‘The Hard Road to the Truce’ in Knocklong

Knocklong History group will be hosting ‘The Hard Road to the Truce’ on Saturday, an online seminar explaining how a series of violent events would have potentially made the 1921 truce more appealing to battle-weary revolutionaries.

The talk, which will be live-streamed from Knocklong Community Centre, features four speakers. Liz Gillis will speak on the burning of the Customs House, Dublin, while Dr Tomas Mac Conmara will present on The Scariff Martyrs of Clare. Joining them are Tom O’Neill, who will speak on the Massacre at Clonmult, Cork and Tom Toomey, who will speak about the dance and shootings at Caherguillamore, Limerick. Chairing the seminar is Dr Pat McCarthy.

Rosemary Flanagan, PRO of Knocklong History, explained to TheAvondhu what links these topics.

“They’re all violent events, which resulted in a heavy loss of lives. It was causing a lot of sacrifice, not only amongst the people fighting but their families too. These events would have pushed a truce, because how long could people on the ground sustain these heavy losses? Not only the individuals, but the loved ones suffered financial and economic suffering and reprisals.”

Knocklong History are a small working group, under the umbrella of the Knocklong Development Association. They are involved in the community’s Railway Heritage Park project, which is to start development imminently.

The seminar will take place this Saturday at 11am and is available to stream through the Knocklong History Facebook page.