ON THIS DAY
6 October
1916. Home Rule is safe if Ireland is sane
John Redmond, about 1916. This was his first major speech since the Rising.
On 6 October 1916 John Redmond spoke in Waterford, his own constituency. Home Rule was on the statute book and suspended for the war. He told the meeting that it was safe if Ireland was sane, that he would never accept a permanent partition, and that conscription in Ireland would bring madness, ruin and disorder. Before he arrived, a man was dragged from the hall. Two women produced a tricolour and called for cheers for the Irish Republic. A fight broke out in the gallery, and some of those involved were thrown out onto the street. Redmond said he had been told he dared not come to Waterford, and that he would speak there as he chose.
This was not yet the end of the Irish Parliamentary Party. It still had organisation and votes. Sinn Féin’s victory was two years away, in December 1918. The republic that was proclaimed was no longer an outside issue and happening inside the hall of Redmond’s meetings.
1922. A prisoner is shot in Athlone
The handover of Custume Barracks, Athlone, in February 1922. By October the barracks held about 950 prisoners.
On 6 October 1922 Patrick Mulrennan, an anti-Treaty prisoner from Lisacul, County Roscommon, was shot inside Custume Barracks. The shot was fired by National Army officer Anthony Lawlor. Seán MacEoin, who commanded the garrison, said Lawlor had fired a warning shot during a disturbance. The republican account said Lawlor fired towards the prisoners during an inspection, and that a second shot hit Mulrennan. He did not die that day. He died of the wound about four weeks later. An inquiry was postponed, and the files do not even agree on the date of his death. What is certain is that a prisoner was shot by an officer of the army holding him. Why the shot was fired is still disputed.
The same night, a bridge falls at Timoleague
That night in County Cork, Daniel O’Donovan, about thirty-three, from Clogagh near Timoleague, was with an anti-Treaty party destroying Timoleague Bridge. He had been in the Volunteers since 1917, in the Bandon Battalion of Cork No. 3 Brigade. He went under the arch and picked out the keystone. The Cork Examiner reported that he got the stone out, and that before he could get clear about seven tons of masonry fell on him and killed him at once. The Military Archives list his death as 4 October. The Examiner, the Freeman’s Journal and the Evening Herald place the collapse on Friday night, 6 October. The Cork Fatality Register follows the newspapers. He was not shot. The bridge he was taking down fell on him.
References:
ackson, A. (2003) Home Rule: An Irish History, 1800–2000. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
RTÉ/Century Ireland (2016) ‘John Redmond: Home Rule is safe if Ireland is sane’, Century Ireland. Available at: https://www.rte.ie/centuryireland/articles/john-redmond-home-rule-is-safe-if-ireland-is-sane (Accessed: 27 September 2026).
University College Cork (n.d.) ‘Anti-Treaty Soldier Daniel Donovan or O’Donovan Jr’, Cork Fatality Register, entry 1922-133. Available at: https://www.ucc.ie/en/theirishrevolution/collections/cork-fatality-register/register-index/1922-133/ (Accessed: 27 September 2026).
Westmeath County Council (2022) ‘A Shooting in Custume Barracks’, Decade of Centenaries Blog. Available at: https://www.westmeathcoco.ie/en/ourservices/planning/conservationheritage/decadeofcentenariesblog/ashootingincustumebarracks.html (Accessed: 27 September 2026).
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