Around Carrick On Shannon

James Gralton was born on 17 April 1886 in the townland of Effrinagh, Parish of Kiltoghert, about six miles from Carrick-on-Shannon in County Leitrim. 
Gralton was reared on a small farm of about twenty-five acres of bad land, which was surrounded by some good land. The people were too poor to buy fertiliser for the crops so they had to burn some of the topsoil, and this left the land poor and shallow.
Gralton emigrated to the United States in 1909, but returned to Ireland to fight in the Irish War of Independence,[2] and later in 1932 to look after his mother, where he led the Revolutionary Workers' Group in Leitrim,[3] a predecessor of the Communist Party of Ireland. 
He ran a dance hall in Effrinagh[2] where he organised free events and expounded his political views. There were violent protests against these dances, led by Catholic priests, which culminated in a shooting incident. Following this, on 9 February 1933, he was arrested, and later deported to the United States of America, on the basis that he was an alien.[4] This led to public protests organised by the Irish Republican Army.[5]

A film "Jimmy's Hall " about this incident was directed by Ken Loach