service that they have given’.143
Despite such pronouncements Lynch was in no mood to compromise. He decided to seize the initiative and firmly clampdown on the last remaining outward critic of his Northern Ireland policy within the cabinet. Later that night, at 10pm, in the aftermath of the parliamentary party meeting, Lynch announced that he had asked the Irish president to accept the resignation of Kevin Boland. Angered and aggrieved, Boland resigned the following day, 7 May 1970. In protest, Paudge Brennan resigned as parliamentary secretary to the minister for Local Government.144 While for the time being Haughey remained quiet, Boland was furious and made his feelings known in public. In an interview with the Irish Independent he accused Lynch’s government of employing ‘Gestapo tactics, of tapping politicians’ phone calls and acting like a dictatorship.’145
Lynch’s ability to retain ‘unanimous’ support from his parliamentary party (in the public dominion at least) was, in the words of the Irish Times correspondent Dick Walsh, ‘probably the most remarkable example of an Irish party’s instinct for self-preservation overcoming its internal divisions, an example of pragmatism without parallel in the history of constitutional nationalism in Ireland’.146 A plausible explanation for the muted response of Fianna Fáil TDs to Lynch’s actions was provided by party deputy for Clare, Sylvester Barrett. Patrick Hillery noted that in the aftermath of the parliamentary party meeting of 6 May he asked Barrett: ‘Will we have great trouble with the Party for firing them?’ Barrett replied that ‘the more he fired the better’, referring to the ever present ambitions for promotion among many members of Fianna Fáil.147
As Lynch desperately sought to secure agreement among Fianna Fáil deputies within the parliamentary party for his decision to sack his unruly ministers and more generally regarding his Northern Ireland policy, the taoiseach also had to face questions regarding the unfolding debacle surrounding the ‘Arms Crisis’ in Dáil Éireann. Over two days, 7 and 8 May, the Dáil convened to debate the recent events. Lynch attempted to explain to the Dáil the sequence of events that had eventually led to the ministerial sackings. Opposition deputies were astonished. They listened as the taoiseach outlined how members of the Irish cabinet had purportedly conducted covert operations to help arm Northern nationalists. At all times, Lynch maintained, the Irish government had acted appropriately and responsibly.148
Haughey did not attend the two-day debate as he was still recuperating from his accident. Blaney, however, was in attendance. During the second day of debate, 8 May, he told his fellow TDs that he had played no part, in any shape or form, with attempts to import weapons. ‘I have run no guns, I have procured no guns, I have paid for no guns,’ he definitely declared. With Lynch clearly in his sights, Blaney continued: ‘I have provided no money to buy guns and anybody who says otherwise is not telling the truth.’149 Blaney concluded his contribution by stating for the record that there was ‘no question whatever, or no doubt whatever, as to the allegiance of myself and Deputy Charlie Haughey’ to the Fianna Fáil party.150 By this stage, in a sign of utter contempt for Lynch, both Blaney and Haughey were refusing to surrender their seals of office. Their resignation was eventually forced through when Éamon de Valera, in his capacity as president of Ireland and acting under the Irish Constitution, intervened.
The following day, 9 May, the Irish Times published a statement issued on behalf of Haughey (who was still in hospital) through his solicitor:
The Taoiseach informed the Dáil that he requested my resignation on the grounds that he was convinced that not even a slightest suspicion should attach to any member of the Government. I fully subscribe to that view, as I have been able to gather the Taoiseach received information of a nature which in his opinion cast some suspicion on me. I have not had the opportunity to examine or test such information or the quality of its source or sources. In the meantime however I now categorically state that at no time have I taken part in any illegal importation or attempted importation of arms into this country. At present I do not propose to say anything further except that I fully accepted the Taoiseach’s decision as I believe the unity of the Fianna Fáil party is of greater importance to the welfare of the nation than to my political career.151
The above statement is the only recorded comment attributed to Haughey during this period prior to the Arms Trials. Unlike Blaney,152 Haughey refrained from publicly speaking about his involvement with the attempts to import arms either in the media or Dáil Éireann. In this statement Haughey said that he was willing to sacrifice his own political future – a future that many had predicted would witness him become taoiseach – in order for him to save his beloved Fianna Fáil from self-implosion. In reality, his comments were a master-class in political spin. In a desperate attempt to salvage his political career and a classical example of political deceitfulness, he denied any knowledge of attempts to illegally import arms into Ireland. Yet, despite Haughey’s attempts at self-deception, the available evidence provides compelling evidence that he played an integral role in attempts to import arms into Ireland, first by sea and then by air.
In the immediate aftermath of the series of ministerial sackings, Frank Aiken privately criticised Lynch for failing to expel Blaney, Haughey and Boland from the Fianna Fáil Party. In a handwritten letter to Lynch, Aiken wrote that the ‘crisis of confidence in Fianna Fáil will not just fade away’. ‘Ireland and the Irish people,’ Aiken lamented, ‘must go down in confusion before long’, unless immediate action was taken against Blaney, Haughey and their co-anti-partitionist collaborators. ‘I would appeal to you for the sake of the people of the North and for the sake of the Irish people as a whole,’ he concluded, ‘to summon a party meeting and take the action I suggested to you the other night in getting rid of them out of the party.’153 Aiken was particularly wary of Haughey. He greatly disliked and mistrusted his younger parliamentary colleague, whom he saw as a ‘Free-Stater’ opportunist in Fianna Fáil clothes.154
Lynch, however, refused to adhere to Aiken’s request. A few days after receiving Aiken’s letter the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party met on 13 May 1970. At the meeting no motion was tabled calling for the removal of Blaney, Haughey or Boland.155 Aiken was incensed. Shortly after the conclusion of the meeting, he again wrote to Lynch to express his ‘grave disappointment that at the party meeting this morning you did not move to withdraw the Whip from the four members, who by their actions and statements have publicly repudiated the policy of non-violence in regard to the Six Counties’.156
Recent events reached a crescendo in late May. On 27 May, the Gárda Síochána Special Branch arrested John Kelly as he left Captain Kelly’s home in Terenure. Later that afternoon Captain Kelly was also arrested. Albert Luykx was subsequently arrested following his arrival back to Dublin from a trip to Brussels. The three men were ‘charged with conspiring to import arms illegally into the State’ in contravention of section 17 of the Firearms Act (1925) as amended by section 21 of the Firearms Act (1964).157 Except for John Kelly, Captain Kelly and Luykx were given bail in advance of their trial, scheduled at the Central Criminal Court.
The following day, 28 May, Haughey and Blaney were arrested at their homes and charged with conspiracy to import arms. At approximately noon Haughey was brought to Bridewell Gárda station. After caution he replied ‘not guilty’ to the charge of conspiring to ‘import arms and ammunitions illegally into the State’. He then appeared before District Justice Mr Good in Court No 4. Although the Gárda opposed granting Haughey bail, District Justice Mr Good agreed to grant the disgraced ex-minister bail on his own bond of £500, with one independent surety of £1000. Blaney was granted bail on the same terms as Haughey.158
News of the arrests caused shockwaves within Fianna Fáil. Kevin Boland again led the protests. He accused Lynch of ‘felon-setting’ and demanded a special meeting of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party.159 Fianna Fáil elected representatives duly met on 3 June. Speaking at the meeting, Lynch noted that any attempts to import arms into Northern Ireland would only lead to ‘civil war’ throughout the island of Ireland. Boland refused to withdraw his ‘treachery’ allegations against Lynch. The taoiseach described Boland’s accusations as ‘inadequate and unacceptable’.
