Ernie O’Malley: The definitive portrait of an often forgotten Irish political figure

Part militant nationalist and part bohemian intellectual, Ernie O’Malley led a remarkable life and played a significant role in Ireland’s struggle for independence

Ernie O’Malley: the IRA officer has become a slightly neglected figure since his state funeral in 1957

BIOGRAPHY

Ernie O’Malley: A Life

By Harry F Martin with Cormac KH O’Malley

Merrion Press, €18.95

In June 1922, Ernie O’Malley commanded a group of anti-Treaty republicans who occupied the Four Courts in Dublin and then came under shellfire from provisional government forces. During a brief lull, he looked over his library of books that had survived many other skirmishes in the War of Independence.

“I picked up Baudelaire,” he later wrote. “There were two ...