The Judas kiss

The “informer” and the political and organisational culture of the Irish republican movement: old and new interpretations

“…6 Smyth has put forward a more nuanced position, and is sceptical regarding any supposed 'national genius for deceit'; still, he recognises that betrayal is 'deeply embedded within Irish history -the punctuation and the grammar of the Irish historical narrative.' 7 Dudai concurs with the idea of the informer as a 'folk devil', and 'one of the last "unforgiven" categories of conflict protagonists', with many informers still ostracised and living in exile, sometimes provided with new identities. 8 Dudai makes the important point that in the post-conflict era in Northern Ireland, the role and function of 'informers' during the conflict remains unamenable to interpretation within the prevailing 'human rights' or 'transitional justice' discourses.…”

“…Nonetheless, both O'Flaherty (and his character 'Dan Gallagher') should be understood as revolutionaries, and not just rebels. Despite this, The Informer has been 'read' primarily as a novel of Irish republicanism; one reason for this is that 'treachery was woven into the warp and woof of the revolutionary imagination', and this applied to republicans as much as to communists 75. In the opening of the novel, the character of 'Gypo Nolan' informs the police of the whereabouts of his long-time comrade and erstwhile leader of the 'Revolutionary organisation', 'Frankie McPhillip', who is subsequently killed during a shootout with a squad who had come to arrest him.…”