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Seán shines new light on an infamous murder trial
Lifestyle – Judy Murphy meets Seán Ó Cuirreáin, whose research offers a fresh insight into Maamtrasna murder controversy
It’s not every day you’ll find a frugal public servant writing to an executioner in the hope of getting a cut-price deal for a forthcoming hanging.
But that’s exactly what Seán Ó Cuirreáin discovered while researching his book on the infamous 1882 Maamtrasna murders and subsequent trial, which represented one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in Irish history.
The Maamtrasna murders on August 17, 1882, caused shock waves in Ireland, England and further afield. Five members of one family, from children to an elderly woman, were slaughtered in their cabin in this isolated area which was then in County Galway. One badly-injured child survived, as did a son who had been working in Clonbur on the night of the savage killing.
These murders took place against a backdrop of land agitation and secret societies and so “the government thought what happened in Maamtrasna was part of a reign of terror”, says former Raidio na Gaeltachta journalist Seán Ó Cuirreáin.
They were wrong, however, he adds, as it was a local squabble based on sheep-stealing – serious but without political undertones. However, that fact came to light much later, by which time innocent men had been jailed and one had been executed.
Seán’s book Éagóir (Injustice) contains much new information about the 1882 trial – a trial that later helped bring down the British Government, when it became apparent that the Crown had knowingly accepted perjured evidence from unreliable informants.
Among those convicted on this false evidence was Myles Joyce, who had an excruciating death on December 15, 1882, when his hanging went wrong.
It had been in relation to that hanging that Galway’s sub-sheriff, John Redington, wrote to executioner William Marwood of Lincolnshire in the UK, asking for a reduction in Marwood’s normal price as “it’s only one day’s job”.
The official public executioner received an annual retainer of £20 and an extra £10 for every person he hanged. But Galway’s sub-sheriff felt it was too much for this job.
Initially eight men were due to hang for the Maamtrasna murders – and as Redington explained in his bargain-seeking letter, “the law does not allow the sheriff anything for these executions and he has to pay the entire costs out of his pocket”. He added that “the charge will be the same as the last, viz. £20 for the day”.
Eight men were due to hang but five were given a last-minute reprieve by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Earl Spencer, and had their sentences commuted to penal servitude for life. The three remaining convicts were hanged by Marwood.
The events that led to this began in August 1882 in Maamtrasna with the horrific killings of the Joyce family. Ten men were charged with the murder, all native Irish speakers, most of whom had little or no English. They were tried in Dublin, in front of a judge with no Irish, with a middle-class jury who spoke no Irish.
Their solicitor was a 24-year-old who had just graduated from Trinity and was working in his father’s law practice in Tuam. He was a Protestant with no Irish, representing this group of Catholic Irish-speakers who were up on a charge of capital murder – punishable by death.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
On the eve of completing his 150th marathon, an odyssey that has taken him across 53 countries, Loughrea’s Marathon Man has announced that he is planning to hang up his running shoes.
But not before Jarlath Fitzgerald completes another ten races, making it 160 marathons on the occasion of his 60th birthday.
“I want to draw the line in 2026. I turn 57 in October and when I reach 60 it’s the finishing line. The longer races are taking it out of me. I did 20 miles there two weeks ago and didn’t feel good. It’s getting harder,” he reveals.
“I’ve arthritis in both hips and there’s wear and tear in the knees.”
We speak as he is about to head out for a run before his shift in Supervalu Loughrea. Despite his physical complaints, he still clocks up 30 miles every second week and generally runs four days a week.
Jarlath receives injections to his left hip to keep the pain at bay while running on the road.
To give his joints a break, during the winter he runs cross country and often does a five-mile trek around Kylebrack Wood.
He is planning on running his 150th marathon in Cork on June 4, where a group of 20 made up of work colleagues, friends and running mates from Loughrea Athletics Club will join him.
Some are doing the 10k, others are doing the half marathon, but all will be there on the finishing line to cheer him on in the phenomenal achievement.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
