3 days ago
'I went inside the prison where firing squad executed Irish freedom fighters'
One hundred and three years ago Richard Twohig wrote his last ever letter from inside the walls of Kilmainham Gaol.
It read: 'I am in the best of spirits. Long live Ireland. God bless you, Mother, and the children. Goodbye. Ireland first, and Ireland last, and Ireland over all. I hope Ireland will be free soon.'
The 21-year-old was among four members of the Anti-Treaty IRA who were shot by firing squad in the gaol on November 17, 1922, for carrying revolvers on the streets of Dublin.
Out of the four young men, his letter was the shortest. But his wish was clear, he was willing to die for Irish freedom.
As I stand in the Stonebreakers Yard on a busy August morning for the gaol, it's hard to fathom that rebels were tragically shot and killed here just over a century ago.
It isn't a piece of Ireland's medieval past. And either is much of the gaol's sordid history, which saw prisoners crammed into small cells, public hangings and political executions.
Opened in 1796, Kilmainham Gaol, known then as 'the new Gaol', came about from the prison reform movement led by John Howard. At the time, prisons had unhealthy and cruel conditions with petty criminals and children put in the same room as murderers.
This new gaol was supposed to be more humane, with prisoners having their own cell. But Mr Howard could've never predicted how it would play out.
When An Gortá Mór began in 1845, it became illegal to beg on the streets. This led to massive overcrowding in the prison system.
Children and adults were crammed into Kilmainham's small cells, with many starving people wanting to be imprisoned so they would get fed. While all they would receive was a basic diet of bread, milk and gruel, it was more than they were getting on the street.
Families from the US, Australia and Spain are on my tour today, with children as young as six standing in the halls and listening to our tour guide Anthony Dunne.
While I think about how well these kids are behaving, I imagine the hundreds of children who were imprisoned in these walls.
Three-year-old Thomas Roberts was the youngest person ever to be incarcerated in Kilmainham Gaol. He was arrested and jailed for begging, and was let out a couple of weeks later with no parents to look after him.
At five feet 10 I have to duck through some of the doors, as the feeling of confinement is very real. This was an architectural choice, with low and narrow hallways and doors slowing down any sporadic movement from prisoners.
But as I walk into the Victorian East Wing the area feels vast, with a high ceiling and 96 tiny cells lining the oval. Peering into the cells it's hard to imagine that any one person wouldn't lose their minds trapped in there, let alone multiple people being crammed into the space.
The East Wing is undoubtedly the most well-known part of the building. It has featured in several movies and TV series including The Italian Job, In The Name of Our Father and Liam Neeson's Michael Collins.
What catches my eye is a cell with the plaque above it saying 'Mrs Joseph Plunkett 1923, nee Grace Gifford.'
At the beginning of the tour, we sat in The Chapel, where the couple married just hours before Mr Plunkett was executed on May 3, 1916.
Her wedding ring, which she bought from a jeweller on Grafton Street, now sits in the Kilmainham Gaol museum- which visitors can enjoy at the end of their guided tour.
Tickets for the tour are not easy to come by. They are released every 28 days and are snapped up very quickly.
Visitor Services Manager Ciara Scott says a limited number of slots are available online every day at 9.15am. The morning I visited 250 were snapped up in less than a minute.
In 1916, the courthouse – which closed in 2008 – was renovated by the Office of Public Works as a visitor's centre for the gaol. Since then, slots have been staggered, relieving tour goers from queuing for hours to get a look in.
In the busy summer months, 1,100 people visit it daily and get an expert tour from the incredible guides.
Many are there to learn about the political history, as 14 of the 16 leaders of the 1916 rising - including Plunkett - were horrifically executed in the Stonebreakers Yard.
In its early days, this is where prisoners who were sentenced to hard labour spent endless gruelling hours hammering stone.
According to our tour guide Anthony, the 1916 Rising was not a popular rebellion among the people of Ireland.
Tens of thousands of Irish men were fighting alongside the British army on the Western Front during World War 1, and many saw the rebellion as a betrayal of those soldiers.
But the executions changed public opinion, with those at home and abroad siding with the 1916 leaders. Despite fury over the killings, Anti-treaty prisoners continued to be executed here during the Irish Civil War, including 21-year-old Richard.
As we stand outside in the same spot the rebels were shot, Anthony says: "The executions took place over 10 days, the first on May 3, the execution of Patrick Pearse, commander in chief.
'And it would culminate with two executions on May 12. The execution of Sean Mac Diarmada and James Connolly. What they were doing by executing those last two men was executing the last two remaining signatories of the proclamation, the last two true leaders.
'And the British government's thought process was that once these two men are gone, that will extinguish the embers of rebellion. They were wrong, very wrong.'
Now sitting in the yard lay two crosses at either end, with a tricolour flag in between.
Green for the Catholics, orange for the Protestants and white for hope, peace and a lasting union between the two.
While standing in this historic building and listening to the stories of those who fought for Ireland, I feel a sense of pride that this country is ours.
But then I think about young Richard. His dying wish that Ireland would be fully free has not come true 103 years after he was shot by a Free State firing squad in Kilmainham Gaol.
Ciara reads an original copy of The Proclamation in the museum in Kilmainham Gaol (Image: Conor Ó Mearáin/Collins) 1 of 7
The Stonebreakers Yard in Kilmainham Gaol, where many of the 1916 leaders, including James Connolly, were executed (Image: Conor Ó Mearáin/Collins) 2 of 7
The East Wing in Kilmainham Gaol (Image: Conor Ó Mearáin/Collins Photo Agency) 3 of 7
Ciara O'Loughlin in one of the cells in Kilmainham Gaol (Image: Conor Ó Mearáin/Collins) 4 of 7
