The second controversy surrounds the Dunmanway killings , in which thirteen Protestant men and boys were shot dead between 27 – 29 April 1922 during the truce . Hart wrote , " these men were shot because they were Protestant " . Others point to evidence suggesting that , while the IRA action was unauthorised , the men were targeted due to allegations they were informers , not because of their religion . Again , criticism centered on Hart 's use of evidence . In his review of '' The IRA and its Enemies '' ( The Month , September – October 1998 ) Brian Murphy noted Hart 's citation of a British intelligence assessment in the Record of the Rebellion in Ireland that " in the south the Protestants and those who supported the Government rarely gave much information because , except by chance , they had not got it to give . " Murphy pointed out that Hart had omitted the following sentence : As the April killings took place in " the Bandon area " , Brian Murphy queried apparent suppression of evidence contradicting Hart 's conclusion . This has been echoed in further discussion
Dunmanway killings
Dunmanway killings
Peter Hart (historian)