In the centre of Oranmore, stands a statue to a local man who was shot in Dublin one hundred years ago this week. Joe Howley, Officer Commanding Number One Brigade IRA Galway was killed leaving what is now Heuston Station, Dublin on December 4 1920, and was pronounced dead at 12.30 a.m. December 5 in George V Hospital Dublin.
A number of volunteers joined Joe Howley on the train that day and, on advice, separated when they reached Dublin. Joe was seeking information from Michael Collins and staff at G.H.Q. Dublin, on the availability of arms, ammunition and explosives for the volunteers in Galway and it was possible he was summoned to Dublin. It was a tense time in Ireland due to a number of recent high profile murders in Galway and the Bloody Sunday killings in Dublin on November 21 1920.
After alighting from the train at Broadstone Station (Houston today ) at dusk, about 6/6.30 p.m., Joe Howley proceeded to walk towards Dublin city centre when shots rang out. A group of armed men fired at him and he fell to the ground. One police report noted that another person ‘bolted’ from the scene and made his escape. Witnesses said that two armed men searched the injured Howley; a whistle was blown whereupon a vehicle pulled up and a party of three men in civilian clothes and a driver drove away from the scene.
A woman and others went to Joe’s aid and prayed and comforted him. An ambulance was called and he was placed on a stretcher. But an armoured vehicle arrived and following discussions the injured Joe Howley was taken from the stretcher, placed in that car and taken to Dublin Castle and later to George V Hospital where he died on December 5, 1920 some hours after the shooting.
Michael Joe Howley was born in 1895. His father, Michael Howley, died when he was about two years of age. His mother Mary Howley nee Rabbitt of Forster Street, Galway remarried William Keane of Oranmore a few years later. Joe was educated in Oranmore before going on to St. Joseph College in Galway. He joined the volunteers in 1913 and the I.R.A in 1914.
Arrest
Joe led a contingent of volunteers in an attack on Oranmore Barracks during Easter Week 1916 and supported Liam Mellows and other Galway volunteers in the Rebellion playing an active part in the events of that week. Following the end of the Rising and the order to disband, Joe Howley made his way into Galway. He was arrested in Rabbitts in Forster Street. The Galway Express, Saturday Morning, May 6, 1916:
“A Leader Arrested: at midday to-day the police visited a house in Forster Street and took into custody a young man named Howley, who is stated to be leader of the Oranmore Volunteers. He was brought to Eglinton Street”.
Joe Howley was taken to the Richmond Barracks Dublin, tried and sentenced to five years penal servitude. He was interned in Dartmoor and Lewis prisons in England. Joe wrote to his mother Mary Keane from detention on October 3 1916 describing a life of boredom and terrible conditions. He longed for information on his family, home and farm in Ireland. He was released in the general amnesty of June 1917 and immediately set about reorganising the Volunteers in Galway.
The Irish War of Independence was stepped up in 1920 with shootings, burnings and general ‘mayhem’ throughout Ireland. The authorities were attempting to counter the new Irish Government sitting in Dublin that supported a campaign of resistance to its authority. The British Government sent reinforcements to Ireland to support the regular police, the R.I.C. and these Auxiliaries (‘the Black and Tans’ ) made up of ex servicemen operated thoughout the country and their activities led to an increase in the breakdown of law and order in Galway and throughout Ireland.
On 21 August there was an ambush of R.I.C at Merlin Park, Galway when a policeman was killed and two more wounded. As a reprisal the Auxiliaries raided Oranmore and set fire to a number of premises, including the home of Joe Howley whom they suspected of taking part in the ambush. He wasn’t involved.
1920 was a terrible year for Mary Keane, mother of Joe Howley, and her family.
her second husband Willie Keane died in January 1920 from cancer;
her home and business was burned down by the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries in August 1920;
The Tans and police meted out a severe beating to a man who worked for her in November 1920;
Three Sheep and a lovely heifer were taken and killed from her land in November by Crown forces;
She lost her eldest son Joe Howley in December 1920 when he was shot in Dublin.
Joe Howley was ’on the run’ when he travelled to Dublin on that fateful day in December. A number of witnesses including Patrick Mullins, Laurence Lardner and a Mrs. Stanley, Broadstone Cottages, Dublin (presumably a woman that came to the aid of the fallen Joe Howley in December 1920 ) gave evidence in 1924. 22nd November 1924 P.J. Mullins, a medical student & volunteer at the time wrote:
“On (4/ ) 5th December 1920, I Patrick Mullins accompanied Joseph Howley (deceased ) on train to Dublin. He was at that time acting as O.C. Galway No. I Galway Brigade and I was, at his request, acting as his temporary adjutant. We were going to Dublin with the view of, if possible, procuring ammunition for the arms in the area, and also procuring explosives. To the best of my knowledge Brigadier (Commandant today ) Howley had been summoned to Dublin by the G.H.Q. of the Army. We arrived at Broadstone shortly after dusk. As we were crossing the Bridge outside the Broadstone I thought I felt the presence of persons behind us. I half glanced over my shoulder and I saw the figures of four or five men behind us in a half circle and saw one figure at Howley’s right shoulder jam a gun (a short arm ) into Howley’s head. Simultaneously I heard shots “I ducked” and hopped in towards the wall. I heard other shots and (on ) one man following me towards (the ) wall I ran towards Dominick St. and I looked back I saw Howley lying on the ground, a girl or woman kneeling beside him raising his head and putting a beads into his hands. It was, as I stated, dusk or nearer dark and only bright near the lamps. This is the clearest recollection I have. I can attest to Brigadier (Commandant ) Howley’s ability as an officer as far as my opinion holds, and also to his sincerity as a soldier. I had known him for two years previous to his death and I had been on active service for three months previous to his death, and on occasions during the two years beforehand.”
Statue erected in Oranmore
A number of days after the shooting Joe Howley’s body was returned to Oranmore by train where he was met by his mother Mary Keane, two step brothers, Charles and William, two step sisters, Madge and Josephine plus family relations including the Rabbitts’ from Forster Street, Galway (Peter Rabbitt, a former Urban Councillor was Mary’s brother ) and friends and supporters. The train was also met by a large security force that removed all Irish flags and republican insignia to prevent, as they viewed it, a propaganda funeral and he was laid to rest in Oranmore cemetery. He was 25 years of age.
The armed men who shot Joe Howley in Dublin were thought to be part of a unit of R.I.C. dressed in civilian clothes set up by the British authorities tasked with identifying and shooting Irish volunteers travelling to Dublin from the West of Ireland. The killing of Joe Howley led Michael Collins to plan and to eliminate this new threat to his intelligence organisation. Eugene Igoe, a former Constable who had served in Mayo and Galway had been transferred to Dublin to head this unit.
A Galway volunteer, Tomas ‘Sweeney’ Newell was enlisted to help identify Igoe as he was unknown to Collins’s ‘Squad’. On 7th January 1921 Newell accompanied by Collins’s intelligence officer Charlie Dalton, who were unarmed, spotted Igoe walking through Dublin city centre, but Igoe and his unit, in plainclothes, had also recognised Newell, turned suddenly and cornered him and Dalton. This encounter led to a separate interrogation of the two and culminated in an angry exchange between Newell and Igoe. Vinnie Byrne a ‘Squad’ member saw Dalton talking to Igoe’s unit but was unsure whether they were another IRA active service group or R.I.C. but realised something was up when Dalton would not acknowledge him as he was passing. Newell was taken away and Dalton told to walk away and he succeeded in escaping his pursuers through a side street. As Newell was being marched towards Dublin Castle Igoe punched him and he was shot and was badly injured in his lower body. He ended up in George V Hospital. (Dalton’s description of that encounter in his book ‘With the Dublin Brigade’ (1929 ); Tomas ‘Sonny’ Newell’s and other active Service members witness statements make for fascinating reading. They also describe the frustrations of the Squad and Collins in coming to grips with the Igoe gang before the end of the War of Independence.
A memorial statue to Joe Howley was erected in Oranmore in recognition of his service in 1916 and in the Anglo Irish War to 1920 when he was killed. It stands today in Howley Court in the centre of Oranmore. The inscription reads:
“Comdt. Joseph Howley. He led his volunteers in Easter week 1916 and was murdered by English agents at the Broadstone Dublin 1920. Erected in 1947 by his old comrades of 1916-1920”
