TWO FORMER lord mayors of Cork who died in 1920 are to be the subject of a major commemorative debate organised by management at their former alma mater.
North Monastery secondary school on Cork’s northside has planned a major debate on the legacy of past pupils Tomás MacCurtain and Terence MacSwiney.
The debate will be held in the concert hall, City Hall, Cork, this Friday at 7.30pm. It is being chaired by Pat Cox and is free to the public.
Prof Cathal MacSwiney Brugha and Fionnuala MacCurtain will make brief presentations on behalf of the families. The presentations will be followed by a major panel discussion on the theme “MacCurtain and MacSwiney – a Legacy Squandered or Fulfilled?”
The panellists will be Tim Pat Coogan, Dr Ruth Dudley Edwards, Prof John A Murphy and Dr John Paul McCarthy (Cork and Oxford).
Tomás MacCurtain was elected the first republican lord mayor of Cork in January 1920. Early on March 20th, 1920, members of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) burst into his house and shot him. The murder brought near universal condemnation.
On MacCurtain’s death, MacSwiney was elected lord mayor of Cork. Like MacCurtain, he had been a member of the Irish Volunteers and had also been imprisoned following the Easter Rising.
On August 12th, 1920, he was arrested for having seditious documents and a cipher key to coded messages used by the RIC.
He was tried by court martial later that month and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment. After his arrest he immediately went on hunger strike. He was imprisoned in Brixton prison where his hunger strike attracted world-wide attention.
He died on October 25th, 1920, and his body was brought home for burial.
Separately, as part of North Monastery’s bicentenary celebrations the school plans to commemorate John Philip Holland – inventor and designer of the first submarines in the US, British, Japanese and Dutch navies.
John Philip Holland, born in Liscannor, Co Clare, was a Christian Brother between 1858 and 1873. Tony Duggan, on the steering committee of North Monastery, says Holland completed fascinating work during his time at the school between 1858 and 1861.
“While at the North Monastery, Brother Holland designed, did the drawings and specifications for the first submarine, and Brother James Dominic Burke made a model in wood for him. The first tests were carried out with models and explosives in the monastery’s ornamental pond.”
The Holland commemoration event will be held in the National Maritime College of Ireland, Ringaskiddy, Co Cork on May 7th.