SEARC'S WEB GUIDE - Osgur Breatnach (Born 1951)

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Searc's Web Guide to 20th Century Ireland - Osgur Breatnach (Born 1951)

Osgur Breatnach was born in Ballybrack, County Dublin. He was educated at UCD where he was a member of the Student Representatives Council. Breatnach was a founder member of the Dun Laoghaire Housing Action Committee and a member of Official Sinn Féin before becoming a founder member of the IRSP in December, 1974. He was editor of the Starry Plough, the IRSP newspaper when he was arrested in June, 1976 under Section 30 of the Offenses Against the State Act (as were ten other members of the IRSP).
Breatnach, Brian McNally, Nicky Kelly and John Fitzpatrick were falsely charged with conspiracy to commit a train robbery at Hazelhatch, County Kildare and with robbery of the mails. In April, 1977 they received bail while awaiting trial. When the State failed to produce a Book of Evidence the case was dismissed in the District Court on December 9th, 1977. However Breatnach was rearrested with Kelly, McNally and Michael Plunkett, General Secretary of the IRSP. The charges against them were then changed to stopping the train with intent to rob the mail and stealing mailbags. Their second trial began in January, 1978 and during the course of the trial it was noted by journalists that the Judge appeared to be asleep. The Judge died after 65 days of hearings and when a third trial commenced in October, 1978 the case against Michael Plunkett was discharged. On December 14th, 1978 the Special Criminal Court found Breatnach, McNally and Nicky Kelly [in abstentia] guilty on both counts. Breatnach and Kelly were each sentenced to 12 years penal servitude and McNally to 9 years. Breatnach and McNally were imprisoned in Portlaoise Prison. They appealed their sentences and the Appeal was held in the Court of Criminal Appeal in May, 1980. Both were released in 1981 while Kelly, who had absconded to America before the third trial, was rearrested on entry to Ireland on June 4th, 1980 and imprisoned in Portlaoise Prison. Kelly lost his Appeal in the Supreme Court on October 29th, 1982. On May 1st, 1983 Kelly commenced a hunger-strike for his release which lasted 38 days. Kelly was released on July 17th, 1984 and received a Presidential Pardon in March, 1992.
This extract is from Breatnach's Easter Sunday 1916 Commemoration Speech delivered in Portlaoise Prison in 1976 and first published in the Starry Plough Vol.1 No.14 May, 1976.©

It is not so strange that we should be holding our Easter Commemoration surrounded by barbed wire for beyond the wire and the wall lies an island and a people incarcerated. Their wardens are British imperialist troops and their native hacks. To-day we are not only commemorating the 1916 Rising but also sixty years of struggle by the Irish people for control over their own destiny and control of the wealth they produce.
We would be foolish if we did not attempt to learn from the mistakes made in sixty years of struggle, not for mere academic reasons, but to ensure that we will not repeat them in the future. All the lessons of struggle for national liberation and socialism are to be found in the Easter Rising. Militarily it was a defeat but politically a victory. One of the main lessons of 1916 is that, devoid of mass support, any struggle is doomed to failure.
It is imperative that we not only be clear in our own minds as to what we want but that the people must also understand it. The unity between nationalists (the Irish Volunteers) and socialists (the Irish Citizen Army) worried British imperialists. Today, when British Imperialism and its native cronies are determined to resist any attempts by the Irish people to struggle for national liberation and socialism it is frightening to see republicans and socialists divided, even to the extent that different commemorations are being held here in this prison. The unity of all radical and anti-imperialist groups is essential and must be forged today. Tomorrow or the future may be too late.
It is not widely publicised but nevertheless a fact that the cultural revolution of the early nineteen hundreds played an important part in awakening the Irish people to the need for national liberation. The strength of the cultural struggle as a weapon in the struggle today must not be underestimated.
To any of you who say or think 'We'll do the fighting and let the politicians do the talking' I say to you are fools because you have no guarantee that you will get what you want unless you insist on having your say to bring it about. Otherwise it is possible that you will be sold out as the Irish have been sold out so many times before, even to the present day...
It is said that we differ greatly from the men of 1916, that we are criminals while they were snow white. Yet it is a fact that the men of 1916 were armed revolutionaries who acted without an electoral mandate. And as you look at us remember that you may have chained our bodies but that our minds are free and in that sense we are freer men than you our jailers.
As prisoners, let us realise that we are here as a deterrent to the Irish people not to become involved in the struggle. It is important that we realise that we have a duty not only to ourselves but to the Irish people to continue the struggle for national liberation and socialism, to a struggle that will ensure that the Irish people can be masters of their own destiny, and control their own wealth. We must be as dedicated to that struggle now as we were the first day when we entered through the gates of this hell hole called Portlaoise Jail and that we will continue the struggle until the victory that is possible within our lifetime.
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