Eddie McConigleyEDDIE McCONIGLEY, who has died aged 104, was the last known veteran of the War of Independence and the Civil War.
McConigley, from Ballincrick in Donegal's Fanad peninsula, was a quiet man of strong republican views who avoided the limelight and was reluctant to speak of the huge historical events he participated in. His was a quiet life in a quiet place.
He was born in August 1903 on the family farm in the Gaeltacht townland of Ballincrick, the seventh of nine children to Patrick and Mary (nee Doherty) McConigley. He attended Ballymichael national school, St Eunan's College, Letterkenny, and Caffrey's College in Dublin. As the War of Independence unfolded he joined the IRA in Fanad. His brigade commander was writer Peadar O'Donnell.
When the IRA split on the issue of the Treaty, he took the Republican, anti-treaty side. On January 1st, 1923, the Free State Army staged a sweep of Fanad, arresting him at home. He and other prisoners were taken to Letterkenny, then brought to Rathmullan and put on a ship for Dublin. The prisoners were kept in the bilges during the voyage. From Dublin, McConigley was taken to the Tintown internment camp at Newbridge, Co Kildare.
There he was one of more than 7,000 republican prisoners who in October 1923 launched a mass hunger strike demanding release. After 18 days he suffered a severe nosebleed. As a result the prisoners' Officer Commanding, Seán MacBride, ordered him off the strike.
In November 1923 he was released and returned to the family farm at Ballincrick. He worked it for the rest of his life.
In 1926 Sinn Féin split again, with Éamon de Valera leaving the party and forming Fianna Fáil. McConigley went with Fianna Fáil after a period of uncertainty. He was a close friend of Neal Blaney, founder of the Donegal political dynasty. He encouraged Blaney to stand in the 1927 general election, where Blaney won a seat.
Until Neil Blaney's expulsion in 1972 he stayed in Fianna Fáil. Despite believing the split a mistake he joined Blaney's Independent Fianna Fáil. Two years ago he rejoined Fianna Fáil with current TD Niall Blaney and the Blaney organisation.
There was more than politics to his life. In his younger days he was a useful Gaelic footballer. In 1940 he married Mary Sweeny and they had 10 children, five sons and five daughters. He was widely read in the English classics, with his children remembering him reading them Robert Louis Stevenson and Dickens.
Beekeeping was a passion, inherited from his father and granduncle. Other beekeepers in the area sought his advice. He played cards every night in neighbouring houses until he was 99. At 101 he experienced his first admission to hospital, overcoming pneumonia. Until the end he was mentally alert, following TV, radio and the papers. The Army, against which he had fought at its foundation, provided a guard of honour at his funeral in Fanavolty.
He was predeceased by his wife, and is survived by children Paddy, Rosemary, Kathleen, Bríd, Ann, Evelyn, Columba, Eamonn, John and Lawrence, and by seven grandchildren.
Edward (Eddie) McConigley: born August 10th, 1903; died May 11th, 2008