"You Can Take it if you Want " The not so wise words of Rory O'Connor.

This is Rory O'Connor grave.

Rory O'Conner was an Irish Republican born in Dublin in November 28 1883.
Rory O'Connor was known for his fiery character and resilience.
For primary school he attended St.Marys college where James Joyce was also a
student and it was where Kevin O'Higgins who was the man who sentenced him to
death attended school.
Rory was educated at Clongwos College and University College Dublin it was there
where obtained a degree of arts and engineering.
For a short time Rory worked as a railway engineer in Canada.
In 1915 he returned to Ireland at the request of Joseph Plunkett He was wounded
by a sniper during reconnaissance at the College of Surgeons.
Rory O'Connor was involved in the war of independence which lasted for two years
1919-1921.
He served as Director of Engineering of the IRA.
The specialist skills of engineering and signaling were essential to the development
of the 5th Battalion, Dublin Brigade. Its men were forbidden frontline duty as their
contribution was regarded as vital, their number too small. But units only expanded
on an incremental local basis, disappointing Gen Richard Mulcahys and soonly
joined the IRB the Irish Republican Brotherhood.
Rory O'Conner objected the Anglo-Irish Treaty which established the Irish Free state.
The treaty main clauses were that:

Crown forces would withdrawn from Ireland.

Ireland became a self governing dominion under the British Empire along with
the South Africa, New Zealand and Canada.
The free state would pay for all the United Kingdom Debt.
The Treaty would also hold a higher priority in Irish Law.

26 March 1922 an anti treaty convention was held in Dublin by IRA they rejected
the Treaty compromise and repudiated the authority of the Dil the elected Irish
Parliament, but were prepared to discuss it. The Convention met again on 9 April,
and a new army constitution was ratified and created a new GHQ.Asked by a
journalist if this meant they were proposing a 'military dictatorship' in Ireland,
O'Connor replied with his famous words " You can take that way if you want "
Along with 200 other IRA men O'Connor took over the Four Courts in Dublin in an
attempt to provoke the British troops who were living in Ireland.ey also occupied
other smaller buildings regarded as being associated with the former British
administration, such as the Ballast Office and the Freemasons office.
15th June O'Connor send his men to the Civic Guards to collect Rifles.
 Michael Collins tried desperately to persuade O'Connor and his men to leave the
building during the next three months. At the Third IRA Convention, the
executive was split over whether the Irish Government should demand that all
British troops leave within 72 hours. The motion was defeated, but the IRA split
into two factions opposed to the government, one conciliatory, led by Liam
Lynch, Sean Moylan, and Liam Deasy, and the other less moderate, led by Tom
Barry and Joe McKelvey..
On 22 June arch-Unionist Sir Henry Wilson was assassinated by two IRA men, both
former British soldiers, Reginald Dunne and Joseph O'Sullivan O'Sullivan had lost a
leg at Ypres. It is now considered by some that this was done on the orders of
Michael Collins, who had been a close friend of Dunne in the London IRB.
On 8 December 1922, along with three other republicans Liam Mellows ,Richard
Barrett and Joe McKelvey captured with the fall of the Four Courts, Rory O'Connor
was executed by firing squad
in reprisal for the anti-treaty IRA 's killing of Free State TD Sean Hales. The execution
order was signed by Kevin O'Higgins. O'Connor had been best man at his wedding
on 27 October 1921. The killing remains as a symbol of the bitterness and division
of the Civil War. O'Connor, one of 77 republicans executed by the Cumann na
nGaedheal] government of the Irish Free State, is seen as a martyr by the
Republican movement in Ireland