Siobhán Lankford, an intelligence officer for the IRA, was told “He’s growing grass” by a comrade when she enquired about a supposed bank thief who had vanished post joining the Black and Tans following his homecoming from his imposed IRA exile during the War of Independence. This brutal response echoed the truth of hundreds of untold abductions, murders, and clandestine burials that happened amidst the intermittent political violence of two centuries leading to the 1998 Belfast/Good Friday Agreement. The victims, infrequently women like Jean McConville, a Belfast mother to 10 children, were usually men, primarily targeted by War of Independence IRA and its successors.
Seventeen out of this book’s 18 chapters delve into the forced abductions that occurred on this island throughout the last century. Fifteen chapters discuss the period from the 1916 Rising to the Troubles, making it, according to the author, the “first record of all those who are known to have vanished as a consequence of political strife in 20th-century Ireland”.
Forced disappearances during the War of Independence, where the IRA allegedly assassinated close to 200 civilians due to suspected spying or informing, greatly surpass those during the 30-year conflict in Northern Ireland. Detailed accounts on the assassinations of crown forces, ex-soldiers, policemen, loyalists, and assumed informers from 1919 to 1922 are revealed in this book. Over 100 casualties were covertly buried locally. It’s suggested that one such burial site may be on the land owned by a future long-lasting member of the Fianna Fáil party, a former RIC officer.
Several victims’ bodies remain undiscovered till this day. The author, a native of Clare, describes his involvement in the search, recovery, and reinternment of a long-missing body. Furthermore, he condemns subsequent Irish administrations for not undertaking efforts to find other remains.
The United Irishmen executed and covertly buried presumed informers before the 1798 rebellion, yet there were no forced abductions in the 19th century. This book is a valuable contribution to the published records of the War of Independence and the Troubles, adding approximately 250 pages of vivid accounts of disappeared soldiers and civilians.