On this week's programme: Sexual violence during the civil war through the prism of one individual's experience; The local and national legacy of civil war executions in Athlone; and the introduction of customs barriers on the northern border in April 1923.

Mary M. and Sexual Violence: Ordinary Voices and the Irish Civil War

We're looking now at dark days of the Irish Civil War, and the violence against women perpetrated during that conflict.

An extraordinary letter, written by a woman named Mary to the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin - Dr Edward Joseph Byrne - reveals a lot about the difficult history of sexual violence during the war – through the prism of one individual’s experience.

This letter is the subject of a short film on Mna100.ie It’s called Mary M. and Sexual Violence: Ordinary Voices and the Irish Civil War

It’s presented by Professor Lyndsey Earner-Byrne, Professor of Gender History at University College Cork, who joins Myles in studio. Myles is also joined on the line by Dr Sinead McCoole, Curator of Mna100.ie, which is part of the Decade of Centenaries Programme.

Civil War Executions in Athlone

During the Irish Civil War, Custume Barracks in Athlone was an important base for the National Army. With Sean MacEoin as the senior officer, it was from there that the Provisional Government sent forces into the West of Ireland to wage war against the Anti-Treaty IRA.

Custume Barracks also became a major internment camp for Anti-Treaty IRA prisoners of war, and by December 1922, there were nearly 1000 crammed into multiple cells and cages.

Near the end of the that month, they were joined by five new prisoners: Thomas Hughes from Athlone, and Michael Walsh, Herbert Collins, Stephen Joyce and Martin Burke, each from County Galway.

These five Anti-Treaty IRA prisoners were tried by military courts-martial, on the charge of unauthorised possession of arms and ammunition. All were found guilty and sentenced to death – representing five of the eighty-one state-sanctioned executions during the conflict.

In this report, Ian Kenneally looks in more detail at those events and their legacy, both locally and nationally.

We hear from Joseph Flynn. Joseph is a resident of the town whose father Martin was a soldier in the National Army during the Civil War. Martin Flynn served with a fellow-solder named Thomas Johnston, both of whom, according to a tradition within those families, were detailed to the execution
unit in Custume Barracks in January 1923.

Our thanks to actor John McGlynn, as well as the Flynn and Johnston families, for their assistance with this report.

Click here to visit the Historian in Residence Blog for Westmeath. It contains three articles that give a longer account of the executions.

The Hard Border

One hundred years ago this weekend, on the 1st of April 1923, customs barriers were established on the northern border. This quickly made clear the tangible reality of partition a on this island – and had a huge impact on people's daily lives along the border.

To talk about this 'hard border’ introduced one hundred years ago, and some of the parallels with what’s happening now, Myles is joined by Dr Cormac Moore.

Cormac is a Dublin City Council historian in residence, and author of the 2019 book Birth of the Border: The Impact of Partition in Ireland.