The story of how the Irish State came into being 100 years ago this week

It is often assumed that the Irish Free State came into being with the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty on December 6th, 1921, but it only operated in provisional form for a year after that. The coming into being of the Irish State was provisional on four things happening, none of which were a given, and the British army remained in Ireland until the end of 1922 as a guarantor of the peace treaty.

It was a sober Dáil Éireann which met on December 6th, 1922. Members took the oath of allegiance to the king, the chief cause of the Civil War, WT Cosgrave was elected as the President of the Executive Council and Michael Hayes as the first speaker . Thirty members of the Seanad were appointed including the poet WB Yeats. As the anti-Treaty IRA boycotted the Dáil, the main opposition was provided by the Labour Party and its leader Tom Johnson.

The shooting was in revenge for the Public Safety Emergency Powers Bill, often erroneously called an Act, which was passed in September allowing for the execution of those who took up arms against the State. The ultimate punishment was necessary, Richard Mulcahy, the minister for defence, declared in the Dáil on November 17th, 1922, because “anything that will shock the country into realisation of what a grave thing it is to take human life is justified at the moment”.

Nevertheless the Free State government was determined to make an example of them. On the morning of December 8th, 1922, the four men were shot in the execution yard at Mountjoy Jail. Though many of the 77 executions carried out by the Free State were of dubious legality, there was not even the pretence of legality about these killings. Among those who approved the executions was the minister for justice Kevin O’Higgins. O’Connor had been his best man at his wedding just the year before.

And its a shame what we've done to it since. Serious gang crime through the roof, Rapes and assaults through the roof, homelessness through the roof. Debt burden through the roof, only place for our children is abroad.

McGreevy also examines why there's “no bank holiday, no bunting, no indoor gatherings and no celebrations of any description”. (2/5)

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