On 11 September 1975, Noel and Marie Murray participated in a bank raid in Dublin. Garda Michael Reynolds from Galway was shot dead as he gave chase to the robbers.
The Murrays were arrested and charged with involvement in the robbery. They were sentenced to death, though their sentences were later commuted to lengthy prison terms. Their case attracted significant attention and controversy, particularly regarding the use of the death penalty in Ireland.
Both Noel and Marie were released in 1992, having served 17 years.
An Irish Oak Tree and capsule was planted at the site where Garda Reynolds fell in Saint Annes Park on the 50th anniversary.
Eddie Walsh knew Marie Murray. Here, he shares his recollections of her fifty years after the robbery.
I joined Sinn Fein in Dublin at Easter 1968 as I was hugely impressed by the content of the monthly United Irishman and its editor, Seamus O Tuathill. I was living in Rathmines at the time so was directed to the Pearse Cumann which met in Roy Johnston’s house every Wednesday evening. We were all like-minded people and we all welcomed the new policies being put forward by the leadership. This was not the case in areas like Crumlin where the likes of Tony Ruane and Don Concannon held sway and still pursued a ‘Get The Brits Out Strategy’. Likewise, many cumanns on the North side of Dublin thought any mention of Socialism was abhorrent.
Soon after I joined, the cumann secretary left and I was elected to the role which I took to with relish especially as it meant I took control of the cumann typewriter as I liked writing letters to newspapers about all sorts of topics. One of the secretary’s duties was to sign up potential new members and I was tasked with going to meet a new applicant who lived in Rathmines. She seemed ok and was young and eager so I told her when and where our next meeting was on.
So Marie Ni Philip turned up on time at our next meet. She could be withdrawn at times but her contributions made sense and she slotted in easily. She was from Monaghan and working in Dublin as a civil servant. Unlike other country girls who moved to Dublin, Marie was not one for going to dances. She later moved to Crumlin and I guess she did not get on with the cumann there so she drifted away from Official Republicanism as did her husband to be Noel, who lived near Celbridge and drove a moped.
I moved to London in October 1971 so lost touch with everybody. I was back in Dublin in 1975 and 1976 and had a job collecting drycleaning from Imco and Prescott shops. I was aware of the Raheny bank robbery but had no idea who was responsible for it. Once when I was collecting from a shop in Ballyfermot a couple of Branchmen were showing pics to the staff there. The staff member said out loud maybe Eddie might know them. A branchman quipped “Eddie would not know anybody like that.” I had no idea what pics they had and did not engage.
Shortly after that I was collecting from one of the two shopping parades in Raheny when a former member pulled up in his van next to mine and said, “What did you think of Bonnie and Clyde?” I immediately knew he meant the Murrays. The bank was in one of the parades I collected from but it would have been about 10 a.m. when I attended and the robbery was a few hours later.
Apparently they took money so they would have been able to afford to hole up for a while but they had the tenacious Tony Hickey on their trail. And they were silly to remain in Dublin. Unlike nowadays, there was few letting agents in Dublin in 1975 and it was just a sideline for estate agents. Therefore, there would have not been many places for Hickey to check on. And so it came to pass.
I visited Marie in Mountjoy when I came over on holidays from England and she had served about ten years by then.
It was my first time to visit a prisoner so I did not know what to expect. It was very informal and I cannot recall being quizzed by the staff. I was shown into the visiting room and it soon filled up with female prisoners. And then Marie bounced in as I was sat at the end seat with just a long table between us. I got up to give her a hug. I asked her how she felt and she said she was angry about everything that had happened. I asked what they were going to do when released and she said they were going to set up a sports equipment mail order business.
I got the impression that Marie was angry because the robbery went wrong and they had no plans made to get out of Dublin. If they had used unloaded firearms, they would have probably just served a few years.
I asked what the other prisoners were in for and she said they were Limerick women who had killed their abusive partners. I said to her that I was not going to ask who her accomplices were and she just laughed and said there has been a lot of speculation about that. Incidentally, the other two who were pulled in by the guards were former Officials but I have no idea as to their involvement, if any. I also knew Garda Reynolds by sight. He was working on the roof of the Royal Hotel in O’Connell Street while awaiting the call to Templemore. And I also saw him at the Olympic Ballroom when the Garda Boat Club held Sunday night dances there.
The Murrays are now living off the beaten track in South Kerry and do not open the door to strangers or the media.
Back in the day, I was vaguely aware that there was a reward of £20,000 for information on the participants. That would have bought a modest house in Dublin at the time. Would I have been tempted to claim it if I had known where they were? They had all escaped on foot and so could have been anywhere in the city or beyond, or even fled to the North. Yet the Murrays were hiding in plain sight about a mile away.
Tony Hickey rose up the ranks to become Assistant Garda Commissioner.
He hailed from mid-Kerry and, typical of a workaholic, he hopped
He went into private investigation when he retired in 2005, after 40 years service.
I had one encounter with him in 1966 when there were disturbances around O’Connell Street during the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising. He had pulled hapless Leo Staunton of Cabra into a doorway and was giving him a rough time.
When I spoke up for Leo, Tony Hickey verbally abused me. Maybe he thought I was mimicking his accent but sure I had grown up only a few miles from him.