Tension of Treaty debates and tragedy of civil war relived at Mansion House
The momentous Dáil Éireann Treaty debates late in 1921 have been recreated for a drama-documentary to be broadcast in December.
"I have been branded a traitor," came the roar.
The charge was famously blasted by Michael Collins to Éamon de Valera and his supporters during the Anglo-Irish Treaty debates just as the country was about to be plunged into the Civil War.
The historic Round Room of Dublin’s Mansion House was transformed into the Dáil for a dramatic re-creation of the debates which followed the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty 100 years ago.
Produced by Loosehorse in association with the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland and directed by Peter Murphy, , a drama-documentary recreating the Treaty debates which ran either side of Christmas 1921, will be broadcast on the Oireachtas TV channel on the weekend of Friday, December 3.
Between the signing of the agreement in December 1921 and its ratification in January 1922, a series of increasingly acrimonious debates took place in Dáil Éireann.
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During 1922, this acrimony was to spill over into a bitter civil war.
The Treaty was signed in London on December 6, 1921, and Dáil Éireann voted to approve the treaty on January 7, 1922.
The Dáil debates began in late December 1921 following the conclusion of the talks in Downing Street and continued into January 1922.
Starring Ian Lloyd Anderson as Collins and Marcus Lamb as de Valera, the dramatisation was a powerful re-telling of the deeply divisive debates which split this country for the past century.
A cast of a dozen actors took their places on two sides facing each other, recreating the embittered debates.
We hear from our narrator that in the Dàil were just six female deputies, all of whom opposed the Treaty.
“Others were asked to go but refused. We brought back the flag and we evacuated the country of the British,” boomed Arthur Griffith.
“I am against this Treaty not because I am a man of war but a man of peace. I am against this Treaty because it will not end the struggle with England,” retorted de Valera.
“In my opinion, it gives us freedom, not the ultimate freedom that all nations desire... but the freedom to achieve it,” declares Collins who himself was accused of being a traitor.
Cork’s Marie MacSwiney's epic two-hour powerful speech in opposition to the Treaty was a stand-out moment in the show.
What Murphy’s dramatisation shows is how the mood shifted over the Christmas break from one of opposition to one of support for the Treaty ahead of the final vote.
Ultimately, when the vote was taken, 64 deputies led by Griffith and Collins voted in favour and 57 deputies led by de Valera voted against, with three abstentions.
Speaking at the start of the show, playwright Colin Murphy said: “I find these debates fascinating, and I find them tragic. Every time somebody speaks, there is the possibility that what we now think of as inevitable, the Civil War, might somehow be averted. And running through that is the possibility of an Ireland that also avoids the Troubles. Because an Ireland that avoids civil war, in 1922, is one that might yet be successful at reconciling with Northern Ireland.”
A substantial minority of Dáil deputies, including its president de Valera, and women members, maintained that the Treaty did not go far enough and that the new state must be a republic outside the empire (although perhaps associated with the Commonwealth externally).
Some believed that fighting should resume, in an effort to force Northern Ireland into an all-island state.
For others, an Irish Republic already existed and acceptance of the Treaty would replace this with something less and accepting the Treaty meant voluntarily going ‘into the empire’ for the first time. The majority of deputies saw, as Collins did, the Treaty as a stepping stone to greater independence.
The Irish negotiating team was chaired by Griffith, after de Valera decided to stay in Ireland for strategic reasons.
Despite its iconic status, the Anglo-Irish Treaty is a short document.
It begins by declaring that the 26-county Irish Free State shall have the same constitutional status as the dominions of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the Union of South Africa, but still within the British Empire.
Contrary to popular belief, the final agreement did not require Dáil deputies to swear an ‘oath of allegiance’ to the king.
The oath of allegiance was to the Constitution of the Irish Free State, with an oath of faithfulness to the monarch. Nevertheless, any oath to the king offended the consciences or sensibilities of many Dáil deputies.
Next month, the Fishamble production company, in partnership with the National Concert Hall, will stage the production of Murphy’s play in the Kevin Barry Room, where the Dáil debates on the Treaty took place 100 years ago. will then travel to London.
The play, over 70 minutes, tells the story of inside the negotiations as the Irish delegation of Collins and Griffith engaged with the British negotiating team of David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill.
