THOMAS O’LEARY MEMORIAL ON UPPER RATHMINES ROAD
I never noticed this memorial before but I discovered that it was in very poor condition and easy to miss until it was recently restored or replaced.
Thomas O’Leary was a 22-year-old Dubliner and member of the anti-Treaty IRA when he was shot dead by the Free State Army in March 1923.
Thomas O’Leary fought in the Irish War of Independence [the Black & Tan War]. He opposed the treaty and went with the anti-treaty IRA in the Civil War. He was a member of the 4th Battalion, Dublin Brigade IRA. According to various accounts he was arrested at a friend’s house at Upper Rathmines Road on 23 Mar 1923 by Free State Army. His body was found the next day at Upper Rathmines. He had been shot 22 times [a bullet for each year of his life].
The jury at the subsequent inquiry came to the conclusion that O’Leary was “murdered by persons unknown … by armed forces, and that the military did not give us sufficient assistance to investigate the case.”
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