Larry Grogan

Who is Larry Grogan?

Larry Grogan was an Irish republican activist.

Born in Drogheda, Grogan joined the Irish Volunteers at the age of 18, which subsequently became part of the original Irish Republican Army. He was active in the Irish War of Independence, then in the Irish Civil War in the anti-treaty IRA. He was imprisoned in Mountjoy Prison in 1922, and was subsequently interned in the Curragh Camp, where he kept an autograph book, collecting signatures including that of Michael Hilliard.

Grogan remained an active republican, and was elected to the IRA Army Council in 1938. In this capacity, he signed the ultimatum to the British government declaring that, if major concessions were not made immediately, a Sabotage Campaign would be initiated. In September 1939, he was arrested along with the majority of the Council, and kept at Arbour Hill Prison. The following year, he was transferred to the Curragh, and assumed command of the IRA internees. He decided to organise them in an effort to improve conditions, and in December the group burnt down several wooden huts.