21st January 1919 Daniel (Dan) Breen (1894-1969) was born into a farming family in Soloheadbeg, County Tipperary. He was educated locally before becoming a plasterer and later a linesman on the Great Southern Railway. Breen joined the Irish Volunteers in 1914. On January 21st 1919, the day the First Dáil met in Dublin, Breen took part in an ambush at Soloheadbeg. The party, led by Seán Treacy, attacked a group of Royal Irish Constabulary men who were escorting explosives to a quarry. two policeman were fatally wounded during the engagement. The ambush is considered to be the first action taken in the Irish War of Independence. The Soloheadbeg ambush in January 21st 1919 in which two members of the Royal Irish Constabulary were fatally wounded was the start of the Irish War of Independence and occurred within a mile of Dan Breen’s home. Sean Treacy and Dan Breen had planned the ambush to challenge British rule militarily. Too many members of the volunteers were becoming mere political activists in Sinn Féin, a movement that Breen and Treacy believed would not achieve too much on its own when demanding Irish Independence. Breen and Treacy were the driving forces behind much of what happened in Dublin in furtherance of resistance to British rule throughout 1919 as well as in Tipperary and Limerick. Breen and Treacy trained Collins’s Squad in ‘taking-out’ British Dublin Castle agents and were foremost in the attempts to shoot the British Viceroy, Lord French. Dan Breen ranks among the great warriors of Erin of any era. He served the people of County Tipperary abley and well in Dáil Éireann for over thirty years. Above everything else he wished to be remembered as a Fenian. His mortal remains rest in the ancient cemetery of Donohill among his kith and kin in his native place. People visit his grave annually and attend his anniversary Mass in Donohill Parish church in big numbers; his memory is, and will forever be, green in the homes of Tipperary. I was given the honour on two occasions to speak in remembrance of their courage at the yearly commemorations at Soloheadbeg, County Tipperary. I found in the lives of these men an unselfish dedication to the liberty of Ireland. Most of these volunteers never sought or wanted high political office but fought to give the opportunity to the people of Ireland to elect in freedom those who could bring a better way of life to the Irish people. This patriotic ballad included here was written to memorialize our heroes, but are not directed at the people of England. I have always reminded and will continue to remind folks of this fact. Irish people had the good sense and intelligence to separate English authority from the ordinary English people. “The Galtee Mountain Boy” https://youtube/watch?v=iW76HMMc_Kw
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 17:36:28 +0000
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