Battle for Justice: how one man cleared his name after 70 years
A NEWS feature in The Irish Timesin January 1999 triggered what subsequently became a major breakthrough in the late Supt William Geary's 70-year battle for justice.
Supt Geary, who had been dismissed from An Garda Síochána in June 1928 for allegedly accepting a bribe of £100 from the IRA, finally got to see his Garda file on the case. Having left Ireland and having moved to New York, he had been seeking the file since his dismissal.
He was exonerated in April that year, and died aged 105 in New York in 2004. A book on his long journey, On My Honour, by retired member of the force Brendan Colvert, was published at Garda headquarters yesterday.
Supt Geary had been stationed at Kilrush Garda station, Co Clare, in 1928 where he was proving effective in thwarting the activities of the anti-Treaty IRA in the area.
So effective was he that the IRA was determined to get rid of him and sent a coded letter, which it knew would be intercepted, saying it had paid him £100 for information.
He was dismissed from the Garda in June that year without any trial or opportunity to respond to the charges.
He had over the years written to successive ministers for justice seeking the file on his dismissal but was told variously that it had gone missing or had been pulped.
His godson, a young lawyer at the time named John Collins, now a judge of the supreme court in New York, started to help him in 1965.
His efforts eventually led to correspondence between Geary and a number of Garda historians here, including former editor of The Irish TimesConor Brady. He assigned journalist Margaret E Ward to investigate.
Her news feature on the case, published in January 1999 was followed three days later by a letter to Mr Collins from the Department of Justice proposing to make the Geary file available.
“When he finally got that file it was tremendously emotional for him,” said Mr Collins yesterday. “He cried that day.”
In April 1999 an editorial in The Irish Times, called for government action on Geary's situation, particularly given his age. On April 21st a letter from then minister for justice John O'Donoghue to Geary told him the government intended to exonerate him unreservedly, to make an ex gratia payment of £50,000 and to restore his pension rights.
In his statement of thanks at the time, published in the book, he wrote: “Despite what happened to me there I still have a deep affection for the people of west Clare, where I spent two happy years in Kilrush.”
His daughter, Anne Geary-Wallace, who was there yesterday, described the event as “bitter sweet” particularly given the venue.
“He was so, so proud of having been a garda. He was so focused on clearing his name. It was always there, though it never made him bitter or mean. He just longed for the peace of being believed. It would have been wonderful if could have been here for this.”
* On My Honourby Brendan Colvert is published by Mercier Press.
