Tom Barry (43 page)

Frank Aiken responded with ‘delight' to Tom's offer of help. ‘I knew you would be coming along once there was something doing'. He believed that the men intended ‘to stick it. The Staters are finding themselves between two stools at the present time, because if they release the men, we win, and if they keep them on till some of them die, we win'.
[40]

Already Eoin O'Duffy, garda commissioner, was concerned that the country was in ‘a disturbed' state. In listing the countrywide areas that were creating problems he named Tom Barry among those in West Cork as a ‘prominent' leader ‘of the forces of disorder' and suggested that the Free State army establish ‘military posts' linked with ‘mobile columns' and ‘a system of night patrols'.
[41]

Barry told Aiken that ‘matters were getting fairly warm' down in West Cork where ‘several battalions of Staters are trying to get us'. With other officers he was ‘arranging resolutions of protest' and ‘putting pressure' on ‘certain individuals (such as sec. and chairman of ITGWU) … to bring pressure to bear on the Staters for the release of the men.' With 300 men on hunger-strike, Barry said, ‘the majority will stick it and that will mean the deaths of most of our very best in jail'. In a long letter to Aiken, Barry said if men ‘died, our fighting men' will continue with ‘greater determination' against ‘a tyranny whose objective is to wipe out all Republicans'. If the hunger-strike is not responded to ‘it is the beginning of the end but before the end comes we will have to fight again' and ‘next time the gloves will be off. At least mine will be. I had not them off in the last campaign'. Meanwhile ‘as to what our work will be it is for you to say what you want done'.
[42]
When two prisoners, Dinny Barry and Andy O'Sullivan, died, the hunger-strike was called off. Some men were very weak and had already been fasting for up to forty days.
[43]

In November 1923, Barry turned down Frank Aiken's (C/S) offer of deputy chief-of-staff of the IRA. ‘Considering that the experience gained by a majority of all units in our organisation for the past five years is equal if not more so to that of mine,' he wrote. ‘I think it only fair to state that I would be doing an injustice to the organisation in general by taking on work I don't feel equal to. However, I shall be only too pleased to give any assistance in local batt. or division.'
[44]
Frank Aiken was disappointed because he ‘considered he was' suitable and that the O/C First Southern Division should ‘definitely have him attached to Cork No. 2 Brigade.'
[45]

On 20 December 1923, ‘acting on information received that Tom Barry would not be pursued further he and another officer decided to make a test case of themselves and accordingly appeared at a Cork county council meeting.'

Barry with Tom Hales ascended the staircase; both were walking along the corridor towards the public gallery when they were ‘accosted'. Tom Barry was taken into ‘one of the military offices' and held. Tom Hales remained in the corridor. During his detention Barry stated that he had been ‘a member of the executive council during the war against the Free State and that he accepted the responsibilities that his participation and his post involved. Furthermore, that he neither apologised for nor regretted any of his actions during that period.'

Despite rumours to the contrary, he did not, according to Tom Crofts, ‘directly or indirectly' use any influence to procure immunity from arrest.' After four hours he was released.
[46]

A number of prisoners were released due to pressure on the Free State government from ‘neutral' sources. However, once the hunger-strike was over, the rounding-up – ‘internment without trial' – continued well into 1924 (the bulk of Republicans were finally released when De Valera was released in July). Barry now remained ‘on the run' until stability reigned once more. During this period he was sometimes in Dublin. When in West Cork he periodically stayed in the Kealkil area near Bantry, billeting in houses where his wife Leslie was also accommodated.

Always on the move, he travelled countrywide on IRA activities. In January 1925 when he was in Clonmel he was ‘informed that there was a girl lying wounded' in hospital from a bullet wound ‘hit by the Staters' on the night Carrick-on-Suir was captured, (9 Dec. 1922). She had been delivering a dispatch ‘was called on to halt by Staters but refused'. Barry wrote to Frank Aiken, ‘I feel rather responsible, being the officer in charge of the attack on the town… she is now under notice to leave the hospital as she is unable to pay.' He spoke to the doctor and matron and agreed to take responsibility for her expenses and suggested to Aiken that ‘the army' would advance her ‘£30 or £40' and then ‘the question of compensation' with the White Cross should be arranged.
[47]

Liam Deasy was released with all other prisoners in 1924. Because it appeared to the IRA men that his document calling for ‘unconditional surrender of arms and men' issued from jail during his captivity had indicated weakness in the Republican ranks to the Free State government, he was, upon release, subjected to a court-martial for treachery. Before going on trial he was allowed to pick somebody to defend him. His choice was Tom Barry. In Dublin in January 1925 he was charged with ‘cowardice and treason'. He ‘made no defence to the charges'. Barry spoke very forcibly for Deasy.

Deasy was found guilty and sentenced to death. Barry made a ‘plea for mitigation'. He stated that the man ‘who touched a hair on Deasy's head' would have ‘to reckon' with himself. He stressed that ‘enough blood had been lost for wrong reasons' and that the Irish people had enough unjust deaths on their hands. ‘The death sentence' was ‘commuted to “Dismissal with ignominy from the Irish Republican army”.' He ‘was expelled from the IRA for ever'.
[48]

Deasy's reprieve somehow caused resentment among colleagues. For whatever reason, this resentment built over the years. But it was only in the latter days of their lives that Barry and Deasy, two friends, became embroiled in a public controversy.

Tom, like all his comrades regretted the Civil War, because of the legacy of bitterness it left in some areas. He said that though there were not too many casualties during the Civil War, yet ‘we all lost dear friends and we'll never forget them, and we won't forget the Civil War … In Cork we did not keep up that bitterness … The average fellow who was in the Free State army and who went in for a motive that wasn't savage, I understood and became friends with these men within fifteen years.'
[49]

For Tom Barry the war was over. The warrior with all the heroic attributes could get rid of his guns, but he would only bury them where he knew they could be retrieved because Ireland was not yet united under one flag.

Notes