AN IRISH TRADITION

It is said that an Irish tradition is when a committee is formed the first business on the agenda is to form a split and so it happened with the Irish Volunteers formed in November 1913. By September 1914 the organisation had split. Of the nearly 200,000 members 175,000 followed Home Rule advocate John Redmond who urged support for Britain's fight in the First World War and adopted the name the National Volunteers. Meanwhile the remaining 15,000 stayed with the Irish Volunteers who were more committed to dismantling British control in Ireland by force. When it came to Easter Monday less than 1500 of the 15,000 turned out for the fight. By the end of Easter Week and the surrender of the leaders such as Pearse and Connolly, the British Authorities had drafted in almost 50,000 troops into the country with 20,000 on the streets of Dublin.