1922 AD - 5 / July
July 1st: The newly elected 3rd Dail Eireann / 3rd Irish Assembly of the proposed Irish Free State in the 26 Counties met after forming themselves into a political Party to be known as Cumann na nGaedheal (The People of the Gael) until 1928, and Timothy Healy was elected as the 1st Governor - General of the Irish Free State. Eoin O Duffy became their Chief of Staff and the 1st Commander of the Garda Siochana / Irish police. Richard Mulcahy who the Irregular I.R.A. had been totally against, was to remain the T.D. for Dublin constituencies until 1943 and the Minister of Defence.
July 5th:
With the conflict in
Dublin against the anti -
Treaty IRA Irregulars, under
the command of
Rory O Connor nearly over, the
Irish Civil War
then
flared up in the south and in the
west of Ireland, when
Liam Lynch now also called on
all of the anti - Treaty IRA Irregulars to rally to
the cause. He had previously headed south - west to his home base in
Co. Limerick in the mid - north -
west of the Munster Province where his
allegiances lay, but eventually due to the flagging fortunes of the Irregular
I.R.A. he would be forced to call a
truce.
Michael
Collins,
the previous Chairman of the Irish Provisional
Government, had now relinquished his political life in the
3rd Dail Eireann to
concentrate on building up the
Irish National Army / I.N.A.
as the
Commander - In - Chief,
and he had
finally run out
of patience with the IRA
Irregulars and he ordered them out of the town.
As a further sign of the pro - Treaty general
acceptance, the
Irish National Army / I.N.A.
was to grow in
strength from
8,000 men
to
55,000 by the end of the
Irish Civil War.
July 6th:
By now
60 Irishmen were
dead and
300
were
wounded in the continuing running battles to clear out the
Four Courts beside the River Liffey in
Dublin, and also in the surrounding buildings,
including
Cathal Brugha,
who was among them in the
Gresham Hotel / Hamman Building. Despite the fact that he was taken by the
arm twice, and asked to quietly surrender, he
continued to fire at a machine gun emplacement, until he was finally shot and died from his wounds
2
days
later.
Michael
Collins
commented when he was told of his death,
"That he was among the few who have given their all for
Ireland and because of his sincerity, he
would forgive him anything."
Eamonn de Valera
and his anti - Treaty followers, who had also joined in with the
Irregular IRA
there,
were to now hide out from the
Irish
Government forces
for another
12 months, as
the Irish
Civil War
dragged on.
Michael Collins
was now the
Commander
in Chief of the new
Irish National Army at
Portobello, which he was only to
hold onto for the following
6 weeks
until his death, as the
IRA Irregulars
were still active in the south, the west, the north, and also still in
Dublin.
They had introduced
guerrilla tactics amongst the population, with
total disregard for their safety, and the
Civil War was to continue on there for the next
3
months. (Meanwhile, the
British Imperial Military
forces were still
stationed in Ireland and were
to continue to remain in Ireland until the end of
December.)
July 8th:
The
Irish
Government's
National Army in a shoot out at
Blessington
in
Co. Dublin,
captured another
100 of the IRA Irregulars
and
Eamonn de Valera
then left
Dublin personally, and headed south
also to the
G.H.Q. of the
Irregular IRA at
Clonmel in Co.
Tipperary in the north - east of the Munster
Province, where he was appointed an
Adjutant to
Sean Moylan
the
Irregular I.R.A.'s Director of Operation.
(He
was to find that the IRA
Irregulars there were very
reluctant to fight their former comrades).
July 11th: Wexford City
in Co. Wexford in the south - east of
Southern Leinster was finally
regained by the
Irish National Army, and by now
Liam Lynch
who was in command of the Irregular I.R.A.
in
Co. Limerick, in the mid - north - west of
the Munster Province, was now trying to
negotiate a way out, and was staying with his
Southern Division
IRA Irregulars.
July 16th:
Dundalk
in Co. Louth in the north - east of
Northern Leinster was also regained from the anti -
Treaty
IRA Irregulars as
300
of them
were captured there by the
Irish National Army.
July 20th:
Waterford City in Co.
Waterford in the south - east of the Munster
Province was now also recaptured from
the IRA Irregulars there
by the
Irish National Army.
July 21st:
Limerick City
in Co. Limerick
in the mid - north - west
of the Munster Province,
which had been still
under the control of
Liam Lynch and
July 26th: Dundalk
was once again taken over by the
IRA Irregulars,
but later on it was to be recaptured once again by the
Irish National
Army.
July 28th:
Michael Collins
had sent some of the Irish National
Army around by sea to
Co. Cork
in Southern Munster, so he wrote to his old
friend
Harry Boland
who was anti - Treaty and a confidant of Eamonn de Valera to give him the chance now to give
it all up, as there was no hope as the
Irish National Army
was now subduing the
IRA Irregulars there both in
Co. Kerry
and
Co. Cork
in the south of
Munster.