The Men Will Talk to Me (Ernie O'Malley series, West Cork Brigade)

In the 1940s and 1950s Ernie O'Malley interviewed survivors of Ireland's struggle for independence. These interviews, now being made available to the public for the first time, give a fascinating insight into the times and the people who fought. The West Cork interviews detail IRA intervention in Ulster, as well as giving prominence to the Cork No. 5 Brigade. Of eight interview subjects, five participated in the IRA's invasion of Northern Ireland. The interviewees talk about the Republican rifle exchange with the National Army which occurred secretly in May 1922, as Free State rifles supplied by Britain were swapped with IRA rifles, which were then sent to arm the IRA in Ulster. They also document the gruesome torture of Brigade Commander Ted O'Sullivan.

Ernie O'Malley was a medical student in Dublin when the 1916 Rising broke out. Although initially indifferent, he soon came to sympathise with the Republican viewpoint and joined the Irish Volunteers, later to become the IRA. He quickly rose through the ranks and was soon organising the IRA around the country, reporting directly to Michael Collins and Richard Mulcahy. Andy Bielenberg, who works in UCC, has a special interest in the revolution in Co. Cork 1914-23; John Borgonovo is a history lecturer in UCC, and has written many books on the revolution in Cork; Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc, originally from Co. Clare, lives in Co. Cork and works for the OPW. He has published extensively on the revolution in Ireland.