Executive Council Committee on Demobilisation
Introduction from Chronology
Executive Council (Cabinet) of the Free State government sets up a
cabinet committee on demobilisation consisting of MacNeill, Blythe and
McGrath.
More Detail
Committee is empowered to hear the complaints of pre-Truce officers
concerning dismissals; to evaluate complaints about the retention of ex-British
Army officers and to investigate the circumstances around the arrest of the
Curragh officers earlier in the month.
The committee received applications from 60 men (most of whom had been
involved in the Curragh affair) but none were re-instated.
Nevertheless, Valiulis thinks that setting-up
the committee set a bad precedent. “By refusing to uphold the decision of
the leaders of the army vis-à-vis demobilisation, the Cabinet
gave some credence to the contention of the old I.R.A. that the army
authorities were acting unfairly. … and made it more likely that the
Tobin-Dalton group would cause further difficulties in the future.”