By Dan Walsh at County Hall, Wexford
The Treaty, 1921; Records from the Archives exhibition, which has completed a three-month stint at Dublin Castle was launched at a pleasant ceremony in County Hall, Wexford, last night (Monday) by the Cathaoirleach of Wexford County Council, Cllr Barbara-Anne Murphy.
The exhibition marks the centenary of the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty on December 6th 1921, and available on public display in ‘the Street’ until June 10th.
Grainne Doran, County Archivist, acted as master of ceremonies and welcomed everybody to the official opening including Deputies Brendan Howlin and Paul Kehoe, Cllrs George Lawlor, Maura Bell, Jim Moore, Jim Codd and Andrew Bolger, other guests and a special welcome to Orlaith McBride, Director of the National Archives in Dublin and Cian Ó Lionnán from the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, the Gaeltacht, Sports and Media.
Tom Enright, Chief Executive, Wexford County Council, said; “Wexford County Council is delighted to be hosting ‘The Treaty 1921’ exhibition as part of its commemorative programme under the Decade of Centenaries for 2022. We hope that visitors will readily engage with the exhibition and increase their understanding of this seminal period in our country’s history. We are also excited to be showcasing to the public some of the relevant documents and images from our own county archive’s collections alongside the main exhibition.”
Orlaith McBride, Director of the National Archives, said; “We are delighted to bring this exhibition to Wexford. The wide and vivid range of documents, images and text presented capture as never before the drama that was the Treaty negotiations in London in 1921 and does so in a way that evokes the personal stories and personalities with all the attendant tensions, hopes and disagreements. It represents a really significant contribution to our understanding of one of the most important few weeks in our country’s history.”
Admission to the exhibition is free. The exhibition is presented by the National Archives in partnership with the Royal Irish Academy, the National Library of Ireland and the Office of Public Works, with records from the collections of the Military Archives and University College Dublin. A virtual exhibition is also available online at http://www.nationalarchives.ie.
WexfordLocal.com 