Mick Clifford: Mark their sins but acknowledge strengths of first post-Civil War government

Conservative, insular, and often brutal, WT Cosgrave’s first government still merits positive reappraisal, writes Mick Clifford

Free State soldiers at Custom House Quay in Cork during the Civil War in August 1922. Picture: Irish Examiner Archive

Exactly 100 years ago today, an Independent Ireland had its first chance to breathe. On May 24, 1923, Frank Aiken, who became chief of staff of the IRA following the death of Liam Lynch a month previously, ordered his soldiers to lay down their weapons.

“Comrades,” Aiken addressed his men and women in a communique, “the arms with which we fought the enemy of our country are to be dumped. The foreign and domestic enemies of the Republic have for the moment prevailed. But our enemies have not won. Neither tortures nor firing squads, nor a slavish press can crush the desire for independence out of the hearts of those who found for the Republic or out of the hearts of our people.”