Kildare County Council and the Treaty

Kildare County Council and the Treaty

On this day 100 years ago, 30 December 1921, the following motion was passed at a special meeting of Kildare County Council by the democratically elected members of Kildare County Council:

That we, the Kildare County Council, are in favour of the ratification of the Treaty between Ireland and England and call upon the deputies for Kildare and Wicklow to support it. That copies of this resolution be sent to the deputies for Kildare and Wicklow, and to Messrs. Griffith, de Valera and Collins. 

The image below from the Council minutes record this historic decision.

The local press provided further details on the debate on the subject of the Treaty. The Kildare Observer report can be read here: Kildare County Council and The Treaty

Kildare County Council’s vote in favour of ratification was mentioned in the national press, along with a list of many other local bodies that supported the Treaty. The two Kildare TDs, Art O’Connor and Donal Ó Buachalla, would later vote against the Treaty when it was voted on and approved by Dáil Éireann in January 1922.

Further Sources:

Through Peace and War: Kildare County Council in the Years of Revolution 1899-1926 by Thomas Nelson.

The minute books of Kildare County Council for this period are digitised and available on the Local Studies, Genealogy & Archives section of the Library website. See for example KCAKCCMB11222November192028May1924PartC.pdf (kildare.ie)

Our thanks to Martha Kennedy for typing up the newspaper report.