IRA Convention meets
By Aengus Ó Snodaigh
At the time of the 1917 IRA Convention, 390 companies were
affiliated to Óglaigh na hÉireann. The RIC estimated only 162
companies. Nearly 250 people attended the Convention, though some
who would have been there were still incarcerated. The
proceedings were presided over by Eamonn de Valera, who'd been
elected President of Sinn Féin the previous day. On the platform
also was Cathal Brugha and many others who were prominent in the
reorganising of the Volunteers in the previous few months, many
of them ex-prisoners.
De Valera was elected president and it was decided that the
National Executive of the Army would be based on provincial
representation. Dublin was regarded in this case as a province.
The meeting broke into workshops based on the provincial make-up
of those assembled and selected their own representatives and
discussed re-organisation. The full Convention then approved the
names suggested. It was also agreed that there was a need to
elect directors to oversee specific tasks. The Director for
Organisation was Michael Collins; Director for Communications was
Diarmuid Lynch; Director for Supply was Michael Staines; Director
of Engineering was Rory O'Connor and Seán McGarry was General
Secretary. Cathal Brugha was made in effect Chief of Staff with
the title of Chairman of the Resident Executive.
The other elected members were: M. W. O'Reilly (Dublin); Austin
Stack (Kerry); Con Collins (Limerick); Seán McEntee (Belfast);
Joe O'Doherty (Donegal); Paul Galligan (Cavan); Eoin O'Duffy
(Monaghan); Seamus Doyle (Wexford); Peadar Bracken (Offaly);
Larry Lardner (Galway); Dick Walsh (Mayo) and another member from
Connaught, whose name I haven't tracked down. There were six
co-options to make-up the full number when the directors were
named from within their ranks. The six were all Dublin men:
Éamonn Duggan; Gearóid O'Sullivan; Fintan Murphy; Diarmuid
O'Hegarty; Dick McKee and Paddy Ryan.
Of the 26 elected, six of their number were also members of the
Sinn Féin National Executive, with Eamonn de Valera president of
both. Eleven of the 26 were elected TDs in the 1918 general
election and 13 in the May 1921 election. This dual membership
helped over the next few years in the promotion of a common
republican agenda, and helped maintain unity among republicans
throughout the country. There were at times, however, tensions
between the military organisation and the political organisation.
One such occasion was the capture of explosives and shooting dead
of the two RIC men at Soloheadbeg on the inaugural day of the
first Dáil. Tensions also emerged over the years between the IRB
and the IRA, with those with dual membership who were on the Army
Executive sometimes clashing on strategy and policy. Cathal
Brugha and Eamonn de Valera frowned on the continued existence of
the IRB, feeling that events had overtaken that organisation's
role now that the IRA was reorganised and had the same stated
aims.
In March 1918, the links between the Army and the First Dáil were
set out when, at a meeting in the Dublin Typographical Society's
rooms at 35 Lower Gardiner Street, the Volunteer National
Executive established a General Headquarters Staff with
responsibility for the military organisation and direction of the
IRA. Richard Mulcahy was now Chief of Staff and also Minister for
Defence and he was supposed to be responsible to the National
Executive under Cathal Brugha. With the reshuffle of ministers in
April 1918, Cathal Brugha was made Minister for Defence and
Mulcahy became Assistant Minister for Defence. The Army was,
therefore, supposed to be answerable to the Dáil.
The Convention considered its principle objective being ``to carry
on the reorganisation of the Irish Volunteers throughout the
country, and put them in a position to complete by force of arms
the work begun by the men of Easter Week''. It did agree that no
order to take to the field against the British would be given
until such time as it was deemed possible to achieve success.
Following the success of the Convention and the exchange of
information and knowledge, Volunteers returned to their areas
with renewed confidence and sense of purpose. Volunteer
activities throughout the country saw a major increase in the
next few months.
(More on Thomas Ashe at a later date)
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