IRA take over Auxiliaries’ headquarters at Beggar’s Bush Barracks
Dublin, 1 February 1922 – Beggar’s Bush Barracks in Dublin, headquarters of the controversial Auxiliary Division of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) was handed over to the Irish Republican Army (IRA) yesterday.
The takeover of the barracks from the British authorities was overseen by Commandant General Seán McMahon, First Quartermaster of the IRA, who was accompanied by Commandant James Emmet Dalton, Chief Liaison Officer, and Captains Quinn and Murphy.
The handover ceremony was a straightforward affair. At 2pm the guard for the barracks was withdrawn and the gates were thrown open to the public. Inside, members of the RIC were piling stores on lorries to be taken away.
At 3pm the British representatives, including Alfred Cope, Assistant Under Secretary for Ireland, and General Edward Wood, commander of the Auxiliaries, arrived. Shortly afterwards the Irish representatives arrived by motor car. Mr Cope shook hands with McMahon and Dalton and after a short conversation, they commenced a general inspection of the building.
Capt O’Daly, IRA, with the colours presented to him by Richard Mulcahy, Minister for Defence (Image: Irish Life, 17 February 1922)
A group of RIC men looked on, as did a large crowd of the general public who had gathered inside the gates of the barracks.
Once the inspection was complete, an arrangement was reached whereby an RIC guard would remain in place until the entry of Irish forces, which is due to take place today. Fully uniformed units of the IRA will march through the city from the depots where they have been mobilising for the last number of days and enter the barracks at 3 pm.
This latest marker of regime change follows the departure of Chief of Police, General Henry Tudor, for England on 26 January. He received no formal send-off and he will not return to Dublin Castle. General Tudor has served as commander of the RIC, the Auxiliary Division of the RIC and the Dublin Metropolitan Police.
It is planned that the regular RIC will be disbanded and a new Irish Police Forces established in their place once the provisional government is in a position to give the order. The disbandment of the Black and Tans, who number 5,000 men, will commence next week and is expected to be completed within a fortnight.
[Editor's note: This is an article from Century Ireland, a fortnightly online newspaper, written from the perspective of a journalist 100 years ago, based on news reports of the time.]
