Tales From the Sea Side NO.2 Street Fighting Years

Whilst local politics in Tramore are generally a fairly mundane affair, this was certainly not always the case, as those old enough to remember the fierce power struggles of the early Seventies would doubtless confirm.

With the outbreak of the troubles in Northern Ireland, the recent memory of the Prague and Paris student uprisings, and the new liberal consensus, copper fasted in the eyes of even the most profoundly catholic by the publication of Vatican Two, Ireland was in a state of turmoil which Tramore could not remain immune to for long.

The first movement to sense that the time was ripe for change was militant left wing organisation The Glorious Path of the 12th of April Socialist Revolutionaries.

Inspired by fellow socialist and former Tramore blues great Ragin' Ruairidh O'Reilly ( from whose birthday they took their name, and who was featured in the last Tramore Strand ), the movement saw their ultimate aim as the creation of a breakaway socialist state, completely independent of Dublin, based on the teachings of Chairman Mao¹s little red book.

"A new breed of Tramore man"

The organisation soon developed a large following, especially among the young, who formed their own Glorious Path Youth movements. Extremely militant and backed by the well funded Revolutionary Socialist Front of Rathgormack, the youth movements' rallies soon aroused the ire of the authorities, and were driven underground.

Just when it seemed the powers that be had won, however, a new and far more dangerous threat to society was to emerge.

Calling itself the Doneraile Front, this far-right group saw itself as defending Tramore from the perceived influx of what they described as 'undesirables', or anyone who could not prove themselves to be of at least two generation strong Tramore stock.

Their stated manifesto was to put all 'scummers' ( as they described all Cork and Limerick natives ) into forced work camps, and to annex the neighbouring towns of Fenor and Annestown, which they described as "the perfect training ground for a new breed of Tramore man, unsullied by the bastardised influence of outsiders, and ready to fight for the Free State of Doneraile (as they intended to re-name Tramore)".

With two such diametrically opposed groups at work, tensions were inevitable, and street fighting became a nightly occurence as the rival factions clashed.

"12th of April Socialist Revolutionaries"

Soon other organisations and splinter groups began to appear, such as the Moonlaun Militia, The People's Front for a Democratic Pickardstown, The Sweetbriar Sh-ite Revolutionary Warriors of Allah, and the feared Potato Nation, a particularly radical organisation who called for a return to a simple agrarian lifestyle, similar to that which Pol Pot was shortly to inflict on Cambodia.

All relied to a large degree on the street gangs which supported them for their influence, yet despite hard campaigning at the polls, only the The Glorious Path of the 12th of April Socialist Revolutionaries achieved what all the various groupings aspired to, having their spokesman, Jimmy 'Che' Whelan, elected to Waterford County Council in 1972.

However Whelan¹s reign was to end before he could effect any influence, he being removed from office after attacking Fianna Fail councillor Jackie 'flipper' Flanagan with a cattle-prod during a debate on the price of fish.

"crackdown"

The government crackdown of 1974 was to herald the end of what was an unprecedented era of political intrigue and violence. No longer willing to tolerate the now almost nightly street fighting, the army was called in and special laws passed giving Gardai special powers of arrests.

In the space of a week law and order had been restored to the streets, with a series of dawn raids on known activists resulting in over 50 arrests and the return of normality to the streets.

While there were some disparate voices who condenned the crackdown as a breach of civil liberties, most saw it as a necessary evil, and where once the sound of police sirens and rioting youths was a nightly backdrop, peace and tranquility once more reigned in Tramore.