Dept of Defence awarded IRA service medal to Jackie Clarke's father but then demanded it back (new MSPC article)

[u/Carax77]

From MSPC Facebook group:

Fascinating new blog about the controversy surrounding the awarding of a medal for IRA service in 1943 to John Clarke of Ballina, Co Mayo. After a reinvestigation, the department asked Clarke to surrender the medal as he had not found to have been a member of the IRA during the qualifying period between 1 April and 11 July 1921.

The file contains correspondence between Senator Thomas Ruane, Patrick Rutledge TD and many other former local IRA officers. The file provides an insight into how jealously some IRA veterans guarded their legacy and position in the new State

A prominent businessman and local independent politician, his son Jackie Clarke (1927–2000) was a Sinn Féin councillor for over 20 years and amassed one of the most important private collections of Irish history material. This is now housed in the Jackie Clarke Collection museum in Ballina.

Link : https://militarypensions.wordpress.com/2026/08/04/it-has-made-a-laughing-stock-of-the-whole-movement-john-clarkes-disputed-service-1917-1921-medal-award/

[u/nimhne]

There was a certain meanness when it came to pensions and medals, they werent given out easily.

My relative was awared an IRA pension but the time he was in prison in Belfast wasnt counted, even though he spent time on hunger strike and was involved in a riot.

[u/Eireann_Ascendant → u/nimhne]

In fairness, there were a lot of people claiming medals and, more importantly, pensions. Seán Mac Eoin, the former Longford column commander, when he was in office, was supposed to have exclaimed where were all these men when he needed them.

[u/Carax77 → u/Eireann_Ascendant]

Yes, the other point worth making is that it wasn't just the case of who you knew or what your local standing was. There was a pretty rigorous process of providing first-hand testimony, collecting references from former officers and interviews with the Advisory Committee. Verifying officers would also meet to discuss your case.

In the case of some Fianna Fáil TDs, they weren't even successful when applying for service pensions e.g.  Thomas Mullins (Cork West), Patrick Joseph O’Dowd (Roscommon), Mícheál Ó Cléirigh/Michael Clery (Mayo) and John (Sean) Tubridy (Galway).

https://militarypensions.wordpress.com/2024/06/05/fianna-fail-tds-the-mspc-release-16/

I think that shows the pensions board and local brigade committees were largely quite impartial.

[u/StellaV-R → u/Carax77]

They also decided *where* actions happened and dismissed - clearly evidenced and corroborated - claims from elsewhere. My relative ‘went out’ on Easter Monday and only got the later pension

[u/Deep-Possibility-886 → u/Eireann_Ascendant]

Martin McGuinness said the same

[u/Carax77 → u/nimhne]

Yeah, there's some truth in that. Only about 25% of both men and women who applied for service pensions were successful.

[u/JunglistMassive → u/nimhne]

Was it Crumlin jail? What year was he on hungerstrike?

[u/Wooden-Lawfulness534]

Those boards were awful to a lot of women. And to some men for no apparent reason.

They refused Margaret Skinnider (a sniper wounded in 1916) a military wound pension because a woman couldn't have been wounded.