Hardy 's enlistment into the British intelligence services came at a time when membership of the organisation was low and a recruitment drive had been initiated by its leadership for the purposes of action in Ireland during the Irish War of Independence . While several of the most careless and high-profile members of the so-called " Cairo Gang " of British Army clandestine intelligence operatives ( MO4x ) were assassinated by Collins ' Twelve Apostles on Bloody Sunday , Hardy had left for England two months previously , after his own disastrous attempt at espionage , and there seems to be no correspondence to link Hardy with other members of the group . He was , nonetheless , profiled closely by Béaslaí , to whom he was known as " Z499 " , on Collins ' behalf ; these sets of profiles are kept in the section housing Béaslaí 's papers in the National Library of Ireland
Bloody Sunday
Bloody Sunday (1920)
F. Digby Hardy