Historians to give lecture on 1922 Dunmanway killings

Two historians will deliver a lecture this week on the 1922 Dunmanway killings in Bandon, West Cork.

In the event which is also known as the Bandon Valley Massacre, 13 Protestants were shot dead during the truce between the end of the War of Independence and the start of the Civil War.

Dr Andy Bielenburg and Dr John Borgonovo have unearthed previously unknown evidence in relation to the incident, which saw 13 Protestant men and boys killed in and around Dunmanway between April 26th and April 28th 1922.

Canadian historian, Peter Hart in his book The IRA and Its Enemies - Violence and Community in Cork 1916-1923, concluded that the primary motivation behind the killings of the 13 men was sectarian.

“Behind the shootings lay a jumble of individual histories and possible motives. In the end however, the fact of the victim’s religion is inescapable. These men were shot because they were Protestant.”

“The sectarian antagonism which drove the massacre was interwoven with political hysteria and local vendettas, but it was sectarian nonetheless,” wrote the late Dr Hart who sparked controversy with his conclusions.

Dr Bielenberg and Dr Borgonovo will give a public lecture on Thursday at 6pm entitled 'Something of the Nature of a Massacre: The Bandon Valley Killings Revisited'.

The lecture takes place at the Kane Building in UCC and is open to the public.