Decoding the IRA

by Tom Mahon

  Lynch, Nurse B SRN and CMB, 104 Cazenove Road, Stamford Hill, London N 16 – State Registered Nurse and midwife, letters to be delivered on Tuesdays and Fridays, those marked urgent were forwarded to the OC. Britain.74

  McCormack, Mrs Lena, 33 St George’s Court, Gloucester Rd, Kensington, SW 7 – for communications to the OC. Britain.75

  MacDarby, Miss, 22 Northbrook Terrace, North Strand Road, Dublin – enclosed envelope to be marked for Miss Kearney.76

  McDonnell, Tom, Collinstown, County Westmeath – copies of the IRA journal An tÓglach to be sent to him.77

  MacHale, Miss, 8 Bessborough Parade, Rathmines, Dublin.78

  Masterson, Miss E, 44 Acacia Road, Johnswood, London NW.79

  Monley, Nurse B, Meath Hospital, Dublin – ‘for occasional letters’.80

  Nolan, Michael Junior, 3 Hospital Lane, Enniscorthy, County Wexford – for letters only.81

  O’Leary, Con, Beaufort Street, off Northumberland Street, Liverpool.82

  Plunkett, Mrs, 17 Marlborough Road, Dublin – telegram to be sent here.83

  Price, Miss, 29 South Anne Street, Dublin – envelope to be marked ‘personal’.84

  Rafferty, John, The Stores, Katesbridge, Belfast – pseudonym ‘Mr Johnson’.85

  Sweetman, brothers, 28 South Frederick Street, Dublin – telegrams.86

  Toner, John, 264 West 118th Street, New York.87

  Watters, Miss May, 117 Butler Street, Belfast.88

  White, Miss H, 505 West 40th Street, New York.89

  List of alleged IRA calling houses

  Coady Mrs, 5 Glegg Street, off Great Howard Street, Liverpool – for delivery of gelignite and detonators, caller to ‘say stuff is for Mr Kucas [sic]’.90

  Cooley, Mrs, 74 Cavendish Street, Clonard, Belfast – call house for the Belfast battalion, not for comms [letters or despatches].91

  Fuller, Miss, Exchange hotel, Parliament Street – caller to ask for Kelly.92

  Lagan, Miss, 353 East 31st Street, New York and Astor Court Building, 18 West 34th Street, Room 207, New York – call house for Connie Neenan, the IRA’s representative in America.93

  McCarthy, Miss, 21 Dawson Street, Dublin.94

  McLoughlin, Miss, Sinn Féin Offices, 23 Suffolk Street, Dublin.95

  Magee, Mr H, Motor and Cycle Agent, Edward Street, Lurgan – address for delivery of a motorcycle for the Armagh battalion.96

  Morin, Patrick, 10 Robson Street, Aikenhead Road, Glasgow – caller to give name ‘Moore’ and ask for ‘Bob’.97

  O’Grady, Miss Alice, Clarence hotel, Wellington Quay, Dublin – for despatches.98

  Rob Roy pub, Cobh, County Cork – received despatches and weapons smuggled from America.99

  Sweeney, Mrs, Fruiterer and Greengrocer, 5 Harold’s Cross, Dublin – consignment of explosives, disguised as fruit, to be sent here.100

  Turley’s [pub], Newbridge, County Galway.101

  Miscellaneous names and addresses

  Cadden, Phil, Connolly St, Fermoy – ex-British soldier who told the IRA about a secret tunnel leading into Fermoy army barracks.102

  Cohen, Second Engineer on the American Farmer – trans-Atlantic courier for the IRA.103

  Delahunty, Fr, Kilkenny – in contact with the IRA.104

  Irwin, Henry P and Williams, John F, care of Thomas Cook and Son, Grafton Street, Dublin – false American passports for Moss Twomey and Seán Russell to be posted to them from the US.105

  Lalor, JJ, 63 Middle Abbey St, Dublin – printer.106

  McKenna, Father Martin, C/O Parish Priest’s House, Ballymackey, Carrickmacross, County Monaghan – priest in England whose name was used by IRA volunteers as a referee. He was also associated with an IRA passport scheme.107

  Murphy, William, Chief Engineer on the Tuscor, which sailed between Liverpool and Waterford – IRA courier.108

  O’Shea, Miss Winnie, 8 Loraine Road, Holloway, London – £50 cheque from Dublin for the IRA commander in Britain to be made payable to her.109

  Shanahan, Martin, 1900 Lexington Avenue, New York (c/o Dan O’Brien) – ex-OC of the Clare brigade, who emigrated to America.110

  Sloan, Todd, 2 Crown Street, Tidal Basin, London E 16 – English communist organiser who offered to give the IRA information on British government ammunition stores.111

  Ward’s, Glenmalure House, Rialto, Dublin – safe house for the 4th battalion, Dublin brigade.112

  CHAPTER 3

  A New Leadership: 1926–1927

  I would suggest kidnapping and giving him a good hammering, tarring and feathering, or heaving him over the quay.

  IRA chief of staff

  We will be closed for [the Christmas] Holidays.

  IRA chief of staff

  At an IRA army convention in November 1925 the delegates rejected the moderate leadership of Frank Aiken and asserted the organisation’s autonomy from Éamon de Valera and the politicians of Sinn Féin. They elected a new generation of leaders who were more militant than their predecessors. Andy Cooney succeeded Aiken as chief of staff but was soon replaced by Moss Twomey. Twomey remained in that position for ten years and was to become one of the most influential of the IRA’s leaders. At a time of great division within the republican movement, Twomey attempted to hold the IRA together, as well as to reorganise militarily and develop social and economic policies that would resonate with the Irish people. During his tenure the greatest threat to the IRA was not the Free State and the gardaí, but the growth of de Valera’s new political party, Fianna Fáil.

  Historical background

  In April 1923 on a windswept Tipperary hillside, a rifle shot from a Free State soldier mortally wounded the IRA’s chief of staff, Liam Lynch, and effectively ended the Civil War. Lynch was a noble brave man, but his incompetent leadership had doomed the IRA to certain defeat and his obstinacy had prevented a timely end to the conflict. In his stead Frank Aiken was elected chief of staff and in May Aiken issued the order ‘to cease fire and dump arms’.1

  The IRA’s defeat in the Civil War had been absolute. Throughout the conflict the IRA possessed no coherent or consistent military strategy, it had let the Free State’s national army take the initiative and had failed to develop a supporting political programme. By the end of the struggle, considerably more IRA volunteers had been killed than in the Anglo-Irish War (though the exact number is unknown), seventy-seven had been executed and there were 12,000 in jail.2

  Over the course of 1924 the vast majority of the prisoners were released. However, they and the other IRA veterans had little prospect of employment in the Free State. This was due to a combination of factors: the economic slump that followed the First World War, the considerable hostility to the IRA that existed throughout the country and frequently the volunteers’ lack of job skills. Republicans were also barred from state jobs unless they took a pledge of allegiance.3 Frank Aiken himself wrote that ‘80% of the Volunteers living in towns, I am sure, are unemployed’.4 Pax Ó Faoláin of Waterford, who was both an IRA brigadier-general and a plumber, spoke for many when he said: ‘Life was a struggle when I came home. You were trying to get a job, to pay a load of debts, to get going again. Yet everybody was boycotting you.’ And he added: ‘The few people I could get work from here were the Protestants.’5 Connie Neenan of Cork said that there was a ‘campaign of economic tyranny’ against re-publicans.6 The IRA managed to provide a small number of grants to disabled men and the Sinn Féin Reconstruction Committee made loans to help volunteers start up their own businesses – though these efforts failed to significantly alleviate much of the hardship.7

  During the course of the Anglo-Irish War and the Civil War the IRA had prohibited the emigration of volunteers. However, as veterans were forced by economic circumstances to seek opportunity in the United States and Britain, the organisation needed to face up to the economic reality and in July 1925 reversed its ban.8 Though the number of IRA veterans who emigrated was likely in the thousands, a little over 300 formally notified the organisation of their plan to emigrate and register
ed with its so-called ‘foreign reserves’. Of these, 200 went to America, 100 to Britain and a handful to other countries such as Canada and Australia.9

  In the aftermath of the Civil War, GHQ still expected IRA units to maintain a state of readiness. Officers were instructed to hold parades and training sessions, gather intelligence in their locality, regularly report to headquarters, maintain arms dumps and recruit new members. However, relatively few officers were carrying out their duties – either finding them pointless or prevented by their need to work. Many volunteers and officers were profoundly demoralised and disillusioned with the organisation following the war. A senior officer who was also a member of the Army Executive typified the prevalent apathy: ‘He [admitted he] could not be regarded as an active Volunteer’ and went on to make a half-hearted commitment that ‘he was willing to perform any duties assigned to him provided he had sufficient spare time’.10 The only area in which the IRA was stronger than ever was in its number of top brass! In 1924 there were at least twenty-one generals in the organisation and by 1927 OCs of the thirteen brigades had been given the rank of brigadier-general – and that was in addition to the generals back at headquarters.11

  Throughout 1924 and 1925 Aiken reorganised and attempted to revive the organisation; he toured the country (speaking to officers and inspecting units) and disbanded the major units such as divisions. With the decline of the IRA the divisions were no longer effectively functioning and their dissolution removed a redundant layer of bureaucracy, freeing up their staff officers to work with their local units. The thirty-seven local units – brigades, battalions and in the smaller areas companies – now reported directly to GHQ in Dublin and were referred to as ‘independent units’. Aiken hoped to decrease the duties of the officers, thereby enabling those ‘who have civil work to carry on their Volunteer work at the same time’.12 The priority for now was to hold the organisation together and await more propitious times. However, despite Aiken’s efforts it is estimated that membership declined from 14,500 in August 1924 to 5,000 in November 1926.13

  Aiken was a dour, brusque northerner, a man of few words, who held his council. During the years of fighting he had shown ‘plenty of guts’. He was a stern disciplinarian, who could be short with his men. In a characteristic exchange he wrote to the intelligence officer in Tipperary, who had wanted to set up a meeting to discuss the state of the IRA: ‘I cannot conceive what suggestions you can have for curing apathy and disorganisation and maintaining unity, that could not have been … brought up at the [army] Convention.’14 And he wrote to Liam Pedlar in America that ‘there is no excuse really for my delay in replying but a general disinclination to deal with [your correspondence]’.15 Aiken’s letters and the minutes of Army Executive meetings also display an irrational sense of optimism, though this may have been a façade he effected in the hope of improving morale. In 1924 he reported to America: ‘Things are going pretty well here: in spite of everything – unemployment and bad weather – we are gaining ground. We are consolidating our forces and the [Free] Staters are disintegrating rapidly.’16 Though the Free State government had to weather the Army Mutiny crisis in March of that year it was the IRA and not the government that was disintegrating. Aiken was very close to de Valera whom he ‘adored’ and regarded almost as ‘a holy symbol’.17

  Meanwhile, developments on the political front were to have significant consequences for the IRA. Back in November 1922 the organisation had given allegiance to the (largely imaginary) republican ‘government’ presided over by Éamon de Valera, who was also the president of Sinn Féin. This ‘government’ claimed its legitimacy derived from the Second Dáil which had been elected in 1921. Following elections in June 1922 to what was to be called the Third or Free State Dáil, Michael Collins and William Cosgrave dissolved the Second Dáil, and the Third Dáil became the functioning parliament of the new state. However, the legal basis for the dissolution remained at best unclear. And de Valera, with his supporters in Sinn Féin and the IRA, was to claim that the Second Dáil remained the country’s legitimate parliament.18 Sinn Féin thus boycotted the Free State Dáil and refused to recognise the institutions of the state. The republican ‘government’ however was a government in name only and provided no functioning alternative to the Free State administration.

  During the Civil War the IRA, under the control of Liam Lynch and the IRA Army Executive, largely ignored de Valera and Sinn Féin. In effect it was a military dictatorship, which claimed to act on behalf of the Irish people, but without their mandate.19 It was only following the defeat of the IRA and Aiken’s appointment as chief of staff that de Valera and the republican ‘government’ were able to assert control over the organisation. De Valera’s position was strengthened in February 1925 when another one of his supporters, Seán Lemass, was appointed republican

  Minister for Defence. In addition the republican Minister for Finance controlled the IRA’s budget and paid the salaries of the headquarters staff. With these developments, de Valera – in the words of Seán MacBride – ‘assumed more power [over the IRA] than had been intended’.20

  By 1925 rumours began to spread that de Valera was exploring the option of entering the Free State Dáil – provided this could be done without taking the oath of allegiance to the king – and that Lemass and Aiken were sympathetic to this strategy. With de Valera in a dominant position over the IRA, this became a source of disquiet to the more militant officers, such as Andy Cooney, Moss Twomey and Seán Russell. They feared that de Valera and Aiken would compromise on the IRA’s goal of a thirty-two county republic and corrupt the organisation by entangling it further in the political process. In the autumn of 1925 Cooney approached Aiken and directly asked him if he would support Sinn Féin’s entry into the Free State Dáil, but Aiken was evasive and refused to give a straight answer.21

  In May 1925 the Army Executive called for the convening of a general army convention that November.22 Aiken, as sanguine as ever, wrote about the upcoming convention: ‘I believe there is no cause for the slightest worry in the matter.’23

  1925 IRA army convention

  On 14 and 15 November, IRA delegates from across the country attended the general army convention at the (inconveniently namely) Queen’s hotel, Dalkey, County Dublin. This crucial meeting was to determine the direction of the IRA for many years.

  The convention approved a new IRA constitution that asserted the organisation’s primary aim as the establishment of a thirty-two county republic through the use of force. It also decreed that the general army convention was ‘the supreme army authority’, but that the Army Council fulfilled this role when the convention was not in session. The convention would elect the twelve members of the Army Executive, which in turn selected the seven members of the Army Council. However, aside from selecting the Army Council, the Executive (which had been such a powerful body during the Civil War) was now largely powerless and was rarely convened. Even in early 1925 all Aiken could say of it was that: ‘[The] Army Executive is still in existence.’24 In practice the IRA was governed by the chief of staff working with the Army Council and the senior officers at General Headquarters.

  The second major development at the convention was the passage of Peadar O’Donnell’s resolution that: ‘The army of the Republic severs its connection with the [Second] Dáil and act [sic] under an independent executive, such executive to be given the power to declare war when, in its opinion, a suitable opportunity arises to rid the Republic of its enemies’. This signalled the IRA’s formal split with de Valera and Sinn Féin, and was additionally a vote of no confidence in Aiken’s leadership. O’Donnell wanted to break away from the legalistic and socially conservative attitude of Sinn Féin and for the IRA instead to develop its own radical social and economic policies, leading to a revolution that would be both nationalist and socialist.

  The atmosphere became acrimonious when Aiken admitted that he had been involved in discussions about entering the Dáil. The delegates then elected the member
s of the Army Exectuive, with those that opposed Aiken – such as Andy Cooney, Moss Twomey and Peadar O’Donnell – topping the poll, while Aiken himself was barely re-elected. The Army Council soon afterwards selected Andy Cooney as chief of staff.25

  The historian Richard English has described the army convention as marking the ‘birth of a new, autonomous IRA’. However, it was those that were to soon resign and join with de Valera, such as Aiken and Lemass, who had tried to change the IRA, while Andy Cooney and his associates wanted a return to its traditional autonomy.26 The convention’s assertion that the IRA was primarily committed to physical force was certainly not a new departure, and aside from the period of Aiken’s tenure, political control of the organisation was tenuous at best. For instance, during the Anglo-Irish War Cathal Brugha, the republican Minister for Defence, was largely ignored and sidelined by the leadership of Richard Mulcahy and Michael Collins.

  A few days after the convention, Frank Aiken wrote a prescient letter to Cooney laying out his (evolving) position. In it he implied that the new leadership lacked ‘foresight and common-sense’ as it pinned its hopes on ‘the extremely remote possibility of a successful coup d’etat’ and argued that the IRA needed to retain both a military and political strategy: ‘I think the fight before our country should appear difficult enough … without seeking to limit our tactics [to a purely military solution].’ Aiken warned the leadership of the danger of withdrawing from political participation and becoming ‘a society of select brethren who will admire one another’. He continued to support the existence of the IRA: ‘Without the Army, Ireland cannot gain her freedom’, and ended with an appeal for the Army Council to tolerate volunteers who supported republicans entering the Dáil, once they could do so without taking the oath.27 Rather ironically (in the light of subsequent events) he proclaimed: ‘I haven’t the slightest sympathy in the world with the people who would … take the oaths or declarations [of] allegience [sic].’