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Story Notes
The 21st January in 2009 marked the 90th anniversary of the first Dáil in Ireland. RTÉ Radio 1's Documentary on One made a documentary that looked at how the tumultuous events of 1919 to 1923 are remembered in Macroom and its hinterland.
Macroom is a gateway to West Cork, the area in which Tom Barry's Flying Column operated. The documentary was recorded last November and early December - in the days around the annual commemoration of the Kilmichael Ambush. Kilmichael changed the course of the War of Independence.
The documentary includes recordings with Dinney O'Sullivan - who, at 96, remembers an ambush on the streets of Macroom where a Black and Tan was killed in front of him and his mother. All the parties of this state had their genesis in the first Dáil - Sinn Fein was the party they sprang from: their allegiances a result of the Civil War. 'How Macroom Remembers' discovers that those fault-lines are still not that far beneath the surface.
It also includes recordings made at the house of Michael O'Connor in Kilvoultra (just outside Macroom), along with Matt Lucey - men steeped in the Fianna Fail tradition. Michael remembers his first meeting with De Valera back in 1938. Tommy O'Connell also talks about a lifetime's service to Fine Gael. The programme centres around Con O'Callaghan and Declan Kearney - of Sinn Fein - speeches at the Kilmichael Commemoration.
Produced and presented by Peter Woods
An Irish radio documentary from RTÉ Radio 1, Ireland - Documentary on One - the home of Irish radio documentaries
Story Credits