Charlie Kerins

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Charlie Kerins (23 January 1918 – 1 December 1944) was a member and leader of the IRA.

Kerins was born in Caherina, Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland and attended Balloonagh Mercy Convent School and then the CBS, Edward Street. At the age of 13, he won a Kerry County Council scholarship and completed his secondary education at the Green Christian Brothers and the Jeffers Institute. In 1920, Kerins passed the Intermediate Certificate with honours and the matriculation examination to the NUI. He later did a commercial course and took up employment in a radio business in Tralee.

Kerins was also active in the Gaelic Athletic Association and in 1939 won a county medal in football with his local team, the O’Rahilly’s, now renamed the Kerins O’Rahilly’s in his honour.

In 1940, Kerins joined the IRA, being appointed to the GHQ staff in May 1942. Following the capture of Hugh McAteer in October 1942, Kerins became Chief of Staff of the IRA.

On the morning of September 9 Sergeant Dennis O'Brien was leaving his home. He was between his front gate and his car when he was hit with a hail of bullets. O'Brien had been himself a member of the IRA until 1933, when he was in a group of IRA members which joined the police, at the time when De Valera had newly come to power and the IRA were his allies against the Fascist Blueshirts. Within a few years, however, O'Brien became deeply involved in hunting down his former IRA comrades-in-arms - who considered him a despicable traitor. He was a member of the Special Branch Division of the Garda Siochána, which had its headquarters at Dublin Castle. This unit was referred to as the Broy Harriers as they were led by Ned Broy (see Michael Collins (film)). The 'Broy Harriers', had been successful in distrupting IRA attempts to cooperate with Nazi Germany.

Kerins had previously left papers and guns hidden the house of Dr Kathleen Farrell in the Dublin suburb of Rathmines. He telephoned the house, as he intented to retrieve them. The telephone was tapped. On 15 June 1944, Kerins was arrested in an early morning raid, by the Garda Siochána. He was sleeping when they entered his bedroom, so he did not have an opportunity to use the Thompson submachine gun under his bed.

At a special military tribunal in Collins Barracks, Dublin established under emergency legislation, Kerins was put on trial on 2 October 1944 for the "shooting at Rathfarnam of Detective Dinny O’Brien" outside his house at Ballyboden, Rathfarnham, Dublin on 9 September 1942. Refusing to recognize the court, Kerins was found guilty on October 8 and sentenced to death by hanging. Some republicans have alleged that the trial was marked by severe legal irregularities.

Despite legal moves initiated by Seán MacBride, public protests, and parliamentary intervention by TDs from Clann na Talmhan, Labour, and Independent Oliver J. Flanagan, ([1] [2] [3] [4]) in Leinster House, the Fianna Fáil government of Éamon de Valera refused to issue a reprieve. On 1 December 1944 in Mountjoy Prison, Kerins was hanged by the English executioner Pierrepoint, brought over to Ireland by the government for the execution.

Kerins was then buried in the prison yard. In September 1948, his remains were exhumed and released to his family. He is buried in the Republican Plot at Rath Cemetery, Tralee, Co Kerry.