Dolan Russian tour raised Communist questions

Irish intelligence services kept reports of Joe Dolan’s tour of Russia in a classified file marked Communist Activities, newly released papers reveal.

The Mullingar-born singer, who died last Christmas, was the focus of many rumours about his private life but an apparent linking to an underground plot to overthrow global capitalism is probably the most colourful.

G2, the shadowy intelligence branch of the Defence Forces, took an interest in the showband star’s movements when he became the first western pop singer to play in Moscow at the height of the Cold War in 1978.

In one of its secret files are several newspaper cut-outs with photographs of the singer’s time in the former USSR, where he played 23 concerts over 23 nights in Moscow, Leningrad and Kishinev, the capital of Moldova.

In one of the articles, Dolan tells an interviewer how the Soviet audiences knew all his hits, and even “went wild about the Westmeath Bachelor”.

The documents were only declassified earlier this month by the Defence Forces’ Director of Intelligence so as they could be released into the National Archives under the 30-year rule.

There is no other supporting evidence in the top-secret file of any alleged communist activities by the well-loved crooner, best known for hits like 'Make Me An Island' and 'You’re Such A Good Looking Woman'.

In fact, the remainder of the dossier paints an unlikely picture of potential recruits to a subversive Red Army dedicated to a classless, stateless new world order.

Among the cut-outs is a report about a visit by members of the National Association for the Mentally Handicapped of Ireland to special needs centres in Moscow and Leningrad.

There are also newspaper articles about then Irish European Commissioner Richard Burke’s planned trip to Moscow for talks on shipping.

A report on a Trinity College Dublin-organised art lovers tour to the USSR and an advertisement for an architectural trip to the Soviet Union are included.

In one hand-written note in the confidential file, an intelligence officer records that another Dublin-based travel agent is promoting a tour of Cuba that year.