An Cosantóir

www.military.ie THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE | 27 The following instructions are issued for your guidance, to assist you in the proper performance of your duties: • Search of Vessels: All ships' cargoes, crews, and passengers are to be examined with a view to preventing the illegal importation of arms. • All prohibited imports, unless covered by a proper permit of importation, are to be detained. • When searching vessels, exercise the utmost vigilance. No goods—whether baggage or effects— are to be removed without prior examination. • When examining baggage, behave with politeness to passengers, and show due care in handling their effects. • Masters, officers, and members of the crew are to be treated with due civility. • All ship cargo must be thoroughly and carefully examined, with particular attention paid to suspicious-looking articles. • Any member of the Department found accepting bribes, or prerequisites of any description, will be liable to court martial and instant dismissal. Cost of the Service Among the Service documents preserved in the archives is one which shows clearly how the Administration of the day viewed the cost of the Marine Investigation Department (MID): "That the administration of the MID is exceedingly expensive to the State may be garnered from the figures for four weeks of the Establishment, which do not include Pension and Special Services." The figures for a four-week period were as follows: • Area 1: £1,215-4-3 • Area 2: £722-2-2 • Area 3: £533-12-4 • Area 4: £287-2-8 Total Cost: £2,758 Administration A further complaint is contained in the contents of a folio document, stating: "That the administration of the MID is exceedingly lax may be gathered from the following: • No definite instructions exist, or have ever existed, at Dun Laoghaire regarding: • Duties to be carried out by the MID • Arrest, detention, or seizure procedures • Methods of search • No Report Book is, or has been, kept indicating the description of passengers, incidents, arrests, or general movements. • No written instructions have ever been issued in respect of courtesy or notice of search." Utility The Department's own final conclusion on the Marine Investigation Department reads: "That the MID is a perfectly useless Department, constituting an expensive luxury of the State and calling for immediate disbandment, which may be deduced from the following: • Its duties, as outlined in the official letter already quoted, are already provided for and should be carried out by the Customs officials. • The latter should search not only all passenger luggage but all ship cargoes and quarters. • The only difference between Customs officers and the MID is that the latter have, and the former have not, the authority to conduct a personal search without a Magistrate's Order." Figures from the MID support this contention: • Week ending 3 November 1923: No seizures outside the Port of Dublin. The four seizures made in that port were items that should not have been dealt with by the MID. Three were arms ordinarily carried by ships' officers; the fourth was a consignment of cartridges - a legitimate commercial transaction. • Week ending 27 October 1923: Only two seizures outside Dublin - one in Dun Laoghaire, one in Limerick. At Dun Laoghaire, nine MID officials drew a wages bill of £40–11–0 for the period 30 September - 3 November 1923. During that time there were only six seizures, all previously declared to the Customs officials. Final Decision The last document reviewed contained the following comment by the Chief of the General Staff to the Department of the General Staff, Park Gate Street, on 15 November 1923: "The service rendered to the State is not, in my opinion, commensurate with its heavy expenditure. I desire for your careful consideration the question of abolishing this Service entirely, and having the duties performed by this Unit devolve upon the Customs authorities." The MID was officially disbanded on 1 December 1923, with the following statement published in An tÓglach, 15 December 1923: "The Service known as the Marine Investigation Department will be disbanded on the 1st December 1923, and the General Officer Commanding Coastal and Marine Service will arrange for the demobilisation of Officers and men of the Department." From that day, the MID passed quietly into Irish military history, to be but forgotten. References • The Irish Navy - A Story of Courage and Tenacity, Tom McGinty, The Kerryman Ltd, 1995. • Chapter 8: When Michael Collins Saw the Need for a Navy • Chapter 9: The Assault on Cork • An Cosantóir, Vol. X X XIII, No. 4, April 1973: Thank God We're Surrounded by Water, p. 103, Capt. T. McKenna. • Marine Investigation Department Folio, Military Archives, Cathal Brugha Barracks, Dublin. Soldiers aim off with their Lewis automatic machine guns during the Naval Landings on Cork Troop movements during the National Army's Offensive in August 1922

• Cover