Original version

BBC World Service Australasia

The Documentary

Documentaries

Factual

The Documentary Podcast

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service News Internet

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service East Asia

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

The Documentary: The River Man

The River Man 

19/02/2022 GMT

The River Man

BBC World Service - The Documentary, The River Man

Why did the IRA execute Irish former policeman James Kane 100 years ago?

Why did the IRA execute Irish former policeman James Kane 100 years ago and what were the consequences for his family and his executioners?

Why was an Irishman executed by other Irish men a century ago? The Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed 100 years ago, brought an end to the Irish War of Independence and ending centuries of British colonial control. Ireland became the first nation to break away from the British Empire.

During the war members of the IRA were pitted against the Royal Irish Constabulary, the British Army and the notorious Black and Tans and Auxiliaries. It's a story of divided loyalties and the unresolved traumas of war, with resonance today as Britain and Ireland struggle to address the legacy of the more recent violence of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
	
In an investigation into the fate of one man, James Kane, the River Man, executed by the IRA a century ago, Fergal Keane explores some of these issues. Why did they kill him and what were the consequences for his family and his executioners?

Producer: John Murphy

​(Photo: The River Feale, Listowel, County Kerry, Ireland. James Kane was a fisheries inspector, patrolling the Feale)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

The Documentary

The River Man

Genres

Brand

BBC World Service Australasia

About BBC World Service