A number of local men were involved in the Irish republican movement, including Laurence 'Lar' Redmond and Jim O'Brien, both of the Morriscastle area, who served in the Irish Republican Brotherhood. Redmond claimed to be a descendant of John Murphy (of the 1798 Rebellion) and was active in Enniscorthy in the 1916 Rising. He was elected as a councillor in the district of Gorey. On 14 August 1920, he was part of a company of men that set fire to the Royal Irish Constabulary barracks on the road to Morriscastle. Redmond and his colleagues also set fire to the coast guard station at Morriscastle in July 1921. Jim O'Brien was shot dead by members of the Royal Irish Constabulary in Rathdrum, County Wicklow, on 12 February 1920, during the Irish War of Independence. At the time, he was an IRA commandant and the officer commanding the East Wicklow Brigade. A plaque in Market Square, Rathdrum, commemorates the shooting. In April 2016, a memorial stone was unveiled to commemorate local participants in the 1916 Rising.