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  • Originally posted by rasher View Post
    The Broy harriers was the name I heard a lot when I was young,by people talking about the special branch
    They were the Special Branch.. sort of. Three days training apparently...
    Everything is self-evident.

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    • Originally posted by rasher View Post
      The Broy harriers was the name I heard a lot when I was young,by people talking about the special branch
      In 1934 Broy oversaw the creation of the “The Auxiliary Special Branch” of the Garda, formed mainly of hastily trained anti-Treaty IRA veterans, who would have been opponents of Broy in the civil war. It was nicknamed the “Broy Harriers” by Broy’s opponents; a pun on the Bray Harriers athletics club, or more likely on the Bray Harriers hunt club. It was used first against the quasi-Fascist Blueshirts, and later against the diehard holdouts of the IRA, now set against former comrades. The “Broy Harriers” nickname persisted into the 1940s, though Broy himself was no longer in command, and for the bodies targeted by the unit was a highly abusive term, still applied by radical Irish republicans to the Garda Special Branch (now renamed the Special Detective Unit). The Broy Harriers engaged in several controversial fatal shootings. They shot dead a protesting farmer called Lynch in Cork. They were detested by sections of the farming community. In light of this latter history, their name is often used in reference to individuals or groups who attempt to disrupt contemporary Dissident Republicans, for example the remnants of the Provisional IRA.
      Last edited by DAMNTHEWEATHER; 17-01-2020, 09:55 AM.
      We'll sail be the tide....aarghhhh !!

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      • Originally posted by DAMNTHEWEATHER View Post
        In 1934 Broy oversaw the creation of the “The Auxiliary Special Branch” of the Garda, formed mainly of hastily trained anti-Treaty IRA veterans, who would have been opponents of Broy in the civil war. It was nicknamed the “Broy Harriers” by Broy’s opponents; a pun on the Bray Harriers athletics club, or more likely on the Bray Harriers hunt club. It was used first against the quasi-Fascist Blueshirts, and later against the diehard holdouts of the IRA, now set against former comrades. The “Broy Harriers” nickname persisted into the 1940s, though Broy himself was no longer in command, and for the bodies targeted by the unit was a highly abusive term, still applied by radical Irish republicans to the Garda Special Branch (now renamed the Special Detective Unit). The Broy Harriers engaged in several controversial fatal shootings. They shot dead a protesting farmer called Lynch in Cork. They were detested by sections of the farming community. In light of this latter history, their name is often used in reference to individuals or groups who attempt to disrupt contemporary Dissident Republicans, for example the remnants of the Provisional IRA.
        Thanks DTW I am too young to remember that

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        • Originally posted by rasher View Post
          Thanks DTW I am too young to remember that
          Lol i remember it like yesterday
          We'll sail be the tide....aarghhhh !!

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          • Squad Member Frank Thornton talks of Squad activities of the time. Courtesy RTE via Cosmo.
            We'll sail be the tide....aarghhhh !!

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            • Article on Vinnie Byne on the RTE website...

              He was the teenage rebel who became the last man standing in Michael Collins's squad. In this extract from the Dictionary of Irish Biography,
              Everything is self-evident.

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