BLUESHIRTS:A 25-YEAR-OLD follower of Gen Eoin O'Duffy in Co Cavan reported that the IRA robbed his blue shirt at gunpoint and burnt it in what a Garda statement described as an "outrage".
Three IRA suspects were questioned about the incident in 1934, according to Department of Justice State papers, but their alibis “cannot be contradicted”.
Patrick Fitzpatrick, a watchmaker from Keeney, Redhills, Co Cavan, told gardaí he was woken at 4am on May 29th, 1934, by a man’s voice outside his home calling him to go out. When he refused, a man shouted “you have a blue shirt in the house and I want it”.
They pushed against the door but did not gain entry. The man called again for the shirt and Fitzpatrick “then handed it out through the room window”, according to a Garda report of the incident.
The man who took the shirt “had a mask on his face and according to Fitzpatrick, had a revolver in his hand. The raiders then left and burned the shirt on the street outside Fitzpatrick’s house.”
Another Garda statement said “most of the people in the locality are political opponents of Fitzpatrick and it is very difficult to obtain any information”.
One of the IRA suspects, from Corcashel, had been “concerned in an armed attack on gardaí in 1923”. He told gardaí he was fishing at Ballyhaise that evening and did not return until midnight and “his mother became suddenly ill soon after that and he did not leave the house that night. The statement was verified beyond doubt and on the day following, his mother was on the point of death.”
James Neill, Drumliff said “he was working on his farm during the day and did not leave his house that night. This was verified by members of his family.”
The statement of Thomas Martin, Drumbane “was on similar lines and cannot be contradicted”.
The report added: “Fitzpatrick has not been interfered with since and the locality is in a very peaceful condition”.
