Roscommon features among ‘Last Voices of the Irish Revolution’
'Last Voices of the Irish Revolution' is a new book by Tom Hurley.
The Irish Civil War ended in 1923. Eighty years on, author and documentary-maker Tom Hurley wondered if there were many civilians and combatants left from across Ireland who had experienced the years 1919 to 1923, their prelude and their aftermath. What memories had they, what were their stories and how did they reflect on those turbulent times?
In early 2003, he recorded the experiences of 18 people, conducting two further interviews abroad in 2004. Tom spoke to a cross-section (Catholic, Protestant, Unionist and Nationalist) who were in their teens or early twenties during the civil war. The chronological approach he has taken to his book spans fifty years, beginning with the oldest interviewee's birth in 1899 and ending when the Free State became a republic in 1949.
Longford native Patrick Greene, born in 1900, discusses the election of Joe McGuinness, a native of Tarmonbarry, to the constituency of South Longford in 1917, while the election of Count Plunkett in North Roscommon that same year is also highlighted. Another interviewee is William Geary from Limerick, born in 1899. He joined the Civic Guard (Garda Síochána) in 1922 and emigrated to new York in 1928 before marrying Margaret Shryane from Roosky in 1943.
One hundred years after the Civil War ended, these 20 interviews recorded by Tom Hurley come together to create a unique oral account of the revolutionary period and the tensions that were brewing in the run-up and aftermath. Together, theirs are the Last Voices of the Irish Revolution.
'Last Voices of the Irish Revolution' by Tom Hurley is available in bookshops throughout the country and can also be ordered online. It is published by Gill Books.
