THE ORIGINAL Anglo Irish Treaty document of 1921 has been made available to the public for the first time in an online exhibition marking 90 years to the day since its signing.
The treaty was signed in the aftermath of the truce which ended the 1919-1921 War of Independence.
The original 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 viewing, either in its original form or online.
The handwritten signatures of all the delegates are visible in ink at the bottom of the seven-page document, with most of the Irish delegates having signed their names as Gaeilge.
The signatures on the left of the final page are Arthur Griffith, Miceál Ó Coileáin (Michael Collins), Riobárd Bartún (Robert Barton), Eamonn S Ó Dugáin (Eamonn Duggan) and Seoirse Ghabháin Uí Dhubhthaigh (George Gavan Duffy).
On the British side, the delegates who signed were: David Lloyd George, Austen Chamberlain, Lord Birkenhead (signed as “Birkenhead”), and Winston S Churchill, who was chiefly responsible for the military clauses in the treaty, including the retention of the “treaty ports” by Britain.
The Articles of Agreement for a Treaty between Great Britain and Ireland were signed by the delegations at 2.15am on December 6th, 1921.
British prime minister David Lloyd George had issued an ultimatum to the Irish delegation, including Collins, that they must either sign the document as was, or face the consequence of an immediate resumption of war in the event of a refusal to sign.
Collins said on the signing of the document that he had signed his death warrant.
At the time, he believed the treaty creating 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 addressed the House thus: “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, anytime, now as in the past.”
The split over the treaty and its subsequent narrow ratification by the Dáil in January 1922 led ultimately to the Civil War of 1922-23.
Collins was subsequently assassinated by anti-treaty forces at Béal na mBláth in August 1922.
The document was unveiled yesterday as part of an online exhibition hosted by the National Archives. A number of documents have been made available for viewing since the exhibition was opened by Taoiseach Enda Kenny last week.
The National Archives said the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 was “probably the seminal document of the Irish Free State, which in turn evolved into the Republic of Ireland”.
The documents and exhibition can be viewed at treaty.nationalarchives.ie