Dail Courts

[JohnMB]

I found a document among the papers of my wife's granduncle, John P. O'Keeffe, also known as Eoin O'Keeffe who was a member of the 6th Battalion, Dublin IRA in the revolutionary period, which I've transcribed here as it may be of interest to some. The document is undated.

Dáil Courts, South County Dublin

Justices, Registrars, Clerks

District Court
Sean Fitzgibbon
Miss Josephine Cantwell
William Morrissey
Valentine Jackson
Fred J. Allen

Registrar:
Miss E.N. Somers (Later, Fred . Lidwell, 6 Corrig Avenue, Dun Laoghaire)

Temporary Justices
P. O'Hanlon, U.D.C. (Dun Laoghaire)
Wm. Knight, Blackrock

Parish Courts:

Blackrock and Booterstown: Richard O'Connor, Thomas Cummins, Sean O'Keeffe (sic)
Monkstown: T. F. Burke, John Clare, Robt. W. Hay
Dun Laoghaire: John Neligan, John Kelly, Martin O'Molloy. Clerk: Edward Charles , 4 Sullivan's Cottages, Patrick Street, Dun Laoghaire
Dalkey and Glasthule: Miss E. N. Somers, Leo Cox, T. Dowling
Ballybrack: Michael Higgins, Chris. Harmon, Eoin Clarke
Sandyford: Mrs. Desmond Fitzgerald, Terence Mooney, Felix McCann
Foxrock and Cabinteely: Chris Bruden, Rev. Thos. Power C.C., Ralph Jackson

[JamieMoran]

Hi JohnMB,

I know you posted this last October but I only came across the post today. As it happens, and friend and I are researching the 6th Battalion and the information you posted is great.
The lists includes people like Josephine Cantwell, who beacme a Sinn Féin Councillor and John Neligan who was one of Michael Collins most trusted spies within Dublin Castle.

Did you happen to come across any other information regarding the 6th Battalion?


Jamie 

[JohnMB]

Hi Jamie,

I'll have to go through John's papers again to answer your question properly. I recall that John O'Keeffe was the Secretary of a Dublin Sinn Fein Peace Committee which operated for a time in the hope of first averting and secondly effecting a ceasefire to allow negotiation and there were certainly papers relating to the Committee's activities in the documents I found. I also found an article that he wrote about the Committee which was published in the Irish Times in 1975. In addition I found a photo of John O'Keeffe and three other men which had written on the back of it, '6th Battalion annual dinner, 1956'. If you pm me your personal e-mail address I'll send you the photo and, perhaps you and your friend will be able to identify the other men in the photo for me? I did try to attach the photo with my post last October but I couldn't because it was too large apparently. I'm enough of a technophobe that I settled simply for posting my message!

JohnMB

[JohnMB]

Hi again, Jamie,

I had a look at the papers again last night. The Dail Courts document and the photo were all that I found relating to the 6th Battalion. Other documents include papers relating to the work of the Dublin Sinn Fein Peace Committee which tried to avert the Civil War and later to organise a ceasefire to facilitate negotiations. The papers also included a copy of the Commemorative Programme issued by Sinn Fein for O'Donovan's Rossa's funeral in 1915, a Notice of Election Poster for South County Dublin for the Pact Election and a booklet issued by the Stationery Office in 1922 detailing the correspondence arising from the Treaty negotiations between the British Govt and the Provisional Govt.

JohnMB

[JamieMoran]

Hi JohnMB, thanks for getting back.

The information you have sounds really good. At the moment, we're concentrating our research on the war of independence, but I would be very interested to take a look at the photo and if it's possible, the rest of the material you have? I'll send you my email address and maybe we can arrange something?

Regards, Jamie