D/Sergeant Denis O’Brien was ambushed and murdered on 9 September 1942 as he drove away from his home in Ballyboden, County Dublin. He has been awarded a POSTUMOUS GOLD SCOTT MEDAL - AFTER AN UNCONSCIONABLE DELAY.
He was a very active member of detective branch SDU. Just like many others he had a stellar War of Independence record, and he took the anti-treaty side in the Civil War. He was interred both in Mountjoy and Newbridge. He was a friend of Liam Mellows and Rory O’Connor.
Denis O'Brien joined the AGS in 1933 when Fianna Fáil took power. There was little doubt that he had strong allegiance to Mr. De Valera and that was reflected in his ingestion into Special Branch and later promotion to sergeant. His unique knowledge of his old colleagues in the IRA certainly was a bone of contention to them and an enabler for him in his detective work. On the fateful morning 9 September, he left for Dublin Castle and drove down a short drive to the public road. He was ambushed by several men in the driveway who used a Thompson machine gun and small arms to attack him. He returned fire but it was an unequal fight, and he was mortally wounded. There was widespread outrage at his killing and the Government offered £5,000 as a reward for information leading to the arrest of the culprits.
INTIMIDATION OF WITNESSES
There was intimidation of witnesses as the investigation progressed. The Gardaí publicly named several individuals as persons of interest, Michael Quille, Hugh McAteer, Liam Burke, Francis Daly, Henry White, Charles Kerins, Thomas Kealy and Timothy Drummond. Quille was the first one of the named individuals to be taken into custody. He was detained by the RUC and handed over to the Gardaí and initially was interned. On the 30 December 1942 the Government made an order that he was to be tried before the Military Court for the murder of Detective Sergeant O’Brien. Quille denied the charge and produced alibi witnesses that he was in Northern Ireland at the time of the murder. He was defended by Sean Mac Bride who was instructed by Con Lehane solicitor.
The State’s case primarily rested on the eyewitness testimony of a garda who deposed that he had seen him in Rathfarnham cycling away from the scene of the crime that morning.
There were twenty civilian witnesses who saw different aspects of what happened but none of them could identify the suspect or suspects. Quille was found not guilty on 20 January 1943. He was released from custody but interned immediately.
The next arrest was made on 17 June 1944 when Charles Kerins (26) was arrested in Dublin. Kerins was a Kerry man and was reputed to be Chief of Staff of the IRA at that time despite his youth. He appeared before the Special Criminal Court on the 2 October and was formally charged with the murder of D/Sergeant O’Brien. Initially he refused legal representation as if he did not understand the mortal danger he faced, should he be convicted of murder. He was offered an opportunity to consider his position before sentence was passed. Kerins refused to enter a defence and he was sentenced to execution on the 31 October 1944. He then lodged an appeal to the Court of Criminal Appeal, one of his lawyers was the ubiquitous Sean Mac Bride. This appeal was heard over five days commencing on the 9 November and the Court gave its reserved judgement on the 15 November. The appeal was not successful, and the sentence was affirmed for the 1 December 1944. An application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court was refused. Widespread agitation followed the decision, but the Government stood firm. A last-minute intervention in Dáil was unsuccessful, Kerins was executed on the 1 December 1944 in Mountjoy Prison.
There was a sequel, Ryle Dwyer reported that the IRA planned to take revenge by murdering Detective Sergeant Pat O’Connell, a Kerry native, for his role in the arrest of Kerins. The plan was to assassinate him when he returned home for Christmas. Tadhg (Timothy) Drummond who was one of the persons of interest (in the murder) tipped off D/Sergeant O’Connell through an intermediary that he was going to be shot.
Justin Keating (Later Government Minister 1970s)
Justin Keating (12 years) was a close eyewitness to the shooting. “I was less than 20 yards away”, “Behind his back and in my full sight, a man stood up with what I know was a machine gun”, I could see the bullets hitting my friend, I could see him fall”. D/Sergeant O’Brien was killed by a shot to the back of his head.
Justin Keating later recalled in his own words, the humanity of the victim and the inhumanity of his killer, the lack of empathy shown by his parents, and the ache in his heart.
Fit-ups were thriving when I was a kid. Drama, recitations, an unrideable mule, jugglers and – for me, best of all – the trapeze. I believed I could do some of those things too. At home there was a row of beautiful trees. The perfect one for my purpose was about twenty yards from the entrance drive to the bungalow that our new neighbour had built. He had two daughters but no son, and I surmise that my pert self was to a tiny degree a surrogate son. He allowed me to walk all over the building site of his new bungalow and taught me (which I partly felt already from our own house) to love a building site and building skills. He rented our front field, which he cut for hay. He taught me, small as I was, how to sharpen a scythe and cut with it; lots of things. He was a friend.
Over a low bough in the beech tree near his drive, I constructed a trapeze. And there I would go every morning and do my set: chin-ups, turnovers, hanging by my ankles; that kind of thing. One day, which started like any other (it must have been in holiday time because I wasn’t at school), I went out to my trapeze and was just starting up.
I heard the engine of his car in front of his house. He drove towards the road. As he passed over a little bridge on the mill stream, I heard what sounded like one or two shots. He jammed his car against the wall, threw open the driver’s door, which he sheltered behind, and with a drawn revolver in his hand faced back towards where the first shot had come from. I was less than twenty yards away and frozen by surprise and fear. And then, across the road towards which he was driving, in the yard of Kyle’s builders, behind his back and in my full sight, a man stood up with what I now know was a sub-machine gun. It hadn’t a belt for the bullets, but a drum. I could see the bullets hitting my friend. I could see him fall, transformed from the lean, hardy, vigorous man he was into a bundle of crumpled rags. Who was he, my neighbour? Denis O’Brien, Detective Sgt; Dinny, my friend. His killers? The IRA. Apart from those killers, I was the only witness.
For some reason I do not understand, and of which I am ashamed, my family was much less supportive towards his widow and daughters than they should have been.
Too late, I can only apologise for that sixty years later. Later on, I was to go to court, which was trying one of the people involved in the murder, and for me, not personally involved, that was almost as traumatic as witnessing the murder. And again, for reasons I do not understand, my parents, usually so perceptive and supportive, paid almost no attention to my trauma. Over the months and years, I internalised it and repressed the memory. I went on with my life.
Military Court
Later. I am in Collins Barracks, where the Military Court was sitting. I was waiting (for what seemed hours and hours) to give evidence. There was a notice on the wall that read ‘There is a place to spit and throw your cigarette ends.’ I read this over and over, with the emphasis first on ‘is’ and then on ‘place’. And then I was inside, before the soldiers who were the judges, and in the dock was the defendant, on trial for his life: Charles Kerins. He was quite young. He was born of woman. Hopefully was welcomed into the world and loved. And here he was, an ignorant young man, brainwashed and programmed before he had the power of independent judgment, inheriting a wicked paradigm he did not fashion; a belief he had inherited rather than choosing. Here he was, on trial for the most precious thing that any of us possess – his life. He had participated in the killing of my friend, whom I knew well. But Kerins, whom I did not know, was also a human being.
In the words of Shylock, on the school curriculum that year, ‘If you prick me, do I not bleed?’ He did bleed. In front of me. It was really awful – beyond saying.
Formal State Recognition
Members of the AGS can be awarded Scott Medals for Bravery when they place their lives on the line when serving the State. It is interesting to note that of the six Gardaí murdered in the 1940s none were given posthumous recognition at the time. In 2021 three members were posthumously awarded Scott Gold medals for bravery, D/Sergeant Patrick McKeown, D/Garda Richard Hyland and D/Garda Michael Brady (seriously wounded in the Rathgar Road encounter). It is stating the obvious to say other garda victims were not similarly honoured.
MONETARY COMPENSATION
The issue of compensation for the loss of their loved ones was a continuing matter of concern for families. Traditionally the courts and the law were notoriously unreliable. The legal provisions related back to a British system from the previous century. The first move to reform this position took place in 1941 but it wasn’t until 1945 that an amending Act (Garda Síochána (Compensation) (Amendment) Act, No. 1, 1945) was passed with consequent improvements in the awards previously made. This amending legislation provided these amended awards for the garda families.
Mrs. Annie O’Brien, for the murder of her husband Denis - £3,641
increased from £1,654
Mrs. Susan Walsh, for the murder of her husband Michael - £2,727
increased from £1,150
Mrs. Catherine Mordaunt, for the murder of her husband George -
£2,007 from £1,660
Mrs. Kathleen Hyland, for the murder of her husband Richard - £2,677
from £1,323
Mrs. Mary Ann McKeon, for the murder of her son Patrick - £620 from
£500
Mrs. Mary Roche, for the murder of her husband John - £2,475 from
£1,300
CHIEF SUPERINTENDENT SEAN GANTLY
Special Branch was headed by Chief Superintendent Sean Gantly for the greater period of the war years. He proved himself a more than competent leader with a strong connection with the men who served with him. He was also to have an untimely death in 1948 accidently shot by one of his men.
Sources also say that there were internal tensions in Special Branch from time to time and that Chief Superintendent Sean Gantly demanded high standards from the men under his command and that was not always appreciated. When the Rathgar murders took place in 1940 (Detective Garda Richard Hyland, Detective Sergeant Patrick McKeown) he provided a particularly incisive report on that crime. This detailed report was 40 pages long and it was submitted within four days of the murders. It dealt with the details of the crime and the antecedent history of the perpetrators. There was no doubt that intelligence was of a high order.
Similarly, when Detective Sergeant Denis O’Brien was murdered in 1942, he again put pen to paper and had an article published in the Garda Review in November of that year. He commented on the sergeant’s dedication to duty and his tireless work ethic. He added a deeply empathic note when considering Denis O’Brien, the man.
In reflective mood he often regretted surrendering civilian employment for the troublesome life of Detective Branch, and he looked forward to the return of sanity in the political life of the country and to the distant days when he could retire to the peaceful pursuit of gardening on the holding which he had found time somehow to make into a little paradise of lawns and rose gardens.
Denis O’Brien Background (Extract from Military Service Pension Collection)
The O’Brien family lived at 8 Pim Street including three brothers – Laurence (MSP34REF1336) aged 25, Patrick (DP2196) aged 18 and Denis (MSP34REF1281) aged 16 – who were members of C Company, 4 Battalion, Dublin Brigade, Irish Volunteers. 16a Upper Basin Street was the home of the Cooney’s including three sisters – Annie (MSP34REF8809) aged 20, Elizabeth (MSP34REF13558) aged 18 and Eileen (MSP34REF8936) aged 17 – who were active with the Inghinidhe branch of Cumann na mBan.
During Easter Week 1916, all six served in Roe’s Distillery, James’s Street and the Jameson Distillery, Marrowbone Lane. They were also all active in the War of Independence and fought in the Civil War on the Republican side.
The Cooney and O’Brien families – already neighbours and friends – were further brought together by the marriage of Denis O’Brien to Annie Cooney in 1926. Elizabeth Cooney married another 1916 veteran Sean Harbourne (MSP34REF1534) on 11 February 1929.
Denis O’Brien, also known as Dinny, joined An Garda Síochána on 9 August 1933 following the election victory of Éamon de Valera’s anti-Treaty Fianna Fáil party. He rose to the rank of Detective Sergeant in Dublin Castle’s ‘Special Branch’.
Denis O’Brien died on 9 September 1942. His file contains the normal solicitor’s correspondence and Department communication which follows the death of a military service pension recipient.
His file contains no death certificate or offers any other explanation of how he died. There is no hint that Denis O’Brien was gunned down by an IRA unit outside his south County Dublin home at the age of 43.
Note
The links to the Military Service Records are live. They provide a unique window to the bureaucracy involved in making those claims.
Much of this material is taken from my Book - Securing the Irish State 1922 - 2022
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