50 year commemoration for Cumann na mBán leader

A COMMEMORATIVE talk will take place in Falcarragh on Easter Saturday to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the death of republican activist Eithne Ni Cumhnail who died in 1985.

Falcarragh native, Eithne Ní Cumhnail, was born on January 3, 1897. She was the youngest of seven children to Charles Coyle and May McHugh.

She joined Cumann na mBán in 1917 as a twenty-year-old, going on to set up branches in various areas, and began raising money for anti-conscription campaigns during World War One.

As head of Cumann na mBán in Donegal, Eithne became very active going from county to county working for the Gaelic League which disguised her courier work and intelligence gathering for the IRA. She canvassed vigorously for Sinn Féin in the 1918 elections.

Eithne Ní Cumhnail pictured around 1910.

Eithne’s life was a mixture of hardship and danger in pursuit of the goal of a free and independent Ireland in those turbulent years of oppression and fight for Irish liberation.

Eithne suffered constant harassment from the RIC and Black n’ Tans having her house wrecked a number of times while living in Roscommon. She was arrested in 1921 and was sentenced to three years penal servitude for helping IRA members.

On the October 31, 1921 Eithne, Mary Burke and Aileen Keogh escaped from prison with the help of a number of warders. They were driven to an IRA training camp in County Carlow where Eithne remained until the War of Independence truce on July 11, 1921

Having taken the anti-treaty side she was frequently arrested by pro-treaty forces but was released each time without charge.

In 1922 the provisional government decided to put more pressure on Cumann na mBán rebels and Eithne was the first to be arrested and held in Ballyshannon and went on hunger strike for seven days because of the lack of a female prison guard.

She was then held in Buncrana Barracks for a fortnight before being taken to Mountjoy prison which was overcrowded with other Cumann na mBan members.

Liam Barry who will give a talk on his family connections to that era of freedom fighters.

Eithne was one of twenty women prisoners who escaped on May 7, 1923, but was recaptured the following day.

She married Bernard O’Donnell in 1935. O’Donnell was a prominent IRA figure in Donegal who she had known since 1918. They had a son and daughter and both went into the religious orders, serving as a nun and a priest.

Easter Saturday’s event will take place in Garradh Colm Cille (beside new Falcarragh Hall). It will begin with the laying of wreaths at the Eithne Ní Cumhnail memorial plaque situated at Killult, at the bottom of Falcarragh hill at 5.30 pm followed by a talk given by descendants of Eithne’s, Liam Barry and Dr Méadhbha Ní Bhaoil at 6pm, with refreshments afterwards.

An event organiser said it is important that women who played such a vital role in the formation of this state should not be forgotten, while encouraging everyone interested in local and national Irish history to attend.

Dr Méadhbha Ní Bhaoil who will speak on Eithne’s life and how she got involved in the struggle for independence.

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