RTE journalist recounts his family's Tipperary links to War of Independence and the RIC

The Tipperary connections of RTÉ’s Europe Editor Tony Connelly, will feature in an RTE documentary on those who took part on the British side in Ireland's struggle for independence and its aftermath.

Tony Connelly: A Hidden History, will air on Monday, June 12, 9.35pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player. 

Produced as part of RTÉ’s Decade of Centenaries collection, this documentary tackles the difficult and contentious subject of the Royal Irish Constabulary - the British police force in Ireland until its disbandment in 1922. 

Taking a break from his usual role reporting on breaking news of the war in Ukraine or Brexit, Tony sets out to discover more about his paternal grandfather, Michael Connelly, who served as a constable in the Royal Irish Constabulary during the War of Independence and who died before he was born. 

Initially armed with only a few faded photographs and a handful of family stories, Tony knows only the bare bones of his grandfather’s life.

He is all-too aware that the RIC - and the men who served in it - are still regarded with anger and suspicion by some. They were seen as spies for the British, siding with the enemy, and the opponents of those who would rid us of an occupying nation.

Over 500 RIC men lost their lives at the hands of Republican forces, and many feel little sympathy for them, even today.  

Piecing together his grandfather’s life from records, journals newspaper articles and other historical documents, Tony enlists the help of a group of experts, archivists, historians and – in one memorable encounter – the son of a man who was an active member of the IRA’s Third Tipperary Brigade.

This man not only writes in incredible detail about his dealings with Tony’s grandfather, but also cedes that he possibly owed his life to him. 

From Castlegregory, the quiet village on the north coast of the Dingle Peninsula, where Michael’s early policework included such cases as “a man fined sixpence for allowing his two donkeys to wander on the public road”, Tony follows his grandfather’s trail to Carrick-on-Suir.

Michael was transferred there in 1915 after he married, placing him in one of the more militant Republican counties just before the Rising. 

As the political climate around him darkens, the film follows events leading up to and throughout the War of Independence, as seen through the eyes of this young Irishman, husband, and by now, father of three.

Boycotted, under attack in his barracks, seeing his colleagues murdered and narrowly avoiding his own assassination in front of his four-year-old-son, few would argue that this was what Michael had signed up for.  

He survived, but the cessation of the war, disbandment of the RIC and partition of Ireland would bring yet more twists and turmoil.

Left with few options, Michael Connelly took the fateful step of joining the fledgling RUC, crossing the newly-established border to forge a new life with his growing family - one that was fraught with the tensions of making his way as a Catholic policeman from rural Galway in the strongly loyalist heartlands of county Antrim. 

This documentary is a highly personal undertaking for Tony and shows a side of him that viewers will not have seen before: his own family history is the subject, set against the backdrop of one of the more difficult chapters in Ireland’s revolutionary history.

Tony’s natural curiosity, journalistic rigour and charm allows him to broach this thorny topic.