WICKLOW COUNTY
WICKLOW COUNT Y – Brendan Flynn
The War of Independence in Wicklow: The war against the police
RIC Barracks, Avoca, c. 1900 Photo: By kind permission of National Library of Ireland.
RIC authority Many discussions about the War of Independence overlook the fact that the British Army was technically never fully engaged. At the time, the army in Ireland was legally restricted from taking offensive military action against the IRA because King George V had, in October 1914, officially sanctioned Ireland becoming an independent Commonwealth country. This situation could only be changed by the introduction of martial law. Between 1919 and 1922, the role of the army in Ireland (outside of counties were martial law had been introduced) was to act as aid to the civil power, meaning that when the police were carrying out actions that placed them in danger of armed attack, the army accompanied them to give them military protection. On these occasions, 177
