Eoin Mc Neill

Eoin Mc Neill was a serious obstacle to the IRB’s plan for a rising. Mc Neill only supported rebellion if it had a chance of success. This depended on significant assistance from Germany, including the landing of troops in Ireland. As such, information was kept from Mc Neill by the IRB. The military council was successful in keeping their plans secret and even managed to deceive the Dublin authorities. On Wednesday 19 April 1916, the military council published a forged note known as the Castle document. It was written on official Dublin Castle paper and contained a list of people the British authorities were supposedly trying to imprison. As the names included leading members of the Irish Volunteers, Mc Neill at once gave orders to the Volunteers to resist arrest. On Thursday 20 April, Pearse admitted to Mc Neill that a rising was being planned. On the following day, Good Friday 21 April, Pearse, Thomas Mc Donagh and Sean Mc Diarmada visited Mc Neill to inform him of the imminent arrival of the German vessel, the Aud that was carrying arms and ammunition. Mc Neill now realised that a conflict could not be avoided and repeated his orders that the Volunteers needed to resist imprisonment. On the same day, the German ship, the Aud, arrived in Tralee Bay in County Kerry. When it failed to rendezvous with the Irish Volunteers, the captain sailed to Cork Harbor and sank the ship with the armaments on board. On learning the fate of the Aud, Mc Neill tried to prevent a rising. On Easter Sunday, 23 April 1916, he published a notice on the Sunday independent cancelling all Volunteer maneuvers planned for that day. On Sunday evening, the IRB leaders met in Liberty Hall in Dublin. Despite the loss of the German arms, they were determined that the rising go ahead for April 24, Easter Monday.