1924
Please Note: 1924 and 1925 do not attempt
to give the comprehensive month by month detail that is attempted for the
previous five years. In particular, no attempt is made to chronicle the
various issues that arose when trying to construct the new state. Rather they follow two major 'left-over'
issues (i.e. the Army Mutiny of 1924 and the Boundary Commission).
|
Jan |
Minority Labour
government under Ramsey MacDonald takes office at Westminster. |
Phoenix (1994), pg 297 |
|
Jan |
Early in January,
GHQ of Free State army receives information that Old IRA intends to seize
arms and take over a number of barracks. GHQ informs commanding
officers and relocates certain troops. |
Valiulis (1985), pg 48 |
|
Jan-26 |
Mulcahy meets with
Cosgrave and McGrath re Old IRA. Mulcahy had
earlier written to Cosgrave saying that Old IRA could possibly in the near
future be “a far greater danger than the Irregular one” and criticised
McGrath for the encouragement he had given them. At the meeting,
McGrath said that the Old IRA meant no harm and Cosgrave gave some support to
the army’s demobilisation scheme. |
Valiulis (1985), pgs 49-50 |
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Feb-01&02 |
Boundary
conference takes place in London under new Colonial Secretary J H Thomas but
adjourns without agreement. |
Phoenix (1994), pg 298 |
|
Feb-11 |
In a memo to the
cabinet of the Free State government, Kevin O’Shiel
warns that they should not allow the Boundary Commission to be set up later
than May when the rural and county elections are due to be held in Northern
Ireland. He argued that this would be a catastrophe as they would take place
on a new register and for gerrymandered areas and therefore “no argument of
ours will prevail against the GREAT FACT that those districts, once in favour
of a Dublin parliament, have all gone in favour of a Belfast parliament”. |
Phoenix (1994), pgs 299-300 |
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Mar-03 |
Adjutant-General’s
office of the Free State army issues orders severely curtailing the movements
of its officers. Probably aimed at Old IRA. |
Valiulis (1985), pg 50 |
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Mar-06 |
Tobin and Dalton
present an ultimatum to the Free State government demanded that they meet
with them to discuss their interpretation of the Treaty and that the army
council be removed and that army demobilisation be suspended. They say
if the government does not meet its demands they will “take such action that
we make clear to the Irish people that we are not renegades or traitors to
the ideals that induced them to accept the Treaty. Our Organisation
fully realises the seriousness of the action we may be compelled to take”. 50
Free State officers abscond with war materials including Lewis guns, grenades
and revolvers. More
Detail |
Valiulis (1985), pg 51; Dáil Debates VI (11th Mar 1924), col.
1894-1895 |
|
Mar-07 |
Executive Council
of the Free State government orders arrest of Tobin and Dalton but, despite
searches, they elude arrest. Joe McGrath resigns as Minister of
Industry and Commerce which he announces to the Dáil
on the 11th March (but continues to fulfill
his duties until 19th March). |
Valiulis (1985), pg 52 |
|
Mar-10 |
Mulcahy releases
statement to press saying “Two Army officers have attempted to involve the
Army in a challenge to the authority of the Government. This is an
outrageous departure from the spirit of the Army. It will not be
tolerated.” He goes on to say the Army will stay firm to their
duty. However, the Executive Council is not as sure of the loyalty and
appoints Eoin O’Duffy (Chief of the Civic Guards)
to the position of General Officer Commanding of the Free State Defence
Forces. One reason for doing this is that they view the mutiny as a
faction fight between the Old IRA and the IRB. (Valiulis says that O’Duffy was a
“high ranking member of the IRB, a fact of which the government was obviously
unaware”). In the
Dail, Cosgrave described the ultimatum as “a
challenge to the democratic foundations of the State”. |
Valiulis (1985), pgs 53-55 |
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Mar-11 |
In the Dail, Cosgrave reads the letter of the 6th
March from Tobin and Dalton and describes the ultimatum as “a challenge to
the democratic foundations of the State”. Mulcahy
reports to the Dáil that officers in Roscommon, Gormanstown, Baldonnel and
Templemore had absconded with arms but that the only area that was possibly
in danger was County Cork. Chief of Staff Sean MacMahon
is sent to Cork where he prevents any armed action. A long Cumman na nGaedheal
also takes place to discuss the Old IRA position. More
Detail |
Valiulis (1985), pgs 54-58; Dáil Debates VI (11th Mar 1924), col.
1894-1900 |
|
Mar-12 |
Executive
Council meets and decides to take a lenient position towards the Old IRA
officers following a second letter from Tobin and Dalton (see below) which probably
resulted from contact between McGrath and the Old IRA leaders. They
decided that a cabinet inquiry would be set up into the administration of the
army and that those officers who had absconded with arms be given an
opportunity to restore the stolen property when arrested and then be released
on parole. Cosgrave
announces in the Dáil that a cabinet inquiry will
be set up into the administration of the army and it will consult with
McGrath. He also reads a further letter from Tobin and Dalton (dated 12th
March). More
Detail |
Dáil Debates VI (12th Mar 1924), col.
1972-1998; Valiulis (1985), pgs
59-61 |
|
Mar-13 |
Editorial in the Irish
Times states “Mutiny is mutiny, and, with all respect for Kevin
O’Higgins, …., twenty-four hours cannot change it into a merely frank
expression of military discontent”. |
Valiulis (1985), pg 63 |
|
Mar |
Government of
Northern Ireland requests a postponement of the Boundary conference until the
24th April due to the illness of Craig. |
Phoenix (1994), pg 300 |
|
Mar-14 |
Cahir Healy takes
his seat in the House of Commons. He had been released from the Argenta in February but re-arrested. He was
re-released after the intervention of the new British Prime Minister Ramsey
MacDonald but against the bitter opposition of the NI Minister for Home
Affairs Dawson Bates. |
Phoenix (1994), pg 301 |
|
Mar-16 |
One of the Old IRA
(Capt George Ashton) is arrested. McGrath
telephones O’Higgins and tells him that Ashton’s arrest will cause trouble
“unless it is seen to”. (McGrath had telephoned Cosgrave but he was ill
and unable to come to the phone.) |
Valiulis (1985), pg 130 |
|
Mar-18 |
Mulcahy sends memo to GHQ
saying that all members of the army who removed material from barracks or who
were absent from duty had until the 20th March to return the
material. Afterwards, they were to be allowed out under open
arrest. Gearoid O’Sullivan, Adjutant General, sent the detailed
orders to the officers commanding. In
particular, he said that the men were allowed out under open arrest (parole)
until the time fixed for the investigation of the charges against such
persons. More
Detail |
Valiulis (1985), pgs 66-71 |
|
Mar-18 |
GHQ receives
information that a meeting of Old IRA officers is being held in Devlin’s
Public House in Parnell St., Dublin with speculation that they planned a coup
or the kidnapping of the entire cabinet. Nine soldiers are dispatched
there and they arrive about 9.30pm. The soldiers had no authority to
raid the public house so they told the officers inside that they would be
arrested on exiting. They telephone Adjutant General Gearoid O’Sullivan
for instructions – he told them to enter the public house, preferably without
using force. Reinforcements were sent, the area was surrounded and
civilians evacuated. The government troops entered but the officers
inside had barricaded themselves upstairs and “guns were plainly discernible
in the dark”. The troops again telephoned O’Sullivan and he gave orders
to “force the place” and arrest the entire party. A number of the officers
inside (possibly including Tobin and Dalton) had escaped across
rooftops. When the government troops went upstairs (under Colonel
McNeill), there was a stand-off but 11 Old IRA officers eventually
surrendered (some were on the roof). Seven revolvers, one automatic
weapon and fifty rounds of ammunition were confiscated. At some point
during the raid, McGrath arrived and vigorously protested the army’s action
arguing that it was not authorised by the government. The officer
commanding informed him that his instructions were to arrest the entire
party. In his report, the officer commanding said that McGrath was
“under the influence of drink”. After the arrests, “Mr Joseph McGrath …
asked permission to stand the prisoners a drink – permission was not refused in
the circumstances”. O’Higgins reported to the Dáil
to the next day that the following officers were arrested: Cols. James Slattery, Chris O'Malley,
Frank. Thornton, Commdts. Pat McCrea, Joseph
Shanahan, ex-Commdt. Leahy, Commdt.
Joe Dolan, Bob Halpin, Patrick Griffin, Charles
Byrne, A.D.C. to the President; Lieut. Michael Collins. |
Valiulis (1985), pgs 71-73; Dáil Debates VI (19th Mar 1924), col. 2221 |
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Mar-19 |
The Executive
Council met and discussed the activities of the previous evening.
(Cosgrave was ill and not present.) Despite arguments from Mulcahy that the Army had acted in accordance with the Defense Forces Act, the Council decided to ask for the
resignations of the Chief-of-Staff, Adjutant General and Quarter Master
General and to advise the President of Council that Mulcahy
be removed as Minister of Defence and O’Duffy be
placed in charge of the Army. Mulcahy had
left the cabinet meeting but, on hearing the cabinet’s advice to the
President, resigned his post. Adjutant General O’Sullivan and QM General
O’Muirthuile resigned their administrative posts
and commissions and, after some time, so also did Chief of Staff MacMahon (who was in Cork at the time). O’Higgins later in the day
went to the Dáil and said that the Parnell St raid
deviated from government policy and had been carried out without the
authority of General O’Duffy who it had appointed
to handle the crisis. He also said that the army was racked by secret
societies and that it was “not unquestionably, unequivocally, without
reserve, simple the instrument of the people’s will”. He also said that
that a sense of proprietorship had developed among members of the army
council and that the “certain high Army Officers” whose resignation had been
demanded by the government were “not
the personnel to deal with a mutinous revolt.” (He also named the three
members of the cabinet inquiry into the army as Professor
Eoin Mac Neill, T.D., Minister for Education (Chairman); Mr. James Creed
Meredith, K.C. and Mr. P. McGilligan, T.D.) Mulcahy denied that the Army is not the obedient servant of
the State; says he did not consult O’Duffy as his
position had not been formalised and that the raid had been carried out in
accordance with law and the military discipline. He also said that he
had resigned because he could not “stand over condoning mutiny”. |
Valiulis (1985), pgs 74-80; Dáil Debates VI (19th Mar 1924), col.
2204-2233; |
|
Mar-20 |
O’Higgins
announces to the Dáil that Colonel Hugo MacNeil
is to be acting Adjutant-General and Colonel Felix Cronin is to be acting
Quartermaster-General. Also that Cosgrave (still absent through
illness) is to take over as Minister of Defence. |
Dáil Debates VI (20th Mar 1924), col. 2242 |
|
Mar-21 |
Men arrested in
Parnell St raid on 18th are released after agreeing to terms set
out on 18th March. Over the coming period, many of them (and
others involved in the Old IRA) resign. |
Valiulis (1985), pgs 80-82 |
|
Mar-23 |
In an article in
the The People newspaper, Cahir Healy
warned the British public that, in the light of the Army Mutiny, civil war
could break out again in Ireland “Unless something is done very soon about
the Irish Boundary Commission”. |
Phoenix (1994), pg 301 |
|
Mar-25 |
Around this date
the committee to investigate the army was set up with the following members:
J Creed Meredith (Chair); Gerald Fitzgibbon; P. McGilligan;
DJ Gorey and Major Bryan Cooper. [The last three represented Cumann na nGaedheal;
the Farmers Party and the Independents. The Labour Party did not
nominate anyone as they wanted the committee to be a committee of the Dáil rather than a departmental committee appointed by
the Executive Council. The terms of reference of the committee were ‘to
enquire into the facts and matters which have caused and led up to the
indiscipline and mutinous and insubordinate conduct lately manifested in the
Army’. [These were expanded later.] Committee had no power to
subpoena, or examine witnesses under oath. Also the hearings were
closed and transcripts would not be published. Despite protests Mulcahy, O’Muirthuile,
O’Sullivan and MacMahon agreed to attend but
McGrath, Tobin, Dalton, etc refused to
attend. The committee held 41 meetings and interviewed 27 witnesses. |
Valiulis (1985), pgs 85-87 |
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Apr-02 |
Cosgrave announces
in the Dáil that Patrick McGilligan
is to take over (from McGrath) as Minister of Industry and Commerce. |
Dáil Debates VI (2nd Apr 1924), col. 2748; |
|
Apr-24 |
Boundary
conference reconvenes in London but finally collapses. Cosgrave is subsequently
pessimistic of negotiations achieving anything. |
Phoenix (1994), pg 299 |
|
Apr-26 |
Following collapse
of the Boundary conference, the Free State government requests the British
government to take immediate steps to constitute the Boundary Commission.
When Craig continues to refuse to appoint a Commissioner, the British refer
the matter to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. |
Phoenix (1994), pg 302 |
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May-01 |
Lord Birkenhead,
former Lord Chancellor and Treaty signatory, urges Craig to appoint a
representative to the Boundary Commission on the basis that the Treaty
article governing the boundary issue (Article 12) only implied “a
re-adjustment of boundaries”. |
Phoenix (1994), pg 302 |
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May-07 |
O’Higgins writes
to Cosgrave saying that the alleged ambiguity on Article 12 should be cleared
up before the Boundary Commission sat as it “cannot be left to the tender
mercies of the British nominee of the Commission”. |
Phoenix (1994), pg 303 |
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May-10 |
Cosgrave writes
back to O’Higgins saying that he felt that he could not object to the
chairman interpreting Article 12. He also said that Lionel Curtis had
informed him that the British government could not interpret an article to
which they were but one of two parties. |
Phoenix (1994), pg 303 |
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June-05 |
British announce
Mr Justice Richard Feetham, of the South African
Supreme Court as chairman of the Boundary Commission. At the beginning
of July, Feetham takes a tour of the border areas
and asks for clarification on two issues (unanimity in the Commission and
power to order plebiscites) from the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.
|
Phoenix (1994), pgs 303-304 |
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June-17 |
Report of the Army
Inquiry Committee published. Overall, it was favourable to Mulcahy and the army leaders and said that the Old IRA
was a mutinous organisation bent on using the army for political purposes.
However, they also criticised Mulcahy and the army
leaders for reviving the IRB within the army at the end of 1922 and beginning
of 1923 saying that it was a disastrous error of judgement..
There was a separate report by the committee chair – Meredith – which was
very critical of Mulcahy’s handling of the Old
IRA. This report was not published. Valiulis
comments that “The army mutiny of 1924 was the final echo of the civil war,
the last vestige of the Volunteer mentality of an independent, political
army”. |
Valiulis (1985), pgs 85-87 and pg 82 |
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June-26 |
Mulcahy introduces, what
is essentially, a censure motion in the Dáil that
it was contrary to the best interests of the state and ill-considered of the
Executive and to have removed the army council. The Labour Party
abstained and the motion is defeated. |
Valiulis (1985), pg 112 |
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July-31 |
Judicial Committee
says that majority would rule on the Boundary Commission and that it did not
have power to order plebiscites. Also, authorises British Government to
appoint a Northern Ireland representative to the Boundary Commission. |
Phoenix (1994), pg 304 |
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Aug-14 |
Nationalist MP for
Armagh Nugent is reported (privately) to be of the view that it would be
prejudicial to the Catholics of Northern Ireland that their minority status
be made more hopeless by the exclusion of Fermanagh and Tyrone and suggesting
that the six counties should be left as they are in return for concessions
from Craig. |
Phoenix (1994), pg 308 |
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Aug-16 |
Writing in The
Weekly Westminster, Cahir Healy emphasised the Collins-Griffith view that
“clause 12 was inserted [in the Treaty] in order that the “will of the
people” might be the determining factor in any arrangement arrived at.
There was to be no coercion of Ulster, and, equally it was recognised that if
Ulster claimed the privilege of non-coercion of herself as a whole, she could
not at the same time seek to hold against their will the large nationalist
minority, who constituted majorities in her border counties”.
This was part of the on-going debate on the scope of Article
12. |
Phoenix (1994), pg 305 |
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Sept-08 |
Lord Balfour
publishes letter sent to him on 3rd March 1922 by Birkenhead
regarding the interpretation of Clause 12. The letter argued in favour of a limited interpretation i.e. that the clause
only implied limited changes to the borders of Northern Ireland
(‘rectification’) as opposed to the view of Collins that large transfers of
territories were implied. Birkenhead said that “The real truth is that
Collins … in a moment of excitement committed himself unguardedly to this
doctrine and that it has no foundation whatever except in his overheated
imagination.” This view was endorsed by Llyod
George on the 10th September. |
Phoenix (1994), pgs 306-307 |
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Mid-Sept |
In private, Feetham raises with the Colonial Office the idea of
legislation to permit a plebiscite to be taken but this is refused by the
Colonial Office. |
Phoenix (1994), pg 307 |
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Oct-02 |
In a speech,
Austen Chamberlain claims that the boundary issue had been left to the
Commission “under a form of words which was deliberately adopted to exclude a
dismemberment of Northern Ireland as would be created by cutting out whole
counties or large slices of counties”. |
Phoenix (1994), pg 307 |
|
Oct-08 |
The Executive
Council decide that a demand should be made that a plebiscite in all Poor Law
unions which showed a Catholic majority in 1911. |
Phoenix (1994), pg 307 |
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Oct-08 |
MacDonald’s
government falls at Westminster. New election called. |
Phoenix (1994), pg 308 |
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Oct-11 |
De Valera
announces that abstentionist Republican candidates
would be run in all NI constituencies. |
Phoenix (1994), pg 308 |
|
Oct-16 |
A convention in Omagh calls on all pro-Treaty nationalists in NI to
abstain from voting the forthcoming Westminster elections and demanded a
plebiscite to determine the wishes of the inhabitants on the border. At
the subsequent elections, no nationalists are returned. |
Phoenix (1994), pg 309 |
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Oct-23 |
After the passing
of the enabling legislation in Westminster in early October, the British
Government appointed Joseph R Fisher to be the Northern Ireland
representative on the Boundary Commission. Fisher was a former editor
of the Northern Whig. Even though Craig had refused
to nominate a NI representative to the Boundary Commission in public, it
would seem that he was allowed to nominate a representative in private.
Also, even though Fisher agreed (along with his two colleagues on the
Commission) to maintain secrecy, it would seem that he kept Craig informed. |
Phoenix (1994), pg 308 |
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Oct-25 |
De Valera arrested
in Derry and imprisoned for one month for breaching an exclusion order. |
Phoenix (1994), pg 309. |
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Early-Nov |
Boundary
Commission holds first formal meetings. |
Phoenix (1994), pg 310 |
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Dec-01 |
Executive Council
decides to push for a plebiscite in border areas based on the Poor Law
Union. |
Phoenix (1994), pg 310 |
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Dec-05 |
At a meeting in
London with the Free State counsel, Feetham ruled
out any alteration to the NI border that would lead it not to viable as a
unit and also argued that the Anglo-Irish Treaty gave the Commission no
powers to take a plebiscite saying “If the Article did intend that, it
stopped very far short of what was really necessary”. |
Phoenix (1994), pg 311 |
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Dec-22 |
The members of the
Boundary Commission finish a tour of the border area. They went to
Armagh, Newry, Fermanagh and Derry meeting various delegations on the way
(but some refused to meet them). The Commission requested written
submissions by January. |
Phoenix (1994), pg 311 |