Liam Tobin - The Intelligence War

The Intelligence War

Early in 1919, Tobin had become Collins' chief executive in the Intelligence Directorate handling the many spies in Dublin Castle including double agent David Neligan. Mabel McConnell worked for Under-Secretary for Ireland, James Macmahon decoding messages sent from London. Each day between 2:30 and 3:30 she would pass any information acquired to either Tobin, Joe McGrath, or Desmond Fitzgerald.

Tobin was involved in planning the assassinations of British soldiers, informants, members of the Royal Irish Constabulary, the Dublin Metropolitan Police, and operatives of MI5. He constructed detailed profiles of everyone remotely connected to the British Government, often using Who's Who, The Morning Post, and The Times - a newspaper that described him as "one of the most formidable of Twelve Apostles".

Collins' intelligence operations were based at 3 Crow Street, Dublin, where Tobin had the assistance of Tom Cullen and Frank Thornton.

In October 1921, Tobin travelled with the Irish Treaty Delegation as part of Collins' personal staff.