Cathal Brugha Barracks

Cathal Brugha Barracks
Dún Chathail Bhrugha
Dublin, Ireland
Cathal Brugha Barracks Location within Ireland
Coordinates	53°19′37″N 6°16′09″W / 53.32702°N 6.26906°W / 53.32702; -6.26906Coordinates: 53°19′37″N 6°16′09″W / 53.32702°N 6.26906°W / 53.32702; -6.26906
Type	Barracks
Site information
Operator	Irish Army
Open to the public	Partial (Barracks museum and archives are open to public at certain times)
Site history
Built	1810 (1810)
Events	1916 Easter Rising, Irish War of Independence
Garrison information
Current commander	Brigadier General Michael Finn
Garrison	2 Brigade of Irish Army

Cathal Brugha Barracks (Irish: Dún Chathail Bhrugha) is an Irish Army barracks in Rathmines, Dublin. A key military base of the Irish Defence Forces, it is the headquarters of 2 Brigade, and houses the Military Archives of the Department of Defence.

The barracks was originally constructed between 1810 and 1815, and named Portobello Barracks for the area in which it was sited. (When Sir Francis Drake looted the city of Portobelo, Panama, died and was buried at sea in its harbour, many places in England and Ireland were commemoratively named Portobello – including part of Rathmines in 1696. The nearby canal bridge and the area became known as Portobello and thereafter, the barracks.)

Originally designed as a cavalry barracks, it saw some development along these lines, with additional land being purchased, and the addition of a church (1842) and canteen block (1868).

During the 1916 Easter Rising, and the Irish War of Independence, British Troops from the barracks were involved in actions throughout Dublin. During this time, three journalists, including the pacifist Francis Sheehy-Skeffington, were murdered outside the barrack guardroom. The Royal Irish Rifles company commander Captain Bowen-Colthurst, who ordered the shootings, was controversially adjudged "insane" at the subsequent inquiry and court-martial.

On 17 May 1922 Irish troops took possession of the Barracks, and it became the National Army's Headquarters under General Michael Collins.