Cathal Brugha Barracks

The barracks was originally constructed between 1810 and 1815, and named Portobello Barracks for the area in which it was sited. (When Sir Francis Drake looted the city of Portobelo, Panama, died and was buried at sea in its harbour, many places in England and Ireland were commemoratively named Portobello – including part of Rathmines in 1696. The nearby canal bridge and the area became known as Portobello and thereafter, the barracks.){{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15447632|title=Sir Francis Drake's body 'close to being found off Panama'|date=25 October 2011|publisher=BBC|accessdate=9 October 2016}}

In 1817 William Windham Saddler, son of balloonist James Saddler, set off in a hot-air balloon from the grounds of the barracks landing in Holyhead in North Wales.{{cite web|url=http://www.dublincity.ie/dublin-buildings/cathal-brugha-barracks|title=Dublin Buildings - Cathal Brugha Barracks|publisher=Dublin City Council|website = dublincity.ie|accessdate=9 October 2016}}

Originally designed as a cavalry barracks, it saw some development along these lines, with additional land being purchased, and the addition of a church (1842) and canteen block (1868).

Edgar F. Keatinge, writing in the Dublin Historical Record in 1947, recalled his youth growing up in the vicinity of the barracks, at a time when Ireland was still part of the United Kingdom:

"We children used to haunt the barracks at Portobello... we became quite expert in the names and characteristics of the regiments quartered there. We could, for instance, knowingly distinguish the quick step of the Rifle Brigade from the more measured tread of the Surreys, and even before we were near enough to recognize them by sight, our ears told us who they were. A great thrill was a cavalry regiment and our joy was complete when the mounted bands struck up."{{sfn|Keatinge|1947|page=76}}

During the 1916 Easter Rising and the Irish War of Independence, British troops from the barracks were involved in actions throughout Dublin. During this time, three journalists, including the pacifist Francis Sheehy-Skeffington, were murdered in the barracks exercise yard on the orders of Royal Irish Rifles officer, Captain Bowen-Colthurst. In the subsequent court martial, Bowen-Colthurst was controversially found guilty but insane at the time of the murders.{{cite web|url=http://www.dippam.ac.uk/eppi/documents/22375 |title=Royal Commission on the Arrest and subsequent treatment of Mr. Francis Sheehy Skeffington, Mr. Thomas Dickson, and Mr. Patrick James McIntyre: Report of the Commission, presented to both houses of Parliament by command of His Majesty|publisher= London: Darling & Son|year= 1916|accessdate=9 October 2016}}

On 17 May 1922 Irish troops took possession of the Barracks, and it became the National Army's Headquarters under General Michael Collins.

In 1952 it was renamed for Cathal Brugha, who was a leader during the 1916 rising, Minister for Defence in the First Dáil, and who lived locally for a time. Cathal Brugha, a leader in the Anti-Treaty IRA, was shot by the National Army on O'Connell Street during the Battle of Dublin.{{cite journal|last1=Quinn|first1=James|title=Brugha, Cathal (National Archives of Ireland webpage)|journal=Dictionary of Irish Biography|date=2009|volume=1|pages=951–954|url=http://treaty.nationalarchives.ie/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Brugha.pdf|accessdate=8 July 2015|archive-date=6 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140206010127/http://treaty.nationalarchives.ie/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Brugha.pdf|url-status=dead}}

Since the end of the Irish War of Independence, the barracks has housed units of the Irish Defence Forces, and has more recently been developed as a result of the force's reorganisation. It became the Eastern Command HQ (again) in 1994. Following the 2012 reorganisation of the army,{{cite web |url=http://www.military.ie/press-office/news-and-events/single-view/article/30-november-2012-ceremonial-stand-down-parade-of-the-4th-western-brigade?cHash=3a03b84dca5de5214889a73549dda4ba |title=Ceremonial Stand Down Parade of the 4th Western Brigade |author=Irish Defence Forces Press Office |date=30 November 2012 |publisher=Official Defence Forces Website |accessdate=13 December 2012}} the barracks became headquarters of the reorganised 2 Brigade.

As of 2014, Cathal Brugha Barracks housed the following units:{{cite web|url=http://www.military.ie/contact-us/ |title=Military.ie - Contact Us - Cathal Brugha Barracks, Dublin |publisher=Official Defence Forces Website |accessdate=10 November 2014}}

• 2 Brigade Headquarters
• 7 Infantry Battalion
• 2 Cavalry Squadron
• 2 Brigade Field CIS Company
• 2 Brigade Military Police Company
• 2 Brigade Transport Company
• 2 Brigade Ordnance Company
• 2 Brigade Training Centre
• 2 Brigade Detachment Central Medical Unit
• Army School of Music and No 1 Army Band
• (Plus reserves units such as a CIS Radio Platoon and the Dublin Unit of the Naval Service Reserve (DUNSR))

{{Blockquote|He had a good slice of luck, Jack Mooney was telling me, over that boxing match Myler Keogh won again that soldier in the Portobello barracks. By God, he had the little kipper down in the county Carlow he was telling me|Ulysses, Chapter 8, Lestrygonians episode, James Joyce|source=}}

• List of Irish military installations

{{Commons category}}

{{Reflist}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite journal |last = Keatinge| first = Edgar F.|title = Colourful, Tuneful Dublin | journal = Dublin Historical Record| volume = 9| issue = 3| pages = 73-83| publisher = Old Dublin Society| location = Dublin| date = 1947-09-01| jstor = 30084153| url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30084153}}

{{refend}}

{{Irish Army & Army Reserve}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Irish Army

Category:Barracks in Dublin (city)

Category:Irish military bases

Category:Military archives

Category:Military installations established in 1810

Category:1810 establishments in Ireland