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- Image 1BirthCerts>Curtin downloaded but not assigned a Source No. (B1915MacCurtainTomasSCFull.pdf)
The Evening Echo - Cork - Monday 17 October 1994
Tomas MacCurtain, "Tearmann" Rosebank, Douglas Road, beloved husband of Mai and loving father of Fionnuala, Orla and the late Tomas Og, exceptional and much loved grandfather to Aron, Sarah-Mai, Ross, Ava, Tomas and Steven. Very deeply mourned by his loving wife and family, sisters, Sile, Maire and Eilis, sons-in-!aw Ray and Dessie, relatives and friends. Requiescat in pace. Removal on_this ( Monday)_evening at 6.30 p.m.from the hospital mortuary to St Columbas Church, Douglas. Requiem Mass at 11 a.m. on tomorrow (Tuesday) Funeral afterwards to St. Finbarr's Cemetery. House strictly private
Mac CURTAIN Tomas (Corcaigh) - Ar an 16u la de Dheireadh Fomhair; d'eag Tomas, ag an Ospideal Reigiunach; Corcaigh. R.I.P. Ar dheis De go raibh a anam dilis.
The Evening Echo - Cork - Monday 17 October 1994
MARATHON hunger striker and arch republican, Tomas MacCurtain. of Cork, has died.
The time when MacCurtain starved for 55 days and lived to tell the tale was recalled for the Echo today by his sister, Dr. Maura MacCurtain Ward.
The deceased, was a son Tomas MacCurtain, assassinated while serving as the first Republican Lord Mayor of Cork in 1920.
Mr. MacCurtain, Tearmann, Rosebank. Douglas, was a prominent figure in the Republican movement in the 40s and 50s.
He became a cause celebre in 1940 when he was convicted by the Special Criminal Court and sentenced to death after the fatal shooting of Detective Roche in Patrick Street.
Commuted
The sentence was commuted by the President, acting on the advice of the then Government, to penal servitude.
His father, Lord Mayor Tomas MacCurtain, was shot dead in his home at Blackpool Bridge on March 20, 1920, after just 50 days mayoralty.
Recalling the life of her brother today. Dr. Mac-Curtain Ward said she herself went to visit MacCurtain in jail while he was on hunger strike with some of his comrades.
"I saw some of his friends die during that protest over their demand for political status. But Tomas was very strong at the time and he came out of it "
Turned Down
She said she and her mother visited Tomas in his prison cell in Dublin just eight hours before he was to hang for the murder of Detective Roche. "His final reprieve was turned down, and myself and my mother said our final goodbyes to him. We thought that was the last we would see of him in this life."
After his eleventh hour reprieve, MacCurtain served seven years in solitary confinement in Portlaoise prison for refusing to wear prison clothes.
"He was a convinced, adamant, republican. He lived and died by the principle," said Dr. Mac-Curtain Ward.
Survived
Mr. MacCurtain is survived by his wife Mai, daughters Fionnuala and Orla, sisters Sile, Maire and Eilis. He was predeceased by his only son Tomas Og.
The Evening Echo - Cork - Saturday 22 October 1994
THE family of the late Tomas MacCurtain appreciate the acknowledgement of his death, reported in the Evening Echo on Monday, October 17. However, we feel inaccuracies in the report of the details surrounding the death of Detective Roche totally misrepresented the true situation because the place and circumstances of the shooting were of paramount importance in the case.
Contrary to your report Detective Roche was not fatally injured in a scuffle whilst trying to arrest Tomas at his home. An undisputed fact of court Court evidence was that it occurred in Patrick Street.
Hereunder, I give an excerpt from evidence given by Tomas in court (June 12, 1940) which
clearly alters significantly the events surrounding the charge of murder and the inferences which could be drawn from your report. The evidence given in Court was:
Tomas MacCurtain "I'm not in the habit of talking about my family history but since it has a direct bearing on this case I think it will be excusable.
"Twenty years ago, my father was Brigade Commandant of the Cork Number 1 Brigade of the Irish Republican Army; On March 19, 1920, unidentified men broke into the house and knocked at my father's bedroom door. They said 'We want you MacCurtain.' When my father opened the door, he was shot dead.
"When I grew up, I also joined the IRA and I was eventually appointed to the position which had previously been held by my father. For being a soldier of the IRA and following in my father's footsteps, I make no apology to anyone. About the occurrences of this night, the onus is on the State to prove that I, with malice aforethought, shot Garda Roche....They have not given evidence that I had any animosity against this man, or that anything was said or done by me on this night before the shot was fired.
"The opening of the incident was when I was standing peacefully talking to two friends...in Patrick Street near the Gas House:..I was standing there and there was no evidence that I was looking for Garda Roche or any member of the. police force;'
Sergeant Collins (later identified) says he said, We want you to come to Union Quay.'
"My recollection is that he said, 'We want you MacCurtain.' He may have said something else.
"It was a dark night. The lights were cowled. There was a crowd in the street and I was standing quietly talking, to two people when men jumped at me from all quarters, saying 'We want you Mac-Curtain.'
"I had been fired on, on two occasions. I had been beaten on numerous occasions. On one occasion I had four teeth broken. On another, three stitches had to. be put into my scalp; and on another I had my nose broken.
"What was my natural reaction. Men jumped on top of me. Sergeant Collins had a hold of me with his two hands. Garda Roche had a hold of me and Garda Teehan admits that at about the time the shot was fired he had his arm around my neck.
"That means there were three men piled on top of me at that moment. It all happened in a fraction of a second.
"I leave it to the Irish people to decide whether murder was committed or not."
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1915 - 1994 (79 years)
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