you agree that the Government of Northern Ireland has no more legitimacy than the Kadar regime in Hungary?” O’Flaherty replied: “I am afraid I could not express an opinion on that.” Ó Brádaigh persisted: “If the freedom fighters of Hungary were forced to cross the Austrian Border would they not have received better treatment than we did?” The Justice intervened, “You need not answer that question. It is not relevant.”
The state rested its case and the IRA prisoners were asked if they wanted to give evidence or call witnesses. They declined. Justice Fitzpatrick then found them guilty of the charges and imposed a sentence of six months in prison for each. Ó Brádaigh then asked for permission to address the court. The Justice stated, “The case is finished. I gave you an opportunity of giving evidence and calling witnesses and you said you did not wish to do so. I will listen to you but I will ask you not to make anything in the nature of a political speech.” Ó Brádaigh pleaded ignorance of court procedures and tried to make a political speech.
He was frustrated that the Irish authorities would repress the IRA but offer sympathy to movements outside of Ireland that also used physical force. In the 1930s, there had been widespread support among politicians for an Irish Brigade that went to Spain in support of Franco and fascism. In the 1950s, Soviet repression of the Hungarian rebellion had generated sympathy throughout the Western democracies for the Hungarian people and for Hungarian activists who used physical force against the Soviets. In Cyprus, British repression of EOKA (Ethnica Organosis Kyprion Agoniston; National Organization of Cypriot Fighters) activities and the general Greek population had contributed to anti-British sentiment in Ireland and official concern from Irish politicians. Ó Brádaigh tried to point out this inconsistency: “I have little to say other than that, as members of the Irish Resistance Movement against British occupation in Ireland, we resent it very much indeed being arrested by fellow Irishmen while fighting against British occupation in Ireland. Had we banded ourselves together to go to fight for Hungary or Cyprus or formed an Irish Brigade to go to Spain-.” Justice Fitzpatrick cut him off in mid-sentence, “I am sorry. This is a speech on matters which you might regard as national or international or, indeed, embracing the whole world. But that is outside my jurisdiction. I have already dealt with the case and I do not propose to listen further.” This ended the case. In response to Ó Brádaigh’s orders, which were given in Irish, the prisoners marched out of the dock. They were sent back to Mountjoy, where they were soon joined by those sentenced for their participation in the Brookeborough raid. They had also received a six months’ sentence.
The campaign, at least from the IRA’S perspective, had been going well. In Sein Cronin’s Dublin flat, the Gardai had found an IRA document that was probably written in early January and titled, “Outline of Operations to Date.” It stated:
From the Fermanagh experience we can prove that where guerrillas are active and aggressive the enemy becomes scared and confused. If we had Fermanagh activities all over we would be in a tremendously strong position in the Six Counties. We still hold the initiative in all areas and our limited supplies in most cases remain intact. We got more gelignite than we ever hoped for.
In early January, IRA columns had been reorganized into battle teams, which were effective, but there was room for still more improvement:
Among the lessons we have learned are: The training of our men is still very spotty. The battle teams are only beginning to work in Fermanagh. Men are quite close to panic during the withdrawal phase. There is lack of battle discipline. Too many shout orders. Too many act without an order at all. This can cause loss of lives. The way to cure this is to make the column a well-moulded fighting team of battle teams, sections-all integrated in the column, every man given a job in the attack. No firing without an order.
By the end of January 1957, however, almost all of the IRA leadership was in Mountjoy, including Tony Magan, Tomis Mac Curtiin, Larry Grogan, Charlie Murphy, Sein Cronin, Robert Russell, and Ruairí Ó Bddsigh. Paddy Doyle was in Crumlin Road Prison, Belfast. This hurt the campaign, which was in the hands of a temporary IRA Army Council that included Tomis Ó Dubhghaill and Paddy McLogan as an observer.
Ó Brádaigh found Mountjoy to be “all right,” although the food left a great deal to be desired. Conditions were not exceptionally harsh and prisoners were not abused by the warders. The negative aspects of being in prison are numerous: loss of freedom, loss of personal space, and so forth. Perhaps the only benefit is that it brings together Republicans from throughout Ireland and allows them the chance to build camaraderie. In 1916, the British had placed a large number of rebels in the same internment camp in Wales, Frongoch. Out of that camp the Republican Movement rebuilt itself in 1917. Forty years later, the benefits of bringing together people in Mountjoy were not as striking as in 1916, but significant relationships were formed there that continue to influence Ruairí Ó Brádaigh.
In prison, IRA members lose their rank and the prisoners elect their own commanding officer. An IRA chief of staff on the outside becomes a regular volunteer on the inside. This allows for continuity of leadership in the prison and for smoother relations. If an IRA officer were to enter a prison and attempt to take over and issue commands, it might breed confusion and factions. The IRA’S leadership did not assume the leadership in Mountjoy; Diithi O’Connell had been elected commanding officer by the first set of prisoners and he remained so.
Many of those in the leadership, including Mac Curtiin, Tony Magan, and Larry Grogan, were in prison in the 1940s; Grogan had been in Mountjoy in the 1920s. Ó Brádaigh remembers them taking to prison like “ducks to water.” He gravitated toward the senior people. Pragmatically, he figured he could draw on their experiences to make the time pass more easily. The younger people in general tended to follow the lead of the senior people. He also saw an opportunity to add to the record of Irish history; he saw the senior people as actors in events that had often gone unrecorded, and he did not want this lost to posterity. Today, some of their stories appear in his “50 Years Ago" column in Republican Sinn Fdin’s paper, SAOIRSE. His interest in history was such that he even talked to some of the senior warders who had witnessed the executions and later exhumations of people such as Charlie Kerins and Paddy McGrath.
Tomb Mac Curtiin was particularly interesting. Mac Curtiin had been within hours of his execution in 1940. He saw what was to be his coffin brought into the prison and he knew that the hangman, who had been imported from England, was on site. His cell in 1940 was the prisoners’ recreation room in 1957. The execution chamber was at the end of the wing. According to Ó Brhdaigh, Mac Curtiin was convinced that upon his execution he would go “straight up to heaven.” He had settled his affairs, was prepared to die, and did not expect to be reprieved. When the reprieve came the night before the scheduled execution, it caught him by surprise. The next morning, he told Ó Brádaigh, “I just simply didn’t know what to be doing.” Mac Curtiin was not confused for long. After he was moved from the cell for condemned prisoners, he began organizing the other prisoners. The authorities transferred him to Port Laoise Prison in County Laois. There he refused to wear a prison uniform or do prison work and was laced in solitary confinement (Ó Brádaigh refers to him today as the first “blanketman"). In solitary, Mac Curtiin searched for ways to break the monotony. When a mouse joined him in the cell, he tried to train it to run up one arm and down the other. On the third attempt, it bit him.
Among the younger prisoners that Ó Brádaigh became close to was David O’Connell. Formally, O’Connell went by the Irish version of his name, DGthi. Informally, he was “Dave.” Tall, thin, and with a Cork accent, he was only 18 years old. He looked to have a good future as a cabinetmaker; in 1955, he had been awarded first prize in Ireland and Britain in his apprenticeship examination and had received a gold medal. Like Ó Brádaigh and so many of their contemporaries, he was from a Republican background; an uncle was bayoneted to death by British soldiers in 1921. The 1955 local elections in the Twenty-Six Counties had caught O’Connell’s attention and he had sought out the Republican Movement. He was interviewed for IRA membership by Mick McCarthy. McCarthy remembers that O’Connell was concerned that he would not be eligible for membership because
