IRA Raid on Inchicore Railway Works

On March 6 1921, during the height of the tan war and while a British military curfew was in force, Volunteers of F Company, 4th Battalion, Dublin Brigade of the Irish Republican Army carried out a daring raid at the railway works in Inchicore.

The Republican Army had received solid intelligence that a consignment of steel plating, which was to be used by the British in the construction of armored cars, had recently been delivered at the GS and W Railway Works in Inchicore.

The Railway works had for some time been a hotbed of support for the revolutionary movement, with republicans able to come and go as they pleased. Sets of keys for the entrance gates and stores were readily available to the IRA and the works were often used as a shelter for republican volunteers escaping from British raids.

Despite this however, a military raid on the works would be both difficult and dangerous to pull off successfully, due in no small terms to the close proximity of Richmond Barracks, Inchicore, and the readily available number of British troops.

F Company was a highly trained and disciplined unit, that had built a reputation for its ability to put the 'Brits on the run'. As many members of the Company worked at and were familiar with the Railway works, the volunteers new the site intimately and were able to plan their operation to the utmost military precision.

Due to the large scale of the operation, every available volunteer attached to F Company had to be mobilised. If someone managed to raise the alarm British reinforcements from Richmond Barracks could surround the works within minutes. It was therefore agreed that every civilian worker on duty that night would have to be taken prisoner by the IRA.

At 7.30pm on March 6, 80 volunteers paraded and final orders were issued to the Company officers. Under no circumstances could the steel plates be allowed to fall into the hands of the British.

The Republican volunteers split into three sections and with watches synchronized agreed to enter the works from three different sides at 8pm.

One section were to enter through the main entrance gate facing Kilmainham. The second section were to enter through the  'Private Pass', a narrow laneway on the northside of the works at Sarsfield Road, opposite The Ranch, Ballyfermot. The third section were to enter through a gate near the railway line on the Clondalkin side.

At the agreed time, the IRA entered the railway works, placed a guard on the gates and took control of the offices. The watchmen and other workers were taken prisoner and secured without a shot, demonstrating the effectiveness of the local IRA company and ensuring word about the raid couldn't leak out.

The steel plating was soon located and the smaller pieces were carried away and dumped. Sledge hammers were used in an attempt to break up the larger pieces, but when this failed it was decided to commandeer a number of lorries belonging to the railway company and transport the plates from the scene.

The loading of the trucks was completed by 3.30am but because the British curfew was still in effect the IRA decided to wait until the curfew ended at 6am, before leaving the rail works. In the meantime the IRA ensured that all volunteers had a good breakfast at the expense of the railway company.

At 6am the commandeered lorries, loaded with the steel plates, left the works, the prisoners were released unharmed and the Republican Army withdrew from another successful operation of massive propaganda value.

At 7th Lock Bridge on the way to Clondalkin, one of the commandeered lorries broke down due to being over loaded with steel plates. The IRA was left with no other option but to dump its cargo into the canal, where it remained for many years after.

Writing in 'Dublin's Fighting Story', Jim Donnelley who played a key role in the Republican operation that night, said:

 'There was consternation in Inchicore works the next day. Managers and officials were flying about. It seemed impossible that a large railway works could be occupied by the IRA from 8 pm to 6 am with curfew in force and Richmond Barracks only a stone's throw away, Kilmainham a few hundered yards, Tallaght about two milles and Baldonnel Aerodrome about three or four miles away. So once again had the men of Éire stolen a march on the Sasanaigh.'

Tony O’Hara and the 1981 General Election in Dublin West

When the government of the Twenty Six County state collapsed in May 1981, the National H-Block/ Armagh Committee decided to seize the opportunity it presented. The resulting general election would provide a much needed platform to highlight the realities faced by republican prisoners on a daily basis in Long Kesh and Armagh prison.

The election would give the voting public an opportunity to actively support the on- going republican hunger strike and the prisoner’s ‘Five Demands’. It would attract the attention of the national and international media, shinning a light on the plight of the protesting republican prisoners.

Nine candidates, eight of them current republican prisoners, were selected to contest constituencies across the state on an abstentionist basis. The Anti- H- Block/ Armagh candidates were, Kieran Doherty, IRA, (Cavan/Monaghan), Tom McAllister, INLA, (Clare), Mairéad Farrell, IRA, (Cork North Central,) Seán McKenna, IRA, (Kerry North), Martin Hurson, IRA, (Longford/ Westmeath), Paddy Agnew, IRA, (Louth), Joe McDonnell, IRA, (Sligo/ Leitrim), Kevin Lynch, INLA, (Waterford) and Tony O’Hara, INLA, (Dublin West).

During the 1981 election large parts of the current Dublin South Central constituency, including Ballyfermot, were part of Dublin West.

Tony O’Hara, the candidate in Dublin West, was at this time an INLA Blanket man in Long Kesh. O’Hara was born in 1954 in Bishop Street, Derry City, where his family lived over their small pub. The O’Hara’s were a republican family. Tony’s Grandfather had been involved in the IRA since the early 1920’s. 

Tony became politically active in 1968 when, at just 12 years of age, he joined the Derry Housing Action Committee.  Tony also became involved in the Civil Rights marches which were spreading across the Six Counties. His brother, Seán Seamus, who was also a member of the Derry Housing Action Committee, was interned in Long Kesh in 1971.

Later that year, the British Army shot Tony’s fourteen year old younger brother, Na Fianna Éireann member, Patsy. He was seriously injured in the leg.

Tony joined the Irish Republican Socialist Movement and actively confronted British Imperialism. In 1976 when aged just 20, he was arrested in relation to an armed raid and sentenced to five years in the H-Blocks. Tony was convicted by a juryless Diplock court, on the sole evidence of a witness statement. His election manifesto for the 1981 election stated he was innocent and had been framed by the RUC.

Once in the H-Blocks, Tony refused to wear a prison uniform and joined the Blanket protest, refusing to allow himself or the republican struggle be criminalised.

In 1980, Tony was joined on the protest by his younger brother Patsy. Patsy, who had been a member of the Ard Chomhairle of the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP), would soon become Officer Commanding of the INLA prisoners and would volunteer to take part in the second republican hunger Strike in 1981. Patsy O’Hara would give his life, bravely fighting the British policy of criminalisation, on May 21, 1981 after 61 days on hunger strike.

This was the context of the general election in 1981.

With Tony O’Hara imprisoned the election campaign was run by republicans on the ground. The campaign, as with those of the other Anti- H block/ Armagh candidates, was built around gaining support for the hunger strikers and for the prisoner’s ‘Five Demands’.

The Five Demands were:

1. The right not to wear a prison uniform;

2. The right not to do prison work;

3. The right of free association with other prisoners, and to organise educational and recreational pursuits;

4. The right to one visit, one letter and one parcel per week;

5. Full restoration of remission lost through the protest.

The campaign was very well received in the working class communities in Dublin West, with republicans, socialists, trade unionists and other progressives coming from all over to support the election of O’Hara. There were some differences in the campaign on the ground, centring on a petty reluctance by some members of the Provisional Movement to work with members of the IRSP.

Other candidates in the Dublin West constituency included, Mary Robinson (Labour Party), Jim Mitchell (Fine Gael), Brian Lenihan Snr. and Liam Lawlor (Fianna Fáil), Tomas Mac Giolla and Michael Finnegan (Sinn Féin- The Workers Party) and John Montgomery (Communist Party of Ireland).

The election took place in June 1981.

O’Hara polled an impressive 3,034 votes, wiping the floor with the Labour Party and the ‘Stickies’. Much of that support came from working class voters in Ballyfermot. O’Hara also gained transfers, particularly from Mac Giolla, leaving many to wonder what could have been if the ‘Stickies’ had given O’Hara a free run and if petty differences in the local campaign had been put to one side.

Elsewhere the election continued to be successful for republicans. The nine Anti- H Block/ Armagh candidates between them, received just short of 43,000 votes across the state. Kieran Doherty (Cavan/ Monaghan) and Paddy Agnew (Louth) were elected, while Joe Mc Donnell (Sligo/ Leitrim) and Martin Hurson (Lonford/ Westmeath) came very close to taking seats.

Tony O’Hara was released a couple of months later and continued to be an active member of the Irish Republican Socialist Movement.

The people of Ballyfermot stood behind the republican prisoners when it mattered, proudly entering a new chapter into the long tradition of Dublin South Central’s Fighting Story.

Liam Sutcliffe- Irish Republican Solider and Revolutionary

 

 

This important interview was conducted by Michael Healy of the Irish Republican and Marxist History Project with veteran republican, Liam Sutcliffe. More information on the Irish Republican and Marxist History Project can be found here: http://irishrepublicanmarxisthistoryproject.wordpress.com/

 

Liam Sutcliffe lives in Walkinstown in Dublin South Central. He joined the IRA in 1954, being 'sworn in' to the organisation in a house in Ballyfermot.

 

Months later Sutcliffe was an IRA agent, operating inside the British Army, planning the arms raid in Gough Barracks Armagh.

Liam was later involved in the 1966 republican operation which blew up Nelson's Pillar in Dublin. Sutcliffe joined Saor Éire in 1970, and continued to be involved in the fight for Irish freedom later working again with the IRA.

 

This is his story.