A summary of a talk I gave in 2020 for Skerries Historical Society on the bombing of Skerries Civic Guards barracks during the Civil War, February 1923.
The Skerries Historical Society presentation this month, by Gerard Shannon, tackled ‘The Bombing of Skerries Civic Guard Barracks during the Civil War, 11 February 1923’ and was given 97 years to the day after the bombing took place.
Fingal, and Skerries in particular, was more fortunate than many parts of the country during the Civil War although it did not completely escape the shadow of strife – the shooting of Harry Boland during his arrest in The Grand Hotel, in July 1922, is probably the most famous Civil War event to occur in Skerries and is certainly the most poignant with Boland’s former great friend, Michael Collins, ordering his arrest.
It was some six months later that members of an anti-Treaty IRA brigade blew up the former RIC barracks on Strand Street, then occupied by the Civic Guard. This new body had been formed in February 1922 under the auspices of Michael Collins to replace the RIC which, so long associated with British rule, did not have the support of the people.
Read the full summary on The Skerries Historical Society Website