Andy O'Sullivan (died 22 November 1923) was an Irish militant and Republican activist who was an Intelligence Officer and regional leader in the Irish Republican Army. He died during the 1923 Irish hunger strikes while in prison.
Andy O'Sullivan (died 22 November 1923) was an Irish militant and Republican activist who was an Intelligence Officer and regional leader in the Irish Republican Army. He died during the 1923 Irish hunger strikes while in prison.
O'Sullivan was a member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and was one of three IRA men to die on hunger strike in 1923. IRA Volunteers Joseph Whitty from Wexford died on 2 September 1923 and Denny Barry from Cork died on 20 November 1923 in the Curragh Camp hospital. O'Sullivan died as a result of hunger on 22 November 1923 in Mountjoy Prison. [1] Whitty, Barry and O'Sullivan were three of the 22 Irish Republicans (in the 20th century) who died on hunger strike. [2]
O'Sullivan was born in Denbawn, County Cavan in 1882, the eldest of eight children. His father Michael Sorohan emigrated to the United States but returned to take over the family farm. Andy worked on the family farm but won a scholarship provided by the local paper The Anglo-Celt, to Monaghan Agricultural College. [3] From there he won another scholarship to the Royal Albert College in Dublin and attended the college as a full time student from 1907 - 1909. He graduated as one of the top students in his year and was also elected head of the student union, the highest elected position in the college. In addition he was secretary of the college hurling team which was undefeated after 14 games in 1909. [3]
In 1909 O'Sullivan got a job as an agricultural instructor in Mallow area of Cork. In addition to educating and advising local farmers on crops and new techniques, he also judged local agricultural shows.
O'Sullivan was a captain in the IRA in the intelligence unit during the Irish War of Independence. He began his intelligence activities in 1917 using the code name W.N - the last 2 letters of first and last name.
During the Civil War O'Sullivan was officer commanding (OC) Administration in the North Cork area and later in the IRA's 1st Southern Cork Division, where he had been appointed by Liam Lynch. O'Sullivan dedicated his life to the establishment of an Irish Republic: "His ideal and his goal was a Republic, and he went straight ahead working to achieve it. Nothing else bothered him." [4] After the signing of the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty, he joined the anti-treaty side during the Irish Civil War. [5]
During the Civil War, O'Sullivan was arrested by Free State forces and interned in Mountjoy Prison. [6] In 1923, (after the end of the war) thousands of interned Irish republicans protested being held without trial, poor prison conditions and being treated as convicts rather than political prisoners. On 13 October 1923, Michael Kilroy, the OC of IRA prisoners in Mountjoy Prison, announced that 300 men would go on hunger strike. This action started the 1923 Irish hunger strikes. Within days, thousands of Irish republican prisoners were on hunger strike in multiple prisons/internment camps across Ireland. The mass hunger strike of 1923 started at midnight on 14 October 1923. [7] Previously, the Free State government had passed a motion outlawing the release of prisoners on hunger strike. However, because of the large numbers of Republicans on strike, at the end of October, the Government sent a delegation to speak with the IRA leadership. On 23 November 1923, the 41-day hunger strike was called off (O'Sullivan had died the previous day), setting in motion a release program for many of the prisoners. However, some were not released until as late as 1932. [8] [9] [10]
Andy O'Sullivan died on 23 November 1923 (after 40 days on hunger strike) at age 41 in St. Bricin's Military Hospital, Dublin. [11] He was buried in Saint Gobnaits Cemetery, Goulds Hill, Mallow, Cork on 27 November 1923; his funeral cortège was reported to be a mile in length.
O'Sullivan's name is commemorated on a statue that stands outside Cavan Courthouse.
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance where participants fast as an act of political protest, usually with the objective of achieving a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most hunger strikers will take liquids but not solid food. Hunger strikers that do not take fluids are named dry hunger strikers.
Events from the year 1923 in Ireland.
Events from the year 1920 in Ireland.
Stephen Hayes was a member and leader of the Irish Republican Army from April 1939 to June 1941.
Mountjoy Prison, founded as Mountjoy Gaol and nicknamed The Joy, is a medium security men's prison located in Phibsborough in the centre of Dublin, Ireland. The current prison Governor is Ray Murtagh.
Margaret Buckley was an Irish republican and president of Sinn Féin from 1937 to 1950. She was the first female leader of Sinn Féin and was the first Irishwoman to lead a political party.
The blanket protest was part of a five-year protest during the Troubles by Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) prisoners held in the Maze prison in Northern Ireland. The republican prisoners' status as political prisoners, known as Special Category Status, had begun to be phased out in 1976. Among other things, this meant that they would now be required to wear prison uniforms like ordinary convicts. The prisoners refused to accept the administrative designation of ordinary criminals, and refused to wear the prison uniform.
Thomas Hales was an Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteer and politician from West Cork.
The Curragh Camp is an army base and military college in The Curragh, County Kildare, Ireland. It is the main training centre for the Irish Defence Forces and is home to 2,000 military personnel.
Jimmy Steele was an Irish republican militant. He was one of the most prominent Irish Republican Army (IRA) men in Belfast after the Irish Civil War who held practically every senior position in the Northern Command of the IRA. Later in life Steele publicly denounced the leadership of the IRA which was a prelude to the split in the IRA. Steele founded and edited several Irish Republican publications. Steele spent a large portion of his life in jails as a result of his actions against British security forces.
Seán McCaughey was an Irish militant and Republican activist. He was an Irish Republican Army (IRA) leader in the 1930s and 1940s and hunger striker.
Máire Aoife Comerford was an Irish republican from County Wexford who witnessed central events in 1916-23 and remained a committed supporter of Cumann na mBan until her death. Her memoir of the Irish revolutionary period, On Dangerous Ground, was published posthumously in 2021.
Joseph Patrick Murphy was an Irish militant and Republican activist who was one of 22 Irish Republicans who died on hunger strike in the 20th century. He was an Officer in the Irish Republican Army who died as a result of his participation in the 1920 Cork hunger strike at Cork Gaol.
Denis Barry was an Irish Republican who died during the 1923 Irish hunger strikes, shortly after the Irish Civil War.
Tony D'Arcy was an Irish militant and Republican activist. He was a senior leader in the Irish Republican Army (IRA) who died as a result of a 52 day Hunger-strike at the age of 32.
In October 1923 mass hunger strikes were undertaken by Irish republican prisoners protesting the continuation of their internment without trial. The Irish Civil War had ended six months earlier yet the newly formed Provisional Government of the Irish Free State was slow in releasing the thousands of Irish republican prisoners opposed to the Anglo-Irish Treaty.
Jack McNeela was an Irish militant and Republican activist. He was a senior member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) from Ballycroy, County Mayo, Ireland. McNeela was one of 22 Irish republicans who died on hunger-strike. As a young man, McNeela was an athlete in County Mayo and participated in Gaelic games. He came from a family of four brothers and two sisters. His brother Paddy was also active in the IRA and held the position of Quartermaster general in Dublin.
Michael Joseph Whitty was an Irish militant and Republican activist who was the youngest of the 22 Irish republicans who died while under on hunger strike in the 20th century. Decades after his death another Volunteer also died on 2 August during the 1981 Irish hunger strike. Volunteer Whitty fought with the IRA in the Irish War of Independence, on the Anti-Treaty side in the Irish Civil War and died while under internment by the Irish Free State government.
The 1920 Cork hunger strike occurred in late 1920, during the Irish War of Independence, when 65 men interned without trial in Cork County Gaol went on hunger strike, demanding release from prison, and reinstatement of their status as political prisoners. Beginning on 11 August 1920, they were joined the following day by the Lord Mayor of Cork, Terence MacSwiney. A week into the hunger strike, all but 11 of the hunger strikers were released or deported to prison in England, with MacSwiney being among the latter.