Barry was a genius, he could afford to be fond of himself
he lacked real leadership skills, he came across as a country oaf in front of Collins and Dev when summoned to Dublin, he was only a trigger man, someone to do the dirty work and he loved murdering Protestants
Damo Dempsey on RTE1 pointing Ireland would have been a better country with Collins rather than Dev in charge (one of Damos ancestors - from Easter Rising time- got shafted for pension in Devs time)
Collins had inherent fascist tendencies, it would have been a disaster
Classic Junior Cert history take.
A Carkie sure
It’s been well established that a dog with a mallet up his hole would have been better than Dev… but the civil war fall-out would have made it disastrous for whomever… Dev empowering the church to abuse and set up their slave centres and his neglection of urban Ireland were criminal.
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Dev showed his worth during Easter week, cowering in the corner having a mental break down.
I think he was only ever in Dublin for IRA business once and as far as I recall he basically fucked the whole lot of them out of it for not pulling their weight more. He was a ruthless bastard alright but the precision of Kilmichael was hugely impressive. Crossbarry was simply spectacular. He loved a crack at the lads in the big houses alright
that was Tom Barry’s account (a legend in his own head, like Roy Keane) I’d pay far more heed to someone like Ernie O’Malley or Liam Lynch who was on the ball as regards Barry
Do you reckon there was no false surrender at Kilmichael so?
Barry gunned them down in cold blood, and went back up to Liam Deasy’s homestead for bacon and cabbage like nothing happened
What a fucking man. The Auxies didn’t like it up em, they were used to beating women and old men around Macroom
He should have went back down after the bacon and cabbage and murdered them again.
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Bruree and Clare and educated in Charleville. Shure what would you expect??
The chap whose papers make up the archive i’m looking at was election agent for Dev in 1917 …
I will try and buy it.
The debates are great. One of the few things the film Michael Collins did well imo.
The background movings to it and the theatre of it all are a fascinating read.
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Who are the authors? Are they sound on the national question?