Sir, The Treaty was signed at 2.10 am on December 6th, 1921. Its 75th anniversary is coming up. Pat Kenny and Liam Neeson were not too sure of the actual date (Kenny Live, November 9th). Pat thought June Liam was nearer. Pat was probably thinking of the truce (July 11th, 1921. Its anniversary slipped by untrumpeted. It was a milestone a landmark.
Next year will bring the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the foundation of the State. Its history coincides with the history of the Irish Army.
The Treaty was the best the Irish delegation could get at the time. Lloyd George called it "a just and righteous settlement of the Irish question". It included the oath of allegiance, a major cause of the Civil War. Out of the Civil War the politics of the Irish Free State were precipitated. The Border had been arbitrarily preordained by the Government of Ireland Act, 1920. It was not a governing factor in the Civil War (1922-23). Yours, etc., Cedarmount Road, Mount Merrion, Co Dublin.