Eamon Broy (also called ''Edward Broy''; 22 December 1887 – 22 January 1972) was successively a member of the

Dublin Metropolitan Police The Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP) was the police force of Dublin, Ireland, from 1836 to 1925, when it was amalgamated into the new Garda Síochána. History 19th century The Dublin city police had been subject to major reforms in 1786 and ...

, the

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various paramilitary organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dedicated to irredentism through Irish republicanism, the belief th ...

, the National Army, and the Garda Síochána of the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between ...

. He served as Commissioner of the Gardaí from February 1933 to June 1938. He later served as president of the

Olympic Council of Ireland The Olympic Federation of Ireland or OFI ( ga, Cónaidhm Oilimpeach na hÉireann) (called the Irish Olympic Council until 1952 and the Olympic Council of Ireland until 2018) is the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of the island of Ireland. At ...

for fifteen years.

Career

RIC / pre-independence

Broy joined the

Royal Irish Constabulary The Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC, ga, Constáblacht Ríoga na hÉireann; simply called the Irish Constabulary 1836–67) was the police force in Ireland from 1822 until 1922, when all of the country was part of the United Kingdom. A separate ...

on 2 August 1910, and the

(DMP) on 20 January 1911. Broy was a

double agent In the field of counterintelligence, a double agent is an employee of a secret intelligence service for one country, whose primary purpose is to spy on a target organization of another country, but who is now spying on their own country's organ ...

within the DMP, with the rank of

Detective Sergeant Sergeant ( abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other ...

(DS). He worked as a

clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include record keeping, filing, staffing service ...

inside

G Division G (detective) Division was a plainclothes divisional office of the Dublin Metropolitan Police concerned with detective police work.Patrick Maume, ‘Mallon, John (1839–1915)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, ...

, the

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can be des ...

branch of the DMP. While there, he copied sensitive files for IRA leader

Michael Collins Michael Collins or Mike Collins most commonly refers to: * Michael Collins (Irish leader) (1890–1922), Irish revolutionary leader, soldier, and politician * Michael Collins (astronaut) (1930–2021), American astronaut, member of Apollo 11 and Ge ...

and passed many of these files on to Collins through

Thomas Gay Colonel Thomas Gay (22 January 1884 – 2 January 1953) was the handler of a large spy ring working on behalf of Michael Collins during the Irish War of Independence. A commercial clerk by trade he later became an assistant and then subsequ ...

, the librarian at Capel Street Library. On 7 April 1919, Broy smuggled Collins into G Division's archives in Great Brunswick Street (now Pearse Street), enabling him to identify "G-Men", six of whom would be killed by the IRA. Broy supported the

Anglo-Irish Treaty The 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty ( ga , An Conradh Angla-Éireannach), commonly known in Ireland as The Treaty and officially the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was an agreement between the government of the ...

of 1921 and joined the National Army during the Irish Civil War, reaching the rank of

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...

. In 1925, he left the Army and joined the Garda Síochána.

Post-independence

Broy's elevation to the post of Commissioner came when

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtí Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christia ...

replaced

Cumann na nGaedheal Cumann na nGaedheal (; "Society of the Gaels") was a political party in the Irish Free State, which formed the government from 1923 to 1932. In 1933 it merged with smaller groups to form the Fine Gael party. Origins In 1922 the pro-Treaty ...

as the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

. Other more senior officers were passed over as being too sympathetic to the outgoing party. In 1934 Broy oversaw the creation of "The Auxiliary Special Branch" of the Garda, formed mainly of hastily-trained anti-Treaty IRA veterans, who would have been opponents of Broy in the civil war. It was nicknamed the "Broy Harriers" by Broy's opponents, a pun on the Bray Harriers

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

club or more likely on the Bray Harriers hunt club. It was used first against the quasi- fascist

Blueshirts The Army Comrades Association (ACA), later the National Guard, then Young Ireland and finally League of Youth, but best known by the nickname the Blueshirts ( ga, Na Léinte Gorma), was a paramilitary organisation in the Irish Free State, founded ...

, and later against the diehard holdouts of the IRA, now set against former comrades. The "Broy Harriers" nickname persisted into the 1940s, even though Broy himself was no longer in command, and for the bodies targeted by the unit was a highly-abusive term, still applied by radical Irish republicans to the Garda Special Branch (now renamed the

Special Detective Unit , headquarters = Harcourt Street, Dublin (D2) , formed = as the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) , preceding1 = Garda Special Branch , preceding2 = , jurisdiction = Ireland , employees = Undisclosed~ 300 , budget = Undisclosed ...

). The Broy Harriers engaged in several controversial fatal shootings. They shot dead a protesting farmer called Lynch in Cork, and when the matter was discussed in the Senate in 1934, the members who supported

Éamon de Valera Éamon de Valera (, ; first registered as George de Valero; changed some time before 1901 to Edward de Valera; 14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975) was a prominent Irish statesman and political leader. He served several terms as head of govern ...

's government walked out. They were detested by sections of the farming community. In the light of this latter history, their name is often used in reference to individuals or groups who attempt to disrupt contemporary Dissident Republicans, such as the remnants of the

Provisional IRA The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, fa ...

Volunteer role

Broy was President of the

from 1935 to 1950.

Death and legacy

He died on 22 January 1972 at his residence in the Dublin suburb of

Rathgar Rathgar (), is a suburb of Dublin in Ireland. It was originally a village which from 1862 was part of the township of Rathmines and Rathgar; it was absorbed by the growing city and became a suburb in 1930. It lies about three kilometres south of ...

. On 17 September 2016, a memorial to Broy was unveiled in Coolegagen Cemetery, County Offaly, close to his childhood home. His daughter Áine was in attendance, as were representatives of the government, the Air Corps, and the Garda Síochana.

In fiction

Neil Jordan Neil Patrick Jordan (born 25 February 1950) is an Irish film director, screenwriter, novelist and short-story writer. His first book, ''Night in Tunisia (short story collection), Night in Tunisia'', won a Somerset Maugham Award and the Guardian ...

's film ''

'' ( 1996) inaccurately depicts Broy (played by actor Stephen Rea) as having been discovered, tortured and killed by the British. In addition, G Division was based not in

Dublin Castle Dublin Castle ( ga, Caisleán Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a former Motte-and-bailey castle and current Irish government complex and conference centre. It was chosen for its position at the highest point of central Dublin. Until 1922 it was the s ...

, as indicated in the film, but in Great Brunswick Street. Collins had a different agent in the Castle,

David Neligan David Neligan (14 October 1899 – 1983), known by his soubriquet "The Spy in the Castle", was a crucial figure involved in the Irish War of Independence (1919–21) and subsequently became Director of Intelligence for the Irish Army after the ...

.Neligan, David. ''The Spy in the Castle''. London: MacGibbon & Kee, 1968. Broy is also mentioned and makes an appearance in Michael Russell's detective novel ''The City of Shadows'', set partly in Dublin in the 1930s, published by

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News ...

in 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Broy, Eamon 1887 births Dublin Metropolitan Police officers Double agents Irish Republican Army (1919–1922) members People of the Irish Civil War (Pro-Treaty side) National Army (Ireland) officers Garda Commissioners Olympic Federation of Ireland officials 1972 deaths