Photos and letters belonging to Treaty Ports negotiator to go on display on Spike Island
Patrick Maher was the officer commanding Irish troops who took over Spike Island on July 11, 1938.
The family of a man who helped negotiate the handover by the British of the Treaty Ports and later propelled Shannon Airport to prominence are preparing to share invaluable photographs, letters and documents to the museum on Spike Island in Cork harbour.
The memorabilia — the majority of which has never been seen before by the public — will throw light on the extraordinary life and times of Patrick Maher.
A native of Cloughjordan, Co Tipperary, he was the officer commanding Irish troops who took over Spike Island on July 11, 1938. While there, he negotiated the handover by the British of their other military installations in Cork harbour at the same time.
He was living on the island with his family when he went on to negotiate similar handovers of other coastal fortifications, known as the ‘Treaty Ports,’ of Fort Berehaven, Co Cork, on October 26 that year, and Lough Swilly, Co Donegal, on October 3.
Born in 1895, Maher fought in the War of Independence, serving with the Tipperary 1 Brigade of the 3rd Southern Division IRA. He went on to join the National Army (Free State) in 1922 and fought in the Civil War.
As the army’s director of artillery, he was the officer in charge in 1938 when all forts in Cork harbour — Fort Westmoreland (Spike Island), Fort Camden, Fort Templebreedy (both Crosshaven) and Fort Carlisle (Whitegate) — were handed over to the Irish government.
After these handovers, Maher took charge of the Coastal Defence Artillery and was quartered for some time on Spike Island while he negotiated with the British the details of the handover of the remaining Treaty Ports.
He was promoted to the rank of colonel in March 1943 by then minister for defence Oscar Traynor.
After Maher retired from the Defence Forces, he took on the position of manager of Shannon Airport, a role he retained until his retirement in 1960. He is widely credited with turning it into an international hub for transatlantic flights which resulted in a huge income and employment spin-off for the Mid-West region.
His granddaughter, Derina O’Connor, who lives in Dublin, confirmed the family were preparing to share a number of highly significant memorabilia associated with Maher, who died in 1986, with the museum on Spike Island.
They will include ‘handover letters’ for the Treaty Ports between Maher and his British counterpart, pictures never seen before of Irish troops preparing to takeover Spike Island and details of his army personnel files, which showed while the military regretted him leaving, they were delighted to see somebody of his calibre going to front the then fledgling operations at Shannon Airport.
The family also retains the officer’s ceremonial sword Maher wore on the day of the handover in Spike Island, which they are also considering donating on loan to the Spike Island collection.
Spike Island museum curator Dorota Gubbins said the archive material was “extremely important", because of Maher’s unique historical status and his connection with the island.
“The documents refer to the negotiations on the Treaty Ports handovers so that is why they are really special,” Ms Gubbins said.
