Twelve Apostles (Irish counter-intelligence organisation)

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The Twelve Apostles, more commonly known as The Squad, was the name of an Irish Republican Army unit founded by Michael Collins to counter the intelligence efforts of the British during the Irish War of Independence, principally by means of assassination. It began its work by targeting plainclothes police, members of the G Division of the Dublin Metropolitan Police, and occasionally problematic civil servants. Organisationally it operated as a subsection of the Collins' Intelligence Headquarters.

By 1919 Collins had become such a thorn in the side of the British Government that they had placed a bounty of £10,000 on Collins, dead or alive, however none could be found to take up this offer.

One of their particular targets was the Cairo Gang, also known as the Cairo Group, a deep cover British intelligence group, so called since it had primarily been assembled from intelligence officers serving in Cairo and the Middle East. The Cairo Group was brought in during the middle of 1920 by Sir Henry Wilson explicitly to remove Michael Collins and his organisation from the picture. Given carte blanche to operate by Wilson, the strategy adopted by the Cairo Group was to assassinate members of Sinn Féin unconnected with the military struggle, assuming that this would cause the IRA to respond and bring its leaders into the open.

Although the names of the members of the Twelve Apostles have never been formally identified, it is a list which is thought to include: Mick Love, Frank Thornton, Liam Tobin, Joe Leonard, Jim Slattery, Bill Stapleton, Pat McCrae, Sean Doyle, Gearoid O'Sullivan, Charlie Dalton, Paddy Daly, Ben Barrett, Mick O'Reilly, Vincent Byrne, Sean Healy, Francis Healy, James Conroy, Mick McDonnell, Tom Keogh and Tom Cullen. Seán F. Lemass and Stephen Behan (the father of Irish writers Brendan Behan and Dominic Behan) have also been put forward as members of the Apostles. Understandably, there is no hard evidence to support many of these names however those that subsequently served in the Irish Army have their active service recorded in their service records held in the Military Archives Department in Cathal Brugha Barracks.

The most well-known operation executed by the Apostles occurred on "Bloody Sunday," November 21, 1920, when fourteen British army officers, significantly involved in intelligence or spying, were shot at various locations in Dublin. In addition to the "Twelve Apostles", a larger number of IRA personel were involved in this operation. In response to the killings, the Black and Tans retaliated by shooting up a Gaelic football match between Dublin and Tipperary at Croke Park, killing 12 bystanders including one of the players, and wounding 68.

In May 1921, after the IRA's Dublin Brigade took heavy casualties while burning the Customs House, the Squad and the Brigade's Active Service Unit" were amalgamated into the Dublin Guard, under Paddy Daly. Under the influence of Daly and Michael Collins, most of the Guard took the Free State side in the Irish Civil War of 1922-23.

[edit] Bibliography

• The Squad and the Intelligence Operations of Michael Collins T. Ryle Dwyer