Seán O'Hegarty (21 March 1881 – 31 May 1963) was a prominent member of the Irish Republican Army in County Cork during the Irish War of Independence. He served as O/C of the Cork No. 1 Brigade of the IRA after the deaths of Tomás Mac Curtain and Terence MacSwiney.
Biography Early life Born in Cork on 21 March 1881, O'Hegarty came from a family with strong nationalist roots. His parents were John, a plasterer and stucco worker and Katherine (née Hallahan) Hegarty. His elder brother was writer Patrick Sarsfield O'Hegarty.
His parents' families emigrated to the United States after the Great famine, and his parents married in Boston. His father was a member of the IRB. In 1888 his father died of tuberculosis, aged 42, and his mother had to work to support the family.
Entering Irish Nationalism O'Hegarty was educated at the CBS North Monastery school in Cork. By 1902, he had left school to work as a sorter in the local post office, rising to post office clerk.
He was a supporter of the Gaelic revival, Irish traditional music, and Gaelic games. A committed sportsman, in his twenties he was captain of the Post Office HQ's hurling team. He followed his brother Patrick (P. S. O'Hegarty) into the Gaelic League and eventually the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Republican Brotherhood. He was a member of the Celtic Literary Society by 1905 and founded the Growney branch of the Gaelic League in 1907. A puritanical character by nature, he was a non-smoker and never drank.
O'Hegarty was a founder of the local branch of the Irish Volunteers in Cork in December 1913. In June of the following year he was appointed to the Cork section of the Volunteer Executive, and then to the Military Council. In October the Dublin government discovered his illegal activities, so he was dismissed. Excluded from Cork under the DORA regulations, he moved to Ballingeary, where he worked as a labourer. From there he moved to Enniscorthy, County Wexford, where he lived with Larry de Lacy. On 24 February 1915, he was arrested and tried under the Defence of the Realm Act for putting up seditious posters. For this and a second charge of 'possession of explosives' he was discharged. The explosives belonged to de Lacy.
The Volunteers appointed O'Hegarty as commandant of Ballingeary and Bandon. During the Easter Rising he was stationed in Ballingeary when visited by Michael McCarthy of Dunmanway to propose an attack on an RIC post at Macroom. However, their strength was fatally weakened, and having no reserves they called off the attempt.C Townshend, "Easter 1916", p. 237.
Reorganisation of the Cork IRB and Irish Volunteers after 1916 In 1917, O'Hegarty became vice-commandant of no.1 Cork Brigade.
Within Cork City, membership of the Irish Volunteers and the smaller and Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) overlapped but seniority differed in each. While Tómas Mac Curtain was commandant of the Irish Volunteers in Cork, he had resigned from the IRB following 1916. During 1917, a period when the Volunteers were expanding rapidly, O'Hegarty was both second in command of the Irish Volunteers, and leader of the IRB in the City.
In the years following 1916, divisions emerged within the separatist movement over strategy and organisation. Debate centred on whether to prioritise open political organising and membership expansion, restructuring the movement to support a sustained mass campaign, or to retain a clandestine role for the Irish Republican Brotherhood, including the timing and desirability of limited early attacks on the Royal Irish Constabulary. O'Hegarty was often in favour of the use of force at an early stage when it was against Irish Volunteer orders. He led a group of men who were both members of the IRB and members of the Volunteers, and he approved of their actively raiding to obtain arms, preparing explosives and attacks on RIC men. Mac Curtain did not at this time approve of some such incidents. Incidents could trigger disruptive RIC raids and he viewed them as inappropriate in some cases. Incidents were taking place in Cork which were not authorised by the most senior Volunteer leadership, by men associated with O'Hegarty and the Cork IRB.
In September 1917, IRB men led by Roibard Langford carried out the Cork Grammar School raid and captured 47 badly needed service rifles. Langford faced a Volunteer court martial, but was acquitted.
In November 1918 O'Hegarty was acting commandant of the Cork Brigade, Mac Curtain having fallen ill while at a Volunteer meeting in Dublin. Captain Donnchadh Mac Neilus, another of his IRB/Volunteer men, who had shot an RIC head constable while resisting arrest, was being held in Cork Mens Gaol. There were fears that Mac Neilus would be executed if the head constable died, so O'Hegarty decided to attempt a rescue despite the gaol being guarded by the military. O'Hegarty approved the rescue plan created by Florence O'Donoghue. This was the first major armed operation since 1916, with Volunteers and Cumman na mBan involved guarding the gaol and approach roads, cutting telegraph lines, preparing the escape route and attending a first aid station to await any casualties. No shots were fired, and the plan was successfully carried out on 11 November. Six armed IRB/Irish Volunteer men entered the Gaol, subdued the guards and departed with the rescued prisoner.
The separation of leadership between Volunteers and IRB came to a head in April 1919, when an attempt was made to arrest an IRB man (Harry Varian) who had shot and seriously wounded a member of the RIC and evaded arrest. The wounded RIC man incorrectly identified Fred Murray, a Volunteer officer, as being responsible, and he was arrested for the shooting. Varian later explained his actions by saying that O'Hegarty had granted him permission to carry a gun, and he did not believe he should apologise for using it.
In May 1919 a house which was used by O'Hegarty's IRB group blew up while explosives were being prepared. Two IRB men, who were also Volunteers, were killed. Mac Curtain had not previously been informed.
The various incidents where IRB leadership instructions conflicted with Irish Volunteer leadership instructions resulted in some disagreements among the leadership. As a gesture to Mac Curtain's seniority within the Volunteers, in 1919 O'Hegarty resigned as second in command of the Cork Brigade, but remained a Volunteer. He continued to be leader of the IRB in the City.
War of Independence During the War of Independence, O'Hegarty was one of the most active in County Cork.
When an off duty RIC constable was murdered, Mac Curtain condemned the unauthorised shootings and called for their end. On 19 March 1920, Mac Curtain was shot and killed in his own home in Cork. The coroner blamed the British establishment in Dublin, but the police never made any attempt to investigate the killings. Shortly after these events General Tudor began the policy of Official Reprisals.Peter Hart, "IRA and its enemies", pp.247, 241.
In a raid on Cork City Hall on 12 August 1920, the British managed to net all the top brass of the IRA in Cork. In an incredible failure of intelligence they did not identify the leadership as their prisoners. They were all released, including Liam Lynch, and O'Hegarty. Only Terence MacSwiney, the new lord mayor, was kept in custody and sent to England.Florrie O'Donoughue, "No Other Law", p. 92. Townshend, "The Republic", p.193. By 1921 O'Hegarty was commandant of Cork No.1 Brigade.
On 25 February 1921 the Coolavokig Ambush was carried out by the 1st Cork Brigade under O'Hegarty at Ballyvourney village (on the road between Macroom and Ballyvourney). The IRA later reported they had 56 armed men. The Auxiliaries reported that their force initially consisted of two officers and 39 men, plus seven RIC, with a district inspector and another 25 other ranks arriving later as reinforcements. The IRA suffered no casualties. However, the number of British casualties has been disputed to this day.Brigade Commandant, Cork no.1 bde, Report of Ambush at Coolakovig. Townshend, "The Republic", p.241-2. Those killed included the commander of the Auxiliaries, and two other ranks. Newspaper reports indicate at least 5 were wounded.
The brigade commanders in the southern division retained a residual lingering resentment for Dublin GHQ's lack of leadership and supplies. Sean Moylan, commandant of No.2 Cork bde, thought good communications with No.1 bde were to be vital, but little of this was seen via the organizer Ernie O'Malley at GHQ. At a meeting set up for 26 April 1921, when the manual of Infantry Training 1914 and instructions from GHQ were produced, they raised great anger. The Southern Division men were not paid and only had shotguns or arms they captured, so felt the training, military service periods and military proposals presented by GHQ were inapplicable. The meeting ended in uproar, when a number objected, including O'Hegarty who as "a master of invective, tore the communication and its authors to ribbons".Bureau of Military History, Witness Statements (WS) 838 (Sean Moylan). Townshend, p.279-80.
O'Malley and Liam Lynch, the general, met with O'Hegarty in the mountains of West Cork, near a deserted farmhouse, just off the main road. In On Another Man's Wound, O'Hegarty is described as wearing "a light-blue swallow-tail coat, and trousers, a heavy woollen coat, derby hat, with a twisted stick under his arm...he was bearded, mutton-chop whiskers."E. O'Malley, "On Another Man's Wound", pp. 341, 343-44. In the retreat that followed, the Irish lost heavy casualties, and left their wounded to the good care of the British. These were the "round-ups" in which the Irish slept outside in order to avoid being at home when the Army called. They were told by Brigade to learn the English national anthem to avoid arrest.
In East Cork brigade O'Hegarty uncovered a spy ring. When the 6th Battalion proposed executing Mrs Georgina Lindsay and her chauffeur, after they informed the British Army of an IRA flying column ambush position in Dripsey, resulting in the encirclement of the column and the execution or death of 6 Volunteers, O'Hegarty said he would support the decision the battalion came to in spite of Michael Collins initially being reluctant to execute a woman. GHQ were not informed of the execution until it was raised during negotiation of the treaty and they insisted on a clear answer.Borgnovo, "Spies" p.6, 30.
O'Hegarty became more and more aggressive towards the establishment, using tough language to impose his will over the area. He attempted to force the civilian TDs for Cork to stand down, to give way to military candidates, telling the Dáil in December 1921 that any TD voting for the treaty would be guilty of treason. However, De Valera was decided, and overruled any interference with the Civil Government. Like the commanders, he rejected the treaty, but had already been defeated in the Dáil on a vote by Cosgrave's majority.Townshend, p.403.
On 1 February 1922, O'Hegarty married Maghdalen Ni Laoghaire (d.1940), a prominent member of Cumann na mBan.
During the Civil War O'Hegarty was on the IRA's Executive Council, but when there was a meeting on 9 April 1922, it was proposed that the Army should oppose the elections by force: as a result, Florence O'Donoghue and Tom Hales joined O'Hegarty in resigning.Townshend, p.285. In May, Hegarty and Dan Breen entered into negotiations with Free Stater Dick Mulcahy.E. O'Malley, "The Singing Flame", p.76. A statement was published in the Press asking for unity and acceptance of the treaty.