Richard Mulcahy
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Chief of Staff of the IRA, successor to Michael Collins as Commander in Chief of the National Army, founding member of Cumann na nGaedheal and later leader of Fine Gael: Richard Mulcahy was a leading figure in revolutionary Ireland and the new Irish State. But who was the enigmatic man behind the myth? Conspiratorial IRB nationalist; stubborn military tribune; pragmatic, political officeholder; or a fascinating combination of these and other traits? In Richard Mulcahy: From the Politics of War to the Politics of Peace, Pádraig Ó Caoimh expertly explores the awkward, often competitive, relationships Mulcahy had with Brugha, Cosgrave, de Valera, O’Higgins and Stack, and investigates the forging of the Irish national army out of the furnace of change brought about by the rise of militarism, a mismanaged rebellion and two wars, one of liberation, the other of brothers. This long overdue new biography also reveals the ambiguous role of the IRB, and the strategically important military and political executive positions that Mulcahy occupied during the post-rebellion, army-building and state-building phase of 1917–24. This extensively researched new study of Richard Mulcahy and the struggle for supremacy concerning the post-revolutionary government-army relationship is a vital contribution to understanding Ireland’s revolutionary past.
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RICHARD MULCAHY
From the Politics of War to the Politics of Peace,
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However, of the two of these interests, his career and the language, he no doubt enjoyed and was most stimulated by the latter because, apart from anything else, as was intimated earlier, competence in it gave him a definite stature and respect within the young, enthusiastic, nationalist community he had his eye on:80 ‘He was very extreme in his support of things Irish … He talked Irish, wore Irish made suits and boots, and bought only Irish whenever he could. All his letters carried half-penny stamps only – postage that time was a penny and a half-penny. “If you buy only half-penny stamps,” he said, “the British post office has less profit.”’81
But ultimately the most important interest he would develop stemmed from his reading of The Republic and that was his enrolment in the IRB. Jim Kennedy again played an important part here. The pair met when Mulcahy made a brief visit home to Thurles before moving to Dublin. Their conversation turned to national affairs, after which Kennedy gave him the contact address for Mick Crowe, the former IRB divisional centre for Munster.82 Then, two days after arriving in the city, Mulcahy was initiated into the Brotherhood. However, seemingly because Crowe did not ask him to swear, he never actually took the pledge: ‘I never went through any process of oath taking other than whatever kind of process I went through when Crowe showed me the slip of paper out of his waistcoat pocket.’83
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