Between
1500 and 2000 people attended the 84th Kilmichael
commemoration on November 28th to listen to historian
Meda Ryan’s oration. Last December, she published
a biography of Tom Barry (1) that refuted Peter
Hart’s allegation that Barry’s account
of the Kilmichael ambush was ‘riddled with
lies and evasions’. A year later the whole
issue is once again at the centre of a major controversy.
The re-emergence of this debate (2) was sparked
by the repetition of Hart’s view in Diarmaid
Ferriter’s new survey of Irish history, without
any reference to the substantive published critique
of that view (3). The 1998 correspondence between
Hart and his critics, Padraig O Cuanachain, Meda
Ryan, and the historian Dr Brian Murphy in the letters
section of the Irish Times concluded with Hart retreating
from his allegations; and Meda Ryan’s biography
of Tom Barry refuted Hart’s allegations point
by point. As far as we are aware, Peter Hart has
not reviewed her book or published a single word
to defend his case against Ryan's refutation.
Since
the publication of her book, not only has Ryan’s
argument not been refuted, but new research by the
historian Brian P Murphy strengthened her case (4).
Murphy has uncovered documents in the British national
archives that reveal the workings of a British black
propaganda unit run by Basil Clarke and Major CJC
Street that invented “official reports”
of events between 1919 and 1921. This was a highly
organised unit divided into three sections and located
at army headquarters in Parkgate Street, in Dublin
Castle and in the Irish office, London. Many of
these reports, as well as forged IRA documents,
have been accepted as historical fact, according
to Murphy. For example, Hart accepts with little
critical examination the ‘official’ British
version of the Kilmichael incident. Hart also accepts
British documentation claiming to be the unsigned
typewritten report of the battle by Barry to his
superiors. Again, this is disputed, not least because
significant errors of detail that Barry would not
have made. If Tom Barry wrote this report he would
surely have got the number of men under his command
correct. The first sentence has the time incorrect;
the second has 32 men, instead of the correct 36
men. That sentence also mentions 100 rounds of ammunition
per man. With that amount Barry could have stormed
Macroom Castle! The report says that two IRA volunteers
died later and one on the spot. The opposite is
the case. This and other inaccuracies leaves the
authenticity of that report and the official British
account open to question; and that there are good
reasons to think they were produced by Clarke and
Street’s black propaganda unit.
Despite
this, Hart’s view has prevailed through media
repetition and promotion; for example John Bruton’s
repetition of Hart’s allegations in a book
review in the Irish Independent (Irish Independent,
September 25). A cogently argued alternative account
of the Kilmichael ambush has thus been effectively
censored out of academic and media existence. This
shows that the ‘revisionist’ debate is
far from over.
NOTES
(1)
Review
of: Meda Ryan Tom Barry: IRA Freedom Fighter
(Cork: Mercier, 2003) in History Ireland (Spring
2004).
Available
on this website
(2)
Of particular interest, see ongoing debate on www.indymedia.ie;
to which Peter Hart himself contributed: Aspects
of British Propaganda Jack Lane, Saturday, Sep 4
2004, 8:15pm; and John
Bruton looks into his own ‘Hart’ - to
see what the Irish people should be thinking Niall
Meehan, Tuesday, Oct 12 2004, 8:55am; as well
as Kilmichael
Commemoration (November 28) breaks through media
silence Barry McGarry, Friday, Nov 26 2004, 2:31pm;
also Meda
Ryan Speech at Kilmichael Commemoration (Nov 28
2004) Barry McGarry, Sunday, Nov 28 2004, 1:28pm;
and finally The
War of Independence 1919-2004: What Is The Dispute
About Kilmichael And Dunmanway Really About? Niall
Meehan, Friday, Dec 3 2004, 3:31pm. Check also
the BBC coverage (BBC Northern Ireland Radio, Good
Morning Ulster programme, November 26 2004 and news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4043737.stm).
(3)
See Kilmichael: The False Surrender. A discussion
by Peter Hart, Padraig O'Cuanachain, D.R. O'Connor
Lysaght, Dr. Brian Murphy & Meda Ryan. (Belfast:
Athol Books, 1999); and Meda Ryan Tom Barry: IRA
Freedom Fighter (Cork: Mercier, 2003)
(4)
See Mags Glennon, ‘Aspects
of British Propaganda during the War of Independence:
A talk by Dr Brian Murphy’; as well as
Scott Millar, ‘British Army used spin to ‘confuse’
Irish’ (Sunday Times Oct 17 2004); and also
‘Saoithe na bolscaireachta’ le hEoghan
Ó Néill (‘Lá’ 13
Oct).
