Dunsany writer's new book highlights Irish role in Spanish Civil War

A ground-breaking new book on Irish involvement in the Spanish Civil War, by Dunsany-based writer and historian, Liam Cahill, highlights the crucial role of volunteers from both parts of Ireland in one of the most important battles of the Spanish Civil War, at Jarama, outside Madrid, in February 1937.

‘From Suir to Jarama’ looks at the Irish involvement on the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War through the life and fate of a young Irish volunteer, Mossie Quinlan, who was a relative of Cahill's.

Quinlan was a member of a prominent political and business family in Waterford, who was an infantry soldier in the British Battalion of the 15th International Brigade and who fought and died at Jarama. A sniper shot him while he was rescuing a wounded comrade.

Eighteen volunteers from Ireland, North and South were killed at Jarama and they are buried in a communal grave in the nearby town of Morata de Tajuna.

The writer and broadcaster, John MacKenna, described it as ‘a wonderful, beautifully written and important book’. The Mayor of Waterford City Municipality, Councillor Seamus Ryan, said: "This is a story that needs to be told".

Priced at €10, it is on sale in major book shops – including Tara News in Dunshaughlin and Tierney's in Navan.

It can be ordered online from BuyTheBook.IE, a community of self-published Irish authors at www.buythebook.ie/liamcahill, Books.ie and TheBookshop.ie

Liam Cahill’s last book ‘Forgotten Revolution, The Limerick Soviet 1919’ was an acclaimed study of the critical role of organised workers during the Irish War of Independence and the Civil War.