By
late 1922 and early 1923 the Free State Government were becoming increasingly
impatient in curtailing the activity of the Irregulars. Historically, the
significance of the input by Cumann na mBan to the conflict enabled the war to
continue. There can be no doubt about that! They not only maintained lines of
communication but involved themselves in other areas of conflict and,
basically, they had to be stopped!
And
so began the rounding up and large scale arrests of many leading women.
Kilmainham Jail was opened to women from February 1923 until September 1923.
Over
that short period there were over 500 women imprisoned in the Jail. The witness
statements of the women detail the harrowing treatment of female prisoners
during their incarnation in Kilmainham Mountjoy and North Dublin Union.
Many
women were initially arrested and imprisoned in their local jails but later
transferred to the larger Dublin prisons. The Emergency Powers acts permitted
the Military Courts to arrest and detain women without trial with just the
signatures of two Officers. While some women were detained for days or weeks;
many were incarcerated without trial and for significantly longer periods. Miss
Bridget/Biddy Condon of Ballymacarbry, Co Waterford was arrested in her place
of work in Clonmel on 7 March and initially imprisoned in Clonmel jail. Biddy
had helped establish the Ballymacarbry and Nire Cumann na mBan branches in
1918, alongside Mary Cooney, District President of the 5th Battalion South
Tipperary Brigade. Prior to the Civil War the Ballymacarbry branch were under
the command of South Tipperary District, despite its location in Waterford
County.
After
the truce Ballymacarbry branch merged with the Waterford Brigade and Cumann na
mBan branch with Dungarvan District Council. In her role as Treasurer of the
Ballymacarbry branch, she was involved with intelligence, dispatch work,
transporting ammunition, sending parcels to IRA prisoners for both South
Tipperary and West Waterford Colum’s. As an Intelligence Officer during the War
of Independence, information secured by her led to an important attack on a
British military train near Cahir. Like many anti-Treaty Cumann na mBan, her
work became more involved and precarious during the Civil War period, despite
having to continue working fulltime to support herself. During the occupation
of Clonmel Barracks, she was called on to assist each night after work with
field dressings and other tasks. The importance of the more hard-line
Republican women was well known to the Free State. Imprisoning these women
allowed them to curtail the vital support network for the IRA and gain control
over the anti-Treaty insurrection. Bridget and Mary were arrested in their
place of work and held with other local Cumann na mBan women in Clonmel Jail
for several weeks, before they were transferred to Kilmainham Jail in Dublin.
During
a nine-month period they were incarcerated without trial and in April/May
transferred to North Dublin Union. Both women were released on active hunger
strike in considerably poor health on 7 November 1923, just days before the
strike officially ended.
On 23 November, the strike officially ended
and the remaining female prisoners in the NDU were released in December 1923.
When Biddy returned home to Ballymacarbry, Co. Waterford she was in extremely
poor health. To add insult to injury she now found herself without a job and
therefore had no income. The difficult decision to sell her home was not an
option, but a certainty. She took up residence for a time with her
brother-in-law and her sister, Mary O’Ryan, Ballymacarbry. Bridget’s
brother-in-law, Michael O’Ryan also served a lengthy incarceration during the
end of the Civil War and endured a lengthy hunger strike. Biddy was later
refused an l military pension and forced to appeal this decision. Mary Cooney
died prematurely in 1942 and on 30 April and the same year her brother and next
of kin, Seán Cooney was granted a pension from the date of application in 1934
until her death in 1942.
For more about Bridget Condon and many more
Waterford women buy your copy of Waterford Women of the Revolution 1914-1923 at
Waterford Book Centre, David Walsh’s, Lower Main Street, Dungarvan, Lismore
Heritage Centre and Waterford County Museum, 058 45960 or
history@waterfordmuseum.ie and also online
https://www.waterfordmuseum.ie/revolution/.
