Photo Postcard of Members of the First Dáil

The First Dail

Mansion House – April 1919. A general election took place for the establishment of an Irish parliament for the first time during December 1918. This election resulted in the formation of Dail Eireann. The inaugural meeting was held in the Mansion House, Dawson Street, Dublin on the 8th January of the following year – 1919. Cathal Brugha presided at this historic Assembly.

In West Cavan Paul Galligan, although interned in Reading Jail, was elected unopposed.

Presented by Colm Galligan at the Wicklow Life 1916 Public Collections day

Paul Galligan standing in the upper left-hand corner

First row, left to right: Ernest Blythe, W. T. Cosgrave, Eoin MacNeill, Count Plunkett, Éamon de Valera, Arthur Griffith, Cathal Brugha, Michael Collins, Laurence Ginnell

Second row, left to right: Michael O’Flanagan, Michael Colivet, Liam de Róiste, Bryan Cusack, Joseph McGrath, Michael Staines, Patrick O’Keeffe, Joseph McGuinness, James Dolan, Seán O’Mahony, Joseph O’Doherty, Richard Mulcahy, Terence MacSwiney, P. J. Moloney

Third row, left to right: James O’Mara, Pádraic Ó Máille, Con Collins, Richard Hayes, Joseph Sweeney, Desmond FitzGerald, Alexander McCabe, Peter J. Ward

Fourth row, left to right: Seán MacEntee, Joseph MacDonagh

Fifth row, left to right: Paul Galligan, Robert Barton, Piaras Béaslaí

Sixth row, left to right: Seán Etchingham, Philip Shanahan