The Bard: Sean Riobaird O Suilleabhain

by Barry Keane

The Bard was a legendary leader of Moonlighters in North Cork during the Land War and public enemy number one for a decade. He received a sentence of 24 years hard labour at a show trial in Nenagh in 1891.He was released when the Liberal Government came to power in 1906 through the efforts of D. D. Sheehan, William O Brien and the AFIL MPs. His arch enemies were a very successful local self-made Catholic businessman, Jeremiah Hegarty, who used credit crunch tactics (and the traditional supplementary tactics now out of fashion in these situations) against tenants in financial difficulties and thereby acquired their land; the other was the local Catholic Parish Priest, Canon Arthur Sands Griffin, who orchestrated a long and well thought out campaign against the Land League, locally, nationally and internationally. The two were a formidable combination and with all the powers of the State and the Establishment actively supportive of them they seemed invincible. Hegarty was made a Justice of Peace with the purpose of hounding the Bard. The ensuing conflict made Millstreet known as the cockpit of Ireland for a while. It was not a pretty sight and not for the faint-hearted. That conflict resonates to this day and remains part of the DNA of the area.

129 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012