Shortly afterwards, the IRA encountered ten lorry-loads of British Army soldiers, who had been sent out on a separate patrol looking for a missing magistrate.

[1] In reprisal for the ambush, the RIC Auxiliaries and British military raided three local villages, killed five civilians and burnt 16 houses and shops in the surrounding area.

[5] The Rineen Ambush was ordered by the leadership of the IRA's Mid Clare Brigade, who had noticed that an RIC lorry travelled every week on the Ennistymon to Milltown Malbay road.

John Joe Neylon (the leader of the local IRA battalion) was put in charge, although the actual attack was led by Ignatius O'Neill, the Officer Commanding.

It was quite quickly noticed that the magistrate was missing and the British military authorities Ennistymon decided to send out a search party of ten lorries of soldiers.

[9] The RIC lorry passed safely through the ambush position, travelling from Ennistymon to Milltown Malbay, due to some confusion among the IRA over the numbers they faced.

A running fight ensued as four IRA riflemen kept the troops at bay while the other volunteers made their escape in an orderly retreat.

Immediately after the action ended, they burned the house and farm of the O'Gorman family and shot a local farmer, Sean Keane.

[13] That night, a mixed force of police and soldiers raided the home of Dan Lehane, whose two sons had taken part in the ambush.

[15] In what may have been a belated reprisal for the ambush, four IRA men were arrested by the Auxiliaries at Killaloe on 16 November, beaten, interrogated and then shot dead.

Hamar Greenwood, the Chief Secretary for Ireland, defended the State Forces' actions, saying that the houses destroyed were those of, "notorious Sinn Féiners...

[22] The memorial cost just over £1200 to erect, and was financed by subscriptions from the U.S.A., alongside donations from veterans of the War of Independence and members of the public.

[24] For example on the 90th Anniversary ceremony the TD Minister of Defence Tony Killeen talked about how such events were not sectarian and welcomed descendants of the six RIC members who were killed in the Ambush.

In particular, the plaque pays tribute to volunteer, and local man Pakie Lehane, who died following reprisals by British forces, following the Rineen ambush.