STATEMENT BY MICHAEL McALLISTER
Turvey, Donabate,County Dublin .
Turvey, Donabate,
I was born and reared where I now live at Turvey and went to school in Donabate and Swords. There was nothing of an ultra national nature in the curriculum of the schools then, and I felt it was from reading English papers that I developed any sense of patriotism I had. The English papers were very biased and hostile towards anything Irish. Any little concession tending towards further liberty for the people of this country was always the occasion for an outburst of hostility and puerile articles about
The late Thomas Ashe was a frequent visitor to our house, where he used to play cards. On one occasion I mentioned to him that we in this country should have some kind of intelligence organisation to counteract the propaganda about this country in the English Press. He said we had such an organisation here and asked me if I would like to join. I said I would. The organisation that I visualised was quite different from the one which I discovered that Ashe belonged to. He took me to a meeting of this organisation, which was the I.R.B. There were quite a number of men at this meeting whom I knew, including the Taylors of Swords and the late Frank Lawless of Saucerstown. I learned that this was a secret Oath-bound organisation and, as I had an objection to secret organisations particularly Oath-bound ones, I did not join.
When the Irish Volunteers were started in Swords in 1913, I joined that organisation. I think it was Frank Lawless who took me in. There was no Oath to take, not even a declaration of any sort. We were issued with membership cards and we paid a small weekly subscription towards he funds of the unit. There was a big number of men of all types in the Volunteers then and of very different ages. I think that Dick Coleman, Who later died in Usk Prison, was in charge of the Company. Parades were held every other evening and nearly every Sunday. A man named Emor Duffy used to come down from the city and put us through drill and other exercises, and also to give us lectures. We had no arms except a few .22 Sporting Rifles with which we had target practice. Most of the men were good natural shots, which is usual with young men from the
Country, while some of them were exceptionally good and could be said to be marksmen with a rifle. The .22 Rifles were the property of individual members of the Company and some few of the men also had revolvers. I had a small Calibre Revolver which belonged to our family.
The first major event that took place in the area was the Howth gun-running. All the Volunteer units in the North County Dublin area, as well as the city units, were mobilised for this affair and the Swords Company were also mobilised. It was not until the rifles were being handed out that we realised what was really happening. Our Company received a number of rifles that day. They were the Mauser type with a large bore and were very cumbersome articles. They came to be known as “Howth Mausers” and, as far as I can remember, had no magazine, being single shot weapons. Yet in our innocence we were very proud of them.
On Sundays we took part in field exercises with the
A Battalion of the Irish Volunteers was now organised in the North County Dublin area. Doctor Richard Hayes was Battalion O/C, Tom Ashe was Battalion Adjutant and Frank Lawless was Battalion Quartermaster. Some short time before the Rising, Doctor Hayes and Tom Ashe changed appointments and Ashe was then O/C and Doctor Hayes adjutant. Doctor Hayes, I think, felt that on account of his medical training he could act better that way as he could combine the duties of Medical Officer and Adjutant.
The Companies comprising the Battalion were—Swords, St. Margarets, Skerries and Lusk. All the Companies were of skeleton formation and the whole Battalion would not be near a hundred strong. Training and field exercises were still carried out in conjunction with the City Battalions which, together with our Battalion, made up the Dublin Brigade. We were the Fifth Battalion. In the course of those exercises I got to know a number of the leaders of the Volunteers including Pearse, McDonagh, De Valera and others.
Prior to the Rebellion we had acquired quite a good few Lee Enfield Service rifles. Where they came from I do not know. Frank Lawless the Quartermaster had obtained them, I suppose, from General Headquarters of the Volunteers. Each Volunteer had to pay for his rifle either in cash or in instalments. During Holy Week 1916 we were ordered to mobilise at Knocksedan on Easter Sunday about midday. Each man was to carry what arms and ammunition he had got and also to provide himself with two days’ rations. We thought that some extended exercise was on the programme, but yet there was an undercurrent that something much bigger and more dangerous was afoot. There was quite a full mobilisation at Knocksedan that Sunday. Quite a lot of the Volunteers were armed with Lee Enfield rifles and each had a good supply of ammunition. I had about two hundred rounds. Again I do not know where the Lee Enfields came from. Quite a few of the Volunteers were also armed with brand new repeating shotguns of American type. Sometime before the Rebellion I remember a car loaded with rifles arriving at our house one day. There was a big number of rifles which we took in and hid in a field. They were consequently taken away by Doctor P. McCartan. I do not know where went to. At Knocksedan on that Easter Sunday, Tom Ashe gave me the rifle he had which was a lovely Service Lee Enfield type.
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