Dáil Cabinet Prohibits Army Convention

Introduction from Chronology

Dáil cabinet decides to prohibit the IRA Army Convention due to take place on March 26th.  However, anti-Treaty officers decide to go ahead with the Convention.

More Detail

The cabinet prohibit the holding of the Army Convention on the basis that “any effort to set up another body [other than Dáil Éireann] in control [of the Army] would be tantamount to an attempt to establish a Military Dictatorship”.

However, Macardle says that the banning of the convention arose because Mulcahy realised that 70 to 80 per cent of the IRA were against the Treaty and he feared that if the Convention was held a military dictatorship might be set up.  He attended a meeting of IRA Divisional and Brigade Commandants that evening (who were meeting to prepare an agenda for the convention) and told them that the convention was prohibited and followed this up the next day by issuing a proclamation saying that if any officer attended the convention that he would be dismissed. 

The Republican Military Council took it upon themselves to call the convention for March 26th.  The summons to attend is signed by over 50 senior officers including 4 GHQ staff, 5 divisional commanders and a number of brigade commandants.  The summons appears in the newspapers on March 23rd, along with Rory O’Connor’s infamous interview of March 22nd – see Mar-22-22/4.

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