Irish Bulletin
Introduction from
Chronology
First edition of Irish
Bulletin produced by Dáil Eireann's Department of Publicity under Desmond
Fitzgerald - it was to be produced five days a week from this date on for the
next 22 months and became very important in getting the Irish side of events
known to a wide audience, especially overseas.
More Detail
Gallagher says that the idea for the Bulletin was Robert Brennan’s and
that he (Brennan) worked on it in the first few months. Gallagher himself
worked on it as did Anna Fitzsimons. Initially its circulation was Dublin
newspapers and foreign correspondents in Dublin. Eventually this was
increased to all major newspapers in Britain and the United States, opposition
MPs in Westminster, members of the US House and Senate, etc. In addition,
it was translated by Irish delegations in Paris, Rome and Madrid.
Various departments of the Dáil government (such as Finance, Justice and
Local Government) provided different elements of the Bulletin. In
particular, the IRA’s director of publicity, Piaras Beaslai, provided material on military affairs.
When Fitzgerald was arrested in February 1921, Erskine Childers took
over as Director of Publicity and editor. Others who worked on it
included Anna Kelly, Kathleen McGilligan, Shelia and Honor Murphy, Kathleen McKenna, Michael Nunan and Seamus
Hynes. After Sinn Féin moved out of its HQ in 6 Harcourt St., the offices
of the Irish Bulletin moved to 22 Upper Mount St (Mrs Larry
Nugent’s home). Sometime later, it moved to offices in 11 Molesworth St
under the cover of being an insurance company (working on the floor above the
Crown Solicitor’s office). When these
offices were discovered by Crown Forces on the 26th March 1921,
publication continued from a private house on Rathgar Road.