1923 AD
"Irish Civil War Ends.""
1923 AD January: The Irish Free State Government, were to join the League of Nations until 1932.
34
members of the "Anti - Treaty Irregular - IRA"
had been "executed" up to this month
in the
Irish Free State to try and stop their ongoing
violent random
attacks.
James Larkin the Labour leader, was released by the Governor Al Smith in America from jail, and he founded the "Workers Union of Ireland" and tried to revive the "Irish Socialist Party."
Richard
Mulcahy,
was to be the Minister for Defence
in the Irish Free State up until
1924.
February:
In the Irish Free State,
Liam Lynch
the "Anti - Treaty Irregular - IRA" Chief of Staff, extended
"reprisals" to other
persons beside those previously nominated, and
Eammon de Valera
indicated
he "understood" why he was forced to adopt such drastic measures and personally stated
that, " If the Irregular IRA Republicans,
who had lost their lives, had lost them for nothing of
National value,
it would be awful."
March 10th: The "Irregular - IRA" met on the run in the Nier Valley in Co. Waterford in the south - east of the Munster Province, were Eamonn de Valera voted to "end" the confrontation with the Irish Free State Government, but Liam Lynch the "IRA - Irregulars" Chief of Staff would still not agree, and Eamonn de Valera put forward his Document No 2 again to them, as the answer to their problem with the "Anglo - Irish Treaty" and this only "upset "the Irish Republicans, especially Liam Lynch, so Eammon de Valera gave him a few home truths about the actual "army position," and also told him that it was a "political" question and had nothing to do with him, so Mary Mac Swiney verbally attacked Eammon de Valera on his Document No 2, which from her point of view, basically "sold out" Ireland as a Republic,
Kevin O Higgins
for the Irish Free State Government, was moved to comment
that, "This is not going to be
a draw, with a replay in Autumn," and
William Thomas Cosgrave
the President of the Irish
Free State stated,
"Eammon de Valera
wants a
dignified "withdrawal," and we are not going to help him achieve it."
March 23rd:
In the Irish Free State, the "Anti - Treaty Irregular
- IRA Executive"
held a meeting in
Bleantasour
in Co. Waterford
in the south - east of the Munster Province, were
Eammon de Valera
was made
to "wait" until they let him attend
the session, while they
now also had to continually be on the "move," as
the Irish Free State
forces "harassed" whatever area they were in.
March 27th:
The "Anti - Treaty Irregular
- IRA,"
were still endeavouring to hold their "meetings" wherever they could, and a
"motion" calling for
cessation of the conflict was put forward,
"As further armed resistance against the
Irish Free State Government
will not further the ideal of total Independence,"
and it was
"narrowly" defeated at this time by only
6 votes to 5.
Monsignor Luzio, was sent as a Papal Delegate by the Pope, to inspect the actual conditions still existing in Ireland, and he tried to discuss the matter of bringing about peace in Ireland with Eammon de Valera.
April 9th:
In the Irish Free State, after the Papal
delegate's visit,
Eammon de Valera
put it to
the other "Anti - Treaty" members,
J.P. Rutledge
and
Austin Stack that the
Irish "Civil War" in
Ireland
must be brought to an end.
April 10th:
In the
Irish Free
State, the members of the
"Irregular -
IR.A."
met again at
Mullinahone in
Co. Tipperary
in the north - east of the Munster Province,
were
Liam Lynch their Chief of
Staff was "killed" on
the way to the meeting, and
Austin Stack was
"captured,"
which caused the "Irregular - IRA"
members to meet again in
Dublin, where they then decided to
"call off" the
Irish "Civil War"
and
Frank Aiken then took over command of the
"Irregular - IRA," and
Eammon de Valera wrote to him to bring it to an
"end," as they had to
face the "inevitable" sooner or later.
April 20th: The "Anti - Treaty Irregular - IRA Executive" met at Poulacappal again, were Frank Aiken, who was now in charge, was convinced that it was time for "peace," and Eammon de Valera obtained an agreement from them to make peace, subject to certain conditions.
Monsignor
Luzio the
Papal Legate, had previously
left
Ireland
feeling that he had gained
"nothing," and was also on the outer with the
Irish Free State
Government
for
being involved with
Eammon de Valera
in the
first place who had since contacted
Senator
Douglas and
Senator
Jameson, to discuss with
William Thomas Cosgrave
the
President of the Irish Free State,
for
peace arrangements, subject to "certain"
conditions.
April 30th:
Frank Aiken
who had previously been the
T.D.
for
Co. Louth
in the north - east of
Northern Leinster,
and who was now the
"Irregular - IRA" Chief of Staff,
ordered the
"ending" of the "Anti - Treaty"
campaign, and the "Anti - Treaty"
forces and the
"Irregular - IRA"
leaders then went into "hiding"
from the Irish Free State
Government.
May 2nd: 2 of the "Irregular - IRA" prisoners were "executed" at Ennis in Co. Clare in the north - west of the Munster Province, which bought the number of "Irregular - IRA" executions up to 82 over the previous 6 months under William Thomas Cosgrave who was now the Taoiseach / leader / Priom Aire of the Irish Free State who informed Senator Douglas and Senator Jameson that he had "ruled out" all of the conditions that had been set down by Eammon de Valera and the "Irregular - IRA," to bring about peace in the Irish Free State.
May 13th - 14th:
In the Irish Free State,
the "unofficial" Emergency Republican
Government, previously also set up by
Eammon de Valera
and the
"Anti - Treaty Irregular - IRA Council,"
met
at Santry,
were it was decided
that Frank Aiken their Chief of Staff
was to
order a public "cease fire" anyway, and all of their
"arms" were to be "dumped."
May 24th:
The Irish
"Civil War" now came
"officially" to an end under the leadership of
William T. Cosgrave as the
Taoiseach / leader
of the
Irish Free State
Government, when a "ceasefire"
was declared with
13,000 "IRA
- Irregulars" still in jail, but in the meantime the
Ascendancy "Official" Unionists
had used the
Irish "Civil War" period, to further
"consolidate"
their own position in the 6 Counties "artificially partitioned" from the
9 Counties in the
Ulster Province.
Some of the "Anti - Treaty Irregular - IRA" officers, now wanted to destroy all of their arms, but Eammon de Valera advised them to "hide" their weapons and wait for a more favourable "opportunity" to continue on with the struggle and to still not recognize the 3rd Dail Eireann / Irish Assembly / Irish Parliament, who he considered was not the legitimate Irish Republican Government and he then replied to his detractors, whom he informed that he was guided by his "own" intelligence and "conscience," as there was no "military" solution, and they were attacking him without any "knowledge" of the real situation. He now decided to get out of this awkward situation, with some chance of not "destroying" altogether whatever hope remained for his "personal agenda," so he wrote to Monsignor Luzio to have the Pope "intervene" for a General Amnesty for all the "Irregular - IRA" members, and remove any of their "excommunications." Eammon de Valera, then tried to reorganize the "political" Sinn Fein Party instead, whose members were all to join with Frank Aiken as Irish Republicans, as there were still 2,000 on the run, and thousands more in "prison," and he further put forward the proposition that " they" should "not be allowed to "emigrate" from Ireland," without permission.
July: The "Anti - Treaty Irregular - IRA," under their organizers Frank Aiken, Patrick Mac Logan, David Fitz Gerald and James Killeen, met at the Elliot Hotel in Dublin, to draw up new rules and a Constitution, and they all agreed to not associate anymore with the "Irregular - IRA," and Noel Lemass was to be "arrested," and his "body" was to be found in the Dublin Mountains three months later.
William T. Cosgrave
the Taoiseach of the
Irish Free State Government, called an "election" and
Eammon de Valera stated
from his "hiding place," that he would stand as the
"political"
Sinn Fein Party representative for his old seat in
Co. Clare
in the north - west of the Munster
Province, where he was still in favour with his
followers there and
Desmond Fitz Gerald
the
Minister for External Affairs
in the Irish Free State Government
said. "Eammon de Valera and
every other enemy of the Country will have to go on the
"run."
August 12th:
Eammon de Valera,
set out with
Sean Hyde
to go to
Co. Clare in
the north - west of the Munster Province,
to stand as the "political" Sinn Fein Party representative, where
Captain
Fallon and the
Irish Free State
Government
forces would be
waiting for him to turn up.
August 15th:
Eammon de Valera,
was able to make it onto the platform in
Ennis in Co. Clare,
near the
Daniel O Connell
monument, where he
was "arrested" at the
"political"
Sinn Fein
Party rally by the
Irish
Free State
forces, and taken to
"Arbour Hill Barracks," and
"imprisoned" for nearly a year
without being tried, as William T. Cosgrave believed
that that this might bring about
further "bloodshed."
August:
In the
General
Elections
for the
Irish Free State, 44
of the representatives
from the "political" Sinn Fein
Party were
"elected"
altogether, with
30 %
of these not taking up their seats, because of the
"Oath of
Allegiance" to the
British Crown,
with Eamonn de Valera receiving
17,762
votes
to
Eoin Mac Neill's
8,196, who was
standing for the "political"
Cuman na Gaedhal
Party reorganized
under
William T. Cosgrave,
who all up
won 63
seats and
Eamonn de Valera and
Brian
O Higgins
another
"political"
Sinn Fein
Party
candidate, together with
C. Hogan
representing the
Farmers,
and
P. Hogan
from the
Labour
Party,
were all elected for
Co. Clare while
Tomas Derrig, was elected the
T.D. for
Co. Carlow
in the south of Southern Leinster
until
1954,
and for
Co. Kilkenny in the south -
west of Leinster up until
1973.
October:
Eammon de Valera
was transferred to
"Kilmainham
Prison" near
Dublin.
William T.
Cosgrave, the newly re - elected Taoiseach
of the Irish Free State,
agreed to continue to pay the "Land Annuities" to the
British Government
Treasury
for money raised from the
Irish
"farmers" to buy back their own
Irish land from
1891
AD to 1909 AD
amounting to
5,000,000 pounds
a year.
Sean Mac Bride, was "imprisoned" until 1924, and would eventually found "Amnesty International. "
William Butler Yeats won the "Nobel Prize" for Literature this year.
November: Small parts of Co. Armagh and Co. Fermanagh were to be "seceded" to the Irish Free State / 26 Counties and a part of Co. Donegal to the 6 Counties "artificially partitioned" from the 9 Counties in the Ulster Province by the British Boundary Commission, and the Irish Free State representative, Eoin Mac Neill "resigned" in protest. Sir James Craig the Ascendancy "Official" Unionist leader, now met with William T. Cosgrave the Taoiseach of the Irish Free State (26 Counties), in London, and they agreed to maintain the "status quo," and the "artificial" Boundary Commission Report was not released. Sir James Craig and his group from the 6 Counties also met with Kevin O Higgins and his group from the 26 Counties, and a tripartite agreement retained the "artificial border," between the 2 "divided" territories detailed in the British Government's Government of Ireland Act 1920, and they "never" met again.
The Irish Free State's Congested Districts Board / Land Commission was set up to "purchase" and "re - distribute" 450,000 acres of Ireland, back to 24,000 Families in Ireland, and eventually they were to be able to return 2,000,000 acres of Irish land back to the Irish population.
In the
6 Counties,
"artificially partitioned"
from the 9 Counties in the Ulster Province,
under the
Ascendancy "Official" Unionist Government,
"unemployment" was running at
18%,
and a further
232 people were
"killed" there, during the time of the
"Civil War," and over
1,000
were
"injured," with
2/3
of these
being Catholic
Irish, although they
now only made up
1/3
of the
population there.