The following is the oration delivered at the Michael McSweeney Centenary at Shrone Monument, Rathmore on Saturday last February 4th. 2023.
By Tim Horgan
The hedge school masters of two centuries ago ensured that the people of Sliabh Luachra were better educated than those who had held our ancestors in a state of serfdom.
They would speak of Eoghan Rua and Séafraidh Ó Donnachdha but also of Virgil and Cicero. It is Cicero’s words that echo here today.
That wise man of ancient Rome would declare ‘Poor is the nation that has no heroes, but poorer still is the nation, that having such heroes fails to remember or honour them.’ We know not how Cicero would judge today’s ‘official’ Ireland. But it is we who gather here today to remember, to honour, to commemorate a hero of Sliabh Luachra, a soldier of Ireland, a young defender of the Republic, Volunteer Michael McSweeney.
No Hollow Slogans
And is fitting that we gather on this roadway, not under political banners, not to utter hollow slogans, but as a community, a people proud of one of our own, who sacrificed his young life for liberty, for an Ireland unfettered by foreign rule. Rathmore rightly remembers Patrick O’Connor who, having heard Pádraig Pearse in 1916 read the proclamation of the Republic, died defending that Republic a few days later. Before he faced the firing squad Pearse declared that ‘You cannot conquer Ireland, you cannot extinguish the passion for freedom.
If our deed has not been sufficient to win freedom, then our children will win it by a better deed.’ ‘Our children will win it by a better deed’ and these words inspired a young Michael McSweeney, his brothers, and his comrades.
Couldn’t be Bribed or Bullied
They would take what England would not give and by their ‘better deeds’ the army of the conqueror was compelled to leave these mountains and valleys. But while the flag of the tyrant would fly no more in County Kerry, Ireland remained unfree, the Republic of Pearse and Patrick O’Connor was not to be.
Weak men would tumble what great men had built. Preaching pragmatism, politicians would deceive and there are always the many who wished to be deceived. Yet, there remained those that would not be fooled, those who could not be bribed or bullied, those whose guiding star was principle, not pragmatism. Armed with the idealism of youth, one such man was brave Michael McSweeney.
Present Day Political Requirements
One such courageous defender of Patrick O’Connor’s republic was Michael McSweeney.
They may have died seven years and two hundred miles apart, but they died for the same cause, both killed by British bullets, falling in the defence of the Republic.
The ‘Wise Men’ have told us that Michael McSweeney, his comrades, and their cause belong in past, they are best forgotten, they are not something for modern, mature Ireland to remember. History, like religion, is being pushed from the classroom, the ‘Wise Men’ have decreed that there is now little need for both.
Ireland is told what is to be remembered and what is to be forgotten, what is to be commemorated and what is to be ignored, all must chime with present day political requirements.
History – Not Theirs to Re-write
History, as defined by such ‘Wise Men’ and their academic acolytes, should be carefully confined to a few television programmes and to state sponsored choreographed conferences. But the history of Ireland is not theirs to re-write, not theirs to revise, not theirs to define.
The history of our nation is the heritage of the people of Ireland, ours to remember, ours to celebrate, ours to pass on. It is the history of generations of ordinary men and women who would refuse to yield, who would rise again and again never accepting defeat, it is the story of a down-trodden people who had little in life but their faith, dignity and heritage. It is this history that honours young Michael McSweeney who died defending the age-old Cause for which generations
before him had suffered.
McSweeney’s Death Not in Vain
By your presence here today, you give proof that the history of Ireland belongs to the people of Ireland, that Michael McSweeney’s death was not in vain and that those who would have him cast into a national amnesia will surely fail.
In 1798, when Lord Edward Fitzgerald’s mother was told that her son was a traitor to the state, she replied that history will speak a different language than English laws, and so it proved to be.
When Ireland could no longer be ruled by Britain, the empire quickly found men who would rule Ireland for Britain.
Bought with Power and Privilege
Easily bought with power and privilege, such vain men similarly labelled Michael McSweeney a traitor and a brigand. But history has again spoken a different language than that used by those who had bargained and sold. The names of those men who did their dark deed here on that February night were written in sand, to be soon washed away by the tide of history. And so, it should be.
But the name of brave Michael McSweeney is written in ink in our history books, it is inscribed in stone in monuments that stand here at Shrone and in Rathmore, it is recalled at firesides and at kitchen tables. History has judged, as it always does.
Not in Anger – Not in Sorrow
It has decreed that it was to be he that suffered the most that is to be remembered, and those who inflicted their worst that are condemned to be forgotten. Hence, we gather here today, not in anger, not in sorrow, not in mourning but with pride, pride in one who died so young, pride in one who died for Ireland’s liberty.
Our grandparents spoke little out loud of men such as brave McSweeney. They were told that they had been beaten. Blue not green became the colour. Stay silent or leave, and many left, including the McSweeney brothers.
Others such as Con O’Leary of Gneeveguilla fought on, but in vain. Patrick O’Connor’s Republic was sundered by a border, below and above with which politicians could be comfortable.
East Tyrone and East Kerry
East Tyrone with its football and music was decreed to be different from East Kerry with its football and music. Ireland had shrunken to 26 counties and new vocabularies would be developed. Termed ‘The War of
Independence’ , it didn’t achieve independence and the title suggests that all other rebellions of past generations were not indeed wars of independence at all.
The Irish might have a way with words but with them, we can deceive and be deceived. However, the ghost of Michael McSweeney will always be knocking on the door. This brave young soldier and the cause for which he died have become an embarrassment to many in power, to forget would indeed be convenient, to ignore has become policy.
Remembrance is a Duty
And yet, and yet, here we are today, we who refuse to forsake, we who will remember, we who know that to forget would be to betray. For us, remembrance is a duty, commemoration is an honour, a small payment for the great debt we owe to such as brave Michael McSweeney.
The victims of war are counted by the dead.
But those that suffered most and the longest, are those left behind to mourn. They are never recalled, their lifelong suffering is forgotten, their loss unending as an ungrateful state moved on, to forget became convenient, to remember subversive.
The bereaved also paid the price for our freedom.
Pensions and Political Office
While others, those who would abandon the cause for which this noble soldier fell, would benefit with power and privilege, with pensions and political office from the sacrifices of our patriot dead, the family of Michael McSweeney certainly would not. Michael McSweeney had parents, brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, comrades and friends who shed their tears at Kilquane cemetery and long afterwards. They mourned his loss and would do so all their lives. They too paid the price for our liberty. Let us not forget.
On that fateful night a hundred years ago, they came with British guns and British bullets to further British policy in Ireland.
Black and Tans and Betrayal
They had hoped that Michael McSweeney’s cause would be buried with his bones. But the cause for which this young man died had survived Elizabeth’s butchering armies, Cromwell’s massacres, dispossession and eviction, the hangings of Whiteboys and the starvation of famine, emigration and cruel landlords, Black and Tans and betrayal.
Great men had died but their ideals could not be killed. The memory of Michael McSweeney and his cause will not fade, will not be forgotten, will not die.
Those who hoped, and indeed hope, that the flame of freedom could be extinguished are but more of ‘The fools, the fools, the fools, for they have left us another of our Fenian dead, while Ireland holds Michael McSweeney’s grave Ireland, unfree will never be at peace’.
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