1924
Please Note: The chronology for 1924 and 1925 does not try 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 in the construction of the two new states in the North and South of
Ireland (on which there is now a quite extensive literature). Rather they follow two major 'left-over'
issues from the revolutionary period, which are the Army Mutiny of 1924 and the
working out of 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 |
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 |
Mar-11 |
In the Dáil,
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
Oct-08 |
MacDonald’s
government falls at Westminster. New election called. |
Phoenix (1994), pg
308 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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