text: In recent weeks, a new plaque was unveiled on Pearse Street Garda Station, remembering a night of espionage a century ago this very month.
  Working away from their base in the Great Brunswick Street station of the Dublin Metropolitan Police (today Pearse Street Garda Station), the job of the ‘G Men’ was to infiltrate and incapacitate radical political organisations in Dublin. Their ‘Movement of Extremist’ files today make for compelling reading, showing that republicans, socialists, suffrage campaigners and others deemed politically subversive were closely monitored as they went about their political and personal lives.
  The eyes and ears of British intelligence on the streets of the Irish capital, the G Division had been in place since March 1843. The body were detested by advanced nationalists, with the newspaper Nationality writing in July 1915:
  Most people know what a ‘G Man’ means. He is a person, nearly always of Irish origin, who volunteers to look after Irish Nationalists. He is a secret policeman, though in most cases his secret is an obvious one, owing to the size of his general appearance. The members of the ‘G’ Department are countless. They shadow Nationalists, and report the names of those who associate with Nationalists. They follow men and inquire at the houses which they have visited. They travel on railways and report conversations.
  And yet, the system could be crippled. Changing political sympathies of men working within state intelligence, as well as interpersonal relationships (impossible to avoid in such a small society) meant that ‘G’ Men and others working in state intelligence could become double agents. There was also a ruthlessness in the Republican movement post 1916, and a determination to strike at intelligence operatives, that transformed the ‘G Men’ from a cocky body of men who had the confidence to literally walk through nationalist gatherings and commemorations in the pre-1916 world, into a body which feared for their lives every time they stepped into the street. Michael Collins, head of the IRA’s Intelligence campaign, understood this perfectly, maintaining that “Our only way to carry on the fight was by organised and bold guerilla warfare. But this in itself was not enough. England could always reinforce her army. To paralyse the British machine it was necessary to strike at individuals outside the ranks of the military.” Soldiers could be replaced easily. When an Intelligence officer was removed from the picture, it was more difficult for a man to fill those boots.
  Crucially important to the efforts of Collins was Ned Broy. Attached to the DMP ‘G’ Division, Broy’s political sympathies rested firmly instead with the political radicals the body was spying on. Broy’s statement to the Bureau of Military History post-independence details his families involvement in nationalist politics in Kildare and the strong feeling locally:
  …deep down in the people’s hearts burned strongly a bitter hatred of English rule with its soldiers, police, informers, landlords and followers, who composed ‘England’s Faithful Garrison’. We of the Rising generation hated the very name of England, her shires, towns and rivers, and that hatred was intense before we had yet read a line of Irish history.
  In January 1911, Broy joined the DMP Depot. He maintained that by comparison to the Royal Irish Constabulary, there were nationalists working within the Dublin policing force:
  In the Depot we all fearlessly and openly discussed the national question and it was the first place I heard the song ‘The Men of the West’. The majority of us expressed strong national views but there was, to our surprise, a small minority whose views were diametrically opposed to national aspirations. However, we felt that in the event of police opposition to Home Rule, as was forecast, we have no small say in enforcing the national will no matter who would be against us.
  That someone of such political sympathies could become the confidential clerk of G Division is remarkable. In this capacity, he allowed Michael Collins and Seán Nunan into the premises. Nunan, like Collins, had been actively involved in Irish republican separatist circles in London, and had partaken in the Easter Rising. He would serve as Secretary to Éamon de Valera, President of the First Dáil, and was someone Collins had great faith in. In the early hours of the morning on 7 April 1919, Broy allowed these men into the police station to pursue the files of ‘G’ Division:
  The same key opened the political office and opened the secret small room, built into the wall, which contained the records. I gave Michael Collins and Seán Nunan the candles and, getting them to close the door fairly tightly, I left them to carry on their investigation.
  Nunan recounted later that “Collins and I stayed…listing the names and activities of the detectives on political work, until about 4am, when we walked home – Collins to Mountjoy and I to Botanic Road.”
  Mere days passed before IRA men on the streets were accosting ‘G’ Men, warning them against zeal in carrying out their duties. Just as the ‘G’ Men gathered files on Irish republicans, Collins and his team would built a counter-intelligence network that did likewise.C.S Andrews would go as far as to maintain that “for the first time in the history of separatism we Irish had a better intelligence service than the British. This was Michael Collins’ great achievement”.
  In late July 1919, Detective Sergeant Smith, known as ‘The Dog Smith’, was gunned down on the orders of Michael Collins. Sergeant Daniel Hoey would be killed outside ‘G’ Division Headquarters at Great Brunswick Street in September. Broy would remain deeply important to the Collins intelligence operation, often leaving documents for him with the librarian at the Capel Street Library on Dublin’s northside. When detected, he would be imprisoned, and released after the Truce. His policing days were far from over, with Broy later serving as Commissioner of the Gardaí. The intelligence body formed on his watch, becoming known popularly as the ‘Broy Harriers’, would continue to monitor the ‘Movement of Extremists’ in a new Ireland.
  Ireland in the 1960s and 1970s was a very homogeneous and white society but there were a handful of groundbreaking bands that included both black and white musicians. This a work in progress.
  In late 1963, black American singer Earl Jordan joined the Waterford showband group The Derek Joys. Jordan, who was born in Elmore, Alabama, had served with the U.S. Army before moving to England where he lived for five years.
  Jordan left the The Derek Joys after about a year to join the newly formed Caroline Showband in December 1964. The band toured for two years together before Jordan made an exit. In the early 1970s, he sang on the Green Bullfrog album, joined the German group Les Humphries Singers and released two solo singles. Jordan returned to Dublin for a series of gigs in the 1978-79 on the back of two further solo singles.
  The Black Eagles, who formed in 1964, were made up of a group of teenagers from Crumlin who played soul, r&b and pop covers at local youth clubs. There are no audio recordings but a silent home video of the band from 1965 has made it online.
  Vocalist Phil Lynott (1949-1986) was born in England, went to primary school in Manchester and moved Dublin to live with his maternal grandparents in Leighlin Road, Crumlin at the age of about eight. Phil’s father Cecil Parris, was from Georgetown, British Guiana in the Caribbean. The other members of the band were Alan Sinclair (lead guitar), Frankie Smyth (rhythm guitar), Danny Smith (bass) and Brian Downey (drums).
  Gene and the Gents formed in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh in early 1964. The band was made up of four local musicians (including guitarist Henry McCullough) who had all previously played in the Skyrockets. They signed up, as lead vocalist, TCD Law student Gene Chetty who had been born Durban, South Africa of Indian background. The band played together until 1969. Gene went onto form a group called The Flames and later played with The Lions. He returned to Ireland in 2006 to play a number of reunion gigs. A BBC radio interview can be heard here.
  The Philosophers were a successful mid 1960s beat-group in Galway who added a brass section and played the showband circuit from the late 1960s onwards. Dave Cazabon, son of Trinidad parents who moved to Galway in the 1950s, joined the band as bass player in 1973. His brother Mike, who used the stage name Samba, became lead vocalist around 1974. The band released a number of singles as Samba and the Philosophers. When Mike left the band, his brother Gerry (d. 1996) took over as lead vocalist. A fourth brother Richard (d. 2010) played in a Galway Thin Lizzy cover band called White Ivy/Nightrider in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
  Following Van Morrison’s departure from Them, band members Tim Armstrong, Kenny McDowell and Buddy Clark re-united in 1969 in Chicago as Truth. They drafted in local drummer Renaldo Smith (known as Reno Smith or Rene Smith) who had previously played with Baby Huey & the Babysitters. The band played together in Ireland for a couple of years before calling it a day. Reno Smith returned to Dublin in 1973 to join the band Chips who he played with for about a year. This article claims that he later played with with funk group Mother’s Finest, various house bands at Chicago blues and soul clubs including the Kingston Mines, and then relocated to Tucson, Arizona where he continued to play blues and R&B.
  In circa 1970, Dave Murphy joined a “progressive soul combo” from North Dublin called The Purple Pussycat, who based their sound on the US band Blood, Sweat & Tears. He sang and also played trombone. It was suggested that he was the “city’s second best-known black Irish musician after Phil Lynnott”. He later focused on singer-songwriting and ran a weekly folk music night in The Bailey, McDaid’s, The International and Banker’s throughout the 1990s and 2000s.
  The Chicken Fisher Band was formed in 1978 by Martin ‘Chicken’ Fischer, born in London of Swiss parents, guitarist Dave Prim (d. 2018) from Kilkenny and drummer John Forbes of London-Jamaican heritage. In 1979, John Forbes joined soul funk rockers Stagalee who had started life in Tralee, County Kerry three years previously. Stagalee’s 1979 line-up featured Colin Tully (sax/keyboards), Honor Heffernan (vocals), Errol Walsh (guitar/vocals), James Delaney (keyboards) and Tommy Moore (bass/vocals). A contemporary newspaper article stated that John Forbes had recorded two albums with a German group called Black Symphony but I can’t find anymore information online.
  Zebra, Ireland’s first reggae band, was formed in Dublin in early 1979 by Steve Rekab (guitarist), Bernard Rangel (percussion), Leo Mallon (drums), Brian Narty (bass), Norman Morrow (keyboards) and Pete Deane (vocals). This line up recorded the single Repression which was released on Terri Hooley’s ‘Good Vibrations’ label in July 1979. It featured Marion Woods and Niamh McGovern on backing vocals, was produced by music journalist Ross Fitzsimons and engineered by Johnny Byrne (d. 1997).
  The band recorded their song Silent Partners for the compilation ‘Just for Kicks‘ which was released in December 1979. It features the band’s new drummer Mark Thyme who had replaced Leo Mallon (d. 1985). This song was re-released on All City records compilation album ‘Buntús Rince‘ in April 2019.
  Bernard Rangel was born in Aden, South Yemen of Indian parents from Goa. He went to secondary school in Blackrock College and studied Economics, History and Psychology in Trinity College Dublin. Steve Rekab was born in Sierra Leone on the southwest coast of West Africa. Brian Nartey’s family background was Jamaican.