Richard Barrett (Irish republican)

For other people named Richard Barrett, see Richard Barrett (disambiguation).
For other people named Dick Barrett, see Dick Barrett (disambiguation).

Richard Barrett
Barrett c. 1913
Personal details
Born(1889-12-17)17 December 1889
Knockacullen (Hollyhill), County Cork, Ireland
Died8 December 1922(1922-12-08) (aged 32)
Mountjoy Prison, Dublin, Ireland
Alma materDe La Salle College Waterford

Richard Barrett (17 December 1889 – 8 December 1922), commonly called Dick Barrett, was a prominent Irish Republican Army officer who fought in the War of Independence and on the Anti-Treaty side in the Irish Civil War. He was assistant quartermaster-general of the IRA with the rank of commandant. During the Civil War he was captured by Free State forces at the Four Courts on 30 June 1922 and later executed unlawfully[1] on 8 December 1922.

Barrett's execution by the Free State has been described as "murder" by Irish Taoiseach and head of Fianna Fáil party Micheál Martin.[2] In 2011, then Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said "People who were murdered or executed without trial by the Cumann na nGaedheal Government were murdered. It was an atrocity and those people killed without a trial by the first government were murdered."[3]

  1. ^ Roche, Barry (20 November 2022). "Execution of anti-Treaty IRA leaders by Free State was illegal, says leading judge". The Irish Times. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  2. ^ Senan, Molony (7 December 2022). "Taoiseach describes execution by Irish State of four IRA leaders in 1922 as murder, as Civil War documentary to air". The Irish Independent. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  3. ^ "Taoiseach acknowledges that the killing of Dick Barrett was "manifestly illegal"". The West Cork People. July 2022. Retrieved 13 December 2022.