Remembering Cathal Brugha

CATHAL Brugha was born on July 18 1874 in Fairview. His father, Thomas Burgess, was an ardent supporter of Charles Stewart Parnell and is believed to have been a Fenian.

It is likely then that Thomas passed on his love for Ireland to his 14 children.

Young Cathal was educated at Belvedere College where he was an intelligent pupil and an accomplished athlete.

Cathal was strong and excelled at boxing, football, hurling, swimming and gymnastics.

The failure of his father’s business, however, meant that Cathal’s promising education was cut short, as he was forced to go to work to support his family.

In 1899, Cathal joined the Gaelic League and soon became a fluent Irish speaker.

For the rest of his life he remained a committed Irish language activist.

In 1908 his commitment to the language was recognised when he was elected President of the Keating Branch of the Gaelic League in Dublin.

The Keating Branch was a hotbed of republicanism and it was around this time that Cathal also joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood.

In November 1913 Cathal was a founding member of the Irish Volunteers and was elected first lieutenant of C Company of Dublin’s 4th Battalion. Within a short time, however, he was promoted to the position of Battalion adjutant (a military officer who helps a senior officer with administative work).

During the 1916 Rising, Cathal was Vice- Commandant of the 4th Battalion, serving as second in command to Eamonn Ceannt at the South Dublin Union.

This garrison saw heavy fighting and Cathal’s bravery here was to earn him legendary status. During the defence of the South Dublin Union, while fighting a much larger force of British soldiers, Cathal was shot up to 25 times and injured by shrapnel from a grenade. Believing he was dead, his comrades retreated upstairs.

Cathal was not dead, however, and in a scene reminiscent of the story of Cú Chulainn, he managed to prop himself up against a wall and single handily hold off the British troops.

The volunteers upstairs believed the gunfire they could hear below them was coming from the British until they heard the faint sounds of Brugha singing

‘God Save Ireland’. Cathal made a full recovery after the 1916 Rising and was instrumental in reorganising the IRA.

He became IRA Chief of Staff and in 1917 he was elected to the Sinn Féin executive. In December 1918 Cathal was elected to the First Dáil �ireann.

At the first meeting of that Revolutionary Government on January 21 1919, Cathal was elected acting President as Eamon De Valera was still in prison.

Later, when De Valera was released Cathal became Minister for Defence with responsibility for the Irish Republican Army at the height of the Tan war.

Cathal was deeply opposed to the Anglo-Irish Treaty. He worked hard to maintain the unity of the IRA but when the split was final, he fought on the republican side during the Civil War.

On July 5 1922, during the Battle of Dublin, Cathal was in charge of a group of IRA volunteers in the upper O’Connell Street area that had occupied the Gresham, Granville and Hamman hotels.

The area was under heavy fire by Free State forces and the republican position became untenable. Cathal ordered the volunteers under his command to retreat so they could live to fight another day. Brugha, however, refused to leave. In an attempt to allow his comrades escape, he loaded his pistol and charged on the Free State Soldiers.

Cathal was shot in the thigh in a wound that severed his artery.

He died on July 7 1922 and should be remembered as a courageous Irish Patriot.