With regard to the political side of the movement, I was not very prominently connected with it, although I was a member of the Kilfenora Sinn Fein club. I also arranged for the holding of Sinn Fein courts and ensured that these courts were protected and policed by Volunteers who also enforced the courts' decrees. Apart from this, I'm not able to give any first-hand information concerning the activities of these courts.
I was also elected as a member of the Ennistymon Rural District Council - on the Sinn Fein ticket. After the local elections held in 1920, this body was, I think, entirely composed of men like myself - I.R.A. officers or persons nominated through Sinn Fein clubs. Owing to the fact that a lot of the members of this council were on the run, they could not attend the meetings of the council at the council's offices in the Ennistymon workhouse. This difficulty was got over by the council's clerk and his assistant - the brothers Nicholas and Joe Griffey of Ennistymon. They fixed the meetings for places of which the enemy forces were kept in ignorance, such as the Golf Links Lahinch, and Furryglen National School. I was present at a few meetings in both places which lasted for a couple of hours, and all the business was transacted before adjourning. While the council was sitting, scouts were posted to warn the members of the approach of enemy troops. In no instance was there a meeting raided.
ANDREW O'DONOGHUE
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