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Published in Issue 3 (May/June 2021), Letters, Volume 29

Sir,—I would like to congratulate History Ireland on its recent Hedge School podcast, ‘“Spies and informers beware!”—intelligence and counterintelligence in the War of Independence’ (https://www.historyireland.com/hedge-schools/, scroll down). The panel, chaired by Tommy Graham, of Andy Bielenberg, Cécile Gordon, Eunan O’Halpin and Gerry White provided a nuanced analysis of what is undoubtedly a complex subject.

I was particularly intrigued by a brief discussion towards the end of the podcast relating to infiltration of the upper echelons of the revolutionary movement. This discussion led to the question being raised as to whether there is untapped intelligence-related material in the UK archives. Professor O’Halpin asserted that intelligence records were not so much being held back by the British government as being ‘lost, destroyed or just weren’t kept’. However, I think it is worth pointing out that there remains at least some material in the UK National Archives (Kew) that is being specifically withheld. As illustration, one file from the period that I requested had details of ‘individuals identified as informants for the British including addresses of where they were working/living’. Access to this file was refused. When a Freedom of Information (FOI) request was submitted, access was again denied. The rationale for this decision is worth quoting: ‘… memories of the Easter Uprising, the War of Independence 1919–1921 and the Irish Civil War that followed are still raw, especially in rural Ireland’. A key argument against releasing the file was a fear that dissident republicans ‘could at best ostracise a family for a distant relatives’ beliefs or at worst cause them physical harm’. The conclusion to the FOI ruling was that ‘the release of the information in this file would be likely to endanger the physical health and safety of individuals’.

Even when these additional intelligence files are released, we will of course still be dealing in the realm of ‘known unknowns’, as the podcast’s panellists also seemed to conclude. However, it is still worth recording that at least some archive material is being retained.—Yours etc.,

Dr PATRICK MULROE

On this Day

April 25

1922 Commandant O’Neill, 3rd Cork Brigade IRA, was shot dead at the home of a Protestant family in Bandon, Co. Cork. In a series of unattributed reprisals, thirteen Protestant civilians were shot dead in the surrounding area over the following four days.
1920 RIC Sergeant Cornelius Crean, brother of the explorer Tom Crean, was killed by the IRA in an ambush near Upton, Co. Cork.
1870 Daniel Maclise (64), history and portrait painter who worked for most of his life in London, died.
1719 The life and strange adventures of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe was published.
1819 Vere Foster, philanthropist and educationist, born in Copenhagen, where his Irish-born father was British minister.
1987 Lord Justice Gibson and his wife were killed by an IRA bomb as they crossed the border south of Newry, Co. Down.
1917 Ella Fitzgerald, jazz singer, born in Newport News, Virginia.
1922 Commandant O’Neill of the third Cork Brigade IRA was shot dead at the home of a Protestant family in Bandon, Co. Cork. In a series of unattributed reprisals, thirteen Protestant civilians were shot dead in the surrounding area between 26 and 29 April.
1915 During the First World War, Allied troops landed on Turkey’s Gallipoli Peninsula. The disastrous Gallipoli campaign, ending in January 1916, cost 46,000 Allied lives, including over 2,295 Irishmen.

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On this Day

April 25