A FAILED attempt by the Dublin Metropolitan Police to arrest two Sinn Fein members in 1921 was severely criticised in a secret internal report, according to papers released by the Public Record Office in London yesterday.
The report, in a bundle of documents written at Dublin Castle, describes six detectives "dressed in khaki" who waited outside City Hall to arrest Joseph McDonogh and William T. Cosgrave. The men were to attend a Dublin Corporation meeting at 7 p.m. on March 4th, 1921, but the meeting broke up and McDonogh "was not seen leaving the building".
The detectives were to watch the City Hall entrance and arrest the men before they could attend the meeting. But a handwritten note with the report criticised them for "not fitting their duties properly" and allowing McDonogh to escape. Cosgrave did not show at the meeting.
"The only possible comment upon this is that the six detectives were either not well placed or that they were not all well acquainted with the appearance of the man they were looking for."
McDonogh had been seen at 7.20 p.m. "crossing Dame Street hurriedly and entering City Hall", but when the meeting broke up at 7.35 p.m., he had disappeared "before any move could be made.
Documents from Dublin Castle detailing correspondence between "Mr Michael Collins, Miss Eileen McGrone, E.J. Duggan and Mrs Llewellyn Davies" were also released under the 75 year rule. The letters had been found by the Royal Irish Constabulary at 51 Mespil Road, Dublin, and several heavily censored letters written by a solicitor, Duggan, to Collins describe his concerns over an RIC raid on his office.
In one letter, written on November 28th, 1920, Duggan said: "I presume you heard of my misadventure. They took every scrap of paper out of my office. They will probably find something relating to that house on Mespil Road." He signed the letter "E".
Again on December told 1920, Duggan wrote to "Dear M": "Saw Arthur today re your note. They are nearly sure to come across the [deletion] and they are also likely to get on [deletion] in which case they will come across a lot of intelligence stuff which I had hidden away in clients bundles in old cases which had been put away in presses."
A letter brought to Collins at the Mansion House from the Royal Hibernian Hotel stated: "Now that there is a lull in the enemies activities . .. act to find any joint in our armour. Has it ever occurred to you how our enemy obtained the information by which he was able to seize so many of our men of the higher ranks? Remember they had never done this on such a scale before. Who gave it away?"
On a lighter note, Collins described the "disguise" he wore while travelling the country in 1921: "The dressing which PROCLAIMS the volunteer leggings, rain or trench coat, hat. As one murderer said to another in Croke Park `If you see a fellow with leggings, trench coat and black hat or Sinn Fein hat - get him - you can't be wrong'."