County Galway: Mellows Barracks
Renmore Barracks was handed over on 13th February 1922 to forces under the command of Commandant Seán Broderick. Constructed in 1881, it was the training depot of the famous Connaught Rangers, one of the Irish regiments of the British Army. Men who joined the Rangers mainly came from the west of Ireland and served all over the world. In 1920, a company of the Rangers based at Jullundur in India staged a mutiny in protest at British atrocities in Ireland during the War of Independence. In 1952, Remmore was renamed Dún Uí Mhaoilíosa / Mellows Barracks in honour of Liam Mellows, who had commanded the Irish Volunteers during the Easter Rising in Galway and became IRA Director of Supplies during the War of Independence. He opposed the 1922 Treaty and was executed in reprisal for the murder of pro-Treaty politician Seán Hales.
Dún Uí Mhaoilíosa is the home of ‘An Chead Cath’, the Army’s Irish-speaking battalion established in 1924.
Mellow's Barracks, Modern Day
The Complexities of History
Perhaps no barracks is as emblematic of the complexities of Irish history as Dún Uí Mhaoilíosa. As well as being home to the Army’s Irish-speaking battalion, the establishment of which was a significant national and cultural statement of the new Irish state, the barracks retains an affinity for the near century and a half rich history of the Connaught Rangers – both their legacy of service to the Crown in Ireland and around the world, and the mutiny of members of the 2nd Battalion of the Rangers in support of Irish freedom, which culminated in the execution of Private James Daly at Dagshai Prison for his role as ringleader.