history

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	THE FORMATION OF FIANNA NA HEIREANN by Bulmer Hobson In Belfast, in July 1901, the Tir na nOg branch of the Gaelic League started a team of hurlers. It was the first in the North. Immediately afterwards six or seven other hurling clubs came into existence. There were ample playing-fields in the beautifully situated public park at the top of the Falls Road. We then formed the Antrim County Board affiliated to the Gaelic Athletic Association—the first county board in Ulster. Michael Cusack came to Belfast for this occasion and I became the Board's first secretary. A storm arose almost immediately. Some of the new clubs had members of the police force among their players and this aroused strong objections. A very heated discussion took place at the newly-formed county board and, after many hours of argument, the meeting was adjourned until the following evening, having first agreed that only those who had not already spoken should be heard at the adjourned meeting. When we met again, it happened that I was the only person present who had not already spoken. I came out very strongly against allowing members of the police force to have any part in our activities, on the ground that they were not only hurlers but, from the nature of their calling, would be compelled to act as spies and providers of information about the national movement. This settled it, and the police were excluded. At this time I had also become a member of the Coisde Ceanntair of the Gaelic League in Belfast, and shortly after became its secretary. The Coisde Ceanntair was composed of a group of charming men, most of them older than my father. Dr. St. Clair Boyd was the Chairman and Treasurer. He had been an advocate of the revival of the language for many years. He was an old man and in poor health, and, being well off, he paid all our bills. P. J. O'Shea, who was well known as a writer in Irish under the name of "Conan Maol," taught the largest and most successful branch in Belfast; among his pupils were several men who became scholars of distinction. O'Shea used to give lectures on Irish history. He had a fine voice and a rich vocabulary. I remember his voice ringing through the room as he described Queen Elizabeth I as "that woman with bowels of brass." We had twenty-six branches of the Gaelic League in the district, and the problem of finding enough teachers was quite insoluble. I spent most evenings going from class to class to see if they had teachers for the crowds eager to learn. People who had struggled through Father O'Growney's Third Book were pressed into service to teach those still in the First Book. One evening I visited the branch which met in the school attached to St. Paul's Church on the Falls Road and found a particular friend of mine, Peter Murphy, in a large classroom with about ninety small boys completely out of control. Peter Murphy was one of the best men in the movement and he afterwards rendered it notable service; but he could not cope with a mob of small boys. He said he was not coming back and that the boys would not be allowed in again. I thought this a pity, so I went myself and took the class the following week. I restored and maintained order by summarily ejecting any boy who made an unnecessary sound. They hated being put out and crowded round the closed door, begging to be re-admitted. I remember the astonishment of Father Gerald Nolan, who was the curate at St. Paul's, when he found a young Belfast Quaker teaching the Lord's Prayer, in Irish, to a crowd of his young parishioners. I raised a little money among my friends and bought camans for the boys and started them hurling. Almost immediately, over a dozen boys' hurling clubs started up in the district. To say that the players who had taken up hurling as adults were inexpert is to put it too mildly they were a positive danger and some of them had the marks for many years. The young boys were different. They had grace and acquired skill very rapidly, and I thought that if we were ever to have hurling teams that could compete with those in other counties we should concentrate on training the young boys and making first-class hurlers out of them. So at the next meeting of the Antrim County Board, I proposed that we should have competitions for the junior clubs. To my surprise they were just not interested, and my proposals got nowhere. Annoyed at this, I resigned and my next move was to calla mass meeting of the boys in a small hall off the Falls Road. There was a tumultuous gathering of nearly three hundred boys. I took the chair and proposed that we form a new organisation, to be called Na Fianna Eireann. Each club was to take the name of one of the warriors in the old Fianna; we were to have an inter-club hurling competition and we were to have classes for the Irish language and Irish history. The excitement was tremendous, and I thought that here was something we could mould into a strong force to help in the liberation of Ireland. I rented a playing-field ut the foot of the Whiterock Road the first to be devoted to hurling in the North in this century. I asked that most generous patron of everything Irish, Francis Joseph Biggar, to give us a shield for competition, and he commissioned Jack Morrow, a fine artist and craftsman, to make a large and beautiful shield of beaten copper. We started off with great success for a while, but then we ran into difficulties. It takes money to do these things, I had none, and the boys had none. I was running into debt, and one of my friends, who had guaranteed the rent of our playing field, had run into debt. I was having considerable difficulty in making a living in Belfast. One firm dismissed me because I was Secretary to the Gaelic League, another because I was holding public meetings in support of the Sinn Fein movement. As other work piled up, I was able to give less time to the Fianna, and it became rather neglected. Still it accomplished quite a lot for the national movement in Belfast. Seven years after the first Fianna had been established, I was in Dublin and I told Constance Countess Markievicz, then a very new recruit into the Sinn Fein movement, about my venture in Belfast. She suggested we should start again in Dublin, and, on my pointing out that I had no money, she said she would pay for a small hall to serve as headquarters for a new Fianna. A few days later she became the tenant of a small hall at 34 Lower Camden Street. It was the same hall in which the National Theatre Society used to rehearse before it grew into the Abbey Theatre, and where David Parkhill and I had met most of the literary lights of Dublin when we came seeking aid before we started the Ulster Literary Theatre. Notices convening a meeting of boys to be held at 34 Lower Camden Street on the following Monday (16 August) to form a National Boys' Organisation appeared in An Claidheamh Soluis on 14 August 1909 and in other papers at the same time. A brief report of the meeting appeared in An Claidheamh Soluis on 21 August 1909. About one hundred boys attended, in addition to Countess Markievicz, myself and some other adults. I presided and was elected President of the organisation. Countess Markievicz and Padraig 0 Riain were elected Joint Secretaries. In my opening speech, I stressed that the control of the organisation should be wholly in the hands of the boys themselves. When the election of officers was taking place at the meeting, there was a certain reluctance among the boys about the election of the Countess to office, on the grounds that she was a woman, and I had on many occasions to point out privately that they could not accept her financial help and refuse her membership or office. This feeling against the presence of a woman in a boys' organisation continued in varying degrees of intensity for several years. The militant character of the Fianna is indicated by the first three clauses of its Constitution as amended by the Ard Fheis in 1913. OBJECTS To re-establish the Independence of Ireland. MEANS The training of the youth of Ireland, mentally and physically. To achieve this object by teaching scouting and military exercises, Irish history, and the Irish language. DECLARATION I promise to work for the Independence of Ireland, never to Join England's armed forces, and to obey my superior officers. (Fianna na hEireann Handbook, 1914, page 167) In an article by Major H. L. Murphy, entitled ''Countess Markievicz" which appeared in An Cosantoir of June 1946 it was stated that Padraig Pearse and Roger Casement were associated with the foundation of the organisation in 1909. This is not correct. Both of them came in time to develop a benevolent interest in the Fianna, but they were neither associated with its foundation nor were they connected with it officially at any time. At this time, 1909, I was an ordinary rank-and-file member of the IRB, but that body took no part in the promotion of Fianna Eireann and was not consulted regarding it. It was, nevertheless, my aim to recruit suitable members of the new Fianna into the IRB, of which I subsequently became both Dublin Centre and Leinster Centre. A few weeks after the foundation of the Fianna. lacking employment in Dublin. I went to Belfast where I stayed for a year, returning on and off to Dublin, and while I was away the Countess was elected President in my place. During my absence I continued to maintain my contacts with the Fianna, and on my return to Dublin I resumed my active association with it. The Fianna was mainly self-supporting from the boys' subscriptions, but they were helped by gifts of money from Roger Casement and by funds raised by me in various ways, and sometimes in a small way by the IRB through me. As already stated, however, the IRB had no direct connection with the Fianna. As the boys grew older, some of them were recruited into the IRB at the age of seventeen and upwards, and after my election as Dublin Centre of the IRB in 1912 I formed a special Fianna circle of the IRB, the members of which continued as members of the Fianna. Included in the members of the Fianna circle of the IRB were Con Colbert. Paddy Ward. Eamonn Bulfin, Eamonn Martin, Michael Lonergan. Liam Mellows, Barney Mellows, Frank Burke, Paddy Houlihan, Garry Houlihan. Padraig 0 Riain and Archie Heron. The centre of the circle was Con Colbert, who was executed in 1916. In preparation for the formation of the Irish Volunteers in October 1913. arrangements were made about July of that year by the Dublin Centres Board of the IRB for the drilling of its own members, in order to be ready to take over the military control of the new body. Drilling took place chiefly in the house of the Irish National Foresters, 41 Parnell Square, Dublin, where Padraig 0 Riain's father was caretaker. Members of the Fianna circle of the IRB, who were themselves highly-trained, acted as instructors. These included Michael Lonergan, Padraig O Riain, Con Colbert and Eamonn Martin. After the formation of the Volunteers in 1913 some of the older members of the Fianna passed into that organisation. Co-operation between the two organisations was always close, but at no time prior to the rising was there any formal affiliation. Prior to the formation of the Irish Volunteers in 1913 there was no serious effort to arm the Fianna. Side arms, i.e. bayonets, were common, but there were no firearms. On the foundation of the Irish Volunteers, five members of the Fianna became members of its Provisional Committee—Padraig 0 Riain, Con Colbert, Eamonn Martin, Liam Mellows and Michael Lonergan. The Fianna were later to play a very important part in the landing of arms at Howth in July 1914. BACKGROUND & HISTORY OF FIANNA NA HEIREANN Fianna na hEireann was founded in 1909 with the object of educating the youth of Ireland in national ideas and re-establishing the independence of the nation. After more than 700 years of enforced English rule, Ireland was slowly becoming a contented British province. Unemployment was widespread, poverty rampant and apathy the general condition of' the people. Hopelessness seemed the birthright of every boy and girl born in those lean years. The older generations were embittered and dispirited. Pride of nationhood was at its lowest ebb. The Gaelic League and Gaelic Athletic Association, founded in the last quarter of the 19th century, had made great strides. They catered for the young adult population. But the boys of Ireland. whose keen young minds should have been educated in their country's heritage, needs and future, were neglected. The neglected youth of Ireland then was falling prey to the bait of the tyrant. Some escaped their poverty by joining the British Army and helped their oppressor establish his rule in Africa and Asia. Others scraped a bare existence at home but did not allow their minds to dwell on the plight of their country or on their future. Meanwhile, a new anti-national menace in the shape of' the Baden-Powell Boy Scouts, threatened to spread throughout the country. The scouts made a declaration of allegiance to the King of England, thus starting their indoctrination in British ways and British loyalities. THE COUNTESS One day in 1909 Countess Constance Markievicz read a newspaper report of one such loyalist parade. She thought it tragic that 800 Irish ]ads should parade in front of the King's representative in Ireland and salute the Union Jack, the flag that flew in triumph over their oppressed motherland. She would do something about it. She decided to found an organisation for Irish boys. The boys would be held together by the bond of their great love for Ireland. The organisation would include all workers for Ireland's cause, whether constitutionalist or revolutionary. What mattered was honesty and willingness to undertake a life of self-sacrifice and self-denial for their country's sake. Na Fianna Eireann was to be primarily an educational organisation. At the time the Countess was a member of the Sinn Féin Executive and a speaker at their weekly public meetings. At these meetings she aired her views and called for support for the organisation she hoped to found, but met with little encouragement. However, with the help of Helena Molony, Padraig Mac Artain, and Sean Mac Garda, an informal committee was formed, which discussed the foundation of the Organisation. It was decided to contact a schoolmaster who would recommend boys who might be interested in such an organisation. The Countess told a Unionist friend she hoped to form a boy scout organisation for nationalists and desired to contact a schoolmaster who would be sympathetic. He sent her to Westland Row C.B.S. The school master introduced the Countess to eight boys and she launched the Organisation by inviting them to her own house, where she held the first parade. None of the members knew drill, semaphore, or any other scouting skill. Little progress was made and the Countess became rather depressed at times. Then they decided to go on a camp, and the joys and tribulations of a Fianna camp really convinced her of the possibilities of the Organisation. It also convinced her that the organisation would have to be run more on the basis of a "Boys' Republic" and an army, as opposed to the English Scouts' system or organisation by sections and patrols. She secured a hall at 34 Lower Camden Street and invited Bulmer Hobson to assist, as he had previous experience of handling boys, having run a boys' organisation in Belfast. At his request she called the organisation Na Fianna Eireann. The first meeting was held in the new hall. It was largely attended and An Chead Sluagh was formed. Con Colbert joined Fianna na hEireann that historic evening and soon rose to the rank of Captain. This meeting, which was presided over by Bulmer Hobson, marked the actual founding of the organisation and its launcing on a national scale. The date was August 16, 1909. Hobson was elected President, Madame Vice-President and Padraic O'Riain Secretary. FIRST ARD-FHEIS The Organisation progressed steadilv and the next sluaite to be formed in Dublin were the Drumcondra and North Dock units. The first sluagh formed in Belfast was organised by Miss Annie O'Boyle, a young woman who worked devotedly and untiringly for the cause. There were sluaite in Dublin, Limerick, Derry, Cork, Belfast and Clonmel by December 1910, and the first Ard Fheis had already been held. The Belfast Sluagh, wearing Fianna uniform, climbed Cave Hill, and standing at McArt's Fort just as Wolfe Tone had done, promised to work unceasingly for the independence of Ireland. The second Ard Fheis which was held in July 1911, revealed that the organisation had spread to Dundalk, Newry and Waterford. In that year Liam Mellowes joined. Sean Heuston was then O.C of Limerick Sluagh. All conventions were held in the Mansion House prior to 1916. When the Executive examined the financial situation in 1912, it realised that progress was jeopardised by lack of funds. Money was needed to finance the spread of the organisation. Liam Mellowes volunteered to give up his job and become a full time Fianna organiser at a salary of ten shillings a week. He began his work in April 1913 and never relaxed his ceaseless activity for the Republic until his death before a Free State firing squad on the feast of the Immaculate Conception. 1922 When he commenced his great task as first Fianna organiser, he was met with indifference almost everywhere. but within a year the future of Fianna na hEireannin Ireland was assured. The organisation spread throughout the country due mainly to his great organising ability. The Fianna established hurling and football teams, pipe bands and ambulance-corps, in every part of the country. Sean Heuston returned to Dublin in 1913 and took charge of Sluagh Robert Emmet. He was a born leader and had a great capacity for work. He laboured long in Fianna HQ at 12 D'Olier Street where he could be found up to midnight working on details of organisation and training. Fianna na hEireann played an active part during the 1913 strike and a Fianna officer, Patsy O'Connor, was batoned on the head by R.I.C. while giving first aid to an injured person, following a police baton charge. This lad died sometime afterwards. When the Volunteers were formed in the same year, the value of the work undertaken by Fianna na hEireann became obvious. The senior boys were ready and competent to train the Volunteers and accustom them to discipline and, in short, to transform raw recruits into disciplined soldiers. Four Fianna officers were elected to the first Executive Council of the Volunteers and Liam Mellowes became the first effective secretary. The Fianna drill halls and equipment were at the disposal of the Volunteers and they grew rapidly in strength, along with Na Fianna. Na Fianna was well represented at Bodenstown the same year when Padraig Mac Piarais led the historic pilgrimage to the grave of Wolfe Tone. This has remained an annual event for the organisation ever since. The year 1914 saw further progress for Fianna na hEireann when the first handbook was put in the hands of the Organisation. This year also marked Na Fianna's first event of national importance, the Howth gun running. They marched from Dublin with the Volunteers, bringing their trek-cart with them, and were the first to reach Erskine childers' yacht The Asgard. During the return journey to Dublin they were entrusted with some guns and the ammunition because of their high standard of discipline. After clashes with the military they succeeded in delivering it to its destination. A Fianna officer was in charge of the cycle detachment at the Kilcoole gun running, which took place soon afterwards. From 1915 onwards they threw themselves wholeheartedly into anti-British activities, and that year the funeral of O'Donovan Rossa was the occasion of a great display of strength. FIANNA NA HEIREANN RE-ORGANISES In 1915 the Fianna re-organised the Sluaite into Brigade and Battalion formations to bring the organisation into line with that of the Volunteers. The change-over was ratified at the Ard-Fheis held in July of that year. This was followed by a meeting of the newly elected Ard Choiste (Executive council) which proceeded to appoint a Headquarters Staff, thus departing from the former practice of electing the Departmental Directors at the Ard-Fheis. Capt J A Dalton of Limerick presided over the first meeting of the Ard Choiste, held at 12 D'Olier Street on Sunday, July 24, 1915. The following Headquarters Staff of the Fianna was appointed: Chief of the Fianna, Padraic O'Riain; Chief of Staff, Bulmer Hobson; Adjutant General, A P Reynolds; Director of Training, Se_n Mac Aodha; Director of Organisation and Recruiting, Eamon Martin; Director of Equipment, Leo Henderson; Director of Finance, Barney Mellowes. Garry Holohan was appointed assistant to Leo Henderson. They held office until Easter 1916. It was decided to co-opt a member of the Belfast District Council on to the Ard Choiste. By this time Con Colbert had gone to the Volunteers full time. THE HISTORY AND TRADITION OF FIANNA NA HEIREANN 1916-1922 Seven years of intensive effort and dedicated service to the nation culminated in the glorious Rising of Easter Week, 1916, when Fianna officers were given command of important sections of the operations. A party of Fianna and Volunteers successfully attacked and destroyed the arms and munitions in the Magazine Fort in the Phoenix Park, thus signalling the start of the Rising. This party then proceeded to the Broadstone Railway Station, where the O.C of the Dublin Fianna was severely wounded in the attack. This party also participated in the capture of the Linen Hall Barracks and the fierce fighting in North King Street. Sean Heuston was in charge at the Mendicity Institution on Usher's Island, and with his small garrison, defended his position for three days. Liam Staines, a member of "F" Sluagh, was severely wounded during the fighting there. Con Colbert was second in command in Marrowbone Lane and assumed command at the surrender. Madame Markievicz with Michael Mallin, held the College of Surgeons with Citizen Army and some Fianna boys. Members of Na Fianna were engaged in the fighting in other parts also, and. In addition, carried out the dangerous work of dispatch carrying and scouting. Six Fianna boys were killed, several were wounded and Sean Heuston and Con Colbert were executed on May 8, 1916. Liam Mellows, the Fianna organiser, led the Rising in the West. He was in command of the Western Division of the Volunteers and planned to drive the British out of the West by capturing all posts and barracks there and then marching on Galway City. They captured the barracks at Clarenbridge and marched to Oranmore. While demolishing a bridge there they were forced to retreat in the face of enemy forces. Liam mobilised all his forces at a disused castle and prepared to carry on the fight. Word reached them that large enemy reinforcements had arrived in Galway Bay. This was a severe blow to their morale and many contemplated returning home. The arrival of a priest, who finally persuaded them to return home on the plea that everyone had surrendered except the Galway men, clinched the matter. Liam Mellows was deserted by all, except two loyal comrades, and was forced to flee to the mountains - a hunted outlaw. After four months on the run he was instructed to go to America to campaign for funds for the Movement. He worked ceaselessly for the cause there until his return to Ireland in 1920. AFTER THE RISING Immediately after the Rising a meeting of all available officers was held at An Chead Sluagh hall when a Provisional Committee of Control was appointed, as follows: Eamon Martin (Chairman), J Pounch, T Fitzgerald, and Joseph Reynolds. With the release of the bulk of the internees in December 1916. The HQ Staff was re-constituted as follows: Ard Fheinne, Countess Markievicz (still in prison); Chief of Staff, Eamon Martin (in USA); Adjutant General, Barney Mellows (re-arrested February 1917); Quartermaster General, Garry Holohan; Assistant QMG, A White; Director of Training and Acting Chief of Staff, Sean McLoughlin. With the release of the remaining prisoners a further re-organisation resulted in the following appointments which remained static until the Truce in 1921: Ard Fheinne, E de Valera, 1917-18; Ard Fheinne, Madame Markievicz, 1918-1921; Chief of Staff, Eamon Martin, until July 1921; Adjutant General, Barney Mellows; (P Stephenson was Acting Adjutant General while Barney Mellows was in prison); Quartermaster General, Garry Holohan; Assistant QMG, A White; Director of Training (also C/S), Eamon Martin; Assistant Director of Training, H O'Neill; Director of Organisation, Liam Langley. Fianna took an active part in all militant activities during the year, which included marching at the funeral of Thomas Ashe, the anti-conscription campaign and several raids for arms. The Annual Ard-Fheis in 1919 at the Mansion House pledged its allegiance to the Government of the Republic, as the Fianna of today continue to do. In 1920 the Fianna Commando offered to attempt the rescue of Kenvin Barry. They were instructed to stand by but the order was later cancelled. From 1919 to 1921, Na Fianna took an active part in the fight for freedom throughout the country. They carried despatches for the Volunteers, reconnoitred barracks etc, engaged in intelligence work of all kinds, rendered first aid to the wounded. Officers and senior scouts succeeded in securing arms and actively engaged the enemy on numerous occasions. The heroism of the boys of Ireland during this period would require many volumes to tell the full story and cannot be dealth with properly in this broad outline. 25,000 SCOUTS At the Ard-Fheis held after the Truce, the Director of Organisation gave the strength of the organisation as around 25,000. The Chief of Staff's opinion was that this was an "on paper" figure and that half to two-thirds that figure would be a closer estimate. The "returns" were always on the "generous" side. At the general parade of all national bodies which took place in Smithfield, Dublin, to celebrate the Truce, the Fianna who paraded from the Dublin Brigade, under Garry Holohan, numbered 2,100 all ranks. This is an accurate record. The year 1921 came, a year that promised so much for the new resurgent Ireland. England had called for a truce and negotiations were in progress. Many noble Irish boys had died and suffered that Ireland might be free. THE HISTORY AND TRADITION OF FIANNA NA HEIREANN 1922-1964 But Ireland's sorrowful tale was to continue and many more were to die in the "second defence of the Republic". The voice of Ireland's youth again spoke fearlessly through the GHQ of Fianna na hEireann, proclaiming their allegiance to the Republic and offering their lives in her defence. In the terrible second war made on the Republic, the boys fought as bravely as the young warriors of the old Fianna of Fionn. Hundreds of lads were thrown into prison and stood true, neither giving away under torture nor shirking the hunger strike. Some died in battle, many were kidnapped and murdered by men fighting to hold Ireland for the British Empire. Two of the Fianna Headquarters Staff - Liam Mellows and Joe McKelvey - were treachersouly shot to death by Irishmen, at the bidding of the English Cabinet, after being held prisoner for five months. The Republican Army laid down its arms in April 1923 after nearly two years of heroic resistence, but it made no surrender of principle. The Free State Government was established to rule or misrule the 26 Counties, and an Orange Government set up in the Six Counties to do likewise. Na Fianna _ireann was proclaimed an illegal organisation in the Six Counties, but continued to function actively as it does today. Under the guidance of Countess Markievicz, Fianna na hEireann was re-organised in 1924 after the turmoil of the "second defence of the Republic". A new handbook was issued in the same year. The monthly organ of the organisation, Fianna, made its appearance again and brought news of the organisation to every corner of Ireland. Fianna na hEireann continued to play a leading part in the education of the youth and the safeguarding of the national ideals throughout the land. The Stormont authorities in the Six Counties, aware of the tremendous influence of the organisation on Irish boys, have waged a continuous war of intimidation, victimisation and terrorisation on its members down to the present day. They failed to break the organisation and during the periods of national resurgence the Fianna were always ready, willing and able to play their part in the national struggle. There are many accounts of petty victimisation. In April 1935, William Watson, Malcomson St, Belfast, was remanded in custody after being charged with possession of four Fianna badges and a seditious notebook. In May 1938, Alex McCloskey was sentenced to six months imprisonment for organising Fianna Eireann in Belfast. Michael Smith, a sixteen year old youth, was sentenced to six months imprisonment with hard labour in Belfast, In February 1939, for putting up a poster calling for the release of Republican prisoners. He had one previous conviction. When he was 12 he was convicted of collecting for the Fianna. These are instances of the type of sentence imposed on Irish boys for the most trivial of "offences". There are hundreds of such instances, ranging from 1922 to the present day, but these are typical. It is regrettable that the full story of the Northern Division cannot be told at present. It is an epic in itself and has given such fine men to Ireland as Joe McKelvey, Séamus Burns, Thomas Williams, Paul Smith and Oliver Craven, to mention but a few. In the late 1930s and the early 1940s the boys of the Dublin Brigade defied the Fianna Fail ban on the Bodenstown pilgrimage by laying a wreath on the grave of Tone. This was achieved, despite the threatening guns of the Free State dupes, who were sent to Tone's grave to prevent Republican Ireland honouring its national hero. It was often necessary to walk the 23 miles to Bodenstown and back on the following day, to defy the pseudo-Republicans of Leinster House. These are the acts of defiance and National pride, which characterise all that is great in the fighting tradition of Ireland's Fianna boys. Let it be 1940, when Bodenstown was banned or 1963, when the Easter Lily was banned - the boys of Na Fianna in every generation will be found in the front line of resistance to petty oppression. That is the Fianna spirit - the secret of its success. This outline deals merely with the early years of the organisation and its great contribution to the national cause. The Fianna Roll of Honour is long, glorious and noble - an epic of heroism as great as the saga of the Fianna of Fionn, perhaps greater in so far as it existed and exists in this modern materialistic age of self-interest, where self sacrifice is frowned upon, idealism mocked and the unselfishness of youth ridiculed. The boys of Na Fianna Eireann will continue to serve Ireland nobly and honourably by endeavouring to fulfil, in their generation, the national aspiration - an Ireland Gaelic and free. One day their work may assist in bringing about the sovereign independent Irish Republic, as visualised by Colbert, Heuston, Mellows, Smith and their comrades. During all the years since 1909, the proud record of Na Fianna has remained inspiring and unsullied. Ar aghaidh le Fianna Eireann!