Irish Free State Army Intelligence Department - Oriel House Criminal Investigation Department

This article on the activities of the Irish Free State

Irish Free State

The Irish Free State was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand...

 Army Intelligence Department, and the Criminal Investigation Department at Oriel House, Westland Row

Oriel House, Westland Row

Oriel House, Westland Row is a building at the intersection of Westland Row and Fenian Street in Dublin.It was the headquarters of Dunlop Rubber, and the address at which the original pneumatic tyre patent was draughted in 1893 'for the wheels of Velocipedes and other Vehicles'.During the Irish...

, is based on information culled from extant files obtainable at the National Archives of Ireland and from primary sources at the National Library of Ireland. Other primary sources are the accounts of inquests held on the bodies of Irish Republican Army

Irish Republican Army

The Irish Republican Army was an Irish republican revolutionary military organisation. It was descended from the Irish Volunteers, an organisation established on 25 November 1913 that staged the Easter Rising in April 1916...

 men and members of Na Fianna Éireann

Fianna Éireann

The name Fianna Éireann , also written Fianna na hÉireann and Na Fianna Éireann , has been used by various Irish republican youth movements throughout the 20th and 21st centuries...

, in the period 1 August 1922 to 12 October 1923, who were killed in dubious circumstances. The object of this article is to place before the Wikipedia readership the lethal-force policy that was waged, especially in Dublin, against those that dared to oppose the newly created Irish Free State.

It was stated in Dáil Éireann

Dáil Éireann

Dáil Éireann is the lower house, but principal chamber, of the Oireachtas , which also includes the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann . It is directly elected at least once in every five years under the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote...

 on 30 November 1922, during a debate on the financing of the CID

Criminal Investigation Department (Ireland)

The Criminal Investigation Department in the Irish Free State was an armed, plain-clothed counter-insurgency police unit that operated during the Irish Civil War. It was organised separately from the unarmed Civic Guard police force...

, that over 2500 files had been gathered on the activities of opponents to the new state. None of these files are available today. Were they destroyed? Or, are they hidden away in the Military Archives at Cathal Brugha Barracks

Cathal Brugha Barracks

Cathal Brugha Barracks is an Irish Army barracks in Rathmines, Dublin. A key military base of the Irish Defence Forces, it is the headquarters of the Eastern Command, and houses the Military Archives of the Department of Defence.-History and name:...

, still too sensitive for the public to view?

Historians interested in this subject are working with very limited material here. Obtainable from the National Archives are a few incomplete files. These could be classified as 'housekeeping material'. These files give a short history of the setting up of the CID, and personal details of over one hundred members of applicants to that agency. There are accounts of the deaths of CID members in action, lists of injured CID men, and finally a list of those suitable for retention for a new CID to replace the Oriel House model in 1924. Nothing remains of the activities of the CID against those who remained Republican after the Treaty

Anglo-Irish Treaty

The Anglo-Irish Treaty , officially called the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was a treaty between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and representatives of the secessionist Irish Republic that concluded the Irish War of...

 or, of its association with the FSA (Free State Army) Intelligence Dept.

In later years,1933, when Minister Seán MacEntee

Seán MacEntee

Seán MacEntee was an Irish politician. In a career that spanned over forty years as a Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála, MacEntee was one of the most important figures in post-independence Ireland. He served in the governments of Éamon de Valera and Seán Lemass in a range of ministerial positions,...

 was addressing Seanad Éireann

Seanad Éireann

Seanad Éireann is the upper house of the Oireachtas , which also comprises the President of Ireland and Dáil Éireann . It is commonly called the Seanad or Senate and its members Senators or Seanadóirí . Unlike Dáil Éireann, it is not directly elected but consists of a mixture of members chosen by...

 during the debate on the Garda Síochána

Garda Síochána

, more commonly referred to as the Gardaí , is the police force of Ireland. The service is headed by the Commissioner who is appointed by the Irish Government. Its headquarters are located in the Phoenix Park in Dublin.- Terminology :...

 estimates, he stated that over 100,000 files had been burned by the Home Affairs Dept.(Justice) at the changeover of government in 1932. This was sworn information given to him by the then Commissioner of An Garda Siochana, Col. Eamon Broy

Eamon Broy

Colonel Eamon Broy was successively a member of the Dublin Metropolitan Police, the Irish Republican Army, the Irish Army, and the Garda Síochána of the Irish Free State...

. (Seanad Debates, National newspapers 14 August 1933)

At least twenty-five Irish Republicans

Irish Republicanism

Irish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic.In 1801, under the Act of Union, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...

 were assassinated in County Dublin in the period that the Oriel House CID was in existence, from early 1922 to November 1923, when under the control of the FSA Intelligence Department and later under the Ministry of Home Affairs, to when it was finally abolished. Most of these deaths, or the circumstances leading to them, were not witnessed, but several witnesses were there when the two Fianna boys, Alf Colley and Sean Cole were murdered at Whitehall, and again when three more Fianna members were arrested at Clonliffe Road and found murdered the next morning at Clondalkin.

To Republicans in Dublin, during the Civil War period, the name Oriel House was synonymous with beating, torture, terror and death. The participants on both sides of the Civil War are all long departed to their final reward now, but much oral evidence was given over the years to help build up a picture of the Oriel House CID and its activities. This article, however, uses only reliable primary sources.

In 1962, Brian O'Higgins

Brian O'Higgins

Brian O'Higgins was an Irish Sinn Féin politician. He was President of Sinn Féin from 1931–1933. He was elected unopposed as a Sinn Féin MP for Clare West at the 1918 general election...

, author, scholar and former Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...

 TD

Teachta Dála

A Teachta Dála , usually abbreviated as TD in English, is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas . It is the equivalent of terms such as "Member of Parliament" or "deputy" used in other states. The official translation of the term is "Deputy to the Dáil", though a more literal...

 from the Second Dáil of 1922, dedicated his 'Wolfe Tone Annual' to "The men of '22". This booklet enumerated all the Republicans that had been killed and executed by agents of the Free State Government during the Civil War period. Twenty-five of these deaths occurred in Dublin County, and it is in this area that this article is concentrating on.

Irish Free State Army Intelligence Department

When the Truce of July 1921 came about there was a great relaxation of activity. Michael Collins

Michael Collins (Irish leader)

Michael "Mick" Collins was an Irish revolutionary leader, Minister for Finance and Teachta Dála for Cork South in the First Dáil of 1919, Director of Intelligence for the IRA, and member of the Irish delegation during the Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations. Subsequently, he was both Chairman of the...

, however, kept the pressure on his intelligence people and expanded the intelligence gathering. When most other people wined and dined during the Truce, the Intelligence Department was busy doing what it had done since 1919 - getting to know the enemy better. As the months went by and the Anglo/Irish Treaty neared, Collins could see that in the not-too-distant future his enemies would not be the British, but his own people that were now sensing a betrayal of The Republic. When the Treaty was accepted, Collins gave his Intelligence Department a new headquarters at Beggars Bush Barracks on Haddington Road, and later transferred the department to Wellington Barracks

Griffith Barracks

Griffith Barracks is a former military barracks located on the South Circular Road, Dublin, Ireland.-History:The site of Griffith Barracks was originally known as Grimswoods Nurseries. The first buildings on the site were those of a Remand Prison or Bridewell. Begun in 1813 by the architect Francis...

, on the South Circular Road, Dublin, as the Civil War developed.

There was an impressive line-up of personnel here. All of the former IRA Intelligence people were present, Liam Tobin

Liam Tobin

Major General Liam Tobin was an Irish statesman and officer in the Irish Army. During the Irish War of Independence, he served as an IRA intelligence officer for Michael Collins' Squad.-Early life:...

, Joseph MacGrath, Tom Cullen, Charlie Saurin, Ed Flood, Charlie Dalton, et al. The complete 'Squad' was also here, although some were now in uniform and commanding troops. Also at Wellington Barracks were the 'G' men

G-Man (slang)

G-Man is a slang term for Special agents of the United States Government. It is specifically used as a term for a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent....

 of the DMP

Dublin Metropolitan Police

The Dublin Metropolitan Police was the police force of Dublin, Ireland, from 1836 to 1925, when it amalgamated into the new Garda Síochána.-19th century:...

 who had turned over to assist the IRA from 1919-1921: people like Ned Broy

Eamon Broy

Colonel Eamon Broy was successively a member of the Dublin Metropolitan Police, the Irish Republican Army, the Irish Army, and the Garda Síochána of the Irish Free State...

, David Neligan

David Neligan

David Neligan , known by his soubriquet "The Spy in the Castle", was an important figure involved in the Irish War of Independence 1919-1921, and subsequently became Director of Intelligence for the Irish Army after the Irish Civil War -Early life:David Neligan was born at Templeglantine, Limerick,...

, Joe Kavanagh and Jim McNamara. Lastly, there was a large group of former Irish Republican Police

Irish Republican Police

The Irish Republican Police was the police force of the 1919-1922 Irish Republic and was administered by the Department for Home Affairs of that government.-Foundation:...

, led by Peter Ennis, brother of General Tom Ennis. Even though Collins had castigated the IRP in the past, he now accepted them into the new Free State Army Intelligence Department. A few new people were also recruited to the department, young men like Michael Joe Costello

Michael Joe Costello

Michael Joseph Costello was an Irish military leader.-Biography:Costello was born on 4 July 1904 in Cloughjordan, County Tipperary. His godfather was Thomas MacDonagh, who signed the Proclamation of the Irish Republic in 1916...

 and Daniel Bryan

Daniel Bryan

Colonel Dan Bryan was an officer in the Irish Army and head of G2 during World War II, known in neutral Ireland as "The Emergency"....

, both of whom would rise to high office in later years in the FSA.

The IRA was now faced with this substantial and impressive set-up at Wellington Barracks as the Civil War loomed. They had now formed an Executive and had barricaded themselves into the Four Courts

Four Courts

The Four Courts in Dublin is the Republic of Ireland's main courts building. The Four Courts are the location of the Supreme Court, the High Court and the Dublin Circuit Court. The building until 2010 also formerly was the location for the Central Criminal Court.-Gandon's Building:Work based on...

 buildings on the Quays. They had learned little from the lesson of 1916

Easter Rising

The Easter Rising was an insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was mounted by Irish republicans with the aims of ending British rule in Ireland and establishing the Irish Republic at a time when the British Empire was heavily engaged in the First World War...

.

Organisation

The origins of the CID at Oriel House are vague. The earliest mention of this organisation is in the form of an application for membership from Peter Ennis of the Irish Republican Police. It was a non-statutary body, an adjunct of the Intelligence Department of the pro-treaty section of the IRA. Its activities were veiled in secrecy, and today it is proving impossible to locate any files on the actual work that it carried out. From being a quasi-military body in early 1922, it transmuted into a quasi-police force in August of the same year, and remained so until it was disbanded in the latter months of 1923.

The FSA Intelligence Department took over the spacious Oriel House early in 1922. Liam Tobin

Liam Tobin

Major General Liam Tobin was an Irish statesman and officer in the Irish Army. During the Irish War of Independence, he served as an IRA intelligence officer for Michael Collins' Squad.-Early life:...

, now a Major General in the FSA, was installed here as Director General of the newly established CID. One of the first decisions made was to appoint a deputy to Tobin in this new organisation. Collins now installed as Director, Patrick Moynihan, with the rank of Captain. Moynihan had been head investigator in the Postal Service and was seconded to the new CID. He had been a valuable intelligence contact in the Post Office during the 'Tan War' and was close to both Collins and Griffith. (File H 196/4,Justice Dept. National Archives) The next appointment was that of Peter Ennis of the Irish Republican Police, also with the rank of Captain. Ennis then moved from his office at 24 Great Brunswick Street (HQ of the Dublin IRP) and transferred some of his IRP personnel to the building known as Oriel House. The building would also be used later on by the Protective Corps, whose job it was to guard all government buildings, the GPO, large banks and several government Ministers, Senators and their homes. A further organisation would also use Oriel House as a headquarters later in 1922. This was the CDF,(Citizens' Defence Force

Citizens' Defence Force

The Citizens' Defence Force was a unit of former British Army soldiers and Irish Volunteers organised by Ireland as a semi-secret group of about 100 operatives. It was financed from the Secret Service budget to mount foot patrols and gather intelligence, and was eventually absorbed into the CID ....

) a very secretive body composed mostly of ex-British soldiers. They, too, were an armed organisation and numbered about one hundred members. They duplicated some of the work of the Protective Corps, guarding banks and cinemas, and patrolling the streets of the city. They never revealed their names when submitting reports, using a personal number instead. (see File S1411, Taoiseach's Dept. at National Archives)

The cost of the CID and the Protective Corps was provided for in the CID estimates. The CDF was provided for under the Secret Service estimates. (File S.1681, Taoiseach's Dept, NA)

Oriel House CID

In the beginning, for the first six months of its existence, the CID was under the control of the FSA Intelligence Department. It had a Major General in charge, a Captain as his deputy, and the lower ranks were sergeants, corporals and privates. They also had the use of army vehicles and motorcycles. The CID was set up to 'combat the rise in armed crime in the city', as many robberies and assaults had occurred. The question has to be asked here- What was the necessity of a CID, when there was a ready-made detective force down at the 'G Division' of the DMP at Great Brunswick Street? However, there was still great animosity to the 'G men', and they in turn were not proving to be reliable and had been moribund since the Truce of 1921. In reality, the CID was set up specifically to hinder the Republicans by any means from organising and progressing. 'The end would justify the means', as the old adage goes.

Oriel House was built in 1872 and served several purposes. It was at one time the head office of the Dunlop Company. (The name over the door to-day actually says 'Dunlop Oriel House') It also served as a police station for the DMP, when Great Brunswick Street station was being renovated. It is an imposing building and served the purpose well for the CID. It had an unobstructed view right up Merrion Square and of many of the government buildings there. It was also on a corner of two main thoroughfares, with no rear entrance, and easy to defend. There were also a number of cells in the basement area of the building for holding prisoners.

Early Activity

In the early months of its existence, the newly formed CID kept its activities low-key. Gathering intelligence, making contacts and performing bodyguard duties were the day-to-day duties of the members. One file (H196/11) shows the whole complement of Oriel House divided into three groups. (A copy of the same document, dated 22 August 1922, also turned up in the Moss Twoomey IRA files at UCD Archives, (File P69/11/281) proving Ernie O'Malley

Ernie O'Malley

Ernie O'Malley was an Irish Republican Army officer during the Irish War of Independence and a commander of the anti-treaty IRA during the Irish Civil War. O'Malley wrote three books, On Another Man's Wound, The Singing Flame, and Raids and Rallies. The first describes his early life and role in...

's claim that the IRA had at least one contact within Oriel House)) Each group had Lieutenants, Sergeants and Corporals in charge. Possibly there were three shifts operating at the time. Fifty-two revolvers, (Colts, Webleys and Smith & Wessons) with 1000 rounds of .45 ammunition, six Lee Enfield rifles with 200 rounds of .303 ammunition, and one Lewis Light Machine Gun with 14 pans of ammunition, were issued to the CID. At one stage there were over one hundred and twenty men on the CID pay sheets, so not everyone would have been armed all of the time.

Transport was provided by the FSA at Portobello Barracks and consisted in the early months of one Crossley tender, one motor-car and one motor-bike. In later months the CID ran into an amount of trouble when it commandeered cars from the public at will. The CID maintained and serviced its own vehicles and had a mechanical staff specifically for that purpose. (File H9 62, 63,64 Justice Dept. NA)

There are several files at the NA (H196/3) showing the amount of money that was paid weekly to the CID.

• Captain Moynihan 250 Per Annum #
• Captain Ennis £6.14.7
• Lieutenant £4-10-0
• Sergeant £4-0-0
• Corporal £3-15-0
• Private £3-10-0

Moynihan was also in receipt of his Post Office salary during his tenure at Oriel House.

Over one hundred and twenty sheets are on file giving background information on candidates to the CID. The average age was thirty-three years, and most of the men were Dublin born. The majority had prior service in the IRA, but there were at least three ex-RIC men, one ex-American cop, and two ex-British Army people. The oldest recruit was forty-seven years of age and the youngest was sixteen years old. (He was a boy clerk within Oriel House, and he was later transferred to FSA Intelligence Dept. at Wellington Barracks at the behest of Col. Charlie Dalton) There was one non-national in the CID. This was Charles Wineman, a German national, who was the manager of Barry's Hotel, Dublin, and claimed that he was a confidant of Michael Collins.(H169)

Changeover

A government decision was made after the fall of the Four Courts and Oriel House CID was transferred from the FSA Intelligence Dept. to the Ministry of Home Affairs on 21 August 1922 (the day before Michael Collins death) Major General Joe MacGrath now became the Director General, answering to Kevin O'Higgins, the Minister of Home Affairs.

"Collins appointed him (MacGrath) Director of Intelligence in July 1922, and in that capacity he presided over some of the more grizly aspects of the treatyites counter-insurgency policy". (The Irish Counter-Revolution 1921-1936, John M. Regan, (2001)

Patrick Moynihan was retained as Director, holding the rank of Captain. All the other subordinates now adopted police ranks. Ennis became Chief Superintendent, and so on down the ranks, where the Privates became Detective Officers.

"It (the CID) rapidly earned itself an unenviable reputation for toughness, unscrupulousness, and violence". (1922-The birth of Irish democracy, Tom Garvin, (1996)

O'Higgins is on record (File S.3307, Taoiseach's Dept) as saying, ..."what was needed to put down the 'Irregulars', were more local executions, and we should just kill them anyway". This was premeditation, and this outburst must have given his agents in Oriel House the confidence to go out and be assured that there would be little outcry when they carried out extra judicial killings. The worst excesses of the killing squads took place under O'Higgin's stewardship of the CID. (File S1411, Taoiseach's Dept. NA)

In 1926 Major General Joe MacGrath was accused of knowing who the murderers of the Fianna boys at Clondalkin and Noel Lemass were, and with having failed to pursue the matter. This charge against him was in a book, "The Real Ireland", published in Britain by a Morning Post journalist named Brethetron. MacGrath was in retirement at this time and he brought a civil action against the author for libel. He won his case, because the Irish State would not attend the court, or produce the relevant files to the defendants. The case was won on this point, but the accusation remained. (See File S4786, Taoiseach's Dept, NA)

In February 1923, Oriel house CID took up residence at 88 Merrion Square. The Protective Corps had now come under the command of the CID also at this time. File H169/3, Justice Dept. shows that there were now;

• 30 efficient Detective Officers
• 175 House and personal guards
• 60 street patrols
• 40 Observers or 'Touts'
• 8 Women observers
• 50 part-time volunteers

The Republicans dead

After the fall of the Four Courts Garrison and the defeat of the rearguard action in central Dublin, the IRA adopted new tactics in the Metropolitan area. A low-intensity guerilla war was conducted against the army of the Provisional Government of the Irish Free State. This was proving very hard to combat, so the FSA adopted the policy of rounding up and interning all known activists that opposed the new state. When this measure failed to stop attacks on FSA troops and installations, a new policy was brought in - 'Remove the leaders by any means and the war will end'. When the FSA was attacked in any area, they exacted revenge on those who may have been responsible in that particular area.

The following is a list of known Republican leaders that were killed in Dublin by;

• Free State Army Intelligence agents.
• CID agents from Oriel House.
• Or by combinations of both of above.

Also included here are the accounts of three CID men who were killed in action with the IRA.

• Harry Boland
  Harry Boland
  Harry Boland was an Irish Republican politician and member of the First Dáil.-Early life:Boland was born in Phibsboro, Dublin on 27 April 1887. He was active in GAA circles in early life, and ultimately joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood...
  
  , 1 August 1922. Harry (34) had fought in Dublin and was now in hiding with his friend Joe Griffin, of the IRA's Intelligence Dept. He was tracked down, with the aid of an informer, to the Grand Hotel, Skerries. Two Free State Army officers entered his room and Harry, unarmed, was shot and mortally wounded. He died two days later in St. Vincents Hospital, Dublin. As he lay dying, he gave the name of his attacker to his family. This was a former comrade who had been in prison with him in 1916. Harry also had had a premonition of his death one week earlier, when he said "I know too much about Mick, (Michael Collins) and he won't let me live".

• Joe Hudson, 7 August 1922. Joe Hudson (20) lived at Adelaide Road, Glasthule, Dun Laoire, and was in command of a small group of ten IRA volunteers in the area. They were proving to be very successful locally against the FSA. This group operated down to Bray and across to Deans Grange, where another group was based. On 7 August 1922, a group of FSA officers left Portobello Barracks, they were acting on information that a meeting was in progress in Hudson's home. The FSA officers, in two cars, pulled up near Hudson's, but a Fianna boy on sentry duty blew his whistle to alert those inside Hudson's house. The occupants of the house scattered through the back garden as shots were exchanged. Hudson was injured and he dropped his weapon. A FSA officer approached him as he lay on the ground and shot him at point-blank range, he died next day in Dun Laoire Hospital, but not before he gave a death-bed declaration that he had had his hands up when shot. (Evidence from Inquest reported in Evening Herald, 8 August 1922) The leader of the FSA group was Commandant Niall McNeill
  Niall McNeill
  Niall MacNeill was an Irish army officer and entomologist who specialised in Odonata and Heteroptera.He was the son of Eoin MacNeill founder of the Irish Volunteers which Niall MacNeill joined later becoming an officer in the Irish Army. With the rank of Colonel he specialised in surveying,...
  
  , whose father was a minister in the Provisional Government.

• Sean Cole
• Alf Colley, 25 August 1922. One of the most despicable murders of Republicans took place at Whitehall on this date. Alfie(Leo) Colley(18), Parnell Street, and Sean Cole(17), Buckingham Street, were two of the most senior Fianna officers in the Dublin Brigade of Fianna Éireann. They were picked up at Newcomen Bridge, North Strand, on their way home from an officers meeting at Marino. A witness stated that their abductors were wearing trench coats over Free State Army officers uniforms. Witnesses also saw them being shot dead at 'The Thatch', Pucks Lane, (Now Yellow Road), Whitehall, Dublin
  Whitehall, Dublin
  Whitehall is a Northside suburb of Dublin City, Ireland.Whitehall is on the northern outskirts of Dublin's inner city, located on the N1 road leading to Dublin Airport, Swords and Belfast, between Santry and Drumcondra. North of Whitehall, the N1 becomes a motorway, the M1...
  
  . Popular opinion at the time was that these killings were carried out as a reprisal for the death of Michael Collins
  Michael Collins (Irish leader)
  Michael "Mick" Collins was an Irish revolutionary leader, Minister for Finance and Teachta Dála for Cork South in the First Dáil of 1919, Director of Intelligence for the IRA, and member of the Irish delegation during the Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations. Subsequently, he was both Chairman of the...
  
   earlier that week. (National newspapers reporting incident and inquest 27&28 August 1922)

• Bernard Daly, 25 August 1922. On the same day that Cole and Colley were assassinated, Bernard Daly was taken from his place of employment at Nassau Street by armed men. His body was found later that day in a ditch on the Malahide Road, Belcamp. He was a native of County Armagh
  County Armagh
  -History:Ancient Armagh was the territory of the Ulaid before the fourth century AD. It was ruled by the Red Branch, whose capital was Emain Macha near Armagh. The site, and subsequently the city, were named after the goddess Macha...
  
  . (National newspapers, 27&28 August 1922, Evidence given at Inquest)

• Leo Murray
• Rodney Murphy, 2 September 1922. These men were in hiding from the CID, who had threatened to 'riddle them' when caught. They were in hiding at Newpark Lodge, Stillorgan, in a friends house, when they were shot in their beds by a squad of Free State Army officers from Portobello Barracks. Their homes had been raided three times in the prior week by the CID from Oriel House. (Evidence from Inquest in all national papers 3 & 4 Sept.1922)

• J.J.Stephens, 3 September 1922. Stephens worked for the Great Northern Railway Company in Dublin. He was a native of Beleek, County Fermanagh and was an IRA volunteer in the city. He was taken from his lodgings at 7 Gardiner Place by armed men at 3.30 a.m. on 3 Sept. and his body was found on the Naas Road at Blackhorse Bridge, Inchicore. (National newspapers, 4 and 5 September, evidence from inquest)

• Sean McEvoy, 12 September 1922. He was caught at the junction of Bride Street and Peter Street by a combination of CID men and Free State soldiers. His friend gave evidence that they were placed against a wall and fired at. His friend escaped to tell the story. (Evidence from inquest reported in national papers 13 Sept.1922, and War News, 14 Sept.)

• Patrick Mannion, 16 September 1922. Mannion had taken part in the attack that evening on Oriel House. His squad retreated along Mount Street. There they encountered a patrol of Free State soldiers. Shots were exchanged and Mannion fell with a shattered leg. His comrades took his weapon and made their escape. Mannion was on the ground, with his hands in the surrender position, when he was shot dead. (Evidence given at inquest and reported in national newspapers. 17 Sept. Mannion's father was a sergeant in the DMP. Reporters at the inquest had their notebooks confiscated by the CID)

• Pat Neville, 23 September 1922. Neville was at his place of employment, Mooneys Pub, Eden Quay, when he was abducted by three armed men. He was murdered at the old Killester Avenue Cemetery the same day. Neville was from County Clare and his body was brought there for burial. (Evidence from inquest reported in national newspapers 24 Sept.1922)

• Edwin Hughes(19),
• Brendan Holohan(18),
• Joseph Rogers(16), 7 October 1922. This was the single worst atrocity committed in Dublin. These three Fianna boys were affixing republican posters on a wall at Clonliffe Road, Drumcondra, when they were arrested by Charlie Dalton and two other officers, all of the FSA Intelligence Dept. Their bullet-riddled bodies were found at the quarries on the Naas Road, Clondalkin next morning. (evidence from inquest reported in all national newspapers 8,9&10 October 1922, and from File S1832, Taoiseach's Dept. NA)

• James Spain, 5 November 1922. Jim Spain had taken part in the large-scale attack on the FSA at Wellington Barracks, South Circular Road. He got wounded and made his way to a house on Donore Avenue. He was dragged out of the house by FS soldiers and shot dead whilst unarmed. He knew one of his attackers, a man who said that he would kill him the next time that they met. (Report of evidence given to Inquest, 6 November 1922. Also a report in Pobhlacht na h-Éireann, Republican weekly paper, 15 November 1922)

• William Graham, 25 November 1922. William Graham was stopped by a FSA officer at Leeson Street Bridge. He was found to be carrying a revolver, which was taken from him. He was then shot dead on the spot by this officer. (Evidence from inquest, as reported in national newspapers 26&27 November 1922, and evidence given by his comrade to Poblacht na h-Éireann, 29 November 1922)

• Frank Lawler, 29 December 1922. Frank Lawler was aware that CID agents were looking for him. He was tracked down to a friends house in Ranelagh and taken from there by the CID. His body was recovered at Milltown Golf Club. (Inquest evidence, national newspapers, 1 January 1923)

• Thomas O'Leary, 23 March 1923. Thomas O'Leary was also on the run and staying with a friend. He was arrested at a house on Upp. Rathmines Road and his body was found a few hundred yards away at Tranquilla Convent. (Inquest evidence, national newspapers 24 March 1923)

• Bobby Bonfield, 29 March 1923. Bobby Bonfield was a dental student. He was arrested at Leeson Street by President Cosgrave's bodyguard and his body was located next day at Dowling's farm, Newland Cross, Clondalkin. (Inquest evidence from national newspapers 30 March 1923, and from John Dowling interview in Survivors, by Uinsionn MacEoin, 1986)

• Christopher Breslin
• Joseph Kiernan, 3 April 1923. Breslin was taken from his home at Mount Temple Road, Manor Street and Kiernan was arrested at Aungier Street. Their bodies were found at Ratoath Road, Cabra. (Inquest evidence from national newspapers 4 April 1923)

• Michael Neary, 22 March 1923. Neary was wounded and captured at Albert Road, Glenageary. A FSA officer shot him repeatedly in the lower body, and he died some days later in Dun Laoire Hospital. (Inquest evidence from national papers, and War News, 28 March 1923)

• Martin Hogan, 21 April 1923. Hogan was abducted by a party of about ten men at Eccles Place, Dorset Street, whilst in the company of his girlfriend. His body was recovered at Grace Park Road next morning. (Evidence from inquest and interview with girlfriend in national newspapers, 22&23 April 1923)

• Henry McEntee, 3 August 1923. The CID from Oriel House had told McEntee's wife that they were going to 'riddle him' when caught. His body was found on the Dubber Road, at the top of Jamestown Road, Finglas.

• Noel Lemass. 12 October 1923. Lemass was abducted from Drury Street in July and his dismembered body was found at the Featherbed Mountains. He could only be identified by his clothing and spectacles. (Inquest evidence, 14 October 1923, in national newspapers.)

• James Tierney. This man is mentioned in O'Higgins book, but no date or place is given for his death. Further research is being undertaken to find the facts on his death.

This then is the list of Republicans that were eliminated by agents of the Provisional Government and the Free State Government in the period that the CID was in existence in Oriel House and at 88 Merrion Square.

In the same period, four CID men were killed in action, three by the IRA and one by Free State Army soldiers during a robbery at a factory.

• Patrick Murray. 25 September 1922. Murray was the driver to a party of six CID men that were seeking to arrest a Republican group at Deans Grange, Co. Dublin. A gunfight ensued and Murray was hit in the leg. He died in Dun Laoire hospital after the amputation of his leg. (File H169/14, Justice Dept. NA)

• James Daly. 29 December 1922. Daly was a CID Inspector and he was leading a squad of men, raiding public houses along the North Quays, when he was shot. He died shortly afterwards in hospital. (File H169/35, Justice Dept, NA)

• James Deane. 17 September 1922. Deane was living in Oriel House. The IRA entered the house by a ruse and a gunfight broke out. Deane was killed instantly as he ran down the stairs. (File H169/72, Justice Dept, NA)

• James Fitzgerald. 19 October 1923. Fitzgerald was the driver of one of the CID cars that responded to a robbery at Ashtown. He was in control of a prisoner when he was shot dead by a man who was a despatch rider in the FSA. His death led to the first execution by hanging in the new Irish Free State. (File H169/84, Justice Dept, NA)

Abolition of Oriel House CID

The IRA called a cease-fire in April 1923. All arms were dumped and the Civil War officially came to an end. It is now estimated that twenty-two thousand republicans were interned at various camps around the country. Oriel House had become an embarrassment to the FS Government because of its extrajudicial killings, so a decision was taken to terminate the CID. A problem arose now on how best to dispose of this large organisation that had served the government during the ten months of the war. There were three organisations disbanded at the one time: the CID, most of the Protection Corps and the Citizens Defence Force.

Disbandment

The CID was finally disbanded in November 1923 and a selection of its members were transferred to the DMP. The following extracts are taken from a letter from the Ministry of Home Affairs to the Executive Council of the Irish Free State.

"....."the CID shall be disbanded at an early date. This Department has no statutary constitution and its continued existence is not desirable......into this new body (which might be styled the "Detective Branch" of the DMP) there can be absorbed a selection of Oriel House men and such members of the "G" Division as may be suitable." (File S3332, Taoiseach's Dept. NA) The new Detective Branch was put under the control of Colonel David Nelligan, Director of Intelligence in the FSA.

At the point of disbandment there were still seventy-three personnel in the CID at 88 Merrion Square. Of these, twenty-eight were amalgamated with the DMP. Those that were disbanded got four weeks wages. Captain Moynihan returned to the Postal Service at the GPO, but his position had been filled in his absence and he was therefore reduced in the ranks. He was despised by his colleagues in the Postal Service because of his interference in the postal workers strike earlier in 1922.

"After the Civil War this now notorious unit was disbanded because of its uncontrollability and murderousness" (Tom Garvin, ibid)

"He (De Valera) had no confidence in the Special Branch of An Garda, the hard men of the police who gruesomely murdered Sean Lemass's brother, and who were essentially the remnants of Collins old squad organised in Oriel House." (J.P. McCarthy, Professor of Irish History, Oxford University, Sunday Independent, 13 December 2009, commenting on the proposed industrial action in An Garda Siochana.)

Conclusion

Unless relevant files on the activities of the FSA Intelligence Dept. and of those of the Oriel House CID are made available, historians will be left guessing. No in-depth study has ever been made on this subject and it now appears that a great cover-up was made when the CID of Oriel House was abolished. Even Sean Lemass, when he became a government minister in 1932, failed to find any files, information, or any clue that would point to the murderers of his brother Noel. As Sean McEntee stated in the Seanad in 1933, over 100,000 files had been destroyed in the Justice Department by those that had controlled Oriel House.

Michael Collins initiated the CID as a counter-revolutionary step. His FSA Intelligence Dept. ran and controlled the organisation for six months until the Home Affairs Ministry took over in August 1922. All along, however, the CID appears to have kept up a strong relationship with the FSA Intelligence Dept: they worked hand-in-glove, and many of the murders in Dublin appear to have been joint ventures.

The murderous activities of the Oriel House CID remain a great stain on the political scene of the time.