Dessie O'Hare - Kidnapping and Second Imprisonment

Kidnapping and Second Imprisonment

Such was the disarray of the INLA after this internecine feuding that O'Hare broke away from the remaining INLA leadership in Belfast and set up his own group, the 'Irish Revolutionary Brigade', which operated in the border region out of Castleblayney. It was described as having 'a handful' of members.

In 1987 O'Hare and three other INLA members kidnapped John O'Grady, a dentist from Dublin, and demanded a IR£1.5m ransom. The gang had intended to seize Austin Darragh, owner of the Institute of Clinical Pharmacology, but Darragh had moved three years previously from the house, which was occupied by O'Grady, his son-in-law. He was initially held in a Dublin basement before being moved to Cork, where he was held in a cargo container. Gardai happened on the site, but O'Hare and his gang escaped after opening fire and getting away in a hijacked car. The car was later found burnt out in Dundalk, but O'Hare had moved his captive to a house in Cabra, north Dublin.

After ransom demands were not met O'Hare cut off the little finger from each of O'Grady's hands with a hammer and chisel and sent them to Carlow Cathedral. In a telephone call to the Gardaí O'Hare stated:

Garda Detectives traced the gang to the Cabra house and a shootout ensued. A Garda detective was seriously wounded and O'Grady was rescued but O'Hare and his gang escaped. O'Hare became the most wanted man in Ireland with the Gardaí offering a IR£100,000 reward for information on his whereabouts. He surfaced in Dunleer, county Louth, where he is alleged to have fired shots into a takeaway during an altercation with his wife. Two of the gang were arrested near Cahir, county Tipperary. Three weeks later on 27 November O'Hare was arrested after his car drove through an Irish Defence Forces check point in Urlingford, County Kilkenny. O'Hare was shot eight times during the arrest which was effected after a fire-fight, while the driver of the car, Martin Bryan, died. An Irish Army soldier was also wounded.

At his trial at the Special Criminal Court, O'Hare was convicted of false imprisonment, wounding with intent and possession of firearms, and received a 40 year sentence. He was sent to the maximum security Portlaoise Prison, where he was isolated by former IRA and INLA associates who accused him of bringing republicanism into disrepute.

In December 1987, the INLA's political wing issued a statement disassociating themselves from the kidnapping and stating that O'Hare, 'is not a member of the INLA'.

In the early 1990s he undertook a vow of silence and did not speak for six years, and also staged a dirty protest. He re-joined the INLA wing of the prison after the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. By 2001 he had become commander of the INLA inmates held there.