The Irish War of
Independence Exhibition will open in the Heritage Centre, Athy on Easter Monday
at 7.30 p.m. There has been a good
response from the public for material to be included in the exhibition which is
intended to highlight this areas involvement in the events of post 1916
Ireland. Going through the material I
have personally gathered together over many years I “rediscovered” some very
interesting items including copies of photographs taken inside Ballykilner
Internment Camp in 1920-1921. A number
of men from County Kildare were interned in the County Down camp at the height
of the War of Independence and amongst them were two Athy men, Joe May of
Woodstock Street and “Bapty” Maher who had a bicycle shop in Duke Street.
Both of these
young men had links with the Republican movement which were well known to the
local RIC. “Bapty” Maher was a friend of
Kevin Barry who was executed in Kilmainham Jail on the 1st November
1920. They had corresponded with each
other after spending time together as school boys in Belvedere College in
Dublin. The Heritage Centre will have on
display during the exhibition an original letter from Kevin Barry to “Bapty”
Maher who would later marry his sister Sheila Barry.
Following the Truce,
Joe May would marry Hester Dooley of 41 Duke Street whose father Michael Dooley
was one of the leading members of the local Republican movement and after whom
Dooley’s Terrace, built in 1934 is named.
Hester Dooley worked for a number of the Dublin based leaders of the
Republican movement during the War of Independence including Piaras Beaslai,
Oscar Traynor and J.J. “Ginger” O’Connell.
Her sister Kathleen who worked in
the Post Office married Eamon Malone the young Barrowhouse man, who following
his release from Mountjoy Jail was appointed Officer Commanding the
Carlow/Kildare Brigade of the IRA.
Malone Place opposite St. Dominic’s Park is named after him.
A unique double
link with the War of Independence period is found in the persons of Joe and Kally
May of Chanterlands. Joe’s father was
interned in Ballykilner camp while Kally’s late father Michael Mahon, a native of Newcastle, Athenry
was a prisoner in Frongoch in North Wales.
Michael Mahon with
his two brothers Peter and Thomas were interned following the Easter Rising of
1916. Michael who was one of the
earliest members of the newly established Garda Siochana served as a member of
the Gardai in Athy for 21 years. He died suddenly in September 1934, it is believed from delayed after effects of
a beating received at the hands of the Black and Tans.
The exhibition in
the Heritage Centre opens on Easter Monday at 7.30 p.m. and the official
opening will be performed by Joe May.
The Monasterevin based Lord Edwards Own re-enactment group will be in
attendance to give a visual representation of the difficult times which
preceded the signing of the Treaty.
This will be the
first ever exhibition held in Athy devoted to the Irish War of Independence and
a Cead Mile Failte is extended to everyone to come along to the opening on
Easter Monday night.
Two photographs
accompany this article. They show groups
of men photographed in Ballykilner internment camp in Co. Down. The Athy men, Joe May and Bapty Maher are
shown in the first photograph standing next to each other in the right hand
side of the middle row.
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