Col. Sean Clancy (b. 1901)

My second visit to Col. Sean Clancy coincided with his 103rd birthday and on my arrival I was met by the postman who was delivering a letter from President McAleese to mark the occasion. Once the excitement had abated we settled down to record further recollections of stirring times in Irish history. Col. Clancy has a vivid memory of the occasion of the handing over by the British of Dublin Castle to the Irish in 1922. He attended the ceremony dressed in civilian clothes as a representative of the Volunteers and he recalls Collins arriving through the lower Castle Yard entrance in a dilapidated taxi to be met by a British officer and told he was seven minutes late, and had kept the Lord Lieutenant waiting. Collins was not found wanting in his quick witted response! During the Civil War, Col Clancy was working with records and troop payments and in 1924 he was sent to Kerry to help with demobilisation, and he had several narrow escapes on the roads where snipers were very active. As I was preparing to take my leave Col Clancy told me he had one last fascinating story to relate. A good friend of his John T. Moloney, a member of the IRB, was in Tralee during Easter weekend 1916, and watched as three elderly RIC officers entered the town escorting a tall upright man. He went to Austin Stack, the local IRB leader, and asked for assistance for the prisoner. Stack was adamant that no action was to be taken as he did not want any trouble in the town. The prisoner was Roger Casement who was being brought to Tralee barracks from his place of capture at Banna. I was privileged to be allowed to record the memories and stories of a man who has played such an important role in our history and whose recollections are as clear today as one could ever wish.