BIG READ: Centenary Commemoration of Dinny Lacey - killed in action at Ballydavid

The centenary commemoration of the death of Brigadier General Dinny Lacey, O/C Tipperary Brigade Irish Republican Army, who was killed in action at Ballydavid, Bansha, took place on Sunday, February 19 at Ballydavid.

Organised by the Third Tipperary Brigade Old IRA Commemoration Committee, the event was addressed by Dr Martin Mansergh MRIA, Deputy Chair of the Expert Advisory Group on the Decade of Centenary Commemorations.

In his oration Dr Mansergh said that they were gathered 100 years after the event to pay respects to the memory of a man once described by an opponent as “the toughest leader who could be found in any part of Ireland”.

“Brigadier-General Dinny Lacey was killed in action near here and today in paying tribute to his memory we equally acknowledge those who fought with him in the Third Tipperary Brigade IRA and the women who supported them throughout the revolutionary period, in both the war of independence and the civil war. Those involved, whether they lived or died, most of them young and with few material advantages, made immense personal sacrifices to achieve a national freedom that would in time develop far greater possibilities for the Irish people than had ever been possible under centuries of conquest, dispossession and coercion coupled with a denial of nationhood,” said Dr Mansergh.

“Dinny Lacey was a man of immense courage and resourcefulness, who was everywhere in the thick of engagements, of which in his case there is a very long list, whether it was ambushes such as those at Lisnagaul, Thomastown and Oola, or attacks on barracks such as Kilmallock and Hollyford, or evading capture in many different locations. He was a dedicated disciplinarian, deeply religious, and a student of military history, including the Peninsular War and the Boer War, where guerilla tactics were heavily used.

“In the second half of the revolutionary period he took over the leadership of the Brigade. The capture of a large quantity of arms from a depot in Clonmel in February 1922 that he organised even drew comment in the House of Commons from the British Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill.

“The post-Rising revolutionary struggle began at Soloheadbeg on the day the First Dáil met on January 21, 1919 and effectively came to an end with the shooting of Liam Lynch on April 10, 2023 on the slopes of the Knockmealdowns. Both the opening and the closing of this, the most important chapter in Irish history, took place in county Tipperary,” said Dr Mansergh.

As a legendary leader, Dinny Lacey made a big contribution to maintaining cohesion, discipline and morale, despite the hardships and the adverse odds.

THE ISSUES OF TODAY

Dr Mansergh also touched on the pressing political issues of modern day Ireland.

“The peace process was and is about the solution of problems that were put aside as too difficult to solve in the early 1920s. We are all in a very different position from 100 years ago and relatively much stronger with a shared responsibility for the future of the whole of this island. We need to be careful, methodical, and realistic with regard to the preparation, timing and likely outcome of a border poll, and not create any new obstacles to achieving the long-cherished goal of the unity of Ireland in peace and harmony. The Third Tipperary Brigade Old IRA, county councils and their heritage officers, local cultural institutions, historians, families and communities have all done much to illuminate, honour, commemorate and bring alive again this whole key period in our past. Everyone is entitled to their own perspectives. The events of the past bear many different interpretations. If we can be confident in what was and has been achieved, then we are in a stronger position to make gestures and take initiatives that will bring the whole island forward. We have come a long way, but still have an infinite way to go,” concluded Dr Mansergh.