Retired Irish Comdt Patrick Walshe began his military career as a cadet in 1961 and served his country with distinction for 22 years. He served in UN peacekeeping operations in the Congo (1963-64) and Cyprus (1970). He was commissioned as second lieutenant in 1962, promoted captain in 1968 and commandant in 1976. He retired on full pension from the Defence Forces in February 1983.
Sometime during December 1967 or January 1968, Walshe was sitting in his office at FCA Headquarters, Birr, Co Offaly, when he received a distressed telephone call from a fellow officer, stationed at Custume Barracks, Athlone. The distressed officer was 22-year-old Lieut Dónal de Róiste.
"Dónal told me that he was being severely harassed by senior officers in the barracks. He told me it was to do with a lift he had accepted from Comdt Sean T. O'Kelly, a senior Transport Corps officer, who was returning to Cork one weekend during November 1967. He told me that Sean T had been drinking heavily.
"Dónal, as I recall, said that Comdt O'Kelly was so drunk he offered to drive but O'Kelly became abusive and ordered him into the car. On the road between Templemore and Thurles a collision occurred between Sean T's car and a car driven by a young lady who, I understand, was badly injured.
"Lieut Roche told me that Comdt O'Kelly and other senior officers were harassing him to make a false statement concerning the car crash. He was refusing but was coming under severe pressure. I warned him that whatever happened he was not to make a false statement.
"He told me he was under so much pressure that his face had broken out in blotches. I was so concerned that Dónal might break I immediately drove to Athlone to encourage him to stand firm. In the end he did not make the false statement as demanded. His stand on this incident would not have gone down well with his seniors in Athlone."
Just over 19 months later, on the recommendation of the Government, Lieut Dónal de Róiste was "retired" by President Eamon de Valera, "in the interests of the service". His retirement was, and still is, clouded in mystery and the subject of increasing controversy.
For over 30 years de Róiste has pleaded his innocence. He says: "I would like to know what it is I am supposed to have done that causes me, and my family, to suffer this ongoing punishment."
Today the State continues to deny him full access to his files, despite the Taoiseach's stated commitment to greater openness and accountability.
De Róiste's solicitor, Eamonn Carroll, has remarked: "I can't understand why the Irish Government is spending excessive amounts of public funds in preventing him accessing his files. What did de Róiste do that is such a threat to the State?"
In a letter to The Irish Times (May 20th, 2002), de Róiste's 83-year-old mother, Christina, wrote:
"I believe my son Dónal is innocent. I believe he was wrongfully 'retired'. I believe the case against him was so spurious that he was denied proper procedures. I believe the Government may have been misled in the information presented to it by Dónal's accusers and that our one-time hero, Eamon de Valera, may, in turn, have been wrongly advised."
A mother's instincts are often right. In the light of retired Comdt Patrick Walshe's revelations, the question must now be asked if senior officers in the Irish Army planned to destroy the promising military career of a young man in order to protect one of their own.
Upon investigation, a plausible hypothesis can be developed from recently acquired legal documents related to the car accident mentioned by Comdt Walshe. These suggest that de Róiste's retirement may have been conspired because be posed a very grave threat to the career of a senior officer, on whose behalf he stubbornly refused to lie.
Lieut Dónal de Róiste was stationed in Athlone. His family home was in Clonmel. Comdt Sean T. O'Kelly, who was travelling to Cork for the weekend of November 17th, 1967, offered him a lift as far as Cahir, where de Róiste's late father had agreed to collect him. Sometime during that afternoon he recalls setting off from Athlone in O'Kelly's 1967 Vauxhall Viva.
O'Kelly was carrying three passengers: Lieut de Róiste and Lieut Michael Cleary, of Custume Barracks, Athlone, and a Mrs Josephine Barry of St Colman's Park, Athlone.
Along the way they stopped at Mullally's Hotel, Templemore, Co Tipperary. De Róiste cannot recall how long they were in the hotel but does recall becoming seriously concerned about the amount of alcohol consumed by the senior officer and realised he was drunk.
He says that before leaving Templemore he politely approached O'Kelly saying: "Sir, I think you should hand over the keys."
He says O'Kelly became furious and publicly dressed him down in the hotel and on the sidewalk as they walked to the vehicle. With his three passengers: de Róiste, Cleary and Barry, O'Kelly left Templemore at approximately 5.30 p.m., heading in the direction of Thurles.
At around 5.45 p.m. O'Kelly was in a serious crash involving a 27-year-old professional woman who wishes to remain anonymous. She was travelling to Templemore in her 1965 Austin Mini to have tea with a colleague. The force of the collision was such that O'Kelly's car overturned.
Garda D.F. O'Keefe of Thurles Garda station reported that he and colleagues arrived at the scene at 6.15 p.m. He stated: ". . . I found a Vauxhall Viva car (O'Kelly's) . . . lying on its left side and facing in the direction of Templemore . . . The driver of this car . . . Comdt Sean T. O'Kelly . . . was trapped in this car and was removed by Doctors J. McGovern and P. Moloney, Thurles. He was later conveyed to Nenagh Hospital by Fire Brigade . . . I found (an) Austin Mini . . . parked on the grass verge with its right front embedded in the wire fence on the left side of the roadway as one travels towards Templemore from Thurles . . . The driver of this car . . . was lying injured on the side of roadway awaiting removal to hospital. I spoke with this lady who informed me that she was driving her car from Thurles to Templemore when the accident occurred . . . The vehicles apparently collided 48 feet on the Thurles side of the apex on a right hand curve as one travels from Thurles towards Templemore . . ."
In a statement taken at the County Hospital, Nenagh, on November 25th, 1967 by Garda John F. Maloney, of Nenagh Garda station, the young woman recalled:
"I left Thurles at 5.35 p.m. to go to Templemore . . . It was dusk at the time and I had my headlights on. As I was about three miles out from Thurles and travelling at 35 to 40 m.p.h. I noticed a car coming from the opposite direction. I dipped my headlights and so did the driver of the other car. The next thing I noticed was that the other car was coming straight towards me. I don't remember any more after that only that I got out of the car myself."
A copy of this statement was sent to her Templemore based solicitor, Mr John J. Nash, a respected Fianna Fáil member of Seanad Éireann, by the Garda Superintendent's Office, Thurles.
It is interesting to contrast the young woman's statement to that given by Comdt O'Kelly. Garda Michael E. Lynam interviewed him at the Orthopaedic Hospital, Gurranabraher, Cork, on December 6th, 1967. He stated:
". . . On 17th November, 1967 at approx. 17.30 hours I was driving a new Vauxhall Viva . . . on the Templemore/Thurles road. I was travelling on my correct side of the road and at a moderate speed. I am not a fast driver. My lights were dipped. About half way between Templemore and Thurles I saw a car ahead with dimmed lights and travelling on the wrong side of the road. I flashed my headlights as a warning, slowed down and pulled in closer to my own side. At this stage I had no reason to assume that the oncoming car would not correct its position and allow through passage, therefore I did not stop. The other car . . . came straight on and I felt that the driver was going to pass on my left. To stop would not have avoided an accident but would more than likely, at this stage, cause a fatal accident. To continue forward on my own side, would have led to a head-on collision, again with possible fatal results. My only alternative was to pull over to my right which I did. As I did so the other driver switched on the headlights and swung in towards me. To avoid a head-on collision, I swung hard left hoping to get through on my own side, but was struck by the oncoming car, which swung me around and caused my car to overturn. At no stage was I negligent or unaware of other road users. I was not travelling at an excessive speed, I did slow down and until the impact was in full control of my car. I am convinced that any action other than which I took, would not have avoided this accident, but would have had far more serious results. As it was, only the two drivers concerned received serious injury. I had three passengers in the car, Lieuts Roche and Clery, Custume Bks, Athlone and a Mrs. Barry, c/o Mr. Barry, 'The Pharmacy', Military Hospital, Custume Bks, Athlone. I have heard this statement read over to me and it is correct."
The woman's solicitor wrote to her c/o the Orthopaedic Hospital, Croom, Co Limerick, on April 23rd, 1968. "The issue," he stated, "is whether the accident was caused by your negligence or by the negligence of Comdt O'Kelly." He continued: ". . . If the accident occurred as described by Comdt O'Kelly you were driving so completely on your wrong side of the road that I find it hard to credit that any sensible girl with a very moderate experience of driving would be so reckless.
"I am not particularly impressed by Comdt O'Kelly's statement . . . From the time the danger was first noted by either party until the collision occurred was probably only a split second. In such a situation a motorist acts automatically and does not have time to think . . . He flashes his headlights and slows down; pulls to his own side; believes the other driver was going to pass on the left; then decide to swerve to the right; then see the other head lights switch on from dip to high and then think of swinging back again to the left. All these things could happen on a straight road if one sees another car coming on the wrong side 50 to 100 yards away; but I cannot visualise them happening in the emergency which arose at this particular bend.
"By contrast your simple statement seems to make more sense to me . . . There was no time for all the mental calculations and dipping and switching on of head lights in which Comdt O'Kelly alleges he indulged . . ."
However, in the same letter her solicitor makes a critical observation which he concludes with a curious question to his client:
"There were three passengers in the other car, Lieut Cleary, Lieut Roche and Mrs Barry all from Athlone. No statements were made to the Guards by any of them. It would be very desirable to ascertain what account (if any) these three people give of the accident. Would you be friendly with anyone in Athlone through whom you could make enquiries?"
It would, indeed, have been desirable to ascertain what account O'Kelly's passengers had of the accident.
The Garda 'Abstract Report' on the accident, dated April 22nd, 1968 notes: "The following persons whose statement are not available may be in a position to give evidence . . ." and lists the names and addresses of Cleary, de Róiste and Mrs Barry.
Why the gardaí did not take such statements isn't clear and it appears that apart from suggesting to his client that she make inquiries from friends in Athlone, the solicitor did not pursue the matter with the rigour it required.
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During the 1997 Presidential Election, the "retirement" of former Lieut Dónal de Róiste by President Eamon de Valera in 1969 was leaked to the press in a move calculated to maximise damage to the candidacy of his youngest sister, Adi Roche.
De Róiste and members of his family have long protested his innocence. In the course of investigating the mysterious retirement of Lieut de Róiste, journalist and writer Don Mullan interviewed retired Comdt Patrick Walshe, who has been a lone voice associated with the Defence Forces in publicly supporting his former colleague. Walshe and de Róiste shared a common interest in Irish music and ballad singing and often travelled together to sessions around the country in the late 1960s.
During a conversation with Mullan about bullying within the Defence Forces, Walshe mentioned in passing his memory of a distressed phone call he received from Dónal de Róiste in late 1967 or early 1968 which, upon investigation, Mullan believes may hold the key to unravelling the mystery of Lieut de Róiste's undoing.