Sinn Féin Bank
The Sinn Féin Bank, formally the Sinn Féin Co-operative People's Bank, Ltd. was a co-operative bank in Ireland associated with the Sinn Féin movement, which operated from August 1908 to October 1921. The Sinn Féin Bank is sometimes confused with the National Land Bank, established as a friendly society in 1919 with Dáil backing and premises at 5 Harcourt Street.
Foundation
The bank was established in 1908 to "carry out the business of banker and bill discounter, and of Dealer in Stocks, Shares, Bonds, Debentures and other Securities to assist in the development of Irish industries". Its founding council comprised George W. Russell, Arthur Griffith, and P. T. Daly. In 1910 it purchased headquarters at 6 Harcourt Street for £575, leasing the upper floors to the Sinn Féin party, from where the Sinn Féin newspaper was edited. A contemporary wrote, "we do not envy the man who has the job of persuading that the new Sinn Fein bank is a secure nest for his savings as the Bank of Ireland".War of Independence
When the First Dáil proclaimed an Irish Republic in 1919, it opened a "Trustees of Dáil Éireann" account at the Sinn Féin Bank for a "Self Determination Fund" of donations from supporters. The Department of Finance of the Dáil ministry under Michael Collins was also in 6 Harcourt Street in 1919. Kathleen Kearney met her husband Stephen Behan while working at the Sinn Féin Bank. Several times in 1919 and 1920, during the Irish War of Independence, the Dublin Metropolitan Police raided and ordered the closure of 6 Harcourt Street. The bank's bookkeeping was deliberately complex, with proxy names for accounts held by republican leaders. In 1923 it was claimed that the authorities "were unable to make head or tail out of" the books it had confiscated.On 29 November 1919, the martial law authorities ordered the bank to close, and on 2 January 1920, the DMP went to enforce this order. Based on cheques recovered in a DMP raid on 6 Harcourt Street on 27 February 1920, the Attorney-General for Ireland on 2 March 1920 ordered Hibernian Bank and Munster and Leinster Bank to give evidence at a private inquiry into their relations with the Sinn Féin Bank. The inquiry was led by Alan Bell, a resident magistrate, as part of his broader, mostly secret, search for Dáil funds. The banks' officials were reluctant to co-operate. On 26 March 1920, Bell was taken from a tram and shot by Collins' IRA "Squad". The bank secured through the courts the return of £8000 confiscated in the raid.
On 29 November 1920, the bank's office was damaged when the authorities took up the floorboards and blew open a secret underground safe. On 14 March 1921, the bank's manager, David Kelly, brother of Sinn Féin TD Thomas Kelly, was killed by crossfire on Great Brunswick Street. In the Second Dáil on 18 August 1921, Séamus Dwyer claimed "All the monies invested were in jeopardy".