By Sean Hillen
HOLDING up trains with a gun without a trigger, dumping newspapers into rivers and hiding aboard a fishing boat along the Donegal coast to escape capture – such were some of the colourful exploits a packed audience in Falcarragh learned last weekend about local rebel leader, Eithne Ni Cumhnail.
Part of the Easter 1916 commemorations organised by the local Sinn Féin Cumann, guest speakers at Garradh Colm Cille, Dr. Meadhbha Ni Bhaoil and Liam Barry, described Eithne, a native of Falcarragh, as a ‘tireless leader’ of Cumann na mBan, the Irish Republican women’s military group which she joined in 1917, and also with the Gaelic League.
She supported what was termed ‘the Belfast Boycott’ by holding up trains, confiscating copies of the Belfast Telegraph and burning them or dumping them in rivers.
Some of those who attended the commemorative event in Falcarragh on Easter Saturday.
The commemorative event also included an evocative poem written and read by local woman Mary Attenborough.
Eithne, whose father, Charles, was involved in the Land League, was taken prisoner by the Black and Tans in 1921 and told she would be shot if she didn’t give the names of other rebels in her group.
“She refused and though she wasn’t shot, she was imprisoned in Mountjoy alongside other female revolutionaries such as Constance Markievicz,” said Barry.
Bold in spirit, Eithne escaped from prison but later was held in Ballyshannon and Buncrana Barracks and even went on a hunger strike.
Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty said, “Cumann na mBan and the role of Irish women in the struggle for freedom has gone unheard and unsung for far too long and it’s great we have one of our own right here in Donegal to celebrate, someone who never allowed the flame of freedom to be extinguished.”
As a mark of respect, a wreath was laid at the Eithne Ni Cumhnail memorial plaque in Killult.
Event host, Joe Curran, with guest speakers, Liam Barry and Dr Meadhbha Ni Bhaoil.
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