'Unique significance of their contribution' - 100th anniversary of Leitrim's forgotten prisoners

Sligo/Leitrim Senator Nessa Cosgrove raised again in the Seanad, the 100th Anniversary of an event which she said has so far gone largely unmarked in the commemorations surrounding the decade of centenaries.  

Senator Cosgrove said she met surviving relatives of five Leitrim men who were held in Peterhead Prison in Scotland, and "have come to realise not only the extent of the sacrifice which these brave men made but also the unique significance of their contribution. On the morning of February 1922, the then British Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, received a telegram informing him that large bands of insurgents had crossed the emerging frontier and entered the six counties. Understanding the context for the incursion is significant. 

The treaty had been signed in December 2021, and ratified by Dáil Éirean in January 2022 but had not yet come into effect. While Northern Ireland had already come into existence in May of 1921 the Free State did not formally come into being until December 6th 1922, in the midst of the Civil War. It was not until the Free State was in existence that Northern Ireland was able to opt out of the jurisdiction." 

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The event took place before legal Partition and before the outbreak of the Civil War, but within the context of an understanding that a border was coming and increasing tensions between pro and anti-treaty elements of the IRA. 

Among the large body of insurgent were a group of 10, comprising 5 Volunteers and Officers from Leitrim.

This group was held in Peterhead Prison in Scotland and were amongst the last IRA prisoners to be released from British prisons in 1926.  

Joseph Reynolds from Aghacashel was instructed by Sean MacDiarmada as early as 1913, and he worked closely with Countess Markievicz. Following his release from Peterhead he emigrated to the United States, and during World War II served in the American army as a radio operator. He became President of the Leitrim Society in New York and died in 1987. 

John Joe Griffin from Gortletteragh, Drumshanbo was a teacher before he joined the First Batallion, Leitrim. John Joe went on to serve in the newly founded Garda Síochana serving in Limerick and Port Laoise, and died in 1971. 

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Charlie Reynolds also from Gortletteragh, also joined the Gardai after the civil war. 

Bernie Sweeney from Ballinamore, a member of the South Leitrim flying column was a survivor of the Selton Hill ambush near Gorvagh in 1921, during which he was seriously injured and 6 members of the Flying Column were killed. Following the war of Independence and Civil War he established a family business in Ballinamore, passing away in 1974. 

John Kiernan, Newtowngore was 19 when he was arrested. He had not been involved in the war of Independence, and was probably recruited for the operation because he had a good knowledge of driving and motor cars. After his release went on to run the family business in Newtowngore. He died in 1931, aged only 28.