Content area
Full text
ABSTRACT
This article examines two interrelated and central policies vis-a-vis Gerald Boland's period as minister for justice from 1939 to 1946. First, it provides a critical reap-praisal of Boland's handling of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and its relation-ship with Nazi Germany, specifically the known collaboration between both movements, including the role played by Nazi spies (notably Hermann Goertz) in Ireland during the Second World War (1939-45). As somebody who described him-self as 'anti-Nazi', Boland is portrayed as a minister who deeply despised Nazism and the movement's collaborative efforts with the 'new' IRA, to use Boland's descrip-tion. Second, this article analyses Boland's attitude towards IRA hunger-strikers and his support for the execution of IRA members during the war years. It reveals the extent of division within the Irish Cabinet concerning Boland's actions against the IRA and more broadly the pressures he faced as minister for justice. For many of Boland's critics (and he had many during the war years) his stern-some have argued ruthless-suppression of the IRA looked like a classic example of the poacher turned gamekeeper, given his own revolutionary background.
INTRODUCTION
This article examines two interrelated and central policies vis-a-vis Gerald Boland's period as minister for justice from 1939 to 1946.1
First, it provides a critical reappraisal of Boland's handling of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and its relationship with Nazi Germany, spe-cifically the known collaboration between both movements, including the role played by Nazi spies (notably Hermann Goertz) in Ireland during the Second World War (1939-45). As somebody who described himself as 'anti-Nazi', Boland is portrayed as a minister who deeply despised Nazism and the movement's collaborative efforts with the 'new' IRA, to use Boland's description.2
Second, this article analyses Boland's attitude towards IRA hunger-strikers and his support for the execution of IRA members during the war years. It reveals the extent of division within the Irish Cabinet concerning Boland's actions against the IRA and more broadly the pressures he faced as minister for justice. The impending death of IRA hunger-striker Patrick McGrath, in the winter of 1939, was a particularly difficult time for Boland. As is examined, many within Fianna Fail, remembering their own recent past (including some government ministers), were profoundly uneasy about Boland's initial refusal to show clemency...