Frank Robbins recalls a meeting with James Connolly at Liberty Hall on 18 April 1916 where he told all officers of the Citizen Army of what lay ahead and what to do if they came in contact with the DMP or RIC.
Frank Robbins was a member of the Irish Citizen Army and one of a number of men who had been appointed to the rank of officer by James Connolly shortly before the Easter Rising.
Robbins recalls a meeting with James Connolly and the appointed officers in Liberty Hall on 18 April where Connolly gave the men their individual orders for the events that where about to take place.
He made us repeat everything he had told us so that there would be no misunderstanding.
There was still a lot of ill feeling between the Irish Citizen Army and the Dublin Metropolitan Police since the days of the 1913 Lockout when the DMP had been very forceful in their treatment of the strikers. There was no doubt that during the fight the Citizen Army would come up against the police. When asked what they were to do if they came in contact with members of DMP or RIC Connolly's answer was simple
There I leave it for your own judgement.
Frank Robbins fought with the Stephens Green/College of Surgeons garrison under Commandant Michael Mallin during the Easter Rising.
Frank Robbins was interviewed for the RTÉ Television project 'Portraits 1916' on 27 November 1965.
'They Were There'
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