Saddest Day in Irish History

Posted by Jim on May 20, 2021

1922: Dail Approves Treaty – Civil War Looms

January 7th 1922 is possibly the saddest day in Irish history when a vote on the Treaty unfortunately set the scene for the Irish Civil War.

Thirty-two days after Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith sign the treaty in London  granting Ireland legislative and financial independence for the first time since 1800, the divided Dail votes on the Treaty: sixty-four for approval and fifty-seven against.

De Valera and his supporters’ refusal to accept the democratic vote of the Dail meant civil war was inevitable.

The debate took a huge emotional toll on the participants. The official Dail record states that at the end of the debate, when De Valera knew he had lost the vote:

“PRESIDENT DE VALERA: I would like my last word here to be this: we have had a glorious record for four years; it has been four years of magnificent discipline in our nation. The world is looking at us now——

Civil war was now just months away between men who fought side by side during the War of Independence.