Liam Tobin - Irish Free State

Irish Free State

Following the Anglo-Irish Treaty, he was appointed Deputy Director of Intelligence in the new State and assigned to the Criminal Investigation Department based at Oriel House. However Collins would soon replace him with Joseph McGrath. Tobin was placed on the Army Council and was Director of Intelligence from September 1922 until his appointment as Senior Aide-de-Camp to the new Governor General, Tim Healy in November 1922. The position provided an apartment in Viceregal Lodge.

In October 1922, Tobin's brother Nicholas, a Free State captain, was accidentally shot dead by his own troops during the raid and capture a bomb making factory in Gerdiner Street, Dublin.

Tobin believed in the stepping stone doctrine which saw the Treaty as a stage towards full independence. With the outbreak of the Irish Civil War he remained loyal to Collins and took the Pro-Treaty side. He led in the fight against the Anti-Treaty IRA in the south. Disillusioned with the continuing hostilities and in the aftermath of the death of General Collins he formed an association called the IRA Organisation (IRAO) or "Old Irish Republican Army" to distinguish themselves from the anti-treaty insurgents.