R.I.C. Dismissals and Resignations during the Revolutionary Period

This exhibition shines a light on material held in the M.I.P.R. collection (Military Intelligence and Press Analysis - Civil War) and Colonel Thomas Gay’s private collection (view a short biography of Colonel Gay here) connected to the subject of R.I.C. dismissals and resignations during the revolutionary period. The assembled documentation adds a layer of complexity to perceptions of loyalty, patriotism and participation in consideration of the War of Independence years.

The Committee established to enquire into resignations and dismissals from the Royal Irish Constabulary (R.I.C.) was appointed on the 28th November 1922 by Mr Kevin O’Higgins T.D. Minister of Home Affairs and consisted of two groups of nominees. Mr Batt O’Connor (Chairman) Mr W. McCracken, Mr W. Doolin and Commandant General T. Cullen were nominated by the Government while Mr M. J. Lyons, Mr M. O’Mahony and Mr J.M. McLaughlin (Secretary) were nominated by the resigned and dismissed policemen.  The position held by a Military representative changed hands a number of times with Commandant General T. Cullen resigning on 7th of February, 1923, and his replacement, Colonel Commandant F. Saurin resigning on 28th of March 1923. Saurin was replaced by Captain T. Gay on the 28th of March 1923 who served on the committee until proceedings concluded.

The appointed committee were required to “enquire into the cases of men who resigned or were dismissed from the Royal Irish Constabulary, during the period 21st January, 1919, to 11th July, 1921, and to report to the government those cases in which it considers that the resignations and dismissals were caused by the national sympathies of the resigned and dismissed men”.

The "Interim Report" of the committee dated 20th April 1923 (view here) held in the M.I.P.R. collection provides an insight into the inner workings of the committee, and the workload involved. The secretary reported that 41 meetings of the Committee were held and 1094 applications were received, including applications from the United States of America, Australia, Canada and South Africa. Further, 414 cases were disallowed and 492 cases approved.

In the interim report, the committee considered it necessary to draw attention to the difficulties experienced by them in discharging their duties. It was noted that the passage of time was not favourable, nor was the wartime situation as applicants may have been wary of entrusting detailed information by post. The committee also added they could not gather conclusive evidence as it was not possible to personally interview each applicant. Additionally, they did not have access to official records of the R.I.C., which were unavailable for inspection, nor did applicants have access to their own records of service. The committee noted that it had received the greatest possible assistance from General E. O’Duffy, Commissioner of the Civic Guard, in regard to cases of members of his force and cases of applicants from districts within his knowledge in the Six County area.
Given the difficulties of gathering applicable information, the Committee gave due consideration to the following factors: -
( a) Length of service in the R.I.C., giving more relevance to those of long service and attaching little weight to those with short service that may have indicated that he was not suitable to the vocation. 
(b) Date of resignation, attaching less weight to those that were submitted at a date subsequent to April, 1921.
(c) Special sacrifice made by married men in submitting their resignation.
(d) Proved receipt of a circular from Sinn Féin clubs calling for resignation and promising alternative employment.
(e) Proved service to the national cause either prior to, or subsequent to, their resignation.
(f) The historic sequence of events in the late war with special reference to the particular locality in which resignation or dismissal took place.
(g) The possibility that the resignation was based on consideration not connected with the course of public events such as, transfer from a quiet area to a more troublesome area, resignation on marriage, succession to property, resignation on medical grounds, resignation to a better position in life.

In many cases consideration given to the criteria referenced above allowed little doubt by the Committee that it was justified in either definitely approving or disapproving cases.
The Report indicated that 492 cases whereby men had resigned or were dismissed because of the national sympathies of the men had been forwarded to the Government for consideration. These cases are detailed in Appendix 1 of the report. Footnotes were used to identify cases whereby, at the time of investigation, the applicant was either serving in the National Army, Civic Guard, resident in Northern Ireland or Great Britain, or had R.I.C. service linked to the Six County area.

At the time of publishing the report, the Committee reserved for further consideration a number of special cases and 188 cases where applications were received too late for inclusion in the interim report or where applicants were at present resident in the U.S.A. or the British Colonies and it was not practicable at this stage to commence investigation.