Eamon Broy

Eamon Broy
Nickname	"Ned"
Born	1887 Rathangan, Co. Kildare
Died	1972 Dublin, Co. Dublin
Allegiance	Dublin Metropolitan Police* Irish Republican Army Irish Free State Army Garda Síochána na hÉireann
Rank	Colonel (Army) Commissioner (Garda) Detective Sergeant (DMP)
Battles/wars	Irish War of Independence Irish Civil War
Other work	President, Olympic Council of Ireland

Colonel Eamon Broy^[1] (or Edward Broy, often called Ned Broy) (1887–1972)^[2] was successively a member of the Dublin Metropolitan Police, the Irish Republican Army, the Irish Army, and the Garda Síochána of the Irish Free State. He served as Commissioner of Gardaí from February 1933 to June 1938.^[3]

During the Irish War of Independence (1919–21), Broy was a double agent within the Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP), with the rank of Detective Sergeant (DS).^[4][5] He worked as a clerk inside G Division, the intelligence branch of the DMP. While there he copied sensitive files for IRA leader Michael Collins and passed many of these files on to Collins through Thomas Gay, the librarian at Caple Street Library. On 7 April 1919, Broy smuggled Collins into G Division's archives in Brunswick Street, enabling him to identify "G-Men", six of whom would be killed by the IRA.^[6] Broy supported the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 and joined the Irish Army during the Irish Civil War, reaching the rank of Colonel. In 1925, he left the Army and joined the Garda.^[7]

Broy's elevation to the post of Commissioner came when Fianna Fáil replaced Cumann na nGaedheal as the government. Other more senior officers were passed over as being too sympathetic to the outgoing party.^[7] In 1934 Broy oversaw the creation of the "The Auxiliary Special Branch" of the Garda. This was formed mainly of hastily-trained anti-Treaty IRA veterans. It was nicknamed the "Broy Harriers" by Broy's opponents;^[8] a pun on the Bray Harriers athletics club.^[2] It was used first against the quasi-Fascist Blueshirts, and later against the diehard holdouts of the IRA, now set against former comrades.^[9] The "Broy Harriers" nickname persisted into the 1940s, though Broy himself was no longer in command, and for the bodies targeted by the unit was a highly abusive term, still applied by radical Irish republicans to the Garda Special Branch^{[citation needed]} (now renamed the Special Detective Unit). The Broy Harriers engaged in several controversial shootings, which resulted in death. They shot dead a protesting farmer called Lynch in Cork. See Senate Debates-1934. They were detested by sections of the farming community.

Broy was President of the Olympic Council of Ireland from 1935 to 1950.^[10]

Film fictionalisation

Neil Jordan's film Michael Collins (1996) inaccurately depicts Broy (played by actor Stephen Rea) as having been discovered, tortured and killed by the British. In addition, G Division was based not in Dublin Castle, as indicated in the film, but in Great Brunswick Street. Collins had a different agent in the Castle, David Neligan.^[11]

References

1. ^ Spelt Eamon, not Eamonn: see for example "STATUTORY RULES AND ORDERS. 1937. No. 192. DUBLIN TAXIMETER AREA FARE BYE-LAWS". Government of Ireland. 1937. http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/ZZSI192Y1937.html. Retrieved 2007-01-04. "I, Eamon Broy, Commissioner of the Gárda Síochána" 
2. ^ ^{a b} Edward Halim, ed (1992). "1942–1948: In and Out of Prison". The Letters of Brendan Behan. McGill-Queen's University Press. p. 14. ISBN 0773508880. 
3. ^ "List of Garda Commissioners since 1922". Garda Síochána. http://www.garda.ie/Controller.aspx?Page=20&Lang=1. Retrieved 2010-06-07. 
4. ^ Cottrell, Peter (2006). The Anglo-Irish War: The Troubles of 1913-1922. Osprey Publishing. p. 66. ISBN 1846030234. 
5. ^ The Irish War: The Hidden Conflict between the IRA and British Intelligence by Tony Geraghty (ISBN 978-0801871177), page 336
6. ^ Cottrell, op. cit., pg 53.
7. ^ ^{a b} O'Halpin, Eunan (2000). Defending Ireland: The Irish State and Its Enemies Since 1922. Oxford University Press. p. 114. ISBN 0199242690. 
8. ^ McGarry, Fearghal (2005). Eoin O'Duffy: A Self-Made Hero. Oxford University Press. pp. 261–2. ISBN 0199276552. 
9. ^ Bell, J. Bowyer (1997). The secret army: the IRA By J. Bowyer Bell (3 ed.). Transaction. p. 139. ISBN 1560009012. 
10. ^ International Olympic Committee (September–October 1973). "Ireland and Olympism" (PDF). Olympic Review (70-71): 443. ISSN 0251-3498. http://www.aafla.org/OlympicInformationCenter/OlympicReview/1973/ore70/ore70m.pdf. Retrieved 2007-01-04. 
11. ^ Neligan, David. The Spy in the Castle. London: MacGibbon & Kee, 1968.

Persondata
Name	Broy, Eamon
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1887
Place of birth	Rathangan, Co. Kildare
Date of death	1972
Place of death