SEARC'S WEB GUIDE - Liam Ó Briain (1888-1974)

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Searc's Web Guide to Liam Ó Briain (1888-1974)

Liam Ó Briain was born in Dublin and educated at University College where he excelled at languages. He joined the Irish Volunteers in 1914 and fought in St. Stephen's Green during the 1916 Easter Rising afterwhich he was imprisoned until September, 1917. On his release Liam Ó Briain became Professor of Romance Languages at University College, Galway.
He stood as a Sinn Féin candidate for Mid-Armagh in the 1918 General Election but was defeated. In the same year he was imprisoned in Belfast for republican activities. On his release in February, 1920 O'Briain became a Sinn Féin judge in County Galway until his arrest and internment in November, 1920. He was released in December, 1921 and resumed his Professorship at UCG.
In 1928 Ó Briainbecame Director of An Taibhdearc, the Galway based Gaelic language theatre company, and in 1931 he was elected President of the Company. Throughout the 1930's and 1940's Liam Ó Briain translated numerous English, French and Italian dramas into Irish for production by An Taibhdearc.
His services in the cause of good relations between Ireland and France were recognised in 1951 when the French Government made him a chevalier of the Legion of Honour. In the same year he published a book of his recollections of 1916, Cuimhní Cinn. O'Briain was a member of the Irish Censorship Appeals Board from 1951-1968 and retired from Galway University in 1958. This extract is from Ó Briain's article 'The Historic Rising of Easter Week, 1916', first published in A Voice for Ireland (1924).©

On Good Friday [1916] Bulmer Hobson was arrested by Volunteers. He, like MacNeill, was opposed to any Rising, preferring to defer all action until after the Great War. Hobson discovered before MacNeill what was intended on Easter Sunday, so in the middle of Holy Week he began making counter-moves. This was no part of his work as Secretary, so he was detained in a Dublin house until after the fight had started on Easter Monday. Thus, up to Good Friday all went smoothly and with marvelous secrecy. But from now on disaster fell on us...
When final touches were being added to the plans, a message from Dublin asked that the 'Aud' should not approach the Kerry coast till 'Easter Sunday at Midnight', when Volunteers would be at Fenit pier for the unloading. This message, brought from America by a passenger, never reached the German ship. The rest we know.
With all hopes dashed, Pearse and McDermott visited MacNeill early on Saturday morning. And for the first time this patriot-scholar learned of the 'Aud' débacle. This altered MacNeill's views. Protesting that he had been unfairly dealt with, he now feared the British would come down on us with all their might. Therefore, we might as well stand together and meet the coming storm as best we could. The others said 'Thank God!' At least there was to be unity of action. As the day wore on and nothing happened, Dr MacNeill changed his mind. He thought the situation might be saved if a clash with the British could be averted, but knowing it useless to put this view to the others, he decided to issue the order cancelling operations on the following day on his own responsibility. In so doing, MacNeill had in mind the almost unarmed state of the Volunteers over the greater part of the country...
The fighting leaders were now bewildered. They knew what had been done, for both Plunkett and McDonagh visited MacNeill and saw the cancelling order being taken away to Limerick and Kerry by The O'Rahilly. Meanwhile, their own staff-officers - one of whom was Michael Collins - were still busy on the last details of Sunday's blow in Dublin. It was clear that MacNeill's order would be accepted by the mass of the Volunteers, who had no suspicion of any disagreement between the leaders. Very few details survive of the Sunday Conference at Liberty Hall, for the chief participants were dead within three weeks of it. But no doubt their decision was unanimous.
Consider the men: Tom Clarke, with his thirteen fearful years in English gaols, and his one life-thought to deal a blow before he died against the hated foe. Flame-like ardour burned in the soul of Sean McDermott, who, a week later, as a prisoner in Richmond Barracks, remarked to me: 'The only failure in Ireland is the failure to strike!'
Recall also the brooding mind of Pearse, who had written: 'There are worse things than the shedding of blood, and one of them is slavery.' Above all, there was the impetuous James Connolly, who yearned for a fight over a year before this. So set was he on 'going out', even with his own handful of citizen-levies, that he was arrested for a few days [by the IRB] and let into all the inner secrets. So the great decision was taken, and Thomas McDonagh, of the Dublin Brigade, was ordered to mobilise for active service on Monday morning at 10 o'clock. Word was sent out to undo the work of MacNeill's messengers. This time there was no pretense of consulting Eoin MacNeill. McDonagh justified this in a letter written before his death, saying that he was bound not to reveal the secret of his own organisation. Meanwhile, the cancelling order threw the Castle authorities off their guard. They had no suspicion of any dissension, and assumed that events in Kerry had put an end to all. So the gathering Volunteers on Monday morning excited no comment.
The first battalion, under Ned Daly, marched into the Four Courts; the second, under McDonagh himself, with Commandant Hunter and Major McBride, occupied Jacob's biscuit factory; the third, under De Valera, went to Boland's Mills; the fourth, led by Eamon Ceannt and Cathal Brugha, into the South Dublin Union.
The military staff and revolutionary leaders - Clarke, Pearse, McDermott, Plunkett and Connolly (who was in active command of Dublin) - seized the General Post Office in O'Connell Street.
The main body of the Citizen Army, under Michael Mallin and the Countess Markievicz, occupied the Stephen's Green area. Another body, under Sean Connolly, marched up to the gate of Dublin Castle. These drew first blood by shooting the police man at the gate and trying to enter.
The rest seized the Evening Mail office opposite, and the City Hall overlooking the Castle, where the brave Sean Connolly was shot an hour later. The Rising had begun. The mobilization that morning was very poor - little more than a third of the possible muster. There were barely 800 Volunteers - most of them members of the IRB - and less than two hundred of the Citizen Army. This left the total engaged at well under a thousand men. So the occupation of the city was incomplete from the start. Trinity College and the Provost's House should not have been neglected. Shortage of men forbade the occupation of the commanding Shelbourne Hotel in the Stephen's Green area. With more men, De Valera could have occupied the stretch of the canal on either side of the Mount Street Bridge, instead of only a house or two, and so on.
Yet among us all was a vast elation. We seemed to breathe a purer air and dwell in sublime heights. It was a unique experience to feel that once again, after a hundred years or more, the foreign yoke had been cast off, and that men in their own capital, with their own flag above them, should be standing at bay before the foe of their race. © Searc's Web Guide 1997-2008

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