Mystery over daylight disappearance of Noel Lemass continues

Dublin, 4 August 1923 - Inquiries by three separate police departments - the DMP, the Civic Guard and C.I.D. at oriel House - have been unable to shed light on the fate of Noel Lemass or to confirm whether he is alive or dead.

It has been widely alleged that Mr. Lemass, who’s been missing since July 3rd, had been the target of a kidnapping and a further rumour has suggested that a body found near Chapelizod in Dublin was that of the 1916 Rising and Anglo-Irish war veteran.

Questioned in the Dáil by the Labour Party leader, Mr. Thomas Johnson, as to what efforts the police had made into ascertaining the whereabouts of Mr. Lemass, the minister for Home Affairs, Mr. Kevin O’Higgins responded:

‘I have inquired from three Police Departments, from the Dublin Metropolitan Police, from the Civic Guard and at Oriel House. I do not know what steps have been taken, but I asked them to make the fullest inquiries with a view to throwing any light on the matter, and they have not been able to confirm either the allegation of kidnapping or the rumour with regard to the finding of the body.’

However, on leaving the Dáil the Minister shed further light on the official response to the disappearance of Mr. Lemass when pressed on the matter by reporters. Mr. O’Higgins claimed that the first information that was received on the matter came on July 16th, when Mr. Lemass’s father reported to the Detective of the DMP that his son, while in the company of Mr. Devine, Superintendent of the Cleansing Department of Dublin Corporation, had been taken away about mid-day on July 3rd from Exchequer Street by a man in plain clothes, and that he had not been heard of since.

‘I can only assume’, the Minister said, ‘that the delay of thirteen days in reporting this matter to any official quarter was due to the fact that Noel lemass was an escaped prisoner, and the incident in Exhequer Street was assumed to be an official arrest.’

“A Rosary beads was found on him. That was his. There was very little flesh on the body. The rosary beads were rusted.” - a short film by the Office of Public Works on Noel Lemass

Mr. Lemass Senior, father to Noel, has since challenged this account of events, claiming that he had written to the Minister of Defence on the matter on July 9th and to Oriel House the following day.

Information given by Mr. Devine to the police also sheds light on the circumstances of Mr. Lemass’s alleged abduction. A statement offered by Mr Devine to a Sergeant with the Detective Department says that the two men, Mr. Devine and Mr. Lemass, left the Wicklow Hotel at 2.40pm on July 3rd and were walking along Exchequer Street towards Great George’s Street when Mr. Devine, who was walking on the inside, was caught suddenly by the collar from behind by a man who produced a large revolver. Mr. Lemass was treated in a similar way by another armed man. Mr. Devine was taken to a laneway at the junction of Lincoln Place and Westland Row, where he was searched and his papers and documents examined. At the time, Mr. Devine said he had no opportunity to see the man who had Mr. Lemass in custody. 

[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.]