Heritage society to mark the centenary of the first Dail

CHARLEVILLE Heritage Society start off their 2019 activities with a talk on the first Dail, which will be delivered by Eamon Ó Cuiv TD at the Charleville Park Hotel on Thursday, January 24 to mark the centenary of the first Dail.

The First Dáil was convened on January 21, 1919 at the Mansion House in Dublin and Mr. Ó Cuiv will recall the events leading up to the election of 1918, the success of Sinn Féin and the subsequent fulfilling of their promise not to go Westminster if elected, but to form their own Irish government.

He will also relate the part played by his grandfather, Eamon de Valera, who was in Lincoln Jail at the time, and so was not present at that first meeting. But he had been freed from jail and was present for the second gathering of the members in February 1919, and was elected President of the Dáil, and proceeded to form his Cabinet.