Justice for Michael Mallin

William T McCartney speaks with Pat Coyle about his book Vindication and Justice for Commandant Michael Mallin. Jesuit Joseph Mallin SJ, who died in 2018 at the age of 104, was his son. He was two and a half years old when his father was executed in May 1916 for his part in the Easter Rising.

Eighty years later the British government released court papers from their archives and it was evident that Michael Mallin had been used as a scapegoat to target Countess Markievicz. The court report, written by a British soldier and against much evidence to the contrary, claimed that the Commandant tried to lay all the blame for the Rising on the Countess.

Father Joseph fought until his death for the vindication of his father, compiling a statement of defense of his father’s reputation. The author, who is related to the Mallin family through marriage, outlines in this interview why he wrote the book. He explains the lies told about Commandant Mallin and why he should have his reputation restored.