Proposal to name part of Macroom bypass after Cumann na mBan gains support
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A proposal to name the eastern gateway of the new Macroom bypass in Co Cork after local women who supported the struggle for independence is gaining momentum.
Further light has been shed on the exploits of Cumann na mBan members in the area, some of whom smuggled guns and others who provided safe houses and medical care for injured or ‘on the run’ IRA volunteers.
Fianna Fáil councillor Gobnait Moynihan knows a lot about their exploits as her grand aunt was one of the organisation’s members and she said her campaign to name the Coolcower Roundabout in honour of Cumann na mBan was gaining support.
Possibly the bravest of all local members of Cumann na mBan was Molly Cunningham, as detailed in the Bureau of Military History.
Molly arranged a lot of fundraising events in order to buy arms and help families of prisoners.
Small arms were not plentiful and the duty of transferring them to where there were needed lay largely with Cumann nanBan members. They hid them under heavy clothing such as the hooded ‘Macroom Cloak.’
It was not unusual for Molly to smuggle two or three revolvers at a time in this fashion from one IRA company area to another, passing literally under the noses of British forces in Macroom Castle.
Then there is the story of Minnie Twomey, Bridget Dineen and Kate O’Reilly, who helped nurse back to health IRA men who were badly burned when they set fire to the courthouse in Baile Mhuirne in April, 1920.
About 200 volunteers were involved in the action.
The courthouse became a roaring ball of fire and it resulted in four IRA volunteers being badly burnt. Some passed out with the pain.
The building caught fire very quickly, but unfortunately this also resulted in four volunteers being badly injured. Some of the men were so badly burnt from the fire they either roared with the pain or passed out.
It was local Cumann na mBan members, such the three women, who tended to these burns and nursed these men back to full health.
“One volunteer's face was so badly burnt, he remained in a house near Baile Mhuirne for six months recuperating. It was the Cumann na mBan members that tended to their wounds but also provided a roof over their heads and fed them. These women were putting themselves in danger if found out to be hiding these volunteers,” Ms Moynihan said.
She said her grandfather, IRA volunteer Jamie Moynihan, rarely slept at home (Cúil Aodha), as British forces were out to get him.
On March 9, 1920, 55 British military surrounded their homeplace at 6am in the morning in the hopes of capturing Jamie.
“They searched the house and didn’t find him, but instead locked Jamie's sister Nora and father in one of the upstairs rooms, as they trashed the house.
"Nora, fearing Jamie's return that morning, tied bed sheets together like a sugán, and used it to climb out the bedroom window. As it was still early, Nora had to get past the armed forces in the farmyard, in the pitch dark. She somehow managed to escape unnoticed and ran down the road to where my grandfather was staying to warn him.
"Just in time as Jamie was literally lacing his boots to go out the door to head home,” Ms Moynihan said.