At lunchtime on Monday, January 16, 1922, three loaded taxis sped from the Mansion House to Dublin Castle. Due to the thousands of Dubliners who had been waiting since early morning, they had to slowly tread their way through the crowds all along Dame Street to reach the Palace Street gate into the Castle. Once inside, led by Michael Collins, nine members of what would become the first ever Irish government filed upstairs to the elaborate Privy Council Chamber to be greeted there by the Viceroy, Lord FitzAlan Howard. Collins was carrying a signed copy of the Treaty document which…

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