Table Of ContentfONTANA
AFONTANAORIGINAL
TIM COOGAN
PAT
THE
Expandedandup-datededitionof'byfar
thebestandmostintimateaccount'
NEWSTATESMAN
The I.R.A.
Tim Pat Coogan, Ireland's most prominent
journalist, is also well known as a historian,
broadcaster and writer. He has appeared on
television in most English-speaking countries and
throughout Europe, and has written for a number of
Irish, European and American publications
including the Sunday Times and the NewYork
Times. He was appointed Editor ofthe Irish Press
in 1968. His first book, Ireland Since the Rising
(1966) was the first history ofthat period. The
original edition of The LR.A. followed in 1970 and
The Irish: a PersonalView in 1975. He is currently
working on a novel. Aged forty-four, Tim Pat Coogan
and his wife have seven children, six oftheir own
and 'one acquired', as well as one grandchild.
Ireland
Border—.—.—
County
boundaries
10 20 40 60 80
Donegal
"NjFermanagh,^\
YeitrinvA \
Sligo
Mayo
Roscommon.
\
/Longfon
Galway IWestmeath
Galway Dublin
^ Offaly
rKildare/
Wicklow
Leix ,
Clare
Carlovv
Kilkenny^
Limerick Tipperary
Wexford/
Waterford
Kerry Cork
Cork-
The
I.R.A.
Tim Pat Coogan
FONTANA PAPERBACKS
Dedicatedto the memory ofmy
AuntJosephine Toaland to the
friendship ofJohn Taylorand
BarbaraMullen
FirstpublishedbythePall MallPressLtd,
June 1970
FirstissuedinFontana Books 1971
SixthImpression, revisedandexpanded*
includes PartII,August 1980
SeventhImpressionSeptember 1981
Copyright (g)TimothyPatrickCoogan
1970, 1980
MadeandprintedinGreatBritainby
WilliamCollinsSons&Co Ltd,Glasgow
CONDITIONSOFSALE:
This bookis soldsubjecttothecondition
thatitshallnot, bywayoftradeor
otherwise, belent,re-sold, hired outor
otherwisecirculatedwithoutthe
publisher'spriorconsentinanyform of
bindingorcoverotherthan thatinwhichit
ispublishedandwithoutasimilar condition
includingthisconditionbeingimposedon
thesubsequentpurchaser.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements vii
Preface x
Parti
1. The Origins ofthe LR.A. 15
2. Dilemmas ofViolence and Politics 59
3. The Triumph ofFianna Fail 90
4. The I.R.A.'s Foreign Links 124
5. The Bombing Campaign 150
6. Years ofDisaster 173
7. The I.R.A. in the North 207
8. The Years ofthe Curragh 247
9. The I.R.A, and the Nazis 260
10. Republic and Republicans: I 279
11. Republic and Republicans: II 312
12. Prelude to the Border Campaign 327
13. Splits in the Ranks 352
14. The Border Campaign: 1956-62 377
Epilogue 419
Part II
15. The Roots ofthe Conflict 433
16. The Constitutional Participants in the Drama 448
17. TheProvisionalI.R.A.-theRebirth otaMovement 461
18. The British Campaign 481
r
19. Response to Violence 490
20. Prison: Riots, Escapes, Unlucky Freedoms,
Personalities and a Place Called Crossmaglen 502
21. HungerStriking:theI.R.A.ReachBeyond the Bars 512
22. Arms 534
23* The Use ofTorture 545
24. Sectarian Murder 550
25. The Present Situation 576
Epilogue 591
Selected References 599
Index ofNames 603
General Index 613
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am under a heavy debt to a great many people for the
assistance I have received in writing this book. Some,
because of the nature of the subject matter, must remain
anonymous; in the case of others it is inadvisable to be
too explicit about who told me what. I shall, therefore,
for the most part merely name them, with my sincerest
gratitude for their help:
Anthony Heade, Frank Carty, Michael Traynor, Brian
O'Neill, Frank Edwards, the late Seamus Byrne, the late
Dan Breen, Laurence de Lacy, the late 'Pa' Murray, W.
Roe, Pat Clare, Con Lehane Sean MacBride, the late Mick
1
Fitzpatrick, Seamus G. O'Kelly, Colonel Roger McCorley,
Frank Driver, Pearse Kelly, Eoin MacNamee, the late
Hugh McAteer, Paddy MacNeela, Tearlach O'Huid, Joseph
Deighan, Sean O'Broin, Rory Brugha, General Sean Mac-
Eoin, Eamon MacThomas, Joseph Clarke, Charles Murphy,
Eamon Boyce, Tom Mitchell, Donal Murphy, Pat O'Reegan,
Myles Shevlin, Joseph Christie, Danny Donnelly, Terry
O'Toole, Gerry Higganbotham, Lord and Lady Brooke-
borough, Noel Kavanagh, Harry Short, Stephen Hayes,
Harry White, J. P. MacGuinness, Jimmy Steele, Jack
Mulvenna, Roddy Connolly, J. F. Reegan, 'Micksey* Con-
way, Mrs Carmel O'Boyle, Lieutenant General M.
J.
Costello, General Michael Brennan, Jim Killeen, Jack
Brady, Seamus Sorahan, Senator Gerald Boland, the late
Peter Kearney, Detective Inspector James Fanning, Francis
Stuart, Colonel Dan Bryan, Ambrose Martin, Sean Dowl-
ing, SammyMcVicker,WilliamMcMullen,Miceal O'hAodh,
Charles Gilmore, Anthony Butler, Pat Shanahan. (As Lord
and the late Lady Brookeborough are included in this list
it is probably superfluous to point out that not all the
foregoing are connected with the I.R.A.)
I am particularly indebted to Commandant General Tom
Barry for his lengthy, handwritten reminiscence of the
Civil War; to An tAthair Columcille for much research
Vlll ACKNOWL.
on sources and, in particular, for a long dossier on the
Civil War in Co. Tipperary; to Eamon Timmoney and
Seamus Ramsey for their long assessment of the border
campaign; and to the family of Fergal O'Hanlon for letting
me examine his diaries. If I did not always quote from the
material these (and others mentioned above) supplied me
with, it was invaluable as background.:
For American source material, I am indebted to Joseph
McGarrity's daughter, Mrs Elizabeth de Feo of Philadel-
phia; to Sister Bernard Mary Tarpey, who has written a
thesis on McGarrity; and again to Eoin MacNamee and
Harry Short. For checking references and carrying out
research, I must thank Professor Samuel Fanning and his
colleagues at St John's University, New York, Professors
Hogan and Griffith. Attorney Charles T. Rice of New
York was helpful in checking information. My thanks are
also due to Jim Ballance for much research and checking
and to Sean Nunan for information on the role of the
Clann na Gael in 1919-21. Professor Robert Stewart of the
Fletcher School of Diplomacy, Tufts University, Boston,
guided my hand through the State Department's volumes
on American foreign relations that deal with wartime
Ireland. To Dr Alan J. Ward my thanks for giving me his
fine paper, 'America and the Irish Problem 1899-1921'
(reprinted from Irish Historical Studies, March, 1968).
In London I must thank the British Museum for provid-
ing Photostats of material not available in Dublin and my
friend Denis Lynch for being such a diligent and uncom-
plaining consulter of files and reference works.
In Belfast Jack Mulvenna and Andrew Boyd were un-
failingly helpful in providing introductions or looking up
information for me. The former editor of the Belfast
Telegraph, the late Jack Sayers, his librarian Air Gilbert and
Air Gilbert's successor also deserve my thanks for providing
photos and cuttings.
In Dublin I must thank my many journalistic colleagues
who covered I.R.A. trials or inquests for giving me their
impressions and, for helping me with material and photo-
graphs, the staffs of the libraries of the Irish Press and the
