O'HIGGINS MURDER.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 221, 19 September 1927, Page 10

O'HIGGINS MURDER.

MR. COSGRAVE'S STATEMENT.

A STARTLING CHARGE.

REPUBLICAN ARMY COUNCIL

IMPLICATED.

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

DUBLIN, August 4,

"While it is assumed that the socalled 'Army Council' of the Republicans, as a whole, did not plot to carry out. the assassination of Mr. O'Higgins, there is very little doubt that some secjtion of it did."

This statement was made* in the Free [State Parliament by Mr./ Cosgrave in J moving the second reading of the far- . Teaching Public Safety Bill, which em- | ppwers the Government to try offenders ( by military courts, arid to impose the death sentence on men caught carrying arms. Mr. • Cosgrave disclosed a num- i ber of documents seized by the Secret Service, and-'cjuoted from secret reports , on the activities, of the "Army Council" . of the Republicans, who have cut adrift from de Valera. He said the Government had a copy of the constitution of this militant body, a record of its meetings, and the names of the "Council" as it was first constituted. Mr. Cosgrave, proceeding,,- said that in 1924 efforts svere made to reorganise the forces of the "Republican Army," and paid organisers went round , the country en- ; leavouring to stir up revolutionary en- : bhusiasm. This organisation extended' ts activities to Northern Ireland, a Bel'ast battalion being in existence. At ,hat time, the organisation was nominilly'undfcr the control of Mr. de Valera', vlio was regarded as president of the 'Irish Republic.". Throughout 1925 the jolice seized large-quantities of arms md ammunition and treasonable 1 docunents of all kinds, and succeeded in pairing it difficult for this organisation o carry out any unlawful enterprise. The next step was for this irregular irmy to withdraw its allegiance from Mr.* de Valera and to set up an "Army Council." This "Council" jcut itself idrift from anybody who pretended to represent politically any section of the ilectorate. Among the various activists' wfer'e' the rescue of prisoners from Vlountjoy, armed attacks on police stations, blowing up of picture theatres, irid' robbing banks. Reference was then nade to,the split in the Sinn Fein organisation which gave rise to the Fianna Fail (de Valera) .party. "We have information to show,' said tfr. Cosgrave, "that the meeting of the w-called 'Army Council' discussed the possibility of Mr. de Valera's party altering the Chamber, and a suggestion vas made that any Republican who .ook the path should, be shot as a traitor, rhis' is the organisation which repudived the assassination of Mrv O'Higgina.

While it is assumed that this organisation, as a whole, did not plot to carry out the assassination, there is very little doubt tliat some section of it did. That is a matter which remains to be investigated. It is clear that this revolutionary organisation is a menace to the peace and security and liberty of the people, and steps must be taken to break it up, and to make its continued existence impossible or at least difficult.

"The assassination of Mr. O'Higgins," he concluded, "was the work of the remnant of £he armed organisation which was responsible for the civil war. The assassination was plotted and carried out as a blow against the security of the State, and those responsible will carry out further deeds of violence if special steps are not taken to show them that they have- no chance of escape."

"Liar, Liar."

At the second reading of the bill, Mr. Thomas Johnson, Leader of the Labour party, gathered up his forces and walked out of the Dail shouting, "liar, liar" at President Cosgrave, who had accused him of making political capital out of the murder of O'Higgins.

The scene in the Dail was one of the most degrading in its short life, and the less said about it the better.

The Labour party absented themselves for a day by way of protest against a very necessary bill.