Galway In Days Gone By

1922

In pursuit of unity

Sir James Craig and Mr. Michael Collins met in London on Saturday and reached a mutual agreement in regard to various problems, including the Ulster Boundaries Commission, the withdrawal of the Belfast boycott, and a modification of the Council of Ireland scheme.

Issued in London on Saturday night, the statement signed by Mr. Collins and Sir J. Craig reads:–

Mr. Michael Collins and Sir James Craig met in consultation today. After discussion, the following mutual agreement was reached:–

(1) The Boundary Commission, as outlined in the Treaty, to be altered. The governments of the Free State and of Northern Ireland to appoint one representative each to report to Mr. Collins and Sir James Craig, who will mutually agree on behalf of their representative governments on the future boundaries between the two.

(2) Without prejudice to the future consideration of his government on the question of tariffs, Mr. Collins undertakes that the Belfast boycott is to be discontinued immediately and Sir James Craig undertakes to facilitate in every possible way the return of Catholic workmen – when trade revival enables the firms concerned to absorb the present unemployed. In the meantime a system of relief on a large scale is being arranged to carry over the period of distress.

(3) Representatives of both Governments to unite to facilitate a settlement of the railway dispute.

(4) The two governments to endeavour to devise a more suitable system than the Council of Ireland for dealing with problems affecting all Ireland.

(5) A further meeting will take place at a subsequent date in Ireland between the signatories to this agreement to discuss the question of post Truce prisoners.”

In Dublin, the agreement of the Ulster Premier is regarded as a long step on the road to ultimate unity. The concordat is welcomed too because it will strengthen the hands of Mr. Griffith and Mr. Collins in their battle with the Childers and de Valeran extremists. The opponents of the Treaty are collecting funds and perfecting their organisation in readiness for a desperate endeavour to overthrow the Free State at the polls, and once more to declare the existence of an Irish Republic.

A darker side tot eh picture is supplied by the ever-increasing list of outrages by armed men in Dublin and other parts of the south. The robbery of motor-cars and motor-bicycles, and push-bicycles, an everyday occurrence in the days preceding the Truce, but in abeyance since then, has recommenced with redoubled vigour.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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