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Martial law after 1922?

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  • Martial law after 1922?

    Hi lads, just wondering if there is a site detailing what Ireland was like after 1922.Since the RIC was disbanded, there was no police force for a few years, i assume it was martial law???At the height of the civil war, there must have been looting anarchy and murders galore.I can't seem to find much about it on the net

  • #2
    In some areas, there was no need for martial law as Republican Police had been set up in tandem with the Sinn Fein Courts during the War of Independence, and had effectively taken over from the RIC before ever the truce was signed. Those policemen that didn’t join the fighting units in the civil war merely continued acting as police until the arrival of the Guards. In areas that had no police the army kept order, but in reality they were of little use because in most cases they were busy fighting the IRA, and the countryside became very lawless.

    A training depot for the Guards was set up in Beggars Bush in early 1922, which was then moved to the RDS and later to Kildare Barracks, where the trainees later mutinied over the enlistment of ex-RIC men into senior Garda ranks, and a separate Civic Guards depot had to be established in the Phoenix Park.

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    • #3
      etting up of the Civic Guards.

      If you are interested in this then try to get a book called “Guardians of the Peace”, by Conor Brady (He was Editor of the Irish Times so he’s reliable). It was published in the 1970s and reprinted about two years ago, but it’s difficult to find. I got my copy buried in a bargain basement in Galway. It goes into a fair bit of detail about the setting up of the Special Branch, the Blueshirts and the Emergency etc so it’s quite good.

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      • #4
        The military were definitely in control for the duration of the Civil War but the GS seems to have got a grip on things fairly fast. In Clonmel the army used take prisoners from the jail to the barracks for interrogation. Two of them were "accidentally" shot during questioning in the barracks. I have a copy of the newspaper account of the inquest into one of the deaths. The Army Officer got away with it.

        Early in WW2, emergency legislation made subversive activity subject to trial by military tribunal. Another local boy named George Plant, a War of Independence and Civil War veteran, was tried by court martial and executed by firing squad in Portlaois prison. Fairly uniquely around Tipperary he was a Protestant as well. During the Civil War he was involved in an ambush on the Grey Ghost near Fethard, Co. Tipp. The Grey Ghost was Lancia Armoured Car fitted with train wheels and used to patrol the railway line between Clonmel and Thurles. Local legend has it that nobody was hurt in the ambush and both sides quit at night fall and repaired to a nearby hostelry together.
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        Say NO to violence against Women

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        My favourite moment was when the
        Originally posted by hedgehog
        red headed old dear got a smack on her ginger head

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        • #5
          There was a unit called the "special infantry force" which was part of the free state army. This unit carried out tasks that the RIC would have be doing pre the formation of the state.

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