Kenmare incident
The Kenmare Incident, as it came to be known, was an attack in 1923 by senior Irish Army officers on two young women in their own home in Kenmare, County Kerry, Ireland. Two investigations were undertaken, one by the Garda Síochána and one by a Dublin Military Court of Inquiry. Both recommended court proceedings. After the intervention of the Minister for Defence, Richard Mulcahy and the President of the Executive Council (prime minister) W. T. Cosgrave, neither was acted upon. Initial events The Judge Advocate General Cahir Davitt was called in June 1923 to see a very irritated Adjutant General Gearóid O'Sullivan. He was handed a file, with O'Sullivan saying, "This is the worst yet." It contained details of an attack by Dublin Guard officers on young women. In the file, it was alleged that three Dublin Guard officers went to the home of Dr. Randall McCarthy in Kenmare, County Kerry. They pulled his two daughters from their beds into the garden, used their Sam Browne belts to beat them and doused their hair with dirty motor oil or cart grease. The act was, apparently, a reprisal. Civic guards investigated and found the officers to be from Kerry Command, based at Ballymullen Barracks, Tralee. One of the accused officers was the GOC of Kerry Command, Paddy O'Daly (also known as Paddy Daly), a former member of Michael Collins's Squad. A revolver found in the garden was declared as his. O'Daly later blamed the victims and said they had consorted with British Army officers before the Truce, which was by then two years gone, and that one had 'jilted' an Irish Army officer. When asked his opinion on the file, Davitt said it called for disciplinary action. O'Sullivan baulked at that by saying that he did not believe the report and cited O'Daly's war record. In discussion, Davitt said if they did not act then the Guards might prosecute, Dr McCarthy's daughters might sue, and if it was made public that the officers were not disciplined, it could be a catastrophe for the army. In any case, they were duty-bound: the execution of the Civil War itself was predicated on such a principle. O'Sullivan could not square the investigation's details with his personal view of O'Daly and raised the possibility of the Guards' bias, given recent tension between the departments of Justice and Defence. Davitt proposed a Military Court of Inquiry provided the result was acted upon if it supported the Guards' findings. Military court An inquiry, presided over by John Hearne, was instigated. A prima facie case against the three was established. O'Sullivan agreed that a General Court-Martial was now required and proceeded, with Davitt, to select carefully seven officers for the task who were believed to be unbiased either way. Commander-in-Chief and Minister for Defence Richard Mulcahy asked Davitt if the case was clear cut, which Davitt confirmed. Mulcahy mirrored the initial stated opinion of O'Sullivan by referring to O'Daly's army and national record. Davitt repeated the arguments he