Dennis O'Brien (policeman)

For other people of the same name, see Dennis O'Brien (disambiguation).

Dennis O'Brien
Garda Síochána Special Branch Division
17 June 1898 – 9 September 1942 (aged 43)
Nickname	Dinny
Badge number	8288
Place of death	Ballyboden, Rathfarnham, County Dublin, Ireland
Years of service	1933–1942
Rank	Detective Sergeant

Dennis O'Brien (17 June 1898 – 9 September 1942),^[1] often called "Dinny O’Brien", was a veteran of the Easter Rising, the Irish War of Independence, and the Irish Civil War. He joined the Garda Síochána in 1933 and was killed by the Irish Republican Army.

Irish War of Independence

O’Brien had fought alongside his two brothers, Lawrence and Patrick, in Marrowbone Lane during the Easter Rising of 1916.

Afterwards they had served together in the Irish Republican Army during the Irish War of Independence.

Irish Civil War

All three brothers joined the Anti-Treaty IRA during the Irish Civil War. In fact, Patrick and Dennis O'Brien were part of the force which seized the Four Courts and precipitated the Battle of Dublin (1922). Later that year, Patrick was killed in action at Enniscorthy.

Police career

Dennis O'Brien remained a member of the IRA until 1933. In that year, Éamon de Valera, the new President of the Executive Council (prime minister) of the Irish Free State, issued a call for IRA veterans to join the Gardaí. Many Pro-Treaty veterans of the Civil War had been cashiered from their jobs in the Irish police and military after de Valera won took power. De Valera hoped to fill their places with men who shared his views on the Anglo-Irish Treaty. Many Anti-Treaty veterans who answered his call regarded this as an opportunity to continue fighting their Civil War foes.

O'Brien remained in the Gardaí when De Valera broke with the IRA in 1934, but also introduced a more Republican constitution in 1937 and abolished the Oath of Allegiance to the British Monarchy.

World War II

During the Second World War O'Brien was a Detective Sergeant in the Special Branch Division, which had its headquarters at Dublin Castle. The Special Branch Division was then largely tasked with hunting down foreign spies and members of the IRA, who were interned in the Curragh Camp. De Valera's government regarded this as a necessity because elements of the IRA had moved into an active collaboration with the intelligence services of Nazi Germany.^[2]

According to historian Tim Pat Coogan,

"An iron gloved approached to the IRA was the order of the day with vigorous raids and interrogations. As a result, relations between individual IRA men and the Special Branch became understandably strained, and the IRA, in its shattered and disorganized condition, came to regard the Special Branch as a greater enemy than the British Crown."^[3]

At the time, the IRA regarded the Irish Free State as a de facto extension of the British Empire. Therefore, Irishmen who served the Free State were regarded as traitors.

Assassination

At 9:45 am on September 9, 1942 at Ballyboden, Rathfarnham, County Dublin, O’Brien left his house and began getting into his car. Three IRA men, wearing trench coats and armed with Thompson sub machine guns, came up the drive and opened fire. The shots from the Thompson smashed the windows of his car, wounding him. He alighted and ran for cover to the gate but before reaching it, he was shot by a single round to the head. As was customary among Gardaí, Detective Sergeant O'Brien was completely unarmed.

Two of the assassins wrapped the Thompsons in their trench coats, mounted their bicycles, and rode towards Dublin. Future IRA Chief of Staff Charlie Kerins left on foot, leaving his bicycle behind.

According to author Tim Pat Coogan,

"The shooting greatly increased public feeling against the I.R.A., particularly as the murder was carried out almost in full view of his wife. As she held her dying husband, she watched his assailants cycling past.^[3]

Aftermath

Two years later, Kerins was arrested in a pre-dawn raid and tried by court-martial for the murder of Detective Sergeant O'Brien. At a special military tribunal in Collins Barracks, Dublin, Kerins was formally charged on 2 October 1944 for the "shooting at Rathfarnham of Detective Dinny O’Brien". According to Coogan,

"At the end of his trial, the president of the Military Court delayed sentence until later in the day to allow Kerins, if he wished, to make an application whereby he might have avoided the capital sentence. When the court resumed, Kerins said: "You could have adjourned it for six years as far as I am concerned, as my attitude towards this Court will always be the same." He thus deprived himself of the right to give evidence, to face cross examination, or to call witnesses.^[3]

After Kerins' fingerprints were identified on the bicycle which was left at the crime scene, he was found guilty, and sentenced to death by hanging. The sentence was carried out at Mountjoy Prison on December 1, 1944. British Chief Executioner Albert Pierrepoint was imported from London to carry out the sentence, in spite of numerous calls for clemency. Archie Doyle, who is also alleged to have in involved in the killing of D.S. O'Brien, died in 1987.

References

1. ^ Garda Síochána: Roll of Honour. PoliceHistory.com. Retrieved 30 January 2010.
2. ^ Mark M. Hull (2003). Irish Secrets. German Espionage in Wartime Ireland 1939-1945. ISBN 0-7165-2756-1. (See also IRA-Abwehr collaboration in World War II.)
3. ^ ^{a b c} Tim Pat Coogan (1994). The IRA: A History. page 144. ISBN 9781879373990.

Persondata
Name	Obrien, Dennis
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	17 June 1898
Place of birth
Date of death	9 September 1942
Place of death	Ballyboden, Rathfarnham, County Dublin, Ireland