118-695: The Kilmichael ambush ( Irish : Luíochán Chill Mhichíl ) was an attack carried out on 28 November 1920 by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) near the village of Kilmichael , County Cork , during the Irish War of Independence . Thirty-six local IRA volunteers commanded by Tom Barry killed sixteen members of the Royal Irish Constabulary 's Auxiliary Division . The Kilmichael ambush was politically as well as militarily significant. It occurred one week after Bloody Sunday and marked an escalation in
236-463: A Labour Party delegation from traveling to Ireland to ascertain the reality of the ongoing conflict. The bodies of the killed Auxiliaries were sent to England after a lavish funeral procession through Cork on 2 December, which was provided with a military and police escort and attended by numerous prominent dignitaries from the British Army, Roman Catholic Church and Royal Irish Constabulary. After
354-540: A unique dialect of Irish developed before falling out of use in the early 20th century. With a writing system , Ogham , dating back to at least the 4th century AD, which was gradually replaced by Latin script since the 5th century AD, Irish has one of the oldest vernacular literatures in Western Europe . On the island, the language has three major dialects: Connacht , Munster and Ulster Irish . All three have distinctions in their speech and orthography . There
472-472: A "superfical examination" on the bodies. He found that one of the dead, an Auxiliary named William Pallister, had a "wound ... inflicted after death by an axe or some similar heavy weapon". He stated that three suffered shotgun wounds at close range. The subsequently publicised term "butchered" was derived from a military witness, Lieutenant H.G. Hampshire, who said, "From my experience as a soldier I should imagine that about four had been killed instantaneously and
590-456: A BMH account). In 2014 Irish Historical Studies published an 'Apology' to Morrison, for John Borgonovo's assertion, in a 2012 review of Terror in Ireland , that Morrison "provides little evidence for her assertion that Barry invented the false surrender story and then convinced his colleagues to maintain a fifty-year conspiracy of silence about it". Morrison's 2022 book on the ambush, Kilmichael:
708-462: A December 1947 Kerryman newspaper account of the ambush by West Cork local historian Flor Crowley does not support Barry's Guerilla Days version of events. In November 2022 Niall Meehan's 'Rehabilitating Peter Hart' discussed Morrison's claims. He pointed out that Willie Chambers was not, by his own admission, at the Kilmichael Ambush on 20 November 1920. Chambers reported to his son that, at
826-697: A bargaining chip during government formation in Northern Ireland, prompting protests from organisations and groups such as An Dream Dearg . Irish became an official language of the EU on 1 January 2007, meaning that MEPs with Irish fluency can now speak the language in the European Parliament and at committees, although in the case of the latter they have to give prior notice to a simultaneous interpreter in order to ensure that what they say can be interpreted into other languages. While an official language of
944-560: A better future for Ireland and all her citizens." The Strategy was produced on 21 December 2010 and will stay in action until 2030; it aims to target language vitality and revitalization of the Irish language. The 30-page document published by the Government of Ireland details the objectives it plans to work towards in an attempt to preserve and promote both the Irish language and the Gaeltacht. It
1062-443: A critique of Hart's research. It reproduced on its cover a Southern Star report on the death of "Ned Young – last of the boys of Kilmichael", dated 18 November 1989. In 2011, Meehan reported on the deaths of the last surviving Kilmichael veterans as follows: The 3rd December 1983 Southern Star report of that year's Kilmichael Ambush Commemoration noted three surviving veterans, Tim O'Connell, Jack O'Sullivan and Ned Young. The event
1180-472: A cultural and social force. Irish speakers often insisted on using the language in law courts (even when they knew English), and Irish was also common in commercial transactions. The language was heavily implicated in the "devotional revolution" which marked the standardisation of Catholic religious practice and was also widely used in a political context. Down to the time of the Great Famine and even afterwards,
1298-541: A degree course in the NUI federal system to pass the subject of Irish in the Leaving Certificate or GCE / GCSE examinations. Exemptions are made from this requirement for students who were born or completed primary education outside of Ireland, and students diagnosed with dyslexia . NUI Galway is required to appoint people who are competent in the Irish language, as long as they are also competent in all other aspects of
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#17328444423731416-399: A first participant account of an Auxiliary false surrender, though without using that actual term. O'Neil wrote: "The O/C Tom Barry , with three of the section responsible for the destruction of the first [Auxiliary] lorry, came to our assistance, with the result that the attack was intensified. On being called on to surrender, they signified their intention of doing so, but when we ceased at
1534-460: A fully recognised EU language for the first time in the state's history. Before Irish became an official language it was afforded the status of treaty language and only the highest-level documents of the EU were made available in Irish. The Irish language was carried abroad in the modern period by a vast diaspora , chiefly to Great Britain and North America, but also to Australia , New Zealand and Argentina . The first large movements began in
1652-490: A halt close to the intended ambush position. At that point Barry blew a whistle and threw a Mills bomb that exploded in the open cab of the first lorry. Both occupants, the driver and Macroom Auxiliary commander District Inspector Francis Crake , were killed. The whistle was the signal to open fire. A savage close-quarters fight ensued, between surviving Auxiliaries and a combination of IRA Section One and Barry's three person Command Post group. According to Barry's account, some of
1770-574: A paper suggested that within a generation, non-Gaeltacht habitual users of Irish might typically be members of an urban, middle class, and highly educated minority. Parliamentary legislation is supposed to be available in both Irish and English but is frequently only available in English. This is notwithstanding that Article 25.4 of the Constitution of Ireland requires that an "official translation" of any law in one official language be provided immediately in
1888-554: A pass in Leaving Certificate Irish or English, and receive lessons in Irish during their two years of training. Official documents of the Irish government must be published in both Irish and English or Irish alone (in accordance with the Official Languages Act 2003, enforced by An Coimisinéir Teanga , the Irish language ombudsman). The National University of Ireland requires all students wishing to embark on
2006-466: A range of ten yards (8 m) or less, until he believed all of the Auxiliaries were dead. Barry said of the Auxiliaries who tried to surrender a second time, "soldiers who had cheated in war deserved to die." Barry referred to this episode as the Auxiliaries' " false surrender ". Barry's account in 1949 can be compared with other IRA veteran testimony. In 1937 Section Three commander Stephen O'Neill published
2124-611: A religious context. An Irish translation of the Old Testament by Leinsterman Muircheartach Ó Cíonga , commissioned by Bishop Bedell , was published after 1685 along with a translation of the New Testament. Otherwise, Anglicisation was seen as synonymous with 'civilising' the native Irish. Currently, modern day Irish speakers in the church are pushing for language revival. It has been estimated that there were around 800,000 monoglot Irish speakers in 1800, which dropped to 320,000 by
2242-488: A result of linguistic imperialism . Today, Irish is still commonly spoken as a first language in Ireland's Gaeltacht regions, in which 2% of Ireland's population lived in 2022. The total number of people (aged 3 and over) in Ireland who declared they could speak Irish in April 2022 was 1,873,997, representing 40% of respondents, but of these, 472,887 said they never spoke it and a further 551,993 said they only spoke it within
2360-624: A rifleman and a scout. Ryan stated that just one ambush veteran, Ned young, was alive then. Young died on 13 November 1989, aged 97. The second last reported surviving veteran of the Kilmichael Ambush, Jack O'Sullivan, died in December 1986. Ned Young's son, John Young, stated in 2007 that his father was not capable of giving Hart an interview in 1988, as Ned Young suffered a debilitating stroke in late 1986. John Young swore an affidavit to this effect in December 2007, published in 2008 in Troubled History
2478-634: A roadside monument was to erected in commemoration of the volunteers. The monument (pictured in infobox) was designed by Terry McCarthy, a stone cutter from Cork, with funds being raised by donations. The monument was unveiled on 10 July. During the ceremony Barry, who spoke at the unveiling, and other surviving volunteers paraded in a guard of honour . 51°48′44″N 9°03′24″W / 51.8123°N 9.0568°W / 51.8123; -9.0568 Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish : Gaeilge ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( / ˈ ɡ eɪ l ɪ k / GAY -lik ),
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#17328444423732596-422: A surrender and that some dropped their rifles. They then reportedly opened fire again with revolvers when three IRA men emerged from cover, killing one volunteer instantly, Jim O'Sullivan, and mortally wounding Pat Deasy. Barry then said he ordered, "Rapid fire and do not stop until I tell you!". Barry stated that he ignored a subsequent attempt by remaining Auxiliaries to surrender, ordering his men to keep firing at
2714-537: A wider meaning, including the Gaelic of Scotland and the Isle of Man , as well as of Ireland. When required by the context, these are distinguished as Gaeilge na hAlban , Gaeilge Mhanann and Gaeilge na hÉireann respectively. In English (including Hiberno-English ), the language is usually referred to as Irish , as well as Gaelic and Irish Gaelic . The term Irish Gaelic may be seen when English speakers discuss
2832-422: A witness to my signature on my Affidavit, that refuted Peter Hart's claim: (a) to have interviewed my father; (b) to have interviewed a Kilmichael Ambush participant six days after my father, the last survivor, died. If Jim had felt so strongly about Hart's "scholarship", why did he associate himself, in any way, with a document critical of it? Why did he go out of his way freely to do so, having personally researched
2950-584: Is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family . It is a member of the Goidelic language group of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous to the island of Ireland . It was the majority of the population's first language until the 19th century, when English gradually became dominant, particularly in the last decades of the century, in what is sometimes characterised as
3068-448: Is also An Caighdeán Oifigiúil , a standardised written form devised by a parliamentary commission in the 1950s. The traditional Irish alphabet , a variant of the Latin alphabet with 18 letters , has been succeeded by the standard Latin alphabet (albeit with 7–8 letters used primarily in loanwords ). Irish has constitutional status as the national and first official language of
3186-511: Is divided into four separate phases with the intention of improving 9 main areas of action including: The general goal for this strategy was to increase the number of daily speakers from 83,000 to 250,000 by the end of its run. By 2022, the number of such speakers had fallen to 71,968. Before the partition of Ireland in 1921, Irish was recognised as a school subject and as "Celtic" in some third level institutions. Between 1921 and 1972, Northern Ireland had devolved government. During those years
3304-567: Is only in Gaeltacht areas that Irish continues to be spoken as a community vernacular to some extent. According to data compiled by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht , Sport and Media , only 1/4 of households in Gaeltacht areas are fluent in Irish. The author of a detailed analysis of the survey, Donncha Ó hÉallaithe of the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology , described
3422-412: Is still spoken daily to some extent as a first language . These regions are known individually and collectively as the Gaeltacht (plural Gaeltachtaí ). While the fluent Irish speakers of these areas, whose numbers have been estimated at 20–30,000, are a minority of the total number of fluent Irish speakers, they represent a higher concentration of Irish speakers than other parts of the country and it
3540-659: The Fíor-Ghaeltacht (true Gaeltacht ), a term originally officially applied to areas where over 50% of the population spoke Irish. There are Gaeltacht regions in the following counties: Gweedore ( Gaoth Dobhair ), County Donegal, is the largest Gaeltacht parish in Ireland. Irish language summer colleges in the Gaeltacht are attended by tens of thousands of teenagers annually. Students live with Gaeltacht families, attend classes, participate in sports, go to céilithe and are obliged to speak Irish. All aspects of Irish culture and tradition are encouraged. The Act
3658-866: The 11th Reserve Regiment of Cavalry in September 1914. After leaving the cavalry in June 1915, Crake then entered service with the Hampshire Regiment (later the Royal Hampshire Regiment ) and served on the Western Front from July 1915 to June 1917. Subsequently, he was selected for officer training and was commissioned into the Bedfordshire Regiment (later the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment ) on 27 November 1917. In April 1918, he returned to
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3776-606: The British media , "had a chilling effect on all members of the crown forces"; British claims of killing disarmed or surrendered Auxiliaries portrayed the IRA as having "descended to a new level of brutality." One day after the ambush, IRA volunteers from the Cork No. 1 Brigade abducted and killed civilians James and Frederick Blemens, believing them to be British spies. Four days later on 2 December, 3 volunteers were ambushed and killed by soldiers from
3894-618: The Essex Regiment after contacting a British deserter. In response to news of the ambush and Bloody Sunday on successive Sundays, barriers were installed on both ends of Downing Street in London to protect 10 Downing Street from IRA attacks. The Chief Secretary of Ireland , Sir Hamar Greenwood , reported the ambush to the British Parliament ; historians Gerry White and Brendan O'Shea noted that Greenwood's denunciation failed to prevent
4012-619: The Republic of Ireland , and is also an official language of Northern Ireland and among the official languages of the European Union . The public body Foras na Gaeilge is responsible for the promotion of the language throughout the island. Irish has no regulatory body but An Caighdeán Oifigiúil , the standard written form, is guided by a parliamentary service and new vocabulary by a voluntary committee with university input. In An Caighdeán Oifigiúil ("The Official [Written] Standard ")
4130-611: The 17th century, largely as a result of the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland , which saw many Irish sent to the West Indies . Irish emigration to the United States was well established by the 18th century, and was reinforced in the 1840s by thousands fleeing from the Famine . This flight also affected Britain. Up until that time most emigrants spoke Irish as their first language, though English
4248-496: The 1969 Chisholm interview and a 1988–9 claimed Hart interview. Hart gave readers an impression that he was citing two distinct veterans of the ambush. In addition to his anonymous interviews, Hart cited a captured unsigned typed "rebel commandant's report" of the ambush from the Imperial War Museum , which does not mention a false surrender, as Barry's after-action report to his superiors. Meda Ryan and Brian Murphy challenged
4366-769: The 1998 Good Friday Agreement , the language gradually received a degree of formal recognition in Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom, and then, in 2003, by the British government's ratification in respect of the language of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages . In the 2006 St Andrews Agreement the British government promised to enact legislation to promote the language and in 2022 it approved legislation to recognise Irish as an official language alongside English. The bill received royal assent on 6 December 2022. The Irish language has often been used as
4484-403: The 6th century, used the Latin alphabet and is attested primarily in marginalia to Latin manuscripts. During this time, the Irish language absorbed some Latin words, some via Old Welsh , including ecclesiastical terms : examples are easpag (bishop) from episcopus , and Domhnach (Sunday, from dominica ). By the 10th century, Old Irish had evolved into Middle Irish , which
4602-512: The Act all detailing different aspects of the use of Irish in official documentation and communication. Included in these sections are subjects such as Irish language use in official courts, official publications, and placenames. The Act was recently amended in December 2019 in order to strengthen the already preexisting legislation. All changes made took into account data collected from online surveys and written submissions. The Official Languages Scheme
4720-489: The British Empire journal Round Table by Lionel Curtis , citing a "trustworthy" source in the area. Curtis was British Prime Minister Lloyd George's secretary during Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations. A second British account, in former Auxiliary commander F.P. Crozier 's Ireland Forever (1932), also gave a brief account of the same false surrender event. Piaras Beaslaí noted a false surrender in his Michael Collins and
4838-424: The British forces behind them. Barry managed to avert their detection by directing the car up a side road and out of the way. The first Auxiliary lorry was persuaded to slow down by Barry standing on the road in plain sight in front of a concealed Command Post (with three riflemen). He was wearing an IRA officer's tunic given to him by IRA Volunteer and ambush participant Paddy O'Brien. The British later claimed Barry
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4956-431: The British were killed using rifle butts and bayonets in a brutal and bloody encounter. This close-quarters part of the engagement was over relatively quickly, with all nine Auxiliaries dead or dying. The British claimed that the bodies of the dead "suffered terrible mutilation as though hacked with hatchets", although Barry dismissed this report as atrocity propaganda. Fire was opened simultaneously at nine Auxiliaries in
5074-463: The European Union , only co-decision regulations were available until 2022, due to a five-year derogation, requested by the Irish Government when negotiating the language's new official status. The Irish government had committed itself to train the necessary number of translators and interpreters and to bear the related costs. This derogation ultimately came to an end on 1 January 2022, making Irish
5192-648: The Guthrie family, Kevin O'Higgins , Irish Free State Minister for Home Affairs , interceded with the local IRA , after which Guthrie's remains were disinterred and buried in the Church of Ireland graveyard at Macroom. Many IRA volunteers were deeply shaken by the severity of the action, referred to by Barry as "the bloodiest in Ireland", and some were physically sick. Barry attempted to restore discipline by making them form up and perform drill before marching away. Barry himself collapsed with severe chest pains on 3 December and
5310-614: The IRA hardly fired a shot at the Auxiliaries, which "had a very serious effect on the morale of the whole people as well as on the IRA". Barry's assessment was that the West Cork IRA needed a successful action against the Auxiliaries in order to be effective. On 21 November, Barry assembled a flying column of 36 riflemen at Clogher. The column had 35 rounds for each rifle as well as a handful of revolvers and two Mills bombs (hand grenades). Barry scouted possible ambush sites with Volunteer Michael McCarthy on horseback and selected one on
5428-501: The IRA's campaign. The Auxiliaries were recruited from former commissioned officers in the British Army. The force was raised in July 1920 and were promoted as a highly trained elite force by the British media. In common with most of their colleagues, the Auxiliaries engaged at Kilmichael were World War I veterans. The Auxiliaries and the previously introduced Black and Tans rapidly became highly unpopular in Ireland due to intimidation of
5546-536: The Irish language policy followed by Irish governments as a "complete and absolute disaster". The Irish Times , referring to his analysis published in the Irish language newspaper Foinse , quoted him as follows: "It is an absolute indictment of successive Irish Governments that at the foundation of the Irish State there were 250,000 fluent Irish speakers living in Irish-speaking or semi Irish-speaking areas, but
5664-493: The Kilmichael Ambush Jack O'Sullivan". The 26th November 1988 Southern Star subsequently referred to "The sole Survivor of the volunteers who performed so well under the leadership of general Tom Barry, namely Ned Young". Hart stated that he interviewed an unarmed scout, his second ambush participant, on 19 November 1989, six days after Ned Young died, one after his death was reported (see above). This claim intensified
5782-548: The Life and Afterlife of an Ambush , also addressed the debate. She consulted Hart's original interview notes (in Memorial University Newfoundland) as well as notes made listening to Chisholm's recorded interviews. Hart's notes identified his Kilmichael interviewees as Ned Young and a Willie Chambers. Morrison said Chambers was the controversial anonymous unarmed scout interviewed on 19 November 1989. She also stated that
5900-472: The Macroom–Dunmanway road, on the section between Kilmichael and Gleann, which the Auxiliaries coming out of Macroom used every day. The flying column marched there on foot and reached the ambush site on the night of 27 November. The IRA volunteers took up positions in the low rocky hills on either side of the road. Unlike most IRA ambush positions, there was no obvious escape route for the guerrillas should
6018-634: The Making of a New Ireland in 1926, published also in two daily newspapers. Ernie O'Malley 's 1936 memoir, On Another Man's Wound , noted the incident also. A 1924 letter to Free State Army headquarters concerning IRA casualty Michael McCarthy, released in 2021 by the Bureau of Military History, confirmed the contemporary perception of a false surrender. In The IRA And Its Enemies, Newfoundland historian Professor Peter Hart took issue with Tom Barry's false surrender account. He mistakenly claimed that Crozier's in 1932
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#17328444423736136-577: The O/C's command, fire was again opened by the Auxiliaries, with fatal results to two of our comrades who exposed themselves believing the surrender was genuine. We renewed the attack vigorously and never desisted until the enemy was annihilated." Some Bureau of Military History (BMH) accounts do not mention a false surrender, for example Section Three volunteer Ned Young's 1955 Witness Statement, published in 2003 (WS 1,402). However, Young stated he had left his position to individually pursue an escaping Auxiliary when
6254-597: The Republic of Ireland ), new appointees to the Civil Service of the Republic of Ireland , including postal workers , tax collectors , agricultural inspectors, Garda Síochána (police), etc., were required to have some proficiency in Irish. By law, a Garda who was addressed in Irish had to respond in Irish as well. In 1974, in part through the actions of protest organisations like the Language Freedom Movement ,
6372-677: The Young interview contains at least two references to a false surrender event, that Hart did not mention in his 1998 report of Young's (then anonymous) Chisholm tape utterances. Meehan noted no specific refutation of a false surrender event at Kilmichael in Morrison's book, apart from by Hart, Chisholm and by Morrison herself. In other words, it was an assertion by interpreters of the event, not by those who participated in it. Ambush participants named in Hart's separate unpublished 2004 draft response, bar Ned Young and
6490-547: The alleged "scout", were all dead when Hart was researching in the late 1980s. Six were named: Paddy O'Brien, Jim "Spud" Murphy, Jack Hennessy, Ned Young, Michael O'Driscoll and Jack O'Sullivan. Significantly, Hart did not name the seventh in his 2004 draft, the "scout" allegedly interviewed six days after Ned Young died. As noted, Morrison claimed in 2017 and 2022 this man to be Willie Chambers. She stated that Hart had heard or read ten accounts in total by these seven veterans (five witness statements and five other interviews). But this
6608-467: The ambush? We are left with three possibilities. Either, incredibly, Hart did not ask Young about the ambush, Young refused to discuss it, or he was incapable of doing so. Take your pick". In 1929, an iron cross commemorating the engagement was erected on the site by Barry and some others who had taken part in the ambush. In 1966, to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Easter Rising , it was decided that
6726-458: The authenticity of the document. They suggest that it contains factual errors Barry would not have made and also accurate information unknown to Barry. Examples of factual errors: stating falsely that the ambush was unplanned and a chance encounter; that two IRA volunteers had been mortally wounded and one killed outright, when the reverse was the case. Example of British knowledge unknown to Barry: getting British losses right, attesting to "sixteen of
6844-550: The author a tour of the ambush site, a claim the book withdrew. Eve Morrison argued in a 2012 essay on Kilmichael that Hart did not deliberately falsify evidence. She stated that one quote ascribed by Hart to the scout were actually uttered by ambush participant Jack O'Sullivan (who was not an unarmed scout), in a 1969 audiotape Hart listened to. Meehan and Eve Morrison debated the significance of these points in 2012, 2017, 2020 and 2022. Hart's 1998 book cited three further ambush participant accounts, again anonymously. His claimed source
6962-731: The beginning of the following academic year. For a number of years there has been vigorous debate in political, academic and other circles about the failure of most students in English-medium schools to achieve competence in Irish, even after fourteen years of teaching as one of the three main subjects. The concomitant decline in the number of traditional native speakers has also been a cause of great concern. In 2007, filmmaker Manchán Magan found few Irish speakers in Dublin , and faced incredulity when trying to get by speaking only Irish in Dublin. He
7080-620: The civilian population and arbitrary reprisals after IRA actions – including burnings of businesses and homes, beatings and killings. A week before the Kilmichael ambush, after IRA assassinations of British intelligence operatives in Dublin on Bloody Sunday , Auxiliaries fired on players and spectators at a Gaelic football match in Croke Park Dublin, killing fourteen civilians (thirteen spectators and one player). The Auxiliaries in Cork were based in
7198-528: The claim that Hart interviewed his then 96-year-old father in 1988. In April 2013, in a cosigned letter with Eve Morrison to History Ireland , Marion O'Driscoll took issue with John Young. She reported that her late husband Jim O'Driscoll had introduced Hart to Ned Young in the late 1980s and had "no doubt whatsoever that Hart had interviewed Ned Young". In 2007 Jim O'Driscoll witnessed John Young's signature to an earlier mentioned affidavit refuting Hart's claim to have interviewed his father. John Young responded, "It
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#17328444423737316-738: The controversy surrounding his claims, dated 2004. The essay's defence of Hart was reviewed by John Borgonovo, Niall Meehan, Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc and John Regan (in Irish Historical Studies , Reviews in History , History Ireland and Dublin Review of Books ). Morrison cited six participant statements to the Bureau of Military History (including the controversial Timothy Keohane) that were published in 2003. She listened to Father John Chisholm's two veteran interviews for Liam Deasy's Toward Ireland Free , with Jack O'Sullivan and Ned Young (who also contributed
7434-506: The debate, as the last ambush and dispatch scouts reportedly died in 1967 and 1971. In a 2010 television interview (broadcast 2011, 2022), Hart considered whether he had been the victim of "some sort of hoax" and of a "fantasist", but concluded "that seems extremely unlikely". D.R. O'Connor Lysaght wondered whether "it is possible that Dr Hart was the victim of one or more aged chancer". Niall Meehan suggested in Troubled History (2008) and subsequently that Hart may have based his interview with
7552-438: The editor, that he protested the omission in writing. Hart asserted that surviving Auxiliary officers were killed after surrendering. The controversy Hart's claims generated has resulted in the ambush being discussed alongside them. Hart's use of anonymous interviews with ambush veterans was regarded as particularly controversial. Meda Ryan disputed his claim to have personally interviewed two Kilmichael Ambush veterans in 1988–89,
7670-713: The education system. Linguistic analyses of Irish speakers are therefore based primarily on the number of daily users in Ireland outside the education system, which in 2022 was 20,261 in the Gaeltacht and 51,707 outside it, totalling 71,968. In response to the 2021 census of Northern Ireland , 43,557 individuals stated they spoke Irish on a daily basis, 26,286 spoke it on a weekly basis, 47,153 spoke it less often than weekly, and 9,758 said they could speak Irish, but never spoke it. From 2006 to 2008, over 22,000 Irish Americans reported speaking Irish as their first language at home, with several times that number claiming "some knowledge" of
7788-468: The end of the famine, and under 17,000 by 1911. Irish is recognised by the Constitution of Ireland as the national and first official language of Republic of Ireland (English being the other official language). Despite this, almost all government business and legislative debate is conducted in English. In 1938, the founder of Conradh na Gaeilge (Gaelic League), Douglas Hyde , was inaugurated as
7906-539: The enemy ... being killed", when Barry thought 17 (including H.F. Forde) were dead after the ambush. The document stated that IRA fighters had 100 rounds each when the correct figure reportedly was 35. Barry did not know that Guthrie, the Auxiliary who escaped, was, as the "report" put it, "now missing", or even that he had escaped. In other words, the document contained correct information known only to British authorities but unknown by Barry, and also incorrect information as to
8024-422: The enemy to surrender and some of them put up their hands, but when our party were moving onto the road, the Auxiliaries again opened fire. Two of our men were wounded". Barry stated that two of the IRA dead, Pat Deasy and Jim O'Sullivan, were shot during the false surrender episode, but Keohane reported that O'Sullivan had been hit earlier, and that Jack Hennessy and John Lordan were wounded after they stood to take
8142-482: The false surrender incident took place. Nevertheless, in a 1970 audio interview Young reported that other veterans told him afterwards of an Auxiliary false surrender. Tim Keohane, who claimed controversially in his BMH statement (WS 1,295) to have participated in the ambush, described a false surrender event. He recalled that when Section Two and the Command Post group engaged the second lorry that: "Tom Barry called on
8260-425: The fighting go against them. As dusk fell between 4:05 and 4:20 pm on 28 November, the ambush took place on a road at Dus a' Bharraigh in the townland of Shanacashel , Kilmichael Parish, near Macroom. Just before the Auxiliaries in two lorries came into view, two armed IRA volunteers, responding late to Barry's mobilisation order, drove unwittingly into the ambush position in a horse and side-car, almost shielding
8378-400: The finish after the false surrender attempt, refusing further surrender attempts. After fighting ceased it was observed that two IRA volunteers – Michael McCarthy and Jim O'Sullivan – were dead and that Pat Deasy (brother of Liam Deasy ) was mortally wounded. The IRA fighters thought they had killed all of the Auxiliaries. In fact two survived, one very badly injured, while another who escaped
8496-467: The firefight, were killed with close range shots, blows from rifle butts and bayonet thrusts. Ambush participant Jack O'Sullivan told historian Meda Ryan that, after he disarmed an Auxiliary, "He was walking him up the road as a prisoner when a shot dropped him at his feet". Barry did not engage in this level of detail in his account of the first lorry confrontation, or after the false surrender event. They are consistent with his order to continue fighting to
8614-416: The fires for a period of time. Two IRA volunteers were shot dead while asleep, their killers most likely being Auxiliaries. Accounts from the British press alleged that the search party that found the Auxiliary casualties the following morning believed that many of them had been "butchered". Local Coroner Dr Jeremiah Kelleher told the military Court of Inquiry at Macroom on 30 November 1920 that he carried out
8732-545: The first President of Ireland . The record of his delivering his inaugural Declaration of Office in Roscommon Irish is one of only a few recordings of that dialect. In the 2016 census, 10.5% of respondents stated that they spoke Irish, either daily or weekly, while over 70,000 people (4.2%) speak it as a habitual daily means of communication. From the foundation of the Irish Free State in 1922 (see History of
8850-756: The front, joining the 6th Battalion of the Bedfordshires, however the following month this unit was broken up and absorbed by 1/1st battalion, the Hertfordshire Regiment . He finished the conflict with the rank of captain . He was awarded the Military Cross for his conduct in September 1918 during the Allied Hundred Days Offensive . His citation reads: "T./2nd Lt. Francis William Crake, 6th Bn., Bedf. R., attd. 1st Bn., Hert. R. For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in an attack. When
8968-479: The issue? Readers may draw their own conclusions." In Rehabilitating Peter Hart , Meehan noted Morrison's admission that Hart's notes of his encounter with Ned Young do not include discussion of the Kilmichael Ambush. He remarked, "despite claims in The IRA and its Enemies , Ned Young said nothing to Peter Hart about the Kilmichael Ambush. Why argue over whether Young was capable of speaking to Hart if he did not talk about
9086-698: The language family, is derived from the Old Irish term. Endonyms of the language in the various modern Irish dialects include: Gaeilge [ˈɡeːlʲɟə] in Galway, Gaeilg / Gaeilic / Gaeilig [ˈɡeːlʲəc] in Mayo and Ulster , Gaelainn / Gaoluinn [ˈɡeːl̪ˠən̠ʲ] in West/Cork, Kerry Munster , as well as Gaedhealaing in mid and East Kerry/Cork and Waterford Munster to reflect local pronunciation. Gaeilge also has
9204-410: The language was in use by all classes, Irish being an urban as well as a rural language. This linguistic dynamism was reflected in the efforts of certain public intellectuals to counter the decline of the language. At the end of the 19th century, they launched the Gaelic revival in an attempt to encourage the learning and use of Irish, although few adult learners mastered the language. The vehicle of
9322-472: The language. For most of recorded Irish history , Irish was the dominant language of the Irish people , who took it with them to other regions , such as Scotland and the Isle of Man , where Middle Irish gave rise to Scottish Gaelic and Manx . It was also, for a period, spoken widely across Canada , with an estimated 200,000–250,000 daily Canadian speakers of Irish in 1890. On the island of Newfoundland ,
9440-563: The mid-18th century, English was becoming a language of the Catholic middle class, the Catholic Church and public intellectuals, especially in the east of the country. Increasingly, as the value of English became apparent, parents sanctioned the prohibition of Irish in schools. Increasing interest in emigrating to the United States and Canada was also a driver, as fluency in English allowed
9558-771: The name of the language is Gaeilge , from the South Connacht form, spelled Gaedhilge prior the spelling reform of 1948, which was originally the genitive of Gaedhealg , the form used in Classical Gaelic . The modern spelling results from the deletion of the silent ⟨dh⟩ in Gaedhilge . Older spellings include Gaoidhealg [ˈɡeːʝəlˠəɡ] in Classical Gaelic and Goídelc [ˈɡoiðʲelɡ] in Old Irish . Goidelic , used to refer to
9676-463: The new immigrants to get jobs in areas other than farming. An estimated one quarter to one third of US immigrants during the Great Famine were Irish speakers. Irish was not marginal to Ireland's modernisation in the 19th century, as is often assumed. In the first half of the century there were still around three million people for whom Irish was the primary language, and their numbers alone made them
9794-639: The number now is between 20,000 and 30,000." In the 1920s, when the Irish Free State was founded, Irish was still a vernacular in some western coastal areas. In the 1930s, areas where more than 25% of the population spoke Irish were classified as Gaeltacht . Today, the strongest Gaeltacht areas, numerically and socially, are those of South Connemara , the west of the Dingle Peninsula , and northwest Donegal, where many residents still use Irish as their primary language. These areas are often referred to as
9912-633: The other officers became casualties and the company had suffered heavy losses, he reorganised several scattered bodies of men and continued to lead them forward to the objective in a most determined manner. By his courage and example, he assisted materially in the capture of a hostile battery." In August 1920, he was appointed District Inspector in command of a unit of the Royal Irish Constabulary Auxiliary Division , based at Macroom in County Cork . On 28 November, while leading
10030-498: The other official language, if not already passed in both official languages. In November 2016, RTÉ reported that over 2.3 million people worldwide were learning Irish through the Duolingo app. Irish president Michael D. Higgins officially honoured several volunteer translators for developing the Irish edition, and said the push for Irish language rights remains an "unfinished project". There are rural areas of Ireland where Irish
10148-495: The others butchered". The principal published source for what happened at the Kilmichael Ambush is Tom Barry's Guerrilla Days in Ireland , which derided British accounts as atrocity propaganda. The first by a participant, Stephen O'Neill (reported above), appeared in 1937 (republished in Rebel Cork's Fighting Story , 1947, 2009). The first account of a false surrender event at Kilmichael appeared in June 1921, seven months later, in
10266-504: The planned nature of the engagement, the disposition of the IRA and the sequence of casualties, that Barry would not have misreported to his superiors. In her book Tom Barry: IRA Freedom Fighter , Ryan suggests that the "rebel commandant's report" was forged by Castle officials and Auxiliaries during the Truce in order to help ensure that the families of those Auxiliaries who were killed at Kilmichael received compensation payments. Ryan's argument
10384-539: The political party holding power in the Stormont Parliament , the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), was hostile to the language. The context of this hostility was the use of the language by nationalists. In broadcasting, there was an exclusion on the reporting of minority cultural issues, and Irish was excluded from radio and television for almost the first fifty years of the previous devolved government. After
10502-548: The procession, the Auxiliary Division increased their mistreatment of the County Cork population, to the extent that "no person was safe from their molestations." On 10 December, martial law was declared in response to the ambush in the counties of Cork , Kerry , Limerick and Tipperary . The next day, angered British forces burned sections of the city centre of Cork, preventing the city's fire brigade from putting out
10620-487: The relationship between the three Goidelic languages (Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx). Gaelic is a collective term for the Goidelic languages, and when the context is clear it may be used without qualification to refer to each language individually. When the context is specific but unclear, the term may be qualified, as Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic or Manx Gaelic. Historically the name "Erse" ( / ɜːr s / URS )
10738-432: The requirement for entrance to the public service was changed to proficiency in just one official language. Nevertheless, Irish remains a required subject of study in all schools in the Republic of Ireland that receive public money (see Education in the Republic of Ireland ). Teachers in primary schools must also pass a compulsory examination called Scrúdú Cáilíochta sa Ghaeilge . As of 2005, Garda Síochána recruits need
10856-625: The revival was the Gaelic League ( Conradh na Gaeilge ), and particular emphasis was placed on the folk tradition, which in Irish is particularly rich. Efforts were also made to develop journalism and a modern literature. Although it has been noted that the Catholic Church played a role in the decline of the Irish language before the Gaelic Revival, the Protestant Church of Ireland also made only minor efforts to encourage use of Irish in
10974-476: The scout partly on Jack Hennessy's BMH testimony (reported above). Though Hennessy died in 1970, Hart had a copy of his BMH statement. In his book, Hart paraphrased the anonymous scout reporting "a sort of false surrender". Hennessy was not unarmed or a scout. However, in Hart's 1992 TCD PhD thesis, this particular interviewee was not described as either a scout or as unarmed. Further anomalies surround this individual. For instance, Hart's PhD thesis reported him giving
11092-486: The second Auxiliary lorry, in the ambush position close to IRA Section Two. This lorry's occupants were in a more advantageous position than Auxiliaries in the first lorry, being further away from the ambushing group. Reportedly, they dismounted to the road and exchanged fire with the IRA, killing Michael McCarthy. Barry then brought the Command Post soldiers who had completed the attack on the first lorry to bear on this group. Barry reported that surviving Auxiliaries called out
11210-617: The second lorry. In addition, Meehan pointed to a 2012 Father John Chisholm interview available online, not cited by Morrison. In it Chisholm asserted that Liam Deasy did not write Towards Ireland Free . Fr Chisholm stated that he wrote 'every line'. Chisholm also noted that he doubted the false surrender account before researching it. He then admitted that he failed to put his view to Tom Barry when they met. Chisholm wrote to Ned Young's son in 2008, stating that he had no audio-tape interview with Ned Young. He re-discovered it, he said, three years later, claiming he had forgotten its existence. Notably,
11328-521: The surrender. Ambush veteran Ned Young reported (see above) being told afterwards that Lordon bayoneted an Auxiliary he believed had surrendered falsely. Hennessy described in his BMH statement (WS 1,234) an incident in which, after Michael McCarthy was shot dead, he stood and shouted "hands up" to an auxiliary who had "thrown down his rifle". Hennessy reported the auxiliary then "drew his revolver", causing Hennessy to "shoot him dead". IRA veterans reported variously that wounded Auxiliaries, finished off after
11446-479: The time, he guarded a bridge some 15 kilometers away. Meehan noted Morrison's admission that Ned Young, who was there, reportedly said nothing at his alleged interview (aged 96) to Peter Hart about the ambush. Yet Hart claimed Young's anonymous interview as a source of information on the ambush. Flor Crowley's initial, 1947, view of a false surrender at the first auxiliary lorry was soon afterwards changed to placing it (like Barry and Section Commander Stephen O'Neill) at
11564-474: The town of Macroom , and in November 1920 they carried out a number of raids on the villages in the surrounding area, including Dunmanway , Coppeen and Castletown-Kinneigh , to intimidate the local population away from supporting the IRA. They shot dead one civilian James Lehane (Séamus Ó Liatháin) at Ballymakeera on 17 October 1920. In his memoir, Guerilla Days in Ireland , Tom Barry noted that before Kilmichael
11682-658: The vacancy to which they are appointed. This requirement is laid down by the University College Galway Act, 1929 (Section 3). In 2016, the university faced controversy when it announced the planned appointment of a president who did not speak Irish. Misneach staged protests against this decision. The following year the university announced that Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh , a fluent Irish speaker, would be its 13th president. He assumed office in January 2018; in June 2024, he announced he would be stepping down as president at
11800-594: The work of such writers as Geoffrey Keating , is said to date from the 17th century, and was the medium of popular literature from that time on. From the 18th century on, the language lost ground in the east of the country. The reasons behind this shift were complex but came down to a number of factors: The change was characterised by diglossia (two languages being used by the same community in different social and economic situations) and transitional bilingualism (monoglot Irish-speaking grandparents with bilingual children and monoglot English-speaking grandchildren). By
11918-577: Was a British Army and Royal Irish Constabulary officer. Francis Crake was born on 19 April 1893 in Newcastle upon Tyne , where he also resided. Crake was originally employed as an Insurance Agent's Clerk before joining the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1909, serving with the 1st Northumbrian Field Ambulance until 1913. Following the outbreak of the First World War , Crake enlisted into
12036-523: Was also sometimes used in Scots and then in English to refer to Irish; as well as Scottish Gaelic. Written Irish is first attested in Ogham inscriptions from the 4th century AD, a stage of the language known as Primitive Irish . These writings have been found throughout Ireland and the west coast of Great Britain. Primitive Irish underwent a change into Old Irish through the 5th century. Old Irish, dating from
12154-502: Was audio taped interviews conducted by a Father John Chisholm in 1969, for Liam Deasy's memoir Toward Ireland Free (1973). However, Morrison stated in her 2012 Kilmichael essay that Chisholm's tape recorded two (not three) Kilmichael participants speaking on Kilmichael. One was Ned Young the other being Jack O'Sullivan, reportedly the last and second last ambush veterans to die, in 1986 and 1989. In other words, without informing his readers, Hart counted an anonymous Ned Young interview twice,
12272-643: Was enacted 1 July 2019 and is an 18-page document that adheres to the guidelines of the Official Languages Act 2003 . The purpose of the Scheme is to provide services through the mediums of Irish and/or English. According to the Department of the Taoiseach, it is meant to "develop a sustainable economy and a successful society, to pursue Ireland's interests abroad, to implement the Government's Programme and to build
12390-626: Was establishing itself as the primary language. Irish speakers had first arrived in Australia in the late 18th century as convicts and soldiers, and many Irish-speaking settlers followed, particularly in the 1860s. New Zealand also received some of this influx. Argentina was the only non-English-speaking country to receive large numbers of Irish emigrants, and there were few Irish speakers among them. Francis Crake Captain Francis William Crake MC (19 April 1893 – 28 November 1920)
12508-453: Was in 2004, six years after publication of The IRA and its Enemies . Morrison identified in Hart's book, Chisholm interview utterances in all but two of Hart's anonymous quotes (though without identifying these two). Confirming Meehan's 2008 observation, Morrison noted that a quote Hart ascribed to the 'scout' was in fact uttered by Jack O'Sullivan, another interviewee, to Fr Chisholm. Ned Young's son, John Young, afterwards continued to dispute
12626-467: Was later captured and shot dead. Among the 16 British dead on the road at Kilmichael was Francis Crake, commander of the Auxiliaries in Macroom, probably killed at the start of the action by Barry's Mills bomb. The severity of his injuries probably saved Frederick Henry Forde (also referred to as H.F. Forde). He was left for dead at the ambush site with, amongst other injuries, a bullet wound to his head. Forde
12744-465: Was passed 14 July 2003 with the main purpose of improving the number and quality of public services delivered in Irish by the government and other public bodies. Compliance with the Act is monitored by the An Coimisinéir Teanga (Irish Language Commissioner) which was established in 2004 and any complaints or concerns pertaining to the Act are brought to them. There are 35 sections included in
12862-482: Was picked up by British forces the following day and taken to hospital in Cork. He was later awarded £10,000 in compensation. The other surviving Auxiliary, Cecil Guthrie (ex Royal Air Force), was badly wounded but escaped from the ambush site. He asked for help at a nearby house. However, unknown to him, two IRA men were staying there. They killed him with his own gun and dumped his body in Annahala bog. In 1926, on behalf of
12980-434: Was positioned before the ambush position as an insurance group, should a third Auxiliary lorry appear. The British later alleged that over 100 IRA fighters were present wearing British uniforms and steel trench helmets. Barry, however, insisted that, excepting himself, the ambush party were in civilian attire, though they used captured British weapons and equipment. The first lorry, containing nine Auxiliaries, slowed almost to
13098-644: Was queried by American historian W. H. Kautt, who discovered that the report had been included in a collection of captured IRA documents that was published by the British Army's Irish Command in June 1921 before the Truce. In Ambushes and Armour: The Irish Rebellion 1919-1921 , Kautt suggested that the report could be authentic. Hart continued to stand by his account until his death in 2010. In 2012 Eve Morrison published 'Kilmichael Revisited' in Terror in Ireland (David Fitzpatrick, ed.), an essay based partly on IRA veteran testimony. She cited Hart's unpublished draft response to
13216-473: Was secretly hospitalized in Cork City. It is possible that the ongoing stress of being on the run and commander of the flying column, along with a poor diet as well as the intense combat at Kilmichael, contributed to his illness, diagnosed as heart displacement. Soon after the ambush, The Times of London described the engagement as a "brutal massacre" of the Auxiliary Division. This, along with other reports in
13334-678: Was spoken throughout Ireland, Isle of Man and parts of Scotland . It is the language of a large corpus of literature, including the Ulster Cycle . From the 12th century, Middle Irish began to evolve into modern Irish in Ireland, into Scottish Gaelic in Scotland, and into the Manx language in the Isle of Man . Early Modern Irish , dating from the 13th century, was the basis of the literary language of both Ireland and Gaelic-speaking Scotland. Modern Irish, sometimes called Late Modern Irish, as attested in
13452-459: Was the first published account and also a concoction, allegedly later used by Barry for his own purposes. Hart stated that a November 1932 account by Barry in the Irish Press , without a false surrender narrative, demonstrated that Barry made up the story later. In response, Irish historian Media Ryan said that Barry's false surrender narrative was edited out and, citing Barry's contemporary letter to
13570-442: Was unable to accomplish some everyday tasks, as portrayed in his documentary No Béarla . There is, however, a growing body of Irish speakers in urban areas, particularly in Dublin. Many have been educated in schools in which Irish is the language of instruction. Such schools are known as Gaelscoileanna at primary level. These Irish-medium schools report some better outcomes for students than English-medium schools. In 2009,
13688-491: Was wearing a British uniform. This confusion was part of a ruse by Barry to ensure that his adversaries in both lorries halted beside two separated IRA ambush positions on the north side of the road, where Sections One (10 riflemen) and Two (10 riflemen) lay concealed. Hidden on the opposite (south) side of the road was half of Section Three (six riflemen), whose instructions were to prevent the enemy from taking up positions on that side. The other half of Section Three (six riflemen)
13806-420: Was widely reported ... The following 24th December 1983 Southern Star reported, "One of the three surviving members of the famous KiImichael Ambush has died. He was lieutenant Timothy O'Connell". The newspaper referred, as did the 7th December 1985 Southern Star, to "two survivors, Ned Young and Jack O'Sullivan". One year later, the 20th December 1986 edition reported the death of "one of the last two Survivors of
13924-531: Was wrong of Dr Morrison to imply [...] that the late Jim O'Driscoll did not read my Affidavit before witnessing my signature. He did just that when we met in Ballydehob in August 2007, as any sensible person would. [...] Before his untimely death, Jim O'Driscoll's name appeared twice publicly in relation to Peter Hart. First, in Hart's 1998 book that acknowledged Jim's kind assistance. Second, in Troubled History (2008) as
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