Extracts from the annual report for 1938 to 1939 on Irish relations with Spain from Leopold H. Kerney to Joseph P. Walshe (Dublin)
(S.S. 19/7)

[matter omitted]

PROTECTION

Steps were taken by me for the protection of a number of Irish nationals in Spain.

The case of Frank RYAN, a prisoner of war in General Franco's hands, in whose fate the Irish Government and Irish public bodies took a keen interest, engaged the constant attention of the Legation throughout the year; appeals for clemency met with no response and did not prevent a death sentence being passed; Captain Meade, a Spaniard of Irish decent, assured me more than once that my efforts had undoubtedly prevented the carrying out of the sentence, and this may possibly be the case. With the help of the International Red Cross Committee, it was found possible to arrange for Ryan to receive remittances and clothes and to exchange correspondence with his family, but there have been long periods of silence leading to occasional disquieting rumours. Every effort was made, but without success, to secure the exchange of Ryan for some prisoner in the hands of the Spanish Republican forces; these efforts ceased when the Republican Government abandoned Barcelona and when the Spanish Nationalist authorities informed me that Ryan was not a prisoner of war but a criminal guilty of the worst possible crimes. However, Frank Ryan still lives and persistent efforts are being made to secure his release.

Efforts to secure the liberation of Andrew O'TOOLE¹, a minor who did not return to Ireland with General O'Duffy's battalion but remained behind as a volunteer in the Spanish Foreign Legion, were finally successful, and orders were given on 7th July 1938 for his liberation with a view to repatriation; I was subsequently advised that the boy deserted on 17th July; from an unofficial but trustworthy source I ascertained that he was arrested as a deserter, and from the same source I learn that he is still alive; efforts to obtain official confirmation have not yet met with success, but it is expected that they will do so shortly.

Efforts were made to obtain confirmation of the reported death of a minor (Thomas WOOD)², a volunteer on the Republican side, for whose repatriation steps had previously been taken, but the Republican Government left my written enquiries unanswered, and no definite information was obtainable.

Steps were taken with a view to the repatriation of a certain Miss CRONIN³, whom the Spanish police authorities had dumped across the French frontier and who was imprisoned by the French police; this person, however, had no genuine desire to be repatriated and, whilst under police supervision, outwitted the authorities and swam back to Spain; the Spanish police, who had previously expelled her as a person of undesirable moral character, allowed her to go free; she secured employment in an English family in Bilbao; she holds no Irish passport, and presumably no British one.

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