1981.

  [3]Personal letter to Tom 23 May 1948, TB private papers.

  [4]Letter to Tom 18/5/1948; there are snippits of other such letters; because of the scattered condition of some, pages and names are missing, TB private papers.

  [5]For example, Liam Deasy to Tom, 5/5/1947, TB private papers.

  [6]John Browne to author 16/10/2002.

  [7]Liam Deasy to Tom, 7/4/1949 – reply to Tom’s of ‘4th instant, TB private papers.

  [8]Dr Ned Barrett, author interview 9/12/1980.

  [9]Seán MacCárthaigh to Tom, 28/10/1949 – a water marked letter & another with date blurred responding to Tom’s correspondence, TB private papers. MacCárthaigh was president of the GAA for a period and also lord mayor of Cork.

  [10]Pádraig Ó Cuanacháin to author, 11/4/2002.

  [11]Denis Conroy to Donncha Ó Dulaing, on the occasion of Tom Barry’s death, 2/7/1980, RTÉ Sound Archives.

  [12]John Browne to author, 23/10/2002.

  [13]Seán Spellissy to author 5/9/2003.

  [14]Mick McCarthy, (comrade in arms and co-worker at the Harbour Board), author interview 12/10/1980.

  [15]Tom Barry, author interview; Tom Barry to Brian Farrell, 1969, RTÉ TV Archives.

  [16]Seán Chambers to author 10/11/1998. Tom Barry gave the June 1954 letter to Jimmy Chambers, a comrade and flying column friend. His brother Philip Chambers was captain of the local company. Barry told his friend John Browne, that money, no matter how much, would not induce him to become a mercenary; that his fight for Ireland was for ‘freedom’ and ‘independence’.

  [17]Sunday Independent, 2/7/1970; Tom Barry, author interview.

  [18]Jean Crowley, author interview 12/11/2002.

  25 – Unveiling Michael Collins Monument – Healing War Wounds

  ‘Here at this monument to commemorate for all time the greatness of the contribution made by Michael Collins in our struggle for freedom, let us bury the dead past of dissensions’, said General Tom Barry, on a mild Easter Sunday in April 1965 when he stood beside the birthplace of Michael Collins before an estimated 15,000 people.

  Dr Ned Barrett was one of those responsible for inviting the general to unveil a monument at Sam’s Cross on 18 April to Michael Collins. ‘I knew Seán Collins, Michael’s brother, and discovered that the family had a great affection for Tom Barry. Seán said that Michael spoke highly of Tom’s achievements and his acts of bravery. So when everything was weighed up, though they fought on opposite sides in the Civil War, it was suggested that we would ask Tom.’

  It was a memorable ceremony. Men, who had bitterly opposed each other in the Civil War, now came together in an impressive tribute. In his address Tom Barry expressed his honour at having been asked: ‘honoured firstly because of the greatness of the man being remembered, one of the chief architects of the fight for Irish freedom. Without Michael Collins’ great patriotism, courage, capacity, realism and his untiring work against the British forces of occupation, none of us who lived through Ireland’s fight for freedom believed, or now believes, that Ireland could have successfully withheld the enemy terrorism during those long dark days after 1916. Secondly, I readily accepted the invitation because I realised that this splendid committee of West Cork men have endeavoured by every means in their power to avoid giving any tinge of party politics to this ceremony.

  ‘They have, in this case, tried successfully to honour the memory of one of the great men, not alone of this generation, but of Ireland’s long history of armed resistance to foreign rule back through the ages.

  ‘And thirdly, I have realised that this committee has studiously avoided raking up the embers of our tragic civil strife. “Micheál Ó Coileán 1890–1922” is evidence of that ... I intend to follow that example here today.’

  Tom Barry went on to outline the life of General Michael Collins and demonstrated a touch of sadness as he spoke about the burning of Michael’s home the day after his own successful Rosscarbery ambush. For the benefit of the younger generation he detailed the power of the ‘mighty British force against a small army of Volunteers’. While saying that Michael Collins contributed more than any other man to the fight for Irish Independence he said he realised that ‘this struggle was one of team work and that other leaders of that period played their part in the victory.’

  Having been presented with a replica of the memorial, this erect military figure, standing in silence while the tricolour fluttered in the gentle breeze, ‘did more on that day to heal the wounds of the Civil War than any man before or since’.

  After the war was over – the battle of brothers – he stretched across his hand in friendship, just as Michael Collins would have done had the positions been reversed. ‘Let us leave it that each of us, like I did myself, believed in the correctness of our choice. I concede that those who were on the opposite side believed that their decision was the right one too. But let us end futile recriminations of an event which happened over forty-three years ago. . .’

  The men who had participated in both sides of the Civil War sat together for a few pints in Sam’s Cross pub that evening, as they reminisced on West Cork actions together and apart.[1]

  Barry demonstrated publicly how he was prepared to accept and understand that those who took the Treaty side were entitled to their opinion. John L. O’Sullivan, who with Seán Hales, captured many of the towns in West Cork with a sec
tion of the pro-Treaty forces during the Civil War, became a great friend of Tom Barry’s in later years.

  ‘Any meeting I was at, even though there may have been a majority present who were anti-Treaty, Tom Barry always made sure I was well treated. We often discussed the Civil War, but this is as it should be – agree to differ.’[2]

  Tom Barry was ‘a highly principled man’, according to John Browne, a former detective in the garda siochána. He was invited as a special guest to attend the 1916 commemoration ceremonies in Dublin in 1966 to honour the 1916 Rising. Not being a veteran of the Rising he felt ‘unworthy and not entitled’ to attend the ceremonies, so he turned down the invitation. ‘“I was fighting with the British at that time,” he said. But Leslie was entitled to be there. With Tom there were no grey areas.’[3]

  A little over a year after the Michael Collins ceremony, on 10 July 1966 with the surviving members of ‘The Boys of Kilmichael’ Tom marched to that historic spot to unveil a memorial. This time there were no guns only pipe-bands and a ‘heroes’ welcome. ‘It was a moving moment,’ reported the Cork Examiner, ‘when guerrilla General Tom Barry led ten of the survivors who were present up the slight incline to the base of the memorial.

  ‘They marched in step, heads high and bare, medals testifying to other days, and the thousands who lined the memorial cheered and applauded. For these were the men who knew greatness in tragic times and their contributions were not forgotten.’[4]

  Tom Barry and 10 of the men who fought beside him on 28 November 1920 were the guests on that day 46 years later. Fr C. O’Brien, PP, unveiled the memorial and delivered the address.

  Four months later on 18 November the veteran members of the flying column assembled once again, this time in Crossbarry to commemorate another historic event. After Bob Hales unveiled the monument Tom Barry spoke: ‘The risen people of West Cork could not be bribed or terrorised; they rose against the tyranny of a foreign nation and threw off the shackles which bound them,’ Barry said as he looked proudly at the men who stood before him and paid tribute to them as the flying column ‘which thrashed the British at Crossbarry on 19 March 1921.’

  Paying a tribute to the heroes of that historic engagement, and especially those who gave their lives, Commandant General Tom Barry stood beside the monument erected to mark the area where the largest battle against the British forces in Ireland was fought. On that historic day in 1966 thousands from all parts of the country attended and 30 of the 104 survivors were present. They marched to the memorial sited at the spot where the first shots of the ambush were fired.

  In his address General Barry outlined the epic battle for his listeners and, the Southern Star records, ‘There was remembrance in all their eyes, of how they had fought and how they had seen the Tans run away from them. As Tom Barry said, ‘‘The people will be freed, they will know what they are freed from, but will they know what they are freed for?’’’

  On that day, as on several other occasions, he was highly critical of those of Irish origin outside the country who were unprepared to lend a hand. ‘People of that time had learned that what you wanted you must get for yourself. Even their great allies, the Americans, had not sent over a single officer, even an Irish-American, to help the Irish in their fight for what they (and the British) said they had fought the First World War for, the freedom of small nations.’

  For Tom Barry, as well as the old IRA present, there were memories of ambushes fought in various parts of Ireland. ‘I hope that all who pass by here will remember those valiant soldiers and sincere patriots who fought so bravely and gave their lives generously so that Ireland would break the chains of her slavery.’

  He remembered his early days and paid tribute to one family in particular, the Hales family, who were responsible for involving him in the fight for Irish freedom: ‘While Tom, the first commander of the Third West Cork Brigade lay in a British prison after torture by the enemy, three of his brothers, Seán, Bob and Bill were fighting in the brigade flying column.’ It is perhaps a record that the three brothers took part in the Crossbarry ambush, and the fourth would have been there ‘if he hadn’t been in jail’, Tom Barry recalled.[5]

  During this period (mid-1960s) Tom, with a group of dedicated people in Cork city, became involved in Sceim na gCeard Cumann – an organisation concerned with the teaching of Irish for workers. An off-shoot of this organisation under the title of Lorg na Laoch– The Path of the Heroes – set out mainly to educate young people on historical facts. At a meeting one evening, it was suggested that General Tom Barry should be asked to speak to groups about each ambush at the ambush sites. ‘He was reluctant at first. Then he said, ‘‘Give me one good reason why I should do this”. So I had to think carefully as it was easy to antagonise Tom’, said Jerh Cronin. ‘Then I said, ‘‘If we take out a group of young people and they hear you speak at Kilmichael, Crossbarry, Rosscarbery and so on, they will be able to tell their grandchildren who in turn will tell their grandchildren – look how far ahead it will go – that they were present to hear the man who actually commanded the Volunteers who took part in these ambushes.’’

  ‘He thought a moment. ‘‘That’s reason enough for me,’’ he said. He had great respect for youth.’

  During the summer these groups went on tours. Criostóir de Baróid, one of the organisers, found it a most educational experience. ‘He described every battle from Kilmichael to Crossbarry to Rosscarbery and Toureen; and he could call out where each man stood on the particular day. Watching the vigour of this man as he spoke, silhouetted against the sky, has left a lasting memory.’[6]

  On constant demand to speak to historical societies, to army personnel or visiting tour groups, Tom never refused to travel to ambush locations and give his personal recollections. His companion was very often the young Detective Sergeant, John Browne who helped field questions. ‘It was always such an invigorating experience to see the agile Tom with a mind still so sharp that he drew his audience towards him.’[7]

  Following the three important unveilings in 1966, Tom resolved to withdraw from public life and not make any more public statements, yet as Criostóir de Baróid said, ‘There is a prayer which you could apply to Barry … Never was it known that anyone who implored his help or sought his intercession was left unaided.’[8]

  Such was the case when, toward the end of 1967, a 1,000 acres estate in Lisselane, Ballinscarthy, near Clonakilty, was offered for sale by the owner Mr C. O. Stanley. The sale of 462 acres of this land in one lot aroused the indignation of the people of the area. Public meetings were held and the land commission was called on to acquire the portion offered for sale. It was discovered that Mr Stanley had previously offered the entire estate to be sold to one buyer, with the exception of Lisselane House and grounds. The West Cork Land League was pressing for what was originally put on the market to be offered to neighbouring small farmers.

  In the Southern Star a correspondent under the name of J. J. took up the issue on the side of Stanley selling his estate to whomsoever he wished, which would take the workers on the estate into account. A spate of correspondence to the paper began. Then a Cork group, Dóchas Chorcaí, whose principal aim was the halting of rural depopulation, came into the picture. They discovered that because of the various opinions highlighted in the paper – some without full investigation – that the West Cork people were split; opinions divided. So it was decided to call on Tom Barry, ‘a man whose courage in war is only surpassed by his oral courage in upholding the right of the underman’.[9]

  On Thursday night, 30 November 1967, in the packed Patrician Hall, Ballinscarthy, Tom Barry with some local public representatives addressed an eager audience. The meeting was held under the auspices of the West Cork Land League, whose objectives embraced resistance to ranching, thus aiding equitable land distribution. The meeting, on the division by the land commission of the 1,000 acre Lisselane Estate, had an atmosphere of tension. With force in his voice Commandant General Tom Barry spoke. Despite his forme
r resolution to retire from public life, he said, he had come to West Cork because he was struck by the justice of the cause and the dedication of a committee, none of whom stood to gain one acre from any land division in the area:

  I come here tonight to repay a debt of gratitude to the landless people and the small farmers of West Cork. When times were hard and we had few friends among the mighty, forty-five years ago, they protected me and the men who fought with me; they gave me their beds, their homes, and their scanty stores of food.

  He had come, he said, because he, like others, believed that if the Lisselane thousand-acre estate was to be sold, it should be vested in the uneconomic small-holders and land-less men of West Cork.

  From the outset he emphasised the good qualities of the owners and hoped that a solution to the problem could be achieved which would be satisfactory to the owners. He particularly stressed that there was no antagonism or hostility to the present owners, but he believed it was utterly wrong that in any area where young men had to flee the land to get their daily bread, that an estate of a thousand acres should be in the possession of one man. ‘He spoke in measured tones, and argued his points logically’.

  He suggested a deputation of seven Dáil deputies, and others if required, should meet the minister for lands and the taoiseach to discuss the problem. Following his suggestion of the deputation he said, ‘I want everyone in this hall to stand NOW and be counted. If they have anything to say why this should not go ahead, let them speak NOW!’ A total stillness followed.

  Diarmaid Ó hUallaigh proposed that the meeting request Commandant General Tom Barry to lead a deputation of TDs and committee members to the minister for lands. There followed a unanimous display of hands and a general emotional applause to conclude the meeting.[10]