Police Career
In 1933, Éamon de Valera, the new President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State, issued a call for IRA veterans to join the Gardaí. Many pro-Treaty veterans of the Civil War had lost their jobs in the Irish police and military after de Valera won took power. De Valera hoped to fill their places with men who shared his views on the Anglo-Irish Treaty. Many Anti-Treaty veterans who answered his call regarded this as an opportunity to continue fighting their Civil War foes.
O'Brien joined An Garda Síochána on 9 August 1933, and subsequently entered the Detective Branch section headed by Eamon Broy and known as the "Broy Harriers". Promoted to Detective Sergeant on 15 October 1937, O'Brien remained in the Gardaí when de Valera introduced a more anti-monarchist constitution in 1937 and abolished the Oath of Allegiance to the British Monarchy.
Read more about this topic: Dennis O'Brien (policeman)
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