Rory O'Connor

Rory O'Connor, born in County Dublin to a solicitor and trained as an engineer, left Ireland to build railways in Canada before returning to fight for a republic he believed must remain unbroken. His refusal to accept a compromised treaty turned him into the sharpest edge of the Civil War, forcing a government to choose between surrender and destruction. Even his friend Kevin O'Higgins, weeping in the Dáil, could not stop the cold deliberate violence that consumed them both.