Charlie Kerins

Charlie Kerins (Irish: Cathal Ó Céirín; 23 January 1918 – 1 December 1944) was a physical force Irish Republican, and Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army (IRA). Kerins was one of six IRA men who were executed by the Irish State between September 1940 and December 1944. After spending two years on the run he was captured by the police (the Gardaí) in 1944. Following his subsequent trial and conviction for the 1942 murder of Garda Detective Sergeant Denis O'Brien, Kerins was hanged at Mountjoy Prison in Dublin.

Kerins was born in Caherina, Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland and attended Balloonagh Mercy Convent School and then the Christian Brothers School, Edward Street. At the age of 13, he won a Kerry County Council scholarship and completed his secondary education at the Green Christian Brothers and the Jeffers Institute. In 1930, Kerins passed the Intermediate Certificate with honours and the matriculation examination to the National University of Ireland. He later did a commercial course and took up employment in a radio business in Tralee.

Kerins was also active in the Gaelic Athletic Association and in 1939 won a county medal in football with his local team, O'Rahilly's, now renamed Kerins O'Rahilly's in his honour. A small park in Tralee, County Kerry is named in Kerins honour.

At the time, the Fianna Fáil Government of Éamon de Valera was determined to preserve Irish neutrality during World War II. The IRA's ongoing bombing/sabotage campaign in England (the S-Plan), its attacks against targets in Northern Ireland and its ties to the intelligence services of Nazi Germany were regarded as severe threats to Ireland's national security. According to historian Tim Pat Coogan, "An iron gloved approach to the I.R.A. was the order of the day with vigorous raids and interrogations. As a result, relations between individual I.R.A. men and the Irish Special Branch became understandably strained, and the I.R.A., in its shattered and disorganised condition, came to regard the Special Branch as a greater enemy than the British Crown." During this time many IRA men who were captured by the Gardaí were interned for the duration of the war by the Irish Army in the Curragh Camp, County Kildare.

After leaving school in the 1930s Charlie Kerins joined the IRA, by the start of World War II Kerins held a senior position in the organisation and in July 1940 was appointed deputy chief of staff of the IRA. In May 1942 Kerins was assigned to the IRAs General Headquarters staff.

On the morning of 9 September 1942, Garda Detective Sergeant Denis O'Brien was leaving his home in Ballyboden, Dublin. He was between his front gate and his car when he was cut down with Thompson submachine guns. D.S. O'Brien, an Anti-Treaty veteran of the Irish Civil War, had enlisted in the Garda Síochána in 1933. He was one of the most effective Detectives of the Special Branch Division (Special Detective Unit, also known as the Broy Harriers), which had its headquarters at Dublin Castle.

According to historian Tim Pat Coogan, "The shooting greatly increased public feeling against the I.R.A., particularly as the murder was carried out in full view of his wife. As she held her dying husband, she watched his assailants cycling past."

Following the arrest of Hugh McAteer in October 1942, Kerins was named Chief of Staff of the IRA. Despite a massive manhunt by Gardaí, Kerins remained at large for just under two years.