An online exhibition of the original Anglo Irish Treaty of 1921 was officially launched by Taoiseach Enda Kenny today.
The treaty was signed in the aftermath of the truce which ended the 1919-1921 War of Independence by Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith, amongst others, on the Irish side and British prime minister David Lloyd George.
The original treaty document was acquired by the National Archives of Ireland from the Department of the Taoiseach in 2002 and has never before been made available for public consultation, either in its original form or online.
The document that forms the centrepiece of the exhibition is described as “unique” in that it is the original Irish document. Additional documents will be released online on a daily basis up to December 6th, the 90th anniversary of the date of the treaty’s signing.
Collins said on the signing of the document that he had signed his death warrant. At the time, he believed the treaty creating of the Irish Free State would ultimately lead to full independence, but he was viewed by many as a traitor.
When the heated debate on the treaty opened in the Dáil on December 14th, 1921, Collins said: “If I am a traitor, let the Irish people decide it or not, and if there are men who act towards me as a traitor I am prepared to meet them anywhere, any time, now as in the past.”
The split over the treaty and its subsequent narrow ratification by the Dáil in January 1922 ultimately led to the Civil War of 1922-23. Collins was assassinated by anti-Treaty forces at Beal na mBláth in August of 1922.
A British Pathe newsclip with footage of the British and Irish delegations outside Buckingham Palace will also form part of the exhibition, which will be hosted on the website of the National Archives.
Mr Kenny was accompanied at the launch by Minister for Arts Jimmy Deenihan.