A Question of History

Question: On what date did Ireland eventually free themselves from British rule after 800 years?

SURVEY RESULTS

We recently posed the question ‘who do you believe should be classed as the first leader of Ireland?’ The options given were as follows;

Padraig Pearse who led the 1916 Rising and was executed as the President of the Provisional Government of the Irish Republic

Denis McCullough who as the first shots of the Easter Rising were being fired was President of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and therefore by the organisations constitution was President of the Irish Republic

Cathal Brugha who was elected Priomh Aire (Prime Minister)by the First Dail of the declared Irish Republic on January 21st 1919

Eamon deValera who became President of Dail Eireann in April 1919 after his release from a British prison.

Michael Collins who became Chairman of the Provisional Government of the Irish Free State following the completion of Treaty negotiations in the aftermath of the War of Independence

Arthur Griffiths who was proclaimed as President of the Irish Republic following DeValera's withdrawn from parliament after the treaty signing

W T Cosgrave who assumed the role of President of the Provisional Government following the assassination of Collins and was the first leader to face the electorate in a General Election.

Douglas Hyde who became the first President of Ireland in 1937.

The result was as follows
80% Michael Collins
10% Eamon DeValera
6% Padraig Pearse
4% Others including Harry Boland & James Connolly

Collins despite only holding the titled position of Chairman of the Provisional Government of the Irish Free State only from January to August 1922 he is credited as being this nation’s first leader.

SURVEY RESULTS

The results of our recent survey will be released next week and it contains some surprising results.