Political Considerations in Ireland at the time of the Sallins case

The Sallins Train Robbery and subsequent arrest of Osgur Breatnach in 1970s Ireland occurred at atime of extreme political upheaval.


The Troubles were rampant in Northern Ireland. The government was calling for harsher measures

to be introduced in order to counter the levels of violence and terrorism occurring both North and

South of the border. Operation Demetrius saw the introduction of internment measures in Northern

Ireland. The use of internment as a tactic to quell the violence in the North was an extreme measure,

which greatly abused the rights of the accused. Internment is a significant violation of the fair trial

rights of the accused and the Irish Council for Civil Liberties has drawn attention to the Irish Special

Criminal Court, which has been denying these same fair trial rights for over half a century. The

Offences Against the State Act which gives power to this court is in dire need of being abolished.


The politics of Ireland and the corruption involved in those elected representatives in the 1970s

mirrors a time when law and order in Ireland was at one of its all-time lows. The Arms Crisis in

Ireland revealed allegations of cabinet ministers Charles Haughey and Neil Blaney being involved in a

conspiracy to smuggle arms to the IRA in the North. 


As there has been no inquiry into the sustained allegations of Osgur Breatnach and others that the Sallins Case was motivated solely by political considerations this has to be considered.


Across the water, cases mirror that of Osgur Breatnach’s with forced confessions and torture being utilised in the case of Paddy Armstrong and the Guildford Four.


The 1970’s Ireland was clearly not a place where the protection of Irish citizens was at the forefront

to any political agenda. The Birmingham Six and the Maguire Seven were another two groups of men and women who were falsely convicted of being involved in crimes which they did not commit. The Irish government at the time did little to nothing to intervene and to protect the rights of these men accused despite protest of the innocence of all accused.


The case of Osgur Breatnach was not an isolated incident in 1970’s Ireland. Unfortunately, the

political climate at the time led to severe abuses of power and high levels of corruption in attempts

to cover-up and deny these abuses.


In the same year of the Sallins case, the Emergency Powers Act came into force. The Act, allowing seven-day detention, was initated on 16 September 1976 and set to be in force for 12 months. One of the largest implications of this Act was the powers granted to members of An Garda Síochána under Section 2. This section granted the power to “without warrant stop, search, question and arrest any person”. The introduction of this act was allegedly motivated by the troubles in the North and “for the purposes of securing the public safety and preservation of the state in time of an armed conflict”.


However, this act placed a significant limitation on the rights of suspects and of the civilian population of Ireland in general. The broad scope of the application of this act also allowed members of An Garda Síochána a significant margin of error when arresting individuals. This was the political climate of the time in which Osgur Breatnach was arrested and remanded in custody. It is clear to see that while these were unusual times in the political history of Ireland and where severe human rights abuses occurred as a result, that they might/ could happen again in the absence of any independent inquiry into the events.

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