"We'd Plenty Of Biscuits"
Liam O'Dalaigh (William Joseph Daly) was a member of 'C' Company, 2nd Battalion, Irish Volunteers and fought in Jacob's Biscuit Factory under Thomas MacDonagh during the Rising.
The garrison mobilised at Stephen's Green Park on the morning of Easter Monday and from there marched off to occupy Jacob's.
We broke the windows... and packed up the place with flour bags.
Liam O'Dalaigh remembers that although the garrison had lots to eat, one thing he missed the most while there was a cup of tea. He was stationed in the tower of Jacob's which gave commanding views of the whole city. He could see the machine gunners in position on the roof of the Shelbourne Hotel who attacked their position. Sorties were sent out from Jacob's throughout the week to the surrounding outposts in the College of Surgeons and also to Boland's Bakery. One Volunteer, John O'Grady was fatally wounded on one such sortie.
On the afternoon of Sunday 30 April Liam O'Dalaigh and his colleagues opened fired on a group of British soldiers coming through St Patrick's Park. They were unaware of Pearse's order to surrender
MacDonagh sent up immediately and said 'Stop, the truce is on.'
Liam O'Dalaigh managed to evade arrest. Before MacDonagh surrendered he gave anyone not in uniform the chance to escape.
He knew some of the leaders including Tom Clarke, Seán MacDiarmada and Patrick Pearse. Éamonn Ceannt he knew quite well as they went to the same school O'Connell's in Richmond Street. Later Ceannt taught O'Dalaigh Irish in the Gaelic League.
Liam O'Dalaigh joined the Irish Volunteers in 1914. He worked as an electrician in Dockrell's Building Suppliers and because of this work he was appointed as Signalling Instructor to the 2nd Battalion and later the Dublin Brigade. In August 1915 he was appointed Lieutenant of the Engineers Section and was further promoted to Officer in Charge of the General Headquarters Signalling Staff. Jacob's Factory was a huge complex on many levels and O'Dalaigh's main task was to connect the interior phone lines so that Thomas MacDonagh could be in contact with his men.
After 1916 Liam O'Dalaigh helped in the reorganisation of the Irish Volunteers , but due to work commitments he had no further role in the War of Independence or the Civil War. He died in 1971, he was eighty-one years old.
Liam O'Dalaigh was interviewed for the RTÉ Television project 'Portraits 1916' on 6 November 1965.
| Title: | Portraits 1916 Liam O'Dalaigh |
| Clip Duration: | 00:13:57 |
| Material Type: | Video |
| Clip Title: | "We'd Plenty Of Biscuits" |
| Series Title: | Portraits 1916 |
| Information: | Portraits 1916 is a collection of interviews made for television recording the personal memories of women and men who took part in the Easter Rising. In the early 1960s Telefís Éireann (RTÉ Television) began to record interviews with people who had taken part in the Easter Rising and the War of Independence. Individuals were interviewed under a working title of 'The Survivors'. The first of these interviews were organised by Jack White and recorded at the television studios in Donnybrook on 31 August 1964. Further recordings were organised by James Plunkett with the same working title of 'The Survivors' although none of these interviews were broadcast as full programmes. In 1965 meetings were held to discuss what Telefís Éireann should do to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising. Veterans continued to be interviewed despite the fact that no decision had been made as to what type of programme, if any they could be used in. James Plunkett did not see 'The Survivors' recordings working as individual programmes. In April 1965 producer Aindras O Gallchoir took over the project continuing to organise recordings with the initial intention of using the interviews to create one programme. By September Aindras O Gallchoir decided to produce seven thirty minute documentaries on the leaders of the Rising but many more people needed to be interviewed. This new project had the working titles of 'Portraits 1916' and 'Seven Signatories'. With very little time over thirty people were interviewed for this series. The interviews took place mainly in studio between October 1965 and January 1966, with the exception of Kathleen Clarke and Leslie Bean de Barra. These interviews would eventually form the basis for the series 'On Behalf of the Provisional Government' which was first broadcast in 1966. The interviews recorded form an extensive record of the events and the people involved in the Easter Rising, and were never broadcast in their entirety. Presented here under the title of 'Portraits 1916' are the personal recollections of men and women who took part in or witnessed the events of the Easter Rising. |
| Local Keywords: | 1916, Easter 1916, Easter Rising, Thomas MacDonagh, Jacob's Biscuit Factory, Clarke, MacDiarmada, Ceannt |
| Coverage: | Ireland |
| Genre: | Factual |
| Topic: | Wars and Conflict |
| Provider: | RTÉ |
| Contributor(s): | Aindrias O Gallchoir (Producer) |
| Publisher: | RTÉ |
| First Broadcast Channel: | RTÉ |
| Production Year: | 1965 |
| Country of Production: | Ireland |
| Original Identifier: | 94D00025 |
| IPR Restrictions: | Rights Reserved - Free Access |
| Rights, Terms and Conditions: | Copyright RTÉ. This material may not be replicated in any form or manner without the prior express permission of RTÉ. Any form of reproduction in print, television, video, multimedia, web site or other electronic media or any form of dissemination for commercial or non-commercial use must be licensed by the RTÉ Archives. If you wish to licence video or audio clips, still images or text, or would like further guidance please contact us. RTÉ Archives are committed to respecting the copyright of others and have attempted to source and credit the copyright owners of all material used here. RTÉ would like to hear from any copyright owners who are not properly identified here so that the necessary corrections can be made. If you feel your copyright has not been respected please contact us. |
| Item Type: | whole |
| Colour: | Black and White |
| Sound: | Mono |
| Aspect Ratio: | 4:3 |
| Language: | English (eng) |
