Framed copy of epic poem commemorating three Cork patriots unveiled at city library 

A framed copy of an epic poem composed to commemorate three Cork patriots has been unveiled in the city library after one of those heroes.

The year 1920 was tumultuous in Cork, marked by the murder of one lord mayor, the death on hunger strike of a second, and the targeting for assassination of a third by crown forces after they burnt the city.

On March 20, 1920, the lord mayor of Cork, 36-year-old Tomás Mac Curtain, was murdered in front of his wife and son by members of the Royal Irish Constabulary.

Ten days later, his friend Terence MacSwiney was elected unanimously as lord mayor.

Five months after that election, on August 12, the lord mayor was arrested in Cork City Hall.

He went on hunger strike and was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment in Brixton prison in London. His case put the cause of Irish freedom on the front page of newspapers across the world.

Terence MacSwiney died on October 25, after 74 days on hunger strike. He was 41.

In November, 29-year-old Donal O’Callaghan was elected lord mayor, the third in a year.

After the Burning of Cork, following death threats by the Black and Tans, O’Callaghan fled to the United States, stowing away on the steamship West Cannon.

All three of those patriots were past pupils of the North Monastery, and a poem in epic form was commissioned four years ago by Brother GD de Barra to mark the centenary of that epochal year.

The poem, A Triumvirate of North Monastery Heroes, was written by Caoimhín Mac Unfraidh, and a framed copy was presented by Jim Mullins, president of the North Monastery Past Pupils Union, to David O’Brien, Cork city librarian.

The poem was unveiled in the foyer of the city library, which is officially name the Terence MacSwiney Library, last Friday, on the 104th anniversary of the death of Terence MacSwiney. 

The event had originally been planned for 2020, but was delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The imagery in the framed version of the poem is by acclaimed artist Eve Parnell, and it is placed on the wall in the library foyer next to the commemorative plaque that was unveiled by then taoiseach Jack Lynch when the library was extended in 1979.

At the event, city librarian David O’Brien said it was important to reclaim the Cork patriots as real people, who lived very busy lives.

“We all think about freedom fighters, we forget that they were young, they had so many different activities and places to go, and when we look into MacSwiney and Mac Curtain, both of them, you’d often wonder when you read pieces about them, did they ever sleep?” said Mr O’Brien.

The event also saw the formal handover of copies of The Art and Ideology of Terence MacSwiney, a celebration of his literary work, to the principals of the schools on the North Mon Campus.

The book is edited by Gabriel Doherty, Fiona Brennan and Neil Buttimer and published by Cork University Press in association with Cork City Council’s Commemorations Committee.

All second level schools in the city will receive a copy in the coming months.