Sunday 13th November 2011

Lower Grange, Co. Limerick

A Plaque is to be unveiled to commemorate an important military action in the War of Independence.  The incident was known as “The Ambush at Grange” and took place on the 8th November 1920. Donnchadha O'Hannigan had overall command of the combined columns and most of the ambushers were placed in houses and behind walls on both sides of the road.”

Page 453  “The War of Independence in Limerick 1912-1921 by Thomas Twomey

I was asked to provide a message to be read out at the event. It is as follows:

When my great grandfather John Cleary and his brother Dinny left the Galtees for Australia in October 1863 among those who farewelled them in the native tongue was their sister Nora. They would never see Nora again or live long enough to hear of how her son, their nephew Donncadh O'Hannigan had taken up arms for the republic. But the stories did find their way into the family and in time I would meet Donncach's daughter Carmel, a nun in Mitchelstown, and eventually, with Tom Twomey wander across the places where O'Hannigan and the East Limerick Flying Column so bravely confronted the might of the British forces. As a descendant of the Clearys, a Galtee clan steeepd in republicanism and Irish culture I'm indebted to Tom Twomey, whose work honours the bravery of the men and women of the area. God bless you and your column, Donncadh O'Hannigan.