Trouble in Limerick
Macardle says that the pro-Treaty troops moved into Limerick on the 23rd February under Commandant Hurley – he was arrested and went on hunger strike. When O’Malley (along with Tom Barry arrived) he ordered the pro-Treaty forces who had taken over the Castle Barracks to either evacuate or fight. They refused and O’Malley went to Dublin and asked Rory O’Connor for engineers to breach the wall but O’Connor disapproved. On 3rd March, Brennan brought his troops into Limerick and occupied a variety of buildings. Stephen O’Mara, Mayor of Limerick, managed to get both sides talking but his efforts founders. On 10th March, Liam Lynch and Oscar Traynor had a meeting with Collins, Mulcahy and Eoin O’Duffy in Beggar’s Bush. That night Lynch and Traynor travel to Limerick and, after a lot of difficulty, manage to effect a compromise between pro- and anti-Treaty forces in Limerick. By Mar-11, most of the IRA had evacuated the city. (Neither Lynch or Traynor had any military control over the 2nd Division men in Limerick.)