Liam Tobin (15 November 1895 – 30 April 1963) was an officer in theIrish Army and the instigator of anIrish Army Mutiny in March 1924. During theIrish War of Independence, he served as an IRA intelligence officer forMichael Collins'Squad.[1]
Tobin was portrayed by actorBrendan Gleeson inNeil Jordan'sbiopicMichael Collins.
William Joseph Tobin was born at 13 Great Georges Street inCork on 15 November 1895, the eldest son of Mary Agnes (nee Butler) and David Tobin, a hardware clerk. Tobin had two younger siblings, Katherine and Nicholas Augustine Tobin, also born inCork City. Tobin's family moved to John St. inKilkenny and then toDublin. Tobin went to school in Kilkenny and was an apprentice in ahardware shop at the time of the1916 Rising.
Tobin fought in theFour Courts Garrison underEdward Daly. He was arrested and courtmartialed. He was sentenced to death and then had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment. Tobin was a prisoner inKilmainham Gaol, Mountjoy, Lewes, Dartmoor, Broadmoor and Pentonville prisons. He was released in June 1917.
Early in 1919, Tobin had become Collins' chief executive in the Intelligence Directorate handling the many spies in Dublin Castle, including double agentDavid Neligan. Nancy O'Brien worked forUnder-Secretary for IrelandJames Macmahon, decoding messages sent from London. Each day between 2:30 and 3:30 she would pass any information acquired to either Tobin,Joe McGrath, orDesmond Fitzgerald.[2] Tobin was involved in planning the assassinations of military officers, police officials, intelligence agents and informers. He constructed detailed profiles of everyone remotely connected to the British government, often usingWho's Who,The Morning Post, andThe Times – a newspaper that described him as "one of the most formidable of [the]Twelve Apostles".[3]
Collins' intelligence operations were based at 3 Crow Street,Dublin, where Tobin had the assistance of Tom Cullen andFrank Thornton. In October 1921, Tobin travelled with theIrish Treaty Delegation to London as part of Collins' personal staff.
The historiansTim Pat Coogan and James Mackay have examined Tobin's involvement in the assassination ofField MarshalSir Henry Wilson. Wilson's public tirades about Collins was evidence of mutual personal dislike between the two men. InMay 1922 Collins told Tobin "We'll kill a member of that bunch" to the news of"bloody pogroms" in Belfast andBloody Sunday (1921). Wilson, an Irish Protestant, had been intimately involved with theUlster loyalist cause, including theCurragh Mutiny and the establishment of theUlster Special Constabulary.[4]
Just before the shooting, Coogan places Tobin in London. He met courier Peig Ni Braonain at Euston Station collecting a document that had been sent from Dublin. Returning to Dublin before the incident, Tobin was jubilant when he tolddefence ministerRichard Mulcahy about Wilson's death. Mulcahy was appalled and threatened to resign.[4] On 10 August 1922, two London-based members of the IRA,Reginald Dunne andJoseph O'Sullivan were hung in London for the killing of Wilson.[5]
Following theAnglo-Irish Treaty, he was appointed deputy director of intelligence in the new state and assigned to theCriminal Investigation Department based atOriel House. However Collins would soon replace him withJoseph McGrath. Tobin was placed on the Army Council and was Director of Intelligence from September 1922 until his appointment as SeniorAide-de-Camp to the newGovernor General,Tim Healy in November 1922. The position provided an apartment inViceregal Lodge.[3]
In October 1922, Tobin's brother Nicholas, a Free State captain, was accidentally shot dead by his own troops during the raid and capture of a bomb making factory at number 8 Gardiner's Place, Dublin.[6]
Tobin believed in the stepping stone doctrine which saw the Treaty as a stage towards full independence. With the outbreak of theIrish Civil War he remained loyal to Collins and took the Pro-Treaty side. He led in the fight against theAnti-Treaty IRA in the south. Disillusioned with the continuing hostilities and in the aftermath of the death of General Collins he formed an association called the IRA Organisation (IRAO) or "OldIrish Republican Army" to distinguish themselves from the anti-treaty insurgents.
Richard Mulcahy, the new Irishdefence minister, proposed to reduce the army from 55,000 to 18,000 men in the immediate post-Civil-War period.[7] Tobin knew his own position was to be affected and shared the perception that the Irish Army treated officers who wereBritish Army veterans better than former IRA officers.[3] On7 March 1924 Tobin, together withColonel Charles Dalton, sent an ultimatum to PresidentW. T. Cosgrave demanding an end to the army demobilisation.[8] The immediate response was an order for the arrest of the two men on a charge of mutiny.[9] The cabinet, already wary of theIrish Army, ordered an inquiry and appointed Garda CommissionerEoin O'Duffy to the army command.
On 18 March, the mutineers assembled with hostile intent at a Dublin pub. An order was made to arrest the mutineers and the cabinet demanded the resignation of the army council. The generals resigned, affirming the subservience of the military to the civilian government of the new state.[10]
In later years, Tobin would rebuild relations with his Civil War foes and joined De Valera's Anti-TreatyFianna Fáil Party. Tobin joined up with Joseph McGrath to form theIrish Hospitals' Sweepstake in the 1930s. Many other former army comrades found work in this lottery. Tobin left the Sweep in 1938. AfterWorld War II, Tobin became Superintendent of the Oireachtas for the Irish Dáil.
On 14 October 1929, Tobin married Monica "Mona" Higgins, at the Church of the Holy Family, Aughrim St, in Dublin, and had two daughters, Máire and Anne Tobin.Following the death of Tobin's father, David, in 1956, Tobin's health declined, resulting in his death on 30 April 1963 in Dublin, aged 68 years.