Special Powers

The untold story of Ireland's forgotten prisoners

In the shadow of civil war, over 5,500 republican prisoners found themselves trapped behind the wire at Newbridge Barracks and the Curragh internment camps - imprisoned by former comrades who had once fought alongside them against the British. There, they discovered a bitter truth and a regime that answered defiance with execution and brutality. Their old allies in the Free State forces proved far more ruthless captors than their colonial predecessors had ever been. While no prisoners had died under British custody during the War of Independence, over two dozen internees would lose their lives at the hands of their ex-brothers-in-arms.

Among the internees were men who would make their mark on Irish history, including unrepentant republicans and writers such as Ernie O'Malley and Peadar O'Donnell, as well as Seán Lemass, future Taoiseach, and John Higgins, the father of President Michael D. Higgins.

Despite the harsh realities of camp life, the prisoners' spirit remained unbroken. Two legendary escapes followed - 112 men tunnelling to freedom out of Newbridge Barracks, then 71 more from Tintown Camp. The internees staged Ireland's largest hunger strike and maintained their resistance even as their captors' brutality reached the highest levels of government.

Drawing on primary sources and firsthand accounts, historian James Durney reveals how the final battles of the Civil War were fought not on battlefields, but in the jails and camps where former comrades became bitter enemies - a dark chapter in Irish history that has remained hidden for too long.