The Curragh Camp and Irish Independence
At the time of the passage of the Home Rule Act in 1914, the Camp became the scene of the Curragh Incident, where a number of officers proposed to resign rather than enforce Home Rule against the will of the Unionists.
After the Irish War of Independence (21 January 1919 – 11 July 1921) the British Army handed over the Curragh Camp to the Irish National Army. The handover took place at 10 o’clock on Tuesday, May 16, 1922 when the camp was handed over to a party of Irish troops commanded by Lt Gen O’Connell. On Monday evening the Union Flag was lowered for the last time. At 12 o’clock, noon, on the Tuesday, Lt Gen O’Connell climbed the Water Tower and hoisted the first Tricolour to fly over the Curragh Camp. By tradition the British army had cut down the flagpole requiring the Irish officers to physically hold the Flagpole while the Tricolour was raised. During the period since 1922 the Union Flag was cared for by the Stokes family who presented the flag to the GOC Curragh in 1997. Both the Union Flag and the Tricolour, which measures 10’ x 18’ are now preserved in the DFTC.
In 1928 the seven barracks were renamed after the executed leaders of the 1916 Rising, as follows:
- Ponsonby Barracks is now Plunkett Barracks.
- Stewart Barracks is now Connolly Barracks.
- Beresford Barracks is now Ceannt Barracks.
- A.S.C. Barracks is now Clarke Barracks.
- Engineer Barracks is now MacDermott Barracks.
- Gough Barracks is now MacDonagh Barracks.
- Keane Barracks is now Pearse Barracks
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Famous quotes containing the words camp, irish and/or independence:
“The Indians invited us to lodge with them, but my companion inclined to go to the log camp on the carry. This camp was close and dirty, and had an ill smell, and I preferred to accept the Indians’ offer, if we did not make a camp for ourselves; for, though they were dirty, too, they were more in the open air, and were much more agreeable, and even refined company, than the lumberers.... So we went to the Indians’ camp or wigwam.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“We Irish are too poetical to be poets; we are a nation of brilliant failures, but we are the greatest talkers since the Greeks.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“Independence I have long considered as the grand blessing of life, the basis of every virtue; and independence I will ever secure by contracting my wants, though I were to live on a barren heath.”
—Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797)