u/Carax77

A collection of photographs of PIRA POWs in Long Kesh in c. 1974-76.

A former Dublin IRA man posted them publicly on Facebook in 2019.

40-year-old Thomas O'Donnell, of 32 Thompson St in Belfast, died on 17 May 1973 in a Dublin hospital. He had received injuries in a car crash near Drogheda, Co. Louth in February while on active service. He was buried in Miltown Cemetery.

A wonderful gig titled The Fisherman's Blues Revue, celebrating the band's late 1980s era. Featured legendary fiddler Steve Wickham rejoining the band alongside Steve Earle on vocals, guitar, and mandolin.

In the second half, Steve came on and performed:

"Copperhead Road"
"Guitar Town"
"My Old Friend the Blues"
"I Ain't Ever Satisfied"
"Volver a Celaya" (new song by Steve Earle & Los Lobos)
"Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way" (Waylon Jennings cover)

The whole band stayed on to play Waterboys tracks and did a rousing cover of country-rock classic "Dead Flowers" (The Rolling Stones). Also Steve's radio hit "Galway Girl" in the encore.

Here's a review from the Glasgow date by the great website Americana UK. Few gigs left on the tour coming up in Amsterdam, London etc.

(Photo taken from The Waterboys Fan Group)

From the MSPC Facebook group:

The latest MSPC blog examines the capture of Kevin Barry near Church Street, Dublin, in September 1920. MSPC Release 20 includes the newly released pension files of eight individuals who took part in the operation in which three British Army soldiers died. Several IRA members received minor injuries in the gun battle.

The article attempts to establish an accurate list of the IRA men present on the day, examining how many were 1916 veterans, the positions they took during the Civil War, how many later emigrated, and how many received military service pensions.

https://militarypensions.wordpress.com/2026/08/21/r20-kevin-barrys-capture-who-was-with-him-20-sep-1920/

From the MSPC Facebook group:

In May 1922, B Specials raided the McKeown family in Ballymulderg Beg near Magherafelt in rural south-east Derry. Three brothers were taken from their beds and shot in the kitchen. Francis was shot 16 times, Thomas eight times, and James three times, the latter wounds proving fatal..

The 20th release of MSPC files contains the pension applications of Thomas and Francis. The family does not appear to have applied for any compensation for the loss of James. The file of a fourth brother, Harry, who was attending an IRA meeting that night, is also part of this release.

While occurring in what is termed the Truce Period, Francis stresses in his application “it is not appreciated in the Republic that the Truce did not mean a cessation of hostilities in Northern Ireland, but was the beginning of a bloody and ruthless massacre”.

The files contain significant new first hand accounts of the May 1922 and the afterlives of those involved.

https://militarypensions.wordpress.com/2026/08/11/r20-shooting-of-three-mckeown-brothers-in-co-derry-may-1922/

From the MSPC Facebook group :

On 7 March 1923, five IRA prisoners were taken by National Army soldiers to a barricade near Scartaglin, County Kerry. The prisoners were ordered to clear the barricade where a trip mine had been hidden. When the mine failed to detonate, the soldiers opened fire with rifles and threw bombs at the unarmed prisoners in their custody. All five survived, but three were seriously wounded.

The attempted massacre took place on the same day that National Army soldiers killed eight prisoners at Ballyseedy and four at Countess Bridge. It forms part of a wider pattern of killings and attempted killings of IRA prisoners in Kerry during the final months of the Civil War.

The 20th release of the Military Service Pensions Collection (MSPC) material contains newly released files relating to three of the survivors, while the file of a fourth was released two years ago. Together, these records provide new first-hand evidence of what happened near Scartaglin that day.

https://militarypensions.wordpress.com/2026/08/07/r20-attempted-fourth-kerry-massacre-on-the-same-day-as-ballyseedy-march-1923/

From MSPC Facebook group:

Fascinating new blog about the controversy surrounding the awarding of a medal for IRA service in 1943 to John Clarke of Ballina, Co Mayo. After a reinvestigation, the department asked Clarke to surrender the medal as he had not found to have been a member of the IRA during the qualifying period between 1 April and 11 July 1921.

The file contains correspondence between Senator Thomas Ruane, Patrick Rutledge TD and many other former local IRA officers. The file provides an insight into how jealously some IRA veterans guarded their legacy and position in the new State

A prominent businessman and local independent politician, his son Jackie Clarke (1927–2000) was a Sinn Féin councillor for over 20 years and amassed one of the most important private collections of Irish history material. This is now housed in the Jackie Clarke Collection museum in Ballina.

Link : https://militarypensions.wordpress.com/2026/08/04/it-has-made-a-laughing-stock-of-the-whole-movement-john-clarkes-disputed-service-1917-1921-medal-award/

Edit: Fontaines not Fontaine's. Apologies. Can't edit the title.

Hot Press magazine article

https://www.hotpress.com/music/fontaines-d-c-manager-trevor-dietz-has-died-23144423

Statement from Fontaines DC

https://www.instagram.com/fontainesband

Students from the mid/late 2000s would remember his weeknight club nights like Trashed (Andrews Lane) and Transmission which he promoted and DJed as Trev Radiator. He was then booker and promoter in The Workman's Club and the Garage Bar from when they opened in 2010. Became Fontaines DC manager in 2016. Very focal on Palestine solidarity for years.

Funny question, but watching this 1988 Aswad video now, I was struck by how oddly modern the look feels.

The Fred Perry shirt, the easy sports-casual confidence, the slightly weathered, thrown-on layering.. it all feels closer to the kind of style language that really seemed to crystallise in the 90s, rather than something firmly rooted in 1988. As if they’d somehow wandered a few years ahead of themselves without making a fuss about it.

Does anyone else ever get that strange temporal jolt watching an old music video, where an artist looks not nostalgic or trapped in their era, but somehow slightly in advance of it?

Big news for researchers and those interested in the revolutionary period.

The Military Service Pensions Collection has launched a new search function for the Nominal Rolls of the IRA, Cumann na mBan, the ICA and Fianna Éireann. These were compiled by ex officers in the 1930s to help with the pensions process.

People can now search through over 600 files covering 16 IRA divisions and 87 brigades with names of over 100,000 people. Plus 165 files for Cumann na Ban and 41 for Fianna Éireann.

Individuals can be located by:

• Name

• Organisation

• Period (War of Independence or Civil War)

• Brigade

• Service location

• Address

• File reference

Search results link directly to the exact page within the file where the individual’s name appears for transcription.

Before now, the Nominal rolls were only available in PDF format which meant researchers had to wade through 100s of pages potentially to find the person they were searching for. It was also difficult for people to find specific individuals if they didn't know what company, battalion or brigade they were in.

Link to the new database is here.

Also an accompanying blog post that gives background to the Nominal rolls and how and why they were compiled.

*that were never returned

I say the British Army couldn't believe their luck when those arms and ammunition were just handed over by the National Volunteers (Redmondite). And laughed when a request was made for their return.

From the book Waterford: The Irish Revolution, 1912-23 (2015) by Patrick McCarthy

Was this replicated in other areas?

I believe there were discussions between the Irish Volunteers, the Bishop and the authorities in Cork to hand over some guns but it didn't occur?

Like many others, I’m fascinated by the hyper-local political ecosystem in Dublin’s north-east inner city - East Wall, North Strand, Summerhill, Ballybough and Sheriff Street, all within the Dublin Central constituency. The striking feature is the number of political and community figures with backgrounds in activism, republicanism, or anti-drugs movements, often with deep family or local roots. Edit: Gerry Hutch is distinct from others in this regard.

Some examples (past and present) include:

Cllr Daniel Ennis (SDs) from East Wall. Great local worker and tipped to win the by-election. Father was an associate of Gerry Hutch.

Gerry Hutch (Ind) from Foley St/Liberty House. Prime suspect in major armed robberies but is widely accepted as never getting involved in heroin dealing. Won over 3,000 first preference votes in last general election.

Cllr Malachy Steenson (Ind) from North Strand. Father Leo was attached to Belfast IRA 1950s and Dublin IRA 1950s/1960s and then OIRA 1970s. Was beside Jim Flynn when he killed by the INLA outside Cusack’s pub, North Strand Road in 1982. Flynn was widely believed to have been involved in the assassination of Seamus Costello five years earlier - an attack that had taken place just 100 yards from the scene of his own death.

Joe Costello (ex LP TD) from Sligo originally. Founding member of the Prisoners' Rights Organisation in early 1970s and would have known a lot of people involved in the republican movement and criminality through this work

Cllr Christy Burke (Ind, formerly SF) from Lurgan St/Hardwicke St. Leading Dublin PIRA member and founding member of Concerned Parents Against Drugs (CPAD) in 1980s. Left SF in 2009.

Tony Gregory (ex Ind TD) from Ballybough. Former SF, IRA, OSF and IRSP member. Influential community activist and anti-drugs campaigner.

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Question is, why don't we see the same pattern in working-class areas of SE Inner City (Pearse Street, Ringsend, Irishtown) and SW Inner City (Meath St/Liberties/James St)? What makes the NIC different?

The only person who comes to mind is Cllr Malachy Steenson (Ind) from York St flats area near Stephen's Green.

What makes the NIC unique? Is it the legacy of the docks which had brought with it jobs, union power, political connections and a black market economy? Having said that, there were historically a lot of dockers and sailors from the Pearse St/Ringsend area as well.

Edit: The Monto area,large-scale red light district from 1870s until the mid-1920s,

Is there a stronger republican lineage in North Inner City than SIC? I wouldn't necessarily say so. Is Fianna Fail less rooted in NIC than SIC? Maybe?

Do families tend to stay in NIC across generations? You'd imagine it's the same for SIC.

Was the anti-drugs movement in the 1980s stronger in the NIC? Possibly.

Interested in all answers and comments.