Interesting talk on first Dáil delivered by Eamon Ó Cuiv TD
EAMON Ó Cuív TD delivered a very interesting and insightful talk on the organisation and workings of the first Dáil Eireann in the Mansion House in January 1919, for Charleville Heritage Society, to an audience of over 60 people at the Charleville Park Hotel las Thursday night.
Mr. Ó Cuív spoke of the fantastic intelligence gathering by ordinary people which was needed to fulfil the promise of Sinn Féin not to take their seats in Westminster, if elected, but instead, to form an Irish government. This promise was made at the 1918 election to the Irish electorate, who responded by electing 73 Sinn Féin members.
However, only 27 were at that first meeting, as some were still in prison, including de Valera, who was then in Lincoln Jail. Michael Collins and Harry Boland were also missing from the first meeting, as they were in England helping de Valera to escape from the jail.
Mr. Ó Cúiv said that there were three items of business dealt with at the meeting:
A repeat of the Declaration of an Irish Republic, which was made in 1916,
A message to the free nations of the world, calling on them to support the Irish republic’s appeal for recognition,
and a democratic programme to improve the lot of the people, develop the country’s natural resources and the protection and development of trade and industry.
The de Valera connection has particular significance for local people as the future political leader and President of Ireland received his secondary education at CBS Charleville, from where he won a scholarship to attend Blackrock College in Dublin in 1896, and the rest, as they say, is history.
The next talk under the auspices of Charleville Heritage Society will be delivered by Ms Nora Murphy O’Mahony of the School of History at University College Cork on Thursday, February 21.
Other talks in the coming months will be on the Freemasons in Charleville and on the built environment in Charleville.