Na FIANNA
ÉIREANN
was founded in 1909 with the object of educating the
youth of Ireland in national ideas and
re-establishing the independence of the nation.
After more than 700 years of enforced English rule,
Ireland seemed to be in danger of slowly becoming a
contented British province. Unemployment was
widespread, poverty rampant and apathy the general
condition of' the people. Hopelessness seemed the
birthright of every boy and girl born in those lean
years. The older generations seemed embittered and
dispirited. Pride of nationhood was at a low ebb.
The Gaelic League
and the
Gaelic Athletic Association, founded in the last
quarter of the 19th century, had made great
strides. They catered for the young adult
population. But the boys of Ireland, whose keen
young minds should have been educated in their
country's heritage, needs and future, were
neglected. Through education which Pádraig Mac
Piarais would describe as “The Murder Machine”,
the neglected youth of Ireland were falling prey to
the bait of the tyrant. Some escaped their poverty
by joining the British Army and helped their
oppressor establish his rule in Africa and Asia.
Others scraped a bare existence at home, with little
opportunity to dwell on the plight of their country,
or on their future.
In 1909 Countess
Constance Markievicz decided to found an
organization for Irish boys. The boys would be held
together by the bond of their great love for
Ireland. What mattered was honesty and willingness
to undertake a life of self-sacrifice and self-
denial for their country's sake. It was to be
primarily an educational organization. She began at
the Westland Row Christian Brothers School and in
time became convinced that it would have to be run
more on the basis of a "Boys' Republic" with a
military-style organization. She invited Bulmer
Hobson to assist, as he had previous experience of
handling boys, having run a boys' organization in
Belfast. At his request, inspired by the Fianna of
third century Ireland, as John O’Mahony had been in
1858 when he named the Fenian Brotherhood, she
called the organization Na Fianna Éireann.
An Chead Sluagh was formed in Dublin on 16th
August 1909, marking the actual founding. Con
Colbert joined and soon rose to the rank of Captain;
Colbert was also Centre of the John Mitchel Circle
of the IRB, devoted to support of Na Fianna. The
Fianna established hurling and football teams, pipe
bands and ambulance-corps, in every part of the
country. The Belfast Sluagh, wearing Fianna
uniform, climbed Cave Hill, and standing at McArt's
Fort just as Wolfe Tone had done, promised to work
unceasingly for the independence of Ireland. In
1911 Liam Mellows joined; Seán Heuston was then O/C
of Limerick Sluagh. In 1913 Seán Heuston took
charge of Sluagh Robert Emmet, and Liam Mellows
became a full-time Fianna organizer, and never
relaxed his ceaseless activity for the Republic
until his death, with fellow Fianna Headquarters
staff member Joe McKelevey, by a Free State firing
squad on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, 8th
December 1922.
Na Fianna played an
active part during the 1913 strike. When the
Irish Volunteers were formed in the same
year, the value of the work undertaken by Na Fianna
became obvious. The senior boys were ready and
competent to train the Volunteers and accustom them
to discipline and, in short, to transform raw
recruits into disciplined soldiers, much as West
Point Cadets helped train the expanded US Army
during America’s Second War for Independence
(1812-1815). Four Fianna officers were elected to
the first Executive Council of the Volunteers and
Liam Mellows became the first effective secretary.
The Fianna drill halls and equipment were at the
disposal of the Volunteers, and they grew rapidly in
strength, along with Na Fianna. Na Fianna was well
represented at Bodenstown the same year when Pádraig
Mac Piarais led the historic pilgrimage to the grave
of Wolfe Tone. This remains an annual event for Na
Fianna.
The year 1914 saw
further progress for Na Fianna when the first
handbook was put in the hands of the Organization.
1914 also marked Na Fianna's first event of
national importance, the Howth gun running.
They marched from Dublin with the Volunteers,
bringing their trek-cart with them, and were the
first to reach Erskine Childers' yacht The Asgard.
A Fianna officer was in charge of the cycle
detachment at the Kilcoole gun running, which took
place soon afterwards.
From 1915 onwards
Na Fianna Éireann threw themselves
wholeheartedly into anti-British activities; the
funeral of O'Donovan Rossa was the occasion of a
great display of strength. In 1915 the Fianna re-organised
the Sluaighte into Brigade and Battalion formations
to bring it into line with the Volunteers.
Seven years of
intensive effort and dedicated service to the nation
culminated in the glorious Rising of Easter Week,
1916, when Fianna officers were given command of
important sections of the operations. A party of
Fianna and Volunteers successfully attacked and
destroyed the arms and munitions in the Magazine
Fort in the Phoenix Park, thus signaling the start
of the Rising. This party then proceeded to the
Broadstone Railway Station, where the O/C of the
Dublin Fianna was severely wounded in the attack.
They also participated in the capture of the Linen
Hall Barracks and the fierce fighting in North King
Street. Seán Heuston was in charge at the Mendicity
Institution on Usher's Island, and with his small
garrison, defended his position for three days.
Liam Staines, a member of "F" Sluagh, was severely
wounded during the fighting there. Con Colbert was
second in command in Marrowbone Lane and assumed
command at the surrender. Madame Markievicz with
Michael Mallin held the College of Surgeons with
Citizen Army and some Fianna boys. Members of Na
Fianna were engaged in the fighting in other parts
also, and, in addition, carried out the dangerous
work of dispatch carrying and scouting. Six Fianna
boys were killed, several were wounded and Seán
Heuston and Con Colbert were executed on
May 8, 1916.
Liam Mellows,
the Fianna organizer, led the Rising in the West.
He was in command of the Western Division of the
Volunteers and planned to drive the British out of
the West by capturing all posts and barracks there
and then marching on Galway City. They captured the
barracks at Clarenbridge and marched to Oranmore.
With the end of the
Rising, Liam Mellows, with two loyal comrades, fled
to the mountains - hunted outlaws. After four months
on the run Mellows was instructed to go to America
to campaign for funds for the Movement. His safe
passage, and return, was arranged by Charlie Holt
(father of Mary Holt Moore), who worked on a ship
carrying Guinness to New York. Mellows worked
ceaselessly for the cause in America until his
return to Ireland in 1920.
With the release of
the bulk of the internees in December 1916, Na
Fianna Éireann HQ Staff was re-constituted
under Ard Fheinne, Countess Markievicz (still
in prison). Fianna took an active part in all
militant activities, which included marching at the
funeral of Thomas Ashe, the anti-conscription
campaign, and several raids for arms. The Annual
Ard-Fheis in 1919 at the Mansion House pledged
its allegiance to the Irish Republic, as
the Fianna of today continue to do.
From 1919 to 1921,
Na Fianna took an active part in the Irish War
for Independence, the fight for freedom,
throughout the country. They carried dispatches for
the Irish Republican Army (IRA), reconnoitered
barracks, etc., engaged in intelligence work of all
kinds, rendered first aid to the wounded. Officers
and senior scouts succeeded in securing arms and
actively engaged the enemy on numerous occasions.
The heroism of the boys of Ireland during this
period would require many volumes.
At the Ard-Fheis held
after the Truce, the Director of Organization gave
the strength of the organization as around 25,000;
it had begun in 1909 with eight boys from a CBS in
Dublin. At the general parade of all national
bodies which took place in Smithfield, Dublin, to
celebrate the Truce, the Fianna who paraded from the
Dublin Brigade, under Garry Holohan, numbered 2,100
all ranks. But Ireland's sorrowful tale was to
continue and many more were to die in the "second
defense of the Republic". The voice of Ireland's
youth again spoke fearlessly through the GHQ of
Na Fianna Éireann, proclaiming their
allegiance to the Republic and offering their
lives in her defense; their sacrifices were very
real.
Na Fianna
Éireann remains true to the Irish
Republic, proclaimed in arms during Easter Week
1916, ratified by the Irish electorate 14th
December 1918 (in a virtual national
self-determination plebiscite), and by
democratically elected representatives, Teachta
Dála Éireann (TDÉ), Declared its
Independence to the world through An Chéad
Dáil Éireann (the First Dáil Éireann) on 21st
January 1919.
History | NA FIANNA ÉIREANN – Irish Republican
Scouts, 1909 – 2017 (wordpress.com)
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