John Francis O'Beirne (1898 – 7 February 1978) was a farmer, businessman,

Irish republican Irish republicanism ( ga, poblachtánachas Éireannach) is the political movement for the unity and independence of Ireland under a republic. Irish republicans view British rule in any part of Ireland as inherently illegitimate. The develop ...

activist and

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtí Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christian- ...

politician in

County Sligo County Sligo ( , gle, Contae Shligigh) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the Border Region and is part of the province of Connacht. Sligo is the administrative capital and largest town in the county. Sligo County Council is the local ...

. He served briefly in

Seanad Éireann Seanad Éireann (, ; "Senate of Ireland") is the upper house of the Oireachtas (the Irish legislature), which also comprises the President of Ireland and Dáil Éireann (the lower house). It is commonly called the Seanad or Senate and its memb ...

War of Independence

O'Beirne grew up in

Collooney Collooney or Coloony () is a town in County Sligo, Ireland. Toponymy Collooney is thought to derive from . Reverend Terrence O'Rorke has previously also suggested ''Culmaine'', as Collooney is designated this way in such works as ''the annals ...

, and was an early supporter of

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Gri ...

. He was arrested in February 1918 for

unlawful assembly Unlawful assembly is a legal term to describe a group of people with the mutual intent of deliberate disturbance of the peace. If the group is about to start an act of disturbance, it is termed a rout; if the disturbance is commenced, it is then ter ...

relating to commandeering of land for "

conacre Conacre (a corruption of ''corn-acre''), in Ireland, is a system of letting land, formerly in small patches or strips, and usually for tillage (growth of corn or potatoes). Concept Most common in Munster and Connacht for a variety of crops, in L ...

".Farry (1992), p. 118 He refused to post bail and was sentenced to six months' imprisonment. In February 1919, he was arrested for illegal fundraising in Collooney, again refused to post bail, and served three months. In June, he organised an ''aeraíocht'' (outdoor cultural festival) in Collooney. The

Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence () or Anglo-Irish War was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and British forces: the British Army, along with the quasi-mil ...

was escalating, and O'Beirne was

Officer Commanding The officer commanding (OC), also known as the officer in command or officer in charge (OiC), is the commander of a sub-unit or minor unit (smaller than battalion size), principally used in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. In other countries, ...

of the Collooney Battalion of the

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various paramilitary organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dedicated to irredentism through Irish republicanism, the belief tha ...

(the "Old IRA"). After the local elections of May 1920, O'Beirne was chairman of

Sligo Sligo ( ; ga, Sligeach , meaning 'abounding in shells') is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo, Ireland, within the western province of Connacht. With a population of approximately 20,000 in 2016, it is the List of urban areas ...

rural district Rural districts were a type of local government area – now superseded – established at the end of the 19th century in England, Wales, and Ireland for the administration of predominantly rural areas at a level lower than that of the Ad ...

council (RDC), leading the council to accept the authority of the

First Dáil The First Dáil ( ga, An Chéad Dáil) was Dáil Éireann as it convened from 1919 to 1921. It was the first meeting of the unicameral parliament of the revolutionary Irish Republic. In the December 1918 election to the Parliament of the Unite ...

. As RDC chairman, he was

ex officio An ''ex officio'' member is a member of a body (notably a board, committee, council) who is part of it by virtue of holding another office. The term '' ex officio'' is Latin, meaning literally 'from the office', and the sense intended is 'by right ...

a member of

county council A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Ireland The county councils created under British rule in 1899 continue to exist in Irela ...

, which passed a similar resolution when it met in June. When Major Bryan Cooper refused to pay the "IRA rates", O'Beirne took two bullocks in lieu.Farry (1992), p. 206 On 26 June, he helped to spring

Frank Carty Francis Joseph Carty (3 April 1897 – 10 September 1942) was a leader of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in the Irish War of Independence, and a long-serving Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála (TD). Early life He was born on 3 April 1897 in Clooncunn ...

from

Sligo Gaol Sligo Gaol or Sligo Prison, () is a former prison located in Sligo, County Sligo, Ireland, which was open from 1823 to 1959. Construction The prison sits on an site and was designed to hold 200 inmates in a polygon-shaped building, with the Go ...

. In July, he was an adjudicator at the

Dáil Courts The Dáil Courts (also known as Republican Courts) were the judicial branch of government of the Irish Republic, which had unilaterally declared independence in 1919. They were formally established by a decree of the First Dáil on 29 June 1920 ...

which sat at

Sooey Sooey (, meaning abounding in the plant sorrel), is a village in County Sligo in Ireland. The village is situated near Riverstown, on the R284 road which runs between Sligo and Leitrim village in County Leitrim. It is the burial place of Provis ...

Creamery and later at Sligo Courthouse. O'Beirne sometimes used Major Heather's Knockadoo House near

Coolaney Coolaney () is a village in County Sligo, Ireland. Coolaney sits at the foot of the Ox Mountains with the river Owen Beg running through it around which is a walk. The remains of an old mill are located along the riverside walk, and the remains ...

as a

safehouse A safe house (also spelled safehouse) is, in a generic sense, a secret place for sanctuary or suitable to hide people from the law, hostile actors or actions, or from retribution, threats or perceived danger. It may also be a metaphor. Histori ...

. He led a raid on the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

barracks in

Carrick-on-Shannon Carrick-on-Shannon () is the county town of County Leitrim in Ireland. It is the largest town in the county of Leitrim. A smaller part of the town lies in County Roscommon. The population of the town was 4,062 in 2016. It is situated on a stra ...

. He did not participate in a raid on Collooney RIC barracks in March 1921 as he was sick. He was captured on 27 May 1921 and

court-martial A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...

led for involvement in the killing of RIC constables in Ballisodare, but escaped from

in June 1921 before sentence could be passed.

Anti-treaty activity

O'Beirne was a close friend of

Éamon de Valera Éamon de Valera (, ; first registered as George de Valero; changed some time before 1901 to Edward de Valera; 14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975) was a prominent Irish statesman and political leader. He served several terms as head of governm ...

, and took the anti-

Treaty A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations An international organization or international o ...

side in the

Irish Civil War The Irish Civil War ( ga, Cogadh Cathartha na hÉireann; 28 June 1922 – 24 May 1923) was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United ...

. His Collooney Battalion, now part of the "

Irregulars Irregular military is any non-standard military component that is distinct from a country's national armed forces. Being defined by exclusion, there is significant variance in what comes under the term. It can refer to the type of military orga ...

", killed five Irish Free State Army soldiers in an ambush and captured two armoured cars. Soon after he was taken prisoner along with forty men after

Seán Mac Eoin Seán Mac Eoin (30 September 1893 – 7 July 1973) was an Irish Fine Gael politician and soldier who served as Minister for Defence briefly in 1951 and from 1954 to 1957, Minister for Justice from 1948 to 1951, and Chief of Staff of the Def ...

launched a surprise attack on the town. In a 1925 by-election two vacancies in the Leitrim–Sligo constituency were to be filled; O'Beirne stood for

along with Samuel Holt. Holt received slightly more first preferences than O'Beirne and was elected with his transfers, along with Martin Roddy of

Cumann na nGaedheal Cumann na nGaedheal (; "Society of the Gaels") was a political party in the Irish Free State, which formed the government from 1923 to 1932. In 1933 it merged with smaller groups to form the Fine Gael party. Origins In 1922 the pro-Treaty G ...

. In his concession speech, O'Beirne said there were "two things he held narrow views on; one was pride in his

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Faith, and the other was his pride in his Irish Nationality. ..priests and bishops ..were not infallible as far as politics were concerned." The following November, O'Beirne was one of two men convicted in the Central Criminal Court for 'being concerned in the organisation of an illegal organisation " The Irish Republican Army"'. The jury suggested the men should not be treated as criminals, while the judge said their crime was

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

punishable by death Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

. In the event, a 12-month sentence was imposed.

Fianna Fáil

O'Beirne spent time in the United States, "reporting" to the New York IRA co-ordinator Connie Neenan in January 1927, and attended prominent

Clan na Gael Clan na Gael ( ga, label=modern Irish orthography, Clann na nGael, ; "family of the Gaels") was an Irish republican organization in the United States in the late 19th and 20th centuries, successor to the Fenian Brotherhood and a sister org ...

functions in 1930–32.

Moss Twomey Maurice Twomey ( ga, Muirgheas Ó Tuama; 10 June 1897 – October 1978) was an Irish republican and the longest serving chief of staff of the Irish Republican Army (IRA). Early life Twomey was born in 1897 in Clondulane, near Fermoy, C ...

, the

IRA chief of staff Several people are reported to have served as Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army () in the organisations bearing that name. Due to the clandestine nature of these organisations, this list is not definitive. Chiefs of Staff of the Irish ...

, had a low opinion of O'Beirne. Officially he worked as a shipping agent, which was a front for acting illegally as an agent for the

Irish Sweepstakes The Irish Hospitals' Sweepstake was a lottery established in the Irish Free State in 1930 as the Irish Free State Hospitals' Sweepstake to finance hospitals. It is generally referred to as the Irish Sweepstake or Irish Sweepstakes, frequently ab ...

. He returned to Ireland in the 1930s, working as a farmer and businessman, and was active in Fianna Fáil's industrial policy promoted by

Seán Lemass Seán Francis Lemass (born John Francis Lemass; 15 July 1899 – 11 May 1971) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach and Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1959 to 1966. He also served as Tánaiste from 1957 to 1959, 1951 to 1954 ...

. He was elected to the Seanad in 1943 on the

Industrial and Commercial Panel The Industrial and Commercial Panel ( ga, An Rolla Tionscail Agus Tráchtála) is one of five vocational panels which together elect 43 of the 60 members of Seanad Éireann, the upper house of the Oireachtas (the legislature of Ireland). The Ind ...

, but was defeated in the 1944 Seanad election, having also failed to be elected to the Dáil for

in the general election. O'Beirne was director of several companies, including Meat Exporters (Sligo) Ltd, and Flemings Fireclays. He was a founding director of the Sligo Industrial Development Corporation in 1953. In 1955, he bought from

Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

Clarence H. Hillas "Sea View", a

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

previously owned by the Atkinson family, near the Sligo–Ballina road at Doonecoy, Templeboy. He was a member of the

Racing Board Horse Racing Ireland (HRI; ga, Rásaíocht Capaill na hÉireann) is the governing body of horse racing on the island of Ireland. It is based in the Curragh, County Kildare, next to the racecourse of that name. HRI was founded in 2001, succee ...

from 1965 to 1970. He was killed in a car crash on the N7 near

Kill, County Kildare Kill () is a village and parish in County Kildare, Ireland near the county's border with Dublin beside the N7. Its population was recorded as 3,348 people in the 2016 census. Kill is the birthplace of the Fenian John Devoy as well as home to ...

, aged 81. His wife Kathleen had died in 1969.

References

* **Note: the page numbers in the notes are to the 1992 edition; those in the linked 2005 electronic edition are c. 5–8 pages later *

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Obeirne, Frank 1898 births 1978 deaths Escapees from British detention Fianna Fáil senators Irish businesspeople Irish farmers Irish Republican Army (1919–1922) members Local councillors in County Sligo Members of the 4th Seanad Road incident deaths in the Republic of Ireland Irish Republican Army (1922–1969) members People of the Irish Civil War (Anti-Treaty side) 20th-century Irish businesspeople