An Cosantóir March 2019 www.dfmagazine.ie
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BY LIZ GILLIS
T
he burning of the Custom House by the Dublin
Brigade IRA in May 1921 was a pivotal moment in the
War of Independence, and was the largest action un-
dertaken by the Dublin Brigade since the Easter Rising. But
why was the building attacked and what did the Republi-
can movement achieve with this action?
The Custom House was the last symbol of British civil
administration in Ireland. In the preceding two years Sinn
Féin and the IRA had successfully undermined the running
of government throughout the country, through Republican
Courts and local councils. One of their aims was to make the
country ungovernable and in this they were quite successful.
The Custom House had always been in the IRA's sights. As
early as 1918, Dick McKee, OC Dublin Brigade, put forward
the idea to attack the building, in response to the British
threat to introduce conscription to Ireland. McKee again put
forward his plan to GHQ IRA in Dublin in early 1920, just as
the War of Independence was escalating.
GHQ did not disapprove of his idea; it was just that they
had a much bigger operation in mind – to destroy as many
local tax offices around the country as they could. The IRA
successfully carried out these attacks in March/April 1920,
On 25th May 1921, the Irish Republican Army launched its largest and most
audacious operation of the War of Independence when it attacked the Custom
House in Dublin, the heart of the British administration in Ireland. Photo: Mícheál
Ó Doibhilín/Kilmainham Tales
