Subsérie 2 - Irish Bulletin

The 'Irish Bulletin' was the official daily gazette of the government of the Irish Republic. The first edition of the 'Bulletin' appeared on 11 Nov. 1919 shortly after the suppression of the entire republican press. The purpose of the 'Bulletin' was succinctly stated in the edition of 11 Nov. 1920 (Vol. 6 No. 17). ‘When it became certain that the majority party in Ireland was not to be proclaimed “illegal” the "Bulletin" had of necessity to be published secretly. It was designed to circulate principally not in Ireland but among the publicists in England and on the Continent. At its inception less than fifty copies were printed. To-day it reaches almost every country in the world and is reprinted in four European languages. It is received by the press, public men, and the leading political and other organisations of many nations’. The 'Bulletin' was published daily but weekly editions containing summaries of ‘acts of aggression committed in Ireland by the military and police of the usurping English government’ were also routinely circulated. These weekly summaries were not assigned volume or issue numbers. Daily issues consisted mainly of sometimes detailed lists of raids by British security forces and the arrests of republican suspects. Extracts from foreign publications and sometimes sympathetic English sources were also published in the 'Bulletin'. Accounts of the activities of Dáil Courts were likewise included. It was produced by the republican publicity department during the War of Independence, and its offices were located at 6 Harcourt Street, Dublin. On 26 Mar. 1921, after sixteen months of publication, the offices of the 'Bulletin' were raided. Later, forged issues of the journal were produced with printing machinery and paper captured in the offices. These fabricated issues were sent to all the usual addresses on the list of recipients, a copy of which had also been seized. Issues of these forged 'Bulletins' were subsequently circulated for over a month. The paper’s first editor was Desmond Fitzgerald, until his arrest and replacement by Robert Erskine Childers. The collection includes a chronological record of peace overtures which would eventually lead to the Treaty negotiations. The issue of 7 Dec. 1921 (Vol. 6, No. 35) carried an ‘advance copy’ of the articles of agreement between Great Britain and Ireland, more commonly known as ‘The Treaty’. Many of the issues of the 'Irish Bulletin' are stamped ‘Official Copy’.