would never have confided in someone as junior as Broy, but he did tell Inspector Kerr about the raid. ‘McFeely says there is going to be serious trouble,’ Kerr told Broy afterwards. ‘He has met a very determined young man, a clerk in 6 Harcourt Street, and if they are all as extreme as he is, there is plenty of trouble coming.’
Detective Constable Daniel Hoey, a native of King’s County (now Offaly), would find himself on the receiving end of that trouble that night. Although only in his early thirties, he had been a particular irritation for the Volunteers going back to before 1916. He would have recognised Collins but had missed his chance and would not get another.
Mick McDonnell called on Jim Slattery at 9 Woodville Road that evening and asked him to go on a job. ‘They very nearly got the man we want to guard,’ McDonnell said.
‘That was the first inkling I got that Collins was the heart of things,’ Slattery noted. ‘It became very urgent to get Detective Officer Hoey, because he was the leading spirit in the raiders.’ He was the detective on the ground with most knowledge and O’Daly and Kilcoyne had been trying to get him for a couple of weeks.
‘Ennis, Mick McDonnell and I came down to Townsend Street,’ Slattery recalled. ‘Mick said he thought that Detective Hoey would be going off duty at about ten o’clock, and he did not go off. Hoey crossed over from College Street towards the police headquarters in Brunswick Street. I asked Mick if he was sure that this man was Hoey?
‘“I am not quite sure, but we will go after him,” he replied.
‘We intended that if he went straight to the door of the building we would shoot him, but instead of going there he went down Townsend Street nearly as far as Tara Street. We passed him by when he was looking at a window and Mick said, “It is Hoey all right.” He went into a shop and passed back up to the corner of Hawkins Street. When we saw him approaching again, we crossed over to the side of the street, which was at the back of the barracks, and we shot him at the door of the garage.’
After the shooting, Mick McDonnell said, ‘we had better go to Mick Collins and report to him.’ They were confident that they had killed Hoey, who was rushed to Mercer’s Hospital, where he was dead on arrival.
Paddy O’Daly had not been at the original meeting in July at which the nucleus of the Squad was formed as he was not released from Mountjoy until 2 August but he did tell of another meeting. ‘Dick McKee told Joe Leonard and myself to report to 46 Parnell Square – the meeting place of the Keating Branch of the Gaelic League – on 19 September 1919,’ O’Daly recalled. Mick McDonnell, Joe Leonard, Ben Barrett, Seán Doyle, Tom Keogh, and Jim Slattery were at this meeting, which Michael Collins and chief-of-staff Richard Mulcahy addressed.
‘They told us it was proposed to form a Squad,’ O’Daly said. ‘The Squad would take orders directly from Michael Collins, and, in the absence of Collins, the orders would be given to us through either Dick McKee or Dick Mulcahy. We were told that we were not to discuss our movements or actions with Volunteer officers or with anybody else. Collins told us that we were being formed to deal with spies and informers and that he had authority from the government to have this matter carried out.’
Collins gave ‘a short talk, the gist of which was that any of us who had read Irish history would know that no organisation in the past had an intelligence system through which spies and informers could be dealt with, but that now the position was going to be rectified by the formation of an intelligence branch, an Active Service Unit or whatever else it is called.’ Collins went on to emphasise ‘that under no circumstances whatever were we to take it on ourselves to shoot anybody, even if we knew he was a spy, unless we had to do it in self-defence while on active service. He also told us to remember that
Detective Constable Daniel Hoey, a native of King’s County (now Offaly), would find himself on the receiving end of that trouble that night. Although only in his early thirties, he had been a particular irritation for the Volunteers going back to before 1916. He would have recognised Collins but had missed his chance and would not get another.
Mick McDonnell called on Jim Slattery at 9 Woodville Road that evening and asked him to go on a job. ‘They very nearly got the man we want to guard,’ McDonnell said.
‘That was the first inkling I got that Collins was the heart of things,’ Slattery noted. ‘It became very urgent to get Detective Officer Hoey, because he was the leading spirit in the raiders.’ He was the detective on the ground with most knowledge and O’Daly and Kilcoyne had been trying to get him for a couple of weeks.
‘Ennis, Mick McDonnell and I came down to Townsend Street,’ Slattery recalled. ‘Mick said he thought that Detective Hoey would be going off duty at about ten o’clock, and he did not go off. Hoey crossed over from College Street towards the police headquarters in Brunswick Street. I asked Mick if he was sure that this man was Hoey?
‘“I am not quite sure, but we will go after him,” he replied.
‘We intended that if he went straight to the door of the building we would shoot him, but instead of going there he went down Townsend Street nearly as far as Tara Street. We passed him by when he was looking at a window and Mick said, “It is Hoey all right.” He went into a shop and passed back up to the corner of Hawkins Street. When we saw him approaching again, we crossed over to the side of the street, which was at the back of the barracks, and we shot him at the door of the garage.’
After the shooting, Mick McDonnell said, ‘we had better go to Mick Collins and report to him.’ They were confident that they had killed Hoey, who was rushed to Mercer’s Hospital, where he was dead on arrival.
Paddy O’Daly had not been at the original meeting in July at which the nucleus of the Squad was formed as he was not released from Mountjoy until 2 August but he did tell of another meeting. ‘Dick McKee told Joe Leonard and myself to report to 46 Parnell Square – the meeting place of the Keating Branch of the Gaelic League – on 19 September 1919,’ O’Daly recalled. Mick McDonnell, Joe Leonard, Ben Barrett, Seán Doyle, Tom Keogh, and Jim Slattery were at this meeting, which Michael Collins and chief-of-staff Richard Mulcahy addressed.
‘They told us it was proposed to form a Squad,’ O’Daly said. ‘The Squad would take orders directly from Michael Collins, and, in the absence of Collins, the orders would be given to us through either Dick McKee or Dick Mulcahy. We were told that we were not to discuss our movements or actions with Volunteer officers or with anybody else. Collins told us that we were being formed to deal with spies and informers and that he had authority from the government to have this matter carried out.’
Collins gave ‘a short talk, the gist of which was that any of us who had read Irish history would know that no organisation in the past had an intelligence system through which spies and informers could be dealt with, but that now the position was going to be rectified by the formation of an intelligence branch, an Active Service Unit or whatever else it is called.’ Collins went on to emphasise ‘that under no circumstances whatever were we to take it on ourselves to shoot anybody, even if we knew he was a spy, unless we had to do it in self-defence while on active service. He also told us to remember that
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