The Fiercest Fighting 1916 - Piaras Béaslaí
Click the link below to listen to an interview with Piaras Béaslaí (Vice-Commandant, 1st Batallion, Four Courts Garrison) from the RTÉ Archives in which he describes some of the fiercest fighting that took place during Easter Week 1916 in the Church Street area of Dublin.
Edward Daly was commandant of Dublin’s 1st battalion and occupied the Four Courts during Easter Week 1916. Piaras Béaslaí was Daly’s second in command here he gives his account of how the battalion occupied a wide area on the north side of the city. Béaslaí describes the taking of a number of buildings and setting up barricades, the fierce fighting at Reilly’s Fort at the intersection of Church Street and North King Street and his own personal exhaustion after days of fighting before the final surrender.
The leader who is referred to at the end of the interview and who surrendered after an agreed truce stating that his company of men can expect the same treatment as the men of '98 is Patrick Hugh Holahan.
