Last week there was a report in the Belfast Telegraph about a new book that made the preposterous claim that Eamon de Valera was a British agent.
The book, titled 'England's Greatest Spy: Eamon de Valera', suggests that Dev was terrified of being executed after the Easter Rising and was "turned" in exchange for his life. For some years afterwards he was under British control.
Turi claims that the roots of Dev’s treachery lies in his treatment as a child. He claims Dev was rejected by everyone in his early life - his mother, his uncle in Ireland, who treated him coldly, even the Church, which rejected his ambitions for the priesthood because of his probable illegitimacy.
Turi is scathing about Dev's erratic behaviour during the Easter Rising, when he was in charge of the men at Boland's Mill - "De Valera the cowardly, incompetent, mentally unstable officer who deserted his troops was (later) repackaged as de Valera the lonely hero fighting valiantly against overwhelming odds."
Turi notes that Dev was the only one a very few leaders of the Rising not to be tried executed. He dismisses theories that Dev was spared because he was born in America or because the British realised that further executions would be a mistake; as others were executed later.
The only reasonable explanation, he claims, is that Dev was "turned", citing his activities in the US after he was released from prison as evidence. He also claims that the British used him to engineer the murder of Michael Collins and he calls Irish neutrality during the World War II "a hoax on the Irish people and a major boon for English interests"
RUBBISH! Although there is very little that can change the contempt I have for De Valera (his cold, dead hand held back Ireland for decades), the idea that he was a British agent is rather ridiculous.. well not ridiculous, but utterly preposterous... but more on that later. That said I do fancy getting a copy of this book if only to see how ridiculous his views are
4 comments:
That's a very interesting line of speculation.
I agree. Although the position seems to be a reach, I may read the book just to see how he landed upon it.
I just can't see it, though. Then again, I'm American, granddaughter of an Irish immigrant, so I have a whole different take on all those tumultuous years.
It's pretty unlikely, given his later actions
I have just read through some postings between Turi and some Irish historian types. As an Englishman (both parents Irish)I have an active interest in Irish history but no particular axe to grind regarding De Valera. I found the ongoing response of those Turi and the historians quite interesting. Turi was attacked for providing no substantive proof of his accusations, yet they were unwilling or unable to counter them with such proofs either.
Turi alleges that DV was never court martialled by the British. He also states that DV was not the last rebel leader to surrender. Neither of these points were challenged. That surprised me as I would have thought these allegations easy to rebuff.
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