On December 29, 1922, during the Irish Civil War, two Anti-Treaty IRA volunteers, John Murphy and John Phelan, were executed by Free State troops in Kilkenny Barracks. These executions were part of a broader policy by the Provisional Government to suppress opposition to the Anglo-Irish Treaty. The executions followed a period of intense conflict and political tension after the establishment of the Irish Free State. Murphy and Phelan were among 81 Anti-Treaty prisoners formally sanctioned for execution by the pro-Treaty Army Council during the war, highlighting the brutal realities and deep divisions of the Civil War period.
