The Irish Bulletin was the official gazette of the government of the Irish Republic. It was produced by the Department of Propaganda during the Irish War of Independence. and its offices were originally located at No. 6 Harcourt Street, Dublin. The paper's first editor was Desmond FitzGerald, until his arrest and replacement by Erskine Childers. The Bulletin appeared in weekly editions from 11 November 1919 until the time of ratification of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1922. [1]
In April 1919, Terence MacSwiney proposed the establishment of a daily paper by the Dáil for the purpose of publicity. His suggestion was not implemented until November, when 'Desmond Fitzgerald decided that some form of printed counter-propaganda was vital to republican aims and to take advantage of the success of Sinn Féin and the increasing international interest in Ireland'. [2] Fitzgerald succeeded Laurence Ginnell in the Ministry following the latter's arrest in April 1919, though he did not take up the position until July.[ citation needed ] At a Cabinet meeting held on 7 November, there was agreement that there should be "A scheme for daily news bulletin to foreign correspondents, weekly lists of atrocities; entertainment of friendly journalists approved, and £500 voted for expenses under Mr. Griffith's personal supervision." Four days later the Irish Bulletin made its début, in a run consisting of just thirty copies. [3] Five issues of the bulletin were issued each week for the next two years, despite efforts by the British authorities to suppress it. [4]
In the early days, the paper was produced mainly by Frank Gallagher [5] and Robert Brennan. Brennan, as Sinn Féin's Director of Publicity since April 1918, had played a leading role in that party's success in the 1918 General Election. [6]
Following Fitzgerald's arrest in 1921, Erskine Childers was appointed Director of Propaganda taking charge of publicity and thus becoming the paper's new editor. [7] [8] On 9 May 1921, both Childers and Gallagher were arrested and taken to Dublin Castle. Following the intervention of 'Andy' Cope, both were released that night and 'went on the run'. The hasty release of the two led to speculation between Art O'Brien and Michael Collins that there was a rift developing between the British military authorities and the civil administration. Despite the arrests, the Bulletin 'continued to appear on schedule'. [9] Alan J. Ellis, a journalist with the Cork Examiner made occasional contributions to the paper. [10] Kathleen Napoli McKenna was 'a key force behind the daily news-sheet. [11]
In the early days, the Bulletin consisted mainly of lists of raids by the security forces and the arrests of suspects. In order to stimulate interest, this was expanded in 1921 [12] at the behest of the Irish President in his direction to Childers to give more detailed accounts of events. Extracts from foreign publications, particularly sympathetic English papers, were frequently included. A regular feature was accounts from the Dáil Courts, which were reported in detail. The Bulletin was more graphic in its coverage of violence than was usual for its time. An example was its reporting on the deaths of two prominent Sinn Féin leaders, Henry and Patrick Loughnane, from Shanaglish, Gort, County Galway. The men had been handed over by the Royal Irish Constabulary to local members of the Auxiliary Division. [13]
On Dec 6th, the bodies were found in a pond. The skulls were battered in and the flesh was hanging loose on both bodies.The two men were evidently tied by the neck to a motor lorry and dragged after it until they were dead. Before the bodies were hidden in a pond an effort was made to burn them. [14]
On the night of 26–27 March 1921, the offices of the Irish Bulletin were discovered by the British authorities. [15] Captured typewriters and duplicators were used to fabricate bogus issues of the paper. These were distributed to the usual subscribers using lists found at the office. [16] Lord Henry Cavendish-Bentinck MP on receiving some of the counterfeit papers through the post, asked in the House that those responsible 'not (to) waste their money in sending me any more of their forgeries.' [17] The initial efforts of the forgers, Captains Hugh Pollard and William Darling were of poor quality and easily identified as counterfeit. [18] [19]
The Irish Republic was a revolutionary state that declared its independence from the United Kingdom in January 1919. The Republic claimed jurisdiction over the whole island of Ireland, but by 1920 its functional control was limited to only 21 of Ireland's 32 counties, and British state forces maintained a presence across much of the north-east, as well as Cork, Dublin and other major towns. The republic was strongest in rural areas, and through its military forces was able to influence the population in urban areas that it did not directly control.
The Second Dáil was Dáil Éireann as it convened from 16 August 1921 until 8 June 1922. From 1919 to 1922, Dáil Éireann was the revolutionary parliament of the self-proclaimed Irish Republic. The Second Dáil consisted of members elected at the 1921 elections, but with only members of Sinn Féin taking their seats. On 7 January 1922, it ratified the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64 votes to 57 which ended the War of Independence and led to the establishment of the Irish Free State on 6 December 1922.
The First Dáil was Dáil Éireann as it convened from 1919 to 1921. It was the first meeting of the unicameral parliament of the revolutionary Irish Republic. In the December 1918 election to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the Irish republican party Sinn Féin won a landslide victory in Ireland. In line with their manifesto, its MPs refused to take their seats, and on 21 January 1919 they founded a separate parliament in Dublin called Dáil Éireann. They declared Irish independence, ratifying the Proclamation of the Irish Republic that had been issued in the 1916 Easter Rising, and adopted a provisional constitution.
Arthur Joseph Griffith was an Irish writer, newspaper editor and politician who founded the political party Sinn Féin. He led the Irish delegation at the negotiations that produced the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty, and served as the president of Dáil Éireann from January 1922 until his death later in August.
Desmond FitzGerald was an Irish revolutionary, politician, and poet, known for his role in the Irish independence movement and for his ministerial roles in Irish governments; he was Director of Publicity from 1919 to 1921, Minister for Publicity from 1921 to 1922, Minister for External Affairs from 1922 to 1927 and finally Minister for Defence from 1927 to 1932. Born in London to an Irish family, FitzGerald moved to Paris in his early twenties, where he became involved in the Imagist group of poets. In 1913, FitzGerald returned to Ireland and the next year became active in the Irish Volunteers, a paramilitary organisation that sought Irish independence from Britain. FitzGerald partook in the Easter Rising of 1916 in Dublin and was subsequently imprisoned for two years by the British.
Events from the year 1922 in Ireland.
The members of the First Dáil, known as Teachtaí Dála (TDs), were the 101 Members of Parliament (MPs) returned from constituencies in Ireland at the 1918 United Kingdom general election. In its first general election, Sinn Féin won 73 seats and viewed the result as a mandate for independence; in accordance with its declared policy of abstentionism, its 69 MPs refused to attend the British House of Commons in Westminster, and established a revolutionary parliament known as Dáil Éireann. The other Irish MPs — 26 unionists and six from the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) — sat at Westminster and for the most part ignored the invitation to attend the Dáil. Thomas Harbison, IPP MP for North East Tyrone, did acknowledge the invitation, but "stated he should decline for obvious reasons". The Dáil met for the first time on 21 January 1919 in Mansion House in Dublin. Only 27 members attended; most of the other Sinn Féin TDs were imprisoned by the British authorities, or in hiding under threat of arrest. All 101 MPs were considered TDs, and their names were called out on the roll of membership, though there was some laughter when Irish Unionist Alliance leader Edward Carson was described as as láthair ("absent"). The database of members of the Oireachtas includes for the First Dáil only those elected for Sinn Féin.
John Joseph O'Kelly was an Irish republican politician, author and publisher who served as President of Sinn Féin from 1926 to 1931, Minister for Education from 1921 to 1922, Minister for Irish from 1920 to 1921 and Leas-Cheann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann from 1919 to 1921. He served as a Teachta Dála from 1918 to 1921 and 1922 to 1923.
The Minister for Publicity was a position in the Ministry of Dáil Éireann, the government of the Irish Republic, a self-declared state which was established in 1919 by Dáil Éireann, the parliamentary assembly made up of the majority of Irish MPs elected in the 1918 general election.
Seán O'Mahony was an Irish Sinn Féin politician and member of the First and Second Dáil.
Cork Mid, North, South, South East and West was a parliamentary constituency represented in Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Irish parliament or Oireachtas from 1921 to 1923. The constituency elected 8 deputies to the Dáil, on the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV).
Cornelius Collins, known as Con Collins, was an Irish Sinn Féin politician.
Paul Galligan was an Irish Sinn Féin politician who would experience over five years in prison as a result of his republican activities during the 1916 Rising in Enniscorthy and the War of Independence in County Cavan.
Francis David Gallagher (1893–1962), also known by the pseudonym David Hogan, was an Irish journalist, author and Volunteer. Born in Cork, he was the son of James J. Gallagher, secretary to Dwyer & Co. Ltd. He was educated at Presentation Brothers College, Cork, Cork and for a short period at University College Cork.
Liam de Róiste was an Irish Sinn Féin politician, diarist and Gaelic scholar.
David Rice Kent was an Irish Sinn Féin politician.
Robert Brennan was an Irish writer, diplomat and a founder of The Irish Press newspaper. He took part in the 1916 Easter Rising and later became the Irish Free State's first minister to the United States. He was the father of Irish-American author and New Yorker columnist Maeve Brennan.
The Sinn Féin Bank, formally the Sinn Féin Co-operative People's Bank, Ltd. was a co-operative bank in Ireland associated with the Sinn Féin movement, which operated from August 1908 to October 1921. The Sinn Féin Bank is sometimes confused with the National Land Bank, established as a friendly society in 1919 with Dáil backing and premises at 5 Harcourt Street.
Anna Kelly was an Irish journalist and the first women's page editor in Ireland.
Kathleen Napoli McKenna was an Irish nationalist activist and journalist closely associated with Arthur Griffith.
