Past meets present as Duhallow
IN 1921 CULLEN TEACHER ROGER KIELY WAS IMPRISONED ON SPIKE ISLAND, ALONG WITH MANY OTHER DUHALLOW MEN SUSPECTED OF INVOLVEMENT IN REVOLUTIONARY ACTIVITIES. ALMOST 100 YEARS LATER HIS SON AND DAUGHTER RETURNED TO SPIKE, RECENTLY, TO VIEW AN EXHIBITION COMM
IT was a moment when the past merged with the present in a poignant and emotional manner when brother and sister Dermot and Ann Kiely from Cullen recently stood for the first time on the soil of Spike Island, where their Father Roger had been interned in 1921.
Roger Kiely was arrested by Crown Forces for his suspected involvement in the Clonbanin Ambush of March 5th, at the time when Spike Island was used as a military prison during the War of Independence, with 1,400 men classified as either prisoners or internees detained there.
To commemorate these men, a special Independence Exhibition was officially opened last July. It is housed in the Mitchel Hall and visitors are welcomed at the entrance with a banner featuring Seán Keatings’s ‘ IRA Column 1921’. The men portrayed are Roger Kiely (Cullen), Sean Moylan (Newmarket), Johnny Jones (Ballydesmond), Dan Browne (Ballinatona), Mike D. O’Sullivan (Meelin), James Cashman (Kiskeam) Jim Riordan (Kiskeam) and Denny Mullane (Freemount).
Central to the exhibition are re-enacted military court hearings. Of the 24 accessible to the public, three feature Duhallow men, namely Roger Kiely, Sean Moylan and Humphrey O’Donoghue.
Also on exhibit are photographs of the detainees, their autograph books, prisoner and internee data bases, and details of the location on the Island where they were housed. There is a growing collection of original artefacts and this work is under the stewardship of Tom O Neill, who is always eager to meet anyone who has information on any prisoner or internee that may have served time on Spike.
Other Duhallow men detained on Spike were Daniel Flynn and John Riordan Kiskeam; Jack Rahilly and Maurice Stack, Rockchapel; Patrick O’Connor, Newmarket; Patrick O’Connor, Freemount and Daniel Clancy, Farrandoyle.
Dermot and Ann Kiely were visiting the island as part of IRD Duhallow’s Historic Graves Project. They were warmly welcomed by Tom O’ Neill, assistant manager of the Spike