The Fingal Battalion: A Blueprint for the Future?

Paul Maguire

The Fifth Battalion of the Dublin Brigade, also known as the Fingal Battalion, was the Irish Volunteers one military success of Easter Week. Eschewing the static-point defensive strategy that was adopted in the city, the Fingal Battalion, operating just a few miles away in north County Dublin, demonstrated the potential of guerrilla warfare. Under the stewardship of Thomas Ashe and Richard Mulcahy, the battalion would, in classic guerrilla fashion, pick the time and place of the engagement, strike and then retreat from the scene of the attack. While the Irish Volunteers were being pounded by the British Army’s artillery and picked off at will in the city, the Fingal Battalion was rounding off its actions by scoring a resounding success over a large force of RIC at Ashbourne. The Battle of Ashbourne was indeed a resounding sucess but one that, as will be shown, could just as easily have become a disaster for the Irish Volunteers. Nevertheless, the battalion performed so well that it should have pointed the way towards a new way of fighting. The similarities between Ashe’s column and later columns such as Tom Barry’s in Cork are indeed striking. Given Mulcahy’s prominence in the Fingal Battalion and his later role as IRA Chief of Staff it is reasonable to assume therefore that Fingal had a strong influence on the evolution of the guerrilla strategy adopted during the Anglo-Irish war. The evidence suggests however that this was not the case. Instead of the Fingal Battalion providing a blueprint for future flying columns, it would appear that it was rediscovered on a local level. The individual initiative and guile of local commanders, what Mulcahy would later term ‘dash’, was crucial. This can be best seen in the case of Fingal itself. Though it was the most successful unit during 1916, it slipped back into relative insignificance during the Anglo-Irish War. It will be seen that the personal enterprise of the commander was crucial in building a successful unit.

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