9 Privy Council Chamber

The morning of 16 January 1922 was bitterly cold. At a meeting in Dublin’s Mansion House, the Provisional Government elected Michael Collins as its Chairman and set out for Dublin Castle. No formal arrangements had been made for handing over Dublin Castle, and the administration of Ireland, that morning. When they had been made a few days earlier, the Provisional Government had been unable to attend at the last minute.

At approximately 1.40 pm, three taxis carrying eight ministers of the new Provisional Government passed through gathered crowds on Dame Street, through the Palace Street Gate, and up through the archway that led to the Upper Castle Yard. They made their way through the doorway of the Chief Secretary’s Office in the northeast corner of the Yard and upstairs to the Privy Council Chamber, a “purple and gilded” room above the archway that connected the Upper and Lower Castle Yards (see pages 5 and 13). On arriving, Collins was greeted by James MacMahon, the Under-Secretary, with the words: “We’re glad to see you Mr Collins,” to which he allegedly replied, in his Cork accent, “Ye are like hell boy!” As Periscope describes:

Mr Collins himself was first in the door … A few minutes later the Lord Lieutenant appeared and his Ministers, some of whom had six months before a price fixed on their heads, or were spending a leisured existence in the walls of Mountjoy Prison, were introduced to His Excellency. The chiefs of the Irish Departments … had been roped in, and now stood about the Council Chamber … It was a scene worthy of a painter, fit for a master-hand of some great dramatist. The drama of seven hundred odd years – was it comedy, farce or tragedy! – was about to be played out; the curtain was about to fall on the last act and the last scene.

No press or photographers were present in the room. However, as The Irish Examiner recorded:

Those curiously inclined were able to obtain a fair idea of what was going on in the Privy Council Chamber, for its windows look right on to the Upper Castle Yard, and as the room is lighted from both sides the movings within it could be followed with tolerable accuracy. The Viceroy stood at first at the fireplace at the northern end of the apartment … the seats on the right-hand side of the Lord Lieutenant’s Chair … were occupied by Mr. Michael Collins and two of his colleagues.

The Irish Independent added: “Through the windows Mr. Collins could be seen smiling and looking absolutely self-possessed as he met the Viceroy.” Just after 2.25 pm, the “meeting” broke up. “Mr Collins bounced out through the Chief Secretary’s doorway and pushed Mr. Duggan and Mr. Cosgrave into the leading car.” The Viceroy departed a short while later, at 3.00 pm. So ended the moment of “Brief, Historic Formality” that was the official handing over of Dublin Castle.

Afterwards, Michael Collins wrote to his fiancée Kitty Kiernan: “I am as happy a man as there is in Ireland today … Have just taken over Dublin Castle.” An official statement of the Provisional Government, signed by “Michael Collins, Chairman” and released later that day, read: “The Members of the Provisional Government received the surrender of Dublin Castle at 1.45 pm today. It is now in the hands of the Irish nation.” And so it remains today.

Michael Collins, marked with an “X”, leaving Dublin Castle on the 16 January 1922.