Battle of the Custom House - Memorial Road [By Yann Renard-Goule]

The Burning of the Custom House in Dublin took place on 25 May 1921, during the Irish War of Independence. The Custom House was the centre of Local Government in the British administration in Ireland. It was occupied and then burnt in an operation by the Irish Republican Army (IRA), involving over 100 volunteers. The action was a propaganda coup for the forces of the Irish Republic but was a military disaster for the IRA in the Irish capital. Five of its volunteers were killed (along with three civilians) and over 80 captured.

Yann Goulet (or Yann Renard-Goulet; 20 August 1914 – 22 August 1999) was a sculptor, Breton nationalist and war-time collaborationist with Nazi Germany who headed the Breton Bagadou Stourm militia. He later took Irish citizenship and became professor of sculpture at the Royal Hibernian Academy.

After the liberation of France, Goulet travelled with his wife and children to Ireland, and was sentenced to death as a Collaborationist by a French court in his absence. He acquired Irish citizenship in 1952 and became an art professor.

He was commissioned to create public works commemorating the IRA and other republicans, including the Custom House Memorial (Dublin), the East Mayo Brigade IRA Memorial, the Republican Memorial (Crossmaglen), and the Ballyseedy Memorial (Kerry). He exhibited regularly at the Royal Hibernian Academy, eventually becoming the RHA Professor of Sculpture. He was also made a member of Aosdána in 1982.





MORE...

---