Frank O'Beirne

O'Beirne grew up in Collooney, and was an early supporter of Sinn Féin. He was arrested in February 1918 for unlawful assembly relating to commandeering of land for "conacre".Farry (1992), p. 118 He refused to post bail and was sentenced to six months' imprisonment. In February 1919, he was arrested for illegal fundraising in Collooney, again refused to post bail, and served three months.Farry (1992), p. 159 In June, he organised an aeraíocht (outdoor cultural festival) in Collooney.Farry (1992), p.169

The Irish War of Independence was escalating, and O'Beirne was Officer Commanding of the Collooney Battalion of the Irish Republican Army (the "Old IRA").Farry (1992), p.177 After the local elections of May 1920, O'Beirne was chairman of Sligo rural district council (RDC), leading the council to accept the authority of the First Dáil.Farry (1992), pp. 201, 206{{cite news |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/wit/1920/0619/Pg002.html#Ar00203 |title=Irish Local Government Elections : new provincial council chairmen |date=19 June 1920 |newspaper=The Irish Times |page=2 |access-date=22 June 2009}} As RDC chairman, he was ex officio a member of County Sligo county council, which passed a similar resolution when it met in June.Farry (1992), p. 246{{cite news |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1921/0630/Pg005.html#Ar00524 |title=Daring affair at Sligo : Prisoners taken from the jail|date=30 June 1921|newspaper=The Irish Times |page=5 |access-date=22 June 2009}} When Major Bryan Cooper refused to pay the "IRA rates", O'Beirne took two bullocks in lieu.Farry (1992), p. 206 On 26 June, he helped to spring Frank Carty from Sligo Gaol.Farry (1992), p. 226 In July, he was an adjudicator at the Dáil Courts which sat at Sooey Creamery and later at Sligo Courthouse.Farry (1992), p. 219

O'Beirne sometimes used Major Heather's Knockadoo House near Coolaney as a safehouse.Farry (1992), p. 268 He led a raid on the British Army barracks in Carrick-on-Shannon.{{cite news |title=Drumshanbo: death of Mr M. Mahon |date=10 April 1976 |work=Leitrim Observer |page=8 }} He did not participate in a raid on Collooney RIC barracks in March 1921 as he was sick.Farry (1992), p. 281 He was captured on 27 May 1921Farry (1992), p. 300 and court-martialled for involvement in the killing of RIC constables in Ballisodare, but escaped from Sligo Gaol in June 1921 before sentence could be passed.Farry (1992), p. 304

O'Beirne was a close friend of Éamon de Valera, and took the anti-Treaty side in the Irish Civil War. His Collooney Battalion, now part of the "Irregulars", killed five Irish Free State Army soldiers in an ambush and captured two armoured cars.{{cite book|last=Gillogly|first=James|title=Decoding the IRA|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gaNkC61RI18C&pg=PA205|access-date=16 October 2016|year=2008|publisher=Mercier Press Ltd|isbn=9781856356046|page=205}} Soon after he was taken prisoner along with forty men after Seán Mac Eoin launched a surprise attack on the town.{{cite book |first=Michael |last=Farry |title=The aftermath of revolution : Sligo, 1921–23 |year=2000 |publisher=University College Dublin Press |isbn=1-900621-38-X |location=Dublin |page=78 }}

In the 1925 Leitrim–Sligo by-election two vacancies in the Leitrim–Sligo constituency were to be filled; O'Beirne stood for Sinn Féin along with Samuel Holt. Holt received slightly more first preferences than O'Beirne and was elected with his transfers, along with Martin Roddy of Cumann na nGaedheal.{{cite web|url=http://electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=2178|title=Frank O'Beirne|work=ElectionsIreland.org|access-date=22 June 2009}} In his concession speech, O'Beirne said there were "two things he held narrow views on; one was pride in his Catholic Faith, and the other was his pride in his Irish Nationality. [...] priests and bishops [...] were not infallible as far as politics were concerned."{{cite news |title=Rejoicing over the victory ; speeches at Carrick-on-Shannon |date=21 March 1925 |work=Leitrim Observer |page=3 }}

The following November, O'Beirne was one of two men convicted in the Central Criminal Court for 'being concerned in the organisation of an illegal organisation "The Irish Republican Army"'.{{cite news |title=Jury's suggestion in Sligo case |date=7 November 1925|work=Leitrim Observer |page=4 }} The jury suggested the men should not be treated as criminals, while the judge said their crime was treason, punishable by death. In the event, a 12-month sentence was imposed.{{cite news |title=Sent to jail: Sentences under the Treason Act |date=14 November 1925 |work=Leitrim Observer |page=1 }}

O'Beirne spent time in the United States, "reporting" to the New York IRA co-ordinator Connie Neenan in January 1927,Wilk 2014, p.57 and attended prominent Clan na Gael functions in 1930–1932.Wilk 2014, pp.69, 71, 87 Moss Twomey, the IRA chief of staff, had a low opinion of O'Beirne. Officially he worked as a shipping agent, which was a front for acting illegally as an agent for the Irish Sweepstakes.Wilk 2014, p.117 He returned to Ireland in the 1930s, working as a farmer and businessman, and was active in Fianna Fáil's industrial policy promoted by Seán Lemass. He was elected to the Seanad in 1943 on the Industrial and Commercial Panel, but was defeated in the 1944 Seanad election, having also failed to be elected to the Dáil for Sligo at the 1944 general election.

O'Beirne was director of several companies, including Meat Exporters (Sligo) Ltd,

{{cite news |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1953/1112/Pg007.html#Ar00700 |title=Tendency to shirk work criticised; Opening of meat factory |date=11 December 1953 |newspaper=The Irish Times |page=7 |access-date=21 June 2009}}

and Flemings Fireclays.{{cite news |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1978/0209/Pg024.html#Ar02439 |title=(Personal Ads) As a mark of respect to out late director Frank O'Beirne |date=9 February 1978 |newspaper=The Irish Times |page=24 |access-date=22 June 2009}}{{subscription required}} He was a founding director of the Sligo Industrial Development Corporation in 1953.{{cite web|url=http://www.sligochamber.com/aboutus-history.asp |title=Chamber History |work=Official website |publisher=Sligo Chamber of Commerce |access-date=22 June 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090427114945/http://www.sligochamber.com/aboutus-history.asp |archive-date=27 April 2009 }} In 1955, he bought from Major Clarence H. Hillas "Sea View", a country house previously owned by the Atkinson family,{{cite book |last=Hanson |first=Helen May |title=The Atkinson family from County Sligo, Ireland |year=1996 |page=106 |oclc=34469371 }} near the Sligo–Ballina road at Doonecoy, Templeboy.{{cite web |url=http://www.landedestates.ie/LandedEstates/jsp/estate-show.jsp?id=234 |title=House:Seaview or Doonecoy |date=3 September 2008 |work=Landed Estates Database |publisher=NUI Galway |access-date=22 June 2009 |archive-date=21 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721125531/http://www.landedestates.ie/LandedEstates/jsp/estate-show.jsp?id=234 |url-status=dead }} He was a member of the Racing Board from 1965 to 1970.{{cite news |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1965/0623/Pg002.html#Ar00212 |title=Racing Board members |date=23 June 1965 |newspaper=The Irish Times |page=2 |access-date=21 June 2009}}{{cite book |last=Haughey |first=Charles |author-link=Charles Haughey |title=Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. – Directors of Semi-State Bodies |publisher=Oireachtas |date=4 March 1969 |series=Dáil Éireann debates |volume=238 |pages=cols 2093–94 |no-pp=y |chapter=The Racing Board |url=http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0238/D.0238.196903040038.html |access-date=22 June 2009 |archive-date=7 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607133301/http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0238/D.0238.196903040038.html |url-status=dead }}{{cite book |last=Colley |first=George |author-link=George Colley |title=Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. – Directorships of State Sponsored Bodies |publisher=Oireachtas|date=29 October 1970 |series=Dáil Éireann debates |volume=249 |pages=col 335 |no-pp=y|url=http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0249/D.0249.197010290077.html }} He was killed in a car crash on the N7 near Kill, County Kildare, aged 81. His wife Kathleen had died in 1969.{{cite news|title=Mrs K. O'Beirne |date=27 May 1969 |work=Irish Independent |page=12 }}

• {{cite book |first=Michael |last=Farry |title=Sligo 1914–1921 : a chronicle of conflict |year=2005 |orig-year=1992 |publisher=Killoran Press |isbn=0-9520135-0-9 |location=Trim |url=http://www.michaelfarry.com/files/sligowar.pdf }}
• Note: the page numbers in the notes are to the 1992 edition; those in the linked 2005 electronic edition are c. 5–8 pages later
• {{cite book|last=Gavin|first=Wilk|title=Transatlantic defiance: The militant Irish republican movement in America, 1923–45|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WvM_CwAAQBAJ&pg=PP1|access-date=14 October 2016|date=2014-12-01|publisher=Manchester University Press|isbn=9781847799500}}

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{{Members of the 4th Seanad}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Obeirne, Frank}}

Category:1897 births

Category:1978 deaths

Category:Escapees from British detention

Category:Fianna Fáil senators

Category:Businesspeople from County Sligo

Category:20th-century Irish farmers

Category:Irish Republican Army (1919–1922) members

Category:Members of Sligo County Council

Category:Members of the 4th Seanad

Category:Road incident deaths in the Republic of Ireland

Category:Irish Republican Army (1922–1969) members

Category:People of the Irish Civil War (Anti-Treaty side)

Category:20th-century Irish businesspeople

Category:People from Collooney

Category:Sinn Féin candidates in Dáil elections (post-1923)

Category:Industrial and Commercial Panel senators