George Gavan Duffy (1882-1951): George Gavan Duffy, a constitutional expert, signed the Treaty on the basis he had “no rational alternative”. He served in various positions, including chief whip, in the first Irish governments. He was a Collins loyalist and signed the Treaty willingly while defending it resolutely in the Dáil afterwards. Éamonn Duggan: (1874-1936): Duggan was a solicitor and Sinn Féin TD who went to the Treaty negotiations as one of two legal representatives on the Irish side. Barton was shocked when his cousin Erskine Childers, the secretary to the Irish delegation, was executed during the Civil War. He was a reluctant signatory of the Treaty, voted against it in the Dáil and took the Republican side during the Civil War. Robert Barton (1881-1975):An English public schoolboy, scion of the Irish landed gentry and first World War veteran, Barton was an unlikely convert to Irish nationalism.
He was killed at Beal na Bláth just 12 days after Griffith died. Collins famously suggested that the Treaty was the freedom to achieve freedom, but he also sought to undermine it secretly by arming the IRA in the North to confront the Northern Ireland state. Collins’ personal endorsement is largely credited with the narrow victory for the pro-Treaty side in the Dáil debates.
Michael Collins: (1890-1922): What more can be said about the man many regarded as Ireland’s greatest lost leader? He has been the subject of 65 biographies to date despite being killed at the age of 31.
Many were convinced that the stress of the Treaty negotiations and overwork contributed to his early death. Griffith died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 51 in August of that year. He felt vindicated by the victory of pro or Treaty-neutral candidates in the June 1922 general election and was dismayed by the Civil War which broke out just 12 days later. He shared Michael Collins’ view that the Treaty could be used to gain greater freedom. Griffith became de facto leader of the Provisional Government after de Valera’s resignation in January 1922. Arthur Griffith: (1871-1922): Griffith, the leader of the Irish delegation, was the first to sign the Anglo-Irish Treaty and its most redoubtable advocate afterwards.
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