I was a priest working in Monaghan town parish in the early years of the so-called Troubles (1971-73) and while working there I discovered, to my dismay, the hostility of the southern political establishment towards Northerners generally and towards anyone of a republican persuasion in particular. Northerners were subjected to constant harassment and surveillance by the Garda Siochana. The Dublin government was co-operating fully with the British government in an effort to defeat Republicanism. RTE and the Dublin print media were fully compliant with this anti-republican policy.
The Catholic hierarchy was also compliant. There was not much evidence of a prophetic Church in Ireland when it was most needed to give voice to the voiceless.
One element of the Kitson strategy was to co-opt the southern government and the Garda Síochána and the Dublin media as part of the campaign against republicanism. Another part of the Kitson strategy was the strategic bombings of Dublin and other towns south of the border. A consequence of this was the enactment of increasingly repressive legislation aimed against republicans. It was an open secret that individual Gardai were working hand in glove with British military intelligence. Any members of the Garda based along the border who showed any signs of sympathy for the plight of northerners were moved.
The emergence of a Garda ‘heavy gang’ in the 1970s is a matter of historical record and their culture of brutality clearly deepened the divide between Gardai generally and the republican community.
I left Monaghan in 1973 for a few years while I was posted to other parishes in Fermanagh in the dioceses of Clogher and also to a one-year course in Adult Religious education in a Catechetical centre in Dundalk.
When I returned to the parish of Monaghan in1976, I saw how the antagonism of the Gardai and some members of the public towards republicanism had grown. I myself soon felt the full force of Garda hostility especially after I published reports of Garda brutality towards republicans who were arrested and held in custody. This was during the H-Block protests. The Gardai had been politicised so that anyone sympathetic to the Republican prisoners in Long Kesh were targets for harassment.
After I protested in a homily at Mass in the Cathedral about Garda brutality in Monaghan Garda Station, I came in for special attention. I documented cases of Garda brutality and had them published in the media. Garda brutality in Monaghan town was aimed especially at republicans and their families and friends and others protesting against the way prisoners on the H Block in Long Kesh were being tortured.
One republican man from the north who was living in Monaghan at the time was so severely injured by members of the Garda Siochana that he had to receive hospital treatment. I visited him in hospital and I was shocked at the extent of his injuries as a result of beatings he received from the Gardai in Monaghan Garda station.
As a result of my complaints about Garda brutality, the Garda Commissioner sent a senior Garda Inspector to make a report. He took many statements. Nothing came of it. The Gardai who were responsible for the harassment and torture of republicans remained in place.
Only two priests gave me any support during this time – Fr Des Wilson and Fr Raymond Murray.
During the centenary of the Civil War, I have learned a lot more about the brutality and ruthlessness of the police in the Free State at that time. The Catholic Hierarchy rowed in behind the State in the early days and supported the ruthless policy of executing anti-Treaty republicans.
The old Civil war hatred and bitterness towards republicans and northerners continued into the 1970s in Monaghan and elsewhere. It was clearly on show at the funerals of Michael Gaughan and Frank Stagg who died on hunger strike in English prisons. It was also to be seen at the funerals of other republicans in border counties.
It will take some time to get rid of these anti-republican and anti-northern prejudices in RTE and other institutions in the Twenty-six.
Thank you, Joe: it’s always good to read primary evidence
So true indeed! One notorious Garda was nicknamed the Badger. I’m sure you remember him. The Free State was always compliant to their master in London
Spot on again Fr Joe. I too had first hand experience of southern state collaboration with the British in the 70’s, while I served there in Monaghan Town with the Irish Army in 1976. I went out on many patrols along the border with the army and Garda Special Branch officers, and it was very rare to not overhear radio conversations between those Garda officers and others with distinct upper class english accents. I was a mere 16 year old underage soldier at that time, but I was often left with a distinct impression that it was the voice on the other end of the radio that was giving the instructions to our guys as to how and where we should conduct our operations.
That border tour in 1976, had always led me to believe that the Irish Army’s business on the border had in fact little to do with peacekeeping, but acted rather more of a surrogate regiment of the British army, fulfilling part of its security agenda in Ireland.
A man of integrity and courage.