The myth of reliability – British intelligence in Ireland in the eve of War of Independence

Abstract

This article analyses the functioning of the British intelligence in Ireland in the 1916–1921 period. The author starts with discussing its history, organization and activities before the outbreak of the Easter Rising and then analyses the causes of gradual degradation of the quality of acquired information. Changes occurring were portrayed in the context of the course of the War of Independence as well as the social shifts of the era. Given the theme of the publication, the main focus was the initial period of the conflict, in other words: the fight against Royal Irish Constabulary and Dublin Metropolitan Police. The structure of British Secret Service and burgeoning Department of Intelligence of the Irish Republican Army was discussed at length along with their operational methods. The summary consists of the analysis of the British intelligence reform conducted from the 1920. This allows to specify the biggest difficulties, impediments and gaps in the security system for confidential information of the British administration as noticed by the British experts. In addition, the article describes methods applied to minimize this loss of data. The sources for this analysis are the documents of the British intelligence from the collection of The National Archives in London as well as witness statements of people involved in spying activities from the Irish side, held in Irish Military Archives, from the collection of the Irish Bureau of Military History.