Decoding the IRA (10 page)

 

Couriers and the communication network

Once a message had been prepared, the IRA needed to have it delivered to a secure address. Many letters were sent in the post, while the most sensitive communications, including deliveries of money, were hand carried by a courier.

As Moss Twomey wrote:
‘Except [for] very secret [letters] the post is quickest and surest.'
³⁶
Letters for the post were usually placed inside an inner envelope on which was written the name of the intended recipient, or more likely their pseudonym. This was then placed inside an outer envelope, which was sent to a covering address. The covering address was frequently that of a woman, whom the IRA believed was not under
surveillance by the Garda Special Branch. She then passed the inner envelope on to whomever it was intended for. There were also covering addresses designated specifically for receiving telegrams, newspapers, money orders, etc.

The list of names and addresses of these covering addresses gives an idea of the extent of support for the IRA throughout all sections of Irish society at the time. Some had Anglo-Irish names, which was likely a deliberate ploy on the part of the IRA, but also reflected that it wasn't purely a Catholic movement. Letters intended for the IRA's intelligence officer in Tipperary could be sent to
‘Joyce, [the] Royal Hotel'
, Tipperary town,
³⁷
while those for the OC in Britain to
‘Miss Lena McCormack, 33 St George's Court, Gloucester Rd, Kensington, SW 7'
.
³⁸
And at the other end of the globe, letters for New Zealand were to be sent to:
‘Mr C Bray, 26 Pipitea Street, Wellington'
.
³⁹
One of the covering addresses for GHQ was:
‘Mr Cowan, C.Y.M.S. [Catholic Young Men's Society], 9 and 10 Harrington Street, Dublin'
. The inner envelope or enclosure was to be addressed to
‘Miss Kearney'
.
⁴⁰

The IRA used multiple covering addresses and changed them whenever there was any suspicion they had been compromised. ‘Jones' in New York complained to Twomey that:
‘I have only one covering address for mail. I would want at least three and a cable address.'
⁴¹
The North Mayo brigade wrote to GHQ concerned about the safety of letters after the woman at one of its covering addresses moved and had no relatives nearby to take care of her post.
⁴²

Twomey sent a letter to Connie Neenan reminding him what covering addresses were appropriate for what types of communications.
‘Send cables to [the] Sweetman brothers, 28 South Frederick Street, Dublin. For newspapers: Miss Una Garvey, 6 Morehampton Road, Donnybrook, Dublin. For parcels, magazines or books: Fitzpatrick Newsagents, Wexford Street, Dublin. For occasional letters: Nurse B Monley, Meath Hospital, Dublin. For dispatches: Miss Alice O'Grady, Clarence Hotel, Wellington Quay, Dublin.'
⁴³
Twomey wanted funds raised for the IRA in America to be sent as a money draft to Miss O'Connor:
‘I have already informed you that for the present drafts can be sent to Miss O'Connor [in Leitrim].'
⁴⁴

He reprimanded Neenan for sending a telegram
‘to [an] address which should only be used only for dispatches. I told you several times – cables to be sent through [the] Sweetmans'.
⁴⁵
The Sweetmans were a prominent nationalist family. The patriarch, John, had been a Home Rule MP and in 1906 helped fund Arthur Griffith's new party, Sinn Féin. Fr Sweetman ran a school in County Wexford and was also well known for his efforts to cultivate tobacco in Ireland. He was a life-long republican and was associated with the Anti-Imperialist League, which was both an IRA and Soviet front organisation. Another republican in the family, Malachy Sweetman, was arrested by the Free State in 1922 and later escaped from Kilmainham Gaol, while Roger Sweetman had been elected a Sinn Féin MP for Wexford in 1918.
⁴⁶

The most sensitive correspondence was entrusted to couriers to hand carry. The couriers travelled around Ireland by train, bicycle, bus, motorcar, and even pony and trap, and took the boat to Britain and occasionally to the US. They were predominately women from Cumann na mBan (the women's republican organisation) or relatives of IRA volunteers. Some of the crew members on transatlantic liners also acted as couriers and, at least during the Anglo-Irish War, teenage members of Na Fianna (the IRA's version of the boy scouts) carried messages.
⁴⁷
An influential IRA officer, Todd Andrews, wrote that this ‘wonderfully reliable system of communication … was the only really efficient part of the IRA operation during the Civil War', adding a well intended compliment (but one which nowadays would be taken as patronising): ‘It never failed, thanks to the devotion of these women.'
⁴⁸

While most IRA couriers were Irish, in March 1926 ‘a Jewish engineer' on the transatlantic ship the
SS American Farmer
, by the name of Cohen, delivered despatches to London. He dropped them off at a designated house where he ‘met only the old woman, who met him at the door, [and] took the stuff'. He later received $10 (£2) for his expenses, which included tram and taxi fares. The IRA's American representative was critical of the OC in Britain for not having met the courier, and showing his appreciation for his services.
⁴⁹
Money, in the form of cash or bank drafts, was also carried by courier. Andy Cooney once asked Jones for funding from America:
‘If you can, send cash by hand without delay. Do so in preference to post.'
⁵⁰

Couriers frequently delivered despatches to call houses. A call house was a home or business where a visitor could be put in contact with an IRA representative, or which would accept a delivery for the IRA. Call houses were located throughout Ireland and Britain, as well as in New York. Twomey even reported:
‘We have a call house in Montreal.'
⁵¹
Crew members who smuggled messages or munitions across the Atlantic could hand them in to the Rob Roy pub in Cobh, to be picked up by Mick Burke (a well known local IRA man).
⁵²

When a caller wasn't known, they would identify themselves by using an agreed code word. Twomey arranged for an officer to travel to Glasgow to make contact with the IRA battalion there, telling him:
‘You will call to Patrick Morin, 10 Robson Street, Aikenhead Road, Glasgow. You will give the name Moore and ask for Bob.'
⁵³

In 1927 the director of intelligence reported to an IRA officer in Portlaoise:
‘We can arrange a line of communication by bus between Maryboro [Portlaoise] and Dublin. Can you let me have a call house for our busman in Maryboro near [the] bus stopping place if possible?'
⁵⁴
To which the officer replied:
‘The busman can call for [the] first time to myself and I will then make arrangements with him.'
⁵⁵
A well known IRA haunt and call house in Dublin was the Exchange hotel. Another correspondence from the director of intelligence to the officer from Portlaoise instructed that:
‘Our friend can call to Miss Fuller, Exchange hotel, Parliament Street on Friday at 3 p.m. He can ask for Kelly.'
⁵⁶

Requiring couriers to go to a call house rather than making direct contact with the IRA was a useful security precaution, which prevented the courier from having to know the name or address of local IRA members. In 1927 the OC in Britain, George, dismissed a courier codenamed ‘W2' and warned Twomey:
‘W2 has given a lot of trouble since I finished with him. Now he wants his fare home, which I suppose I will have to give him. I used him as a courier so he knows
nothing about [my] offices or hardly anything about my work, so if you should see him be careful not to give him any particulars re the addresses etc. that we were using. Please inform the D/I. [director of intelligence] or any others that he may meet.'
⁵⁷
Throughout these documents George comes across as one of the most careful and security conscious of all the IRA's officers. Indeed it's a
credit to him that he avoided arrest, despite the intense police activity in London at the time.

During and after the Civil War the gardaí had success in arresting IRA officers by following the trail of despatches or couriers to them, a technique that was also popular with the British police. Therefore, the more intermediary steps the IRA inserted in the delivery of despatches, the safer were their operatives. Even when Moss Twomey visited London he notified George:
‘I will call to your usual call house'
, rather than going directly to his office or digs.
⁵⁸
In June 1927 Moss Twomey again took the boat to Britain and travelled to London to collect money. George warned him:
‘[I] will call at [the] hotel where you stayed last time, at 11 o'clock next Saturday morning. Please try and come yourself. Be careful you are not followed to your hotel.'
⁵⁹
On other occasions officers made contact with George by meeting him in a pub at an agreed time.

In addition to covering addresses and call houses, the IRA had addresses which they designated safe houses. Safe houses, weren't directly related to the communications network, but were places where the IRA could hold meetings, store supplies and documents, or where a volunteer could safely spend the night. There was the constant risk of raids by the gardaí and in September 1927 the director of intelligence reported a Special Branch raid on a safe house: ‘Ward's, Glenmalure House, Rialto was raided last week and a very thorough searching made.
This house was used by [the] 4th Battalion [of the Dublin Brigade] up to recently.'


W
HATEVER BECAME OF THE
IRA's military prowess and discipline in the years following the Civil War, it still retained a complex and efficient communications system, which rivalled that of any other revolutionary organisation at the time. The network had an elaborate set of security procedures and precautions, enabling it to function efficiently despite the best efforts of the Special Branch and a number of blunders by the IRA. Most importantly, it allowed the IRA to successfully shield its activities from the security services in Britain and America.

List of alleged IRA covering addresses

Cooper, Mrs Mary Anne, Cobh,
County Cork.
⁶⁰

Bray, Mr C, 26 Pipitea Street, Wellington, New Zealand
.
⁶¹

Brown, C/O Schwab Piano House, 148 East 34th Street, New York
– for telegrams.
⁶²

Cowan, Mr, Catholic Young Men's Society, 9 and 10 Harrington Street, Dublin
– enclosed envelope to be addressed to Miss Kearney.
⁶³

Crehan, Michael, Menlough, Ballinasloe
– letters for the South Galway brigade to be sent to Crehan, and then forwarded to
Packie Ruane
.
⁶⁴

Cremin, Miss Mary, 84 Bridge Lane, Golders Green, London NW
.
⁶⁵

Downey, Molly, 65 Webb Street, Smithdown Road, Liverpool
.
⁶⁶

Elie [
sic
], 4 Rue de la Terrasse, Paris 17
– for telegrams to Seán MacBride.
⁶⁷

Fitzpatrick's Newsagents, Wexford Street, Dublin
– for parcels, magazines and books.
⁶⁸

Garvey, Miss Una, 6 Morehampton Road, Donnybrook, Dublin
– for newspapers.
⁶⁹

Kelly, The Poplars, Merryvale Av, Stockton.
⁷⁰

Kelly, Mrs Andrew, 242 Windsor Place, Brooklyn, New York
.
⁷¹

Lynch, Miss Florrie, 112 South Circular Road, Dolphin's Barn, Dublin
– enclosed envelope to be addressed to Mr Tom R Cleary.
⁷²

Lynch, 20 Rue de la Paix,
Paris – for letters to Seán MacBride, the enclosure was to be marked
‘Ambrose'
.
⁷³

Lynch, Nurse B SRN and CMB, 104 Cazenove Road, Stamford Hill, London N 16
– State Registered Nurse and midwife, letters to be delivered on Tuesdays and Fridays, those marked urgent were forwarded to the OC. Britain.
⁷⁴

McCormack, Mrs Lena, 33 St George's Court, Gloucester Rd, Kensington, SW 7
– for communications to the OC. Britain.
⁷⁵

MacDarby, Miss, 22 Northbrook Terrace, North Strand Road, Dublin
– enclosed envelope to be marked for Miss Kearney.
⁷⁶

McDonnell, Tom, Collinstown, County Westmeath
– copies of the IRA journal
An tÓglach
to be sent to him.
⁷⁷

MacHale, Miss, 8 Bessborough Parade, Rathmines, Dublin
.
⁷⁸

Masterson, Miss E, 44 Acacia Road, Johnswood, London NW
.
⁷⁹

Monley, Nurse B, Meath Hospital, Dublin
– ‘for occasional letters'.
⁸⁰

Nolan, Michael Junior, 3 Hospital Lane, Enniscorthy
, County Wexford – for letters only.
⁸¹

O'Leary, Con, Beaufort Street, off Northumberland Street, Liverpool
.
⁸²

Plunkett, Mrs, 17 Marlborough Road, Dublin
– telegram to be sent here.
⁸³

Price, Miss, 29 South Anne Street, Dublin
– envelope to be marked ‘personal'.
⁸⁴

Rafferty, John, The Stores, Katesbridge, Belfast
– pseudonym ‘Mr Johnson'.
⁸⁵