The Squad (Irish Republican Army unit)

The Twelve Apostles, alternatively known as the Inner Circle, or just The Squad, was the name of an organisation founded by Michael Collins to counter the intelligence efforts of the British during the period after the 1916 Rising, principally by means of assassination. It began its work by targeting plainclothes police, members of the G Division of the Dublin Metropolitan Police, and occasionally problematic civil servants. Organisationally it operated as a subsection of the IIS, the Irish Intelligence Service.

One of their particular targets was the Cairo Group, a deep cover British intelligence group, so called since it had originally been assembled in Cairo. The Cairo Group were, in return, particularly interested in removing Michael Collins from the picture. By 1919 this interest had grown to such an extent that the British Government had placed a bounty of £10,000 on Collins, dead or alive.

Although the names of the members of the Twelve Apostles have never been formally identified, it is a list which is thought to include: Frank Thornton, Seán F. Lemass, Liam Tobin, Mick McDonnell, Tom Keogh and Tom Cullen.

The most well-known operation executed by the Apostles occurred on "Bloody Sunday," November 21 1920, when nineteen British army officers, mostly involved to a greater or lesser extent in intelligence, were shot at various locations in Dublin. In response the Black and Tans retaliated by the shooting up of a Gaelic football match between Dublin and Tipperary at Croke Park, killing 14 bystanders including one of the players.

Bibliography

• The Squad and the Intelligence Operations of Michael Collins T. Ryle Dwyer