Erskine Childers portrait unveiled

A new portrait of Robert Erskine Childers was unveiled in Leinster House today.

The work by artist John Devlin will be displayed in the Reception Room.

Erskine Childers was born in London in June 1870 and died in Dublin in November 1922.

His grand-daughter Nessa Childers MEP attended the unveiling along with Ceann Comhairle Seamus Kirk, who paid tribute.

“It is fitting that this year, the 90th anniversary of the meeting of the first Dail, that we commemorate one of its first members and someone who did a great deal to bring about its inception,” Mr Kirk said.

In July 1914, Erskine Childers landed his yacht the Asgard at Howth, Co Dublin, with a cargo of arms for the Irish Volunteers for use in the Easter Rising.

He was elected to the first Dáil in 1919 and served as a minister before joining Anti-Treaty forces and being executed by firing squad in 1922.