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Arthur Griffiths who was proclaimed as President of the Irish Republic following DeValera's withdrawn from parliament after the treaty signing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

FIRST EASTER RISING P.O.W.'S

The first British POWs of the 1916 Easter Rising were not Irishmen or women but 22 German naval personnel who were captured by the British as The Aud attempted to land weapons from Germany off the Kerry Coast on Holy Thursday. Captured by British naval vessels, Captain Karl Spindler, two officers and 19 crew were taken from Cork to Dublin and onto Internment camps on the British mainland. Spindler was last man off the Aud and he scuttled the vessel in the mouth of Cork harbour.

(An extract from the log of HMS Hood)

THE FIRST LEADER IN IRELAND?

Who did believe should be classed as the first leader in Ireland?
Is it....
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.
Use our Poll to vote here or on our facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/1916-Easter-Rising-Coach-Tour/

Who should be acknowledged as the first leader in Ireland?
	Padraig Pearse
	Denis McCullough
	Cathal Brugha
	Eamon DeValera
	Michael Collins
	Arthur Griffiths
	WT Cosgrave
	Douglas Hyde
pollcode.com free polls

PEARSE & RTE'S 1ST BROADCAST

When RTE was launched on December 31st 1961, the writings of Padraig Pearse were read during the very first broadcast.

The Sandymount Rising

The area of the Dublin 4 suburb of Sandymount was one of the last areas of the city to have martial law lifted seven days after Pearse's surrender. Fighting continued on the Sunday and Monday after the surrender in the area and severe hardship was caused to the residents as supplies ran low in shops in the area. A short movie on the Sandymount Rising will be posted here shortly.

32 County Ireland?

Following the fire lit during the Easter Rising and the War of Independence, the treaty would bring an end to British rule in 26 counties and introduce the world to the Irish Free State but did you know that for a short period the Free State consisted of 32 counties not just 26. The Free State officially came into being on December 6th 1922 but it was not until December 9th 1922 that the then state of Northern Ireland came into being thus making Ireland a 32 county Free State for three day in 1922.

Sinn Fein may have been the party of the 1918 General Election and the majority in the new parliament (Dail) in 1919 but it was the British who wrongly associated the name of Sinn Fein with the Easter Rising despite the fact that it was The Volunteers, Citizens Army, Na Fianna Eireann, Hibernian Rifles and Cumann na mBan who fought during the Rising.

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