The Irish Revolution, 1916-1923 by Marie Coleman

Connaught (McGarry, 2010: 213–9; 240–3; Townshend, 2005: 218–21, 228–9).
    Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) : The police force for Ireland outside of Dublin, which was disbanded in 1922.
    An unusual feature of the Rising was the participation of women and children. Approximately 200 women were involved, the majority of whom were members of Cumann na mBan , the women's auxiliary of the Irish Volunteers. The most prominent female rebel was Constance Markievicz, who commanded the St Stephen's Green Garrison for the ICA along with Michael Mallin and appears to have shot dead at least one policeman (McGarry, 2010: 137). Cumann na mBan was not part of the initial operations on Monday morning and was only mobilised at its own insistence that evening. With the exception of Markievicz, no other woman was given a senior role and the members of Cumann na mBan were denied any combat role at all, focusing instead on the subordinate duties of providing food supplies and first aid. Those who had medical expertise, such as Brigid Lyons, a medical student in University College Galway, Elizabeth O’Farrell, who was a nurse, and Dr Kathleen Lynn, the ICA's chief medical officer, provided essential treatment for wounded rebels. Women were also used to carry dispatches and ammunition between the rebel garrisons, a dangerous undertaking during the most intense phases of the fighting ( http://www.bureauofmilitaryhistory.ie/reels/bmh/BMH.WS0259.pdf#page=1 ).
    Cumann na mBan : The women's auxiliary of the Irish Volunteers/IRA, formed in 1914.
    These activities were in line with Cumann na mBan's perception of itself as an auxiliary force for the Volunteers and with its activities prior to 1916. While Eamon de Valera is often cited for not allowing women into his garrison, he was prepared to make use of them as dispatch carriers(Matthews, 2010: 123). Thomas MacDonagh reluctantly permitted women into the Jacob's factory. In general, the ICA women enjoyed a larger measure of equality, though their experience did not differ greatly from that of Cumann na mBan. Unlike the Volunteers, which was an all-male force supported by a female cast in its own separate organisation, women were members of the ICA, in line with Connolly's thinking on gender equality. Nevertheless, Markievicz was the only member of the force to see serious military action and Connolly refused to allow his daughter Nora to become involved, sending her on a mission to Tyrone instead. Similarly, Thomas Clarke would not allow his wife, Kathleen, to join him, an understandable decision given that they had small children; he knew that the Rising would probably result in his death and she was pregnant (and was to suffer a miscarriage later in the year) (Clarke, 2008: 112, 161). Outside Dublin women took little part in the provincial fighting, apart from acting as messengers. Seventy-nine women were subsequently arrested though most were released after a short period. Markievicz was tried by court martial and initially sentenced to death along with her fellow commanders, but this was commuted ‘solely and only on account of her sex’. None of the female rebels were killed, although Margaret Skinnider of the ICA was badly wounded by a sniper while attempting to set fire to a hotel (McGarry, 2010: 162, 226–8; Foy and Barton, 1999: 358).
    Children participated in the Rising as members of Fianna éireann and the ICA's boys’ corps, including James Connolly's son Roddy, who was only 15 and acted as an aide-de-camp for his father and Pearse in the GPO. Fourteen-year-old John Healy of the Fianna was probably the youngest combat fatality, though not the youngest child to die as a result of the Rising. John Francis Foster was only two years old when shot in cross-fire on Church Street, one of three children killed on Easter Monday and of 30 in total who died as a result of gun-fire during Easter week (Duffy, 2013: 34–5; McGarry, 2010: 198; Matthews, 2010: 145–6). The Fianna's most notable