Date: 2019

2019 Ireland – Gold Proof €100 coin – Centenary of the First Dáil Éireann

• Issued by: The Central Bank of Ireland
• Issue Date: 7th February 2019
  • The coin issue date was announced by Philip R. Lane (Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland) at the Mansion House on 16 January, as he launched the €2 circulating coin.
• Issue Limit: 1,000 pieces
  
  • Designer: Emmet Mullins (Ireland)
• Quality:
  • Proof strike
  • 999.9 Gold (24 carat)
    
• Weight: 14.175 g (½ ounce)  
• Diameter: 28 mm
  

Description:

The first sitting of Dáil Éireann took place in the Mansion House, Dublin on 21th January 1919. It followed the December 1918 election to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, where Sinn Féin won a landslide victory in Ireland and refused to take their seats in Westminster. Instead, 21st January 1919, they founded a separate parliament in Dublin called Dáil Éireann (“Assembly of Ireland”).

• On the night of 11 January, the Dublin Metropolitan Police raided Sinn Féin headquarters and seized drafts of the documents that would be issued at the assembly. As a result, the British administration was fully aware what was being planned.
  • The first meeting of Dáil Éireann began at 3:30pm on 21st January
    • It was held in the Round Room of the Mansion House
    • Dublin’s Mansion House is the residence of the Lord Mayor of Dublin.
  • The sitting lasted about two hours
    • Twenty-seven Sinn Féin MPs attended
      • Thirty-four Sinn Féin MPs were in prison
      • Eight others could not attend for various reasons
      • Michael Collins + Harry Boland were marked “i láthair” (present)
      • The Roll was later amended to show they were “as láthair” (absent)
        • At the time, they were in England planning the escape of Éamon de Valera from Lincoln Prison, and did not wish to draw attention to their absence
    • Although invited, 22 Unionist MPs declined to attend
    • The 6 Irish Parliamentary Party MPs also declined
  • The packed audience in the public gallery above the Round Room rose in acclaim for the members of the Dáil as they walked into the room, and many waved Irish tricolour flags
    • One has to wonder what might have happened if 22 Unionist and 6 IPP MPs had turned up, i.e. they would have had a 28:27 majority on the day and could have played havoc with the proceedings.

On January 21st 1919, the First Dail or independent Irish Parliament met in Dublin and declared an independent Irish Republic.

Earlier on the same that day, two RIC officers were shot dead in the Soloheadbeg ambush by IRA volunteers acting on their own initiative – symbolically the beginning of the Irish War of Independence 1919-1921. The conflict developed gradually from there.

Other Irish Commemorative Proof Coins in this Series: