Money for Ireland: Finance, Diplomacy, Politics, and the First Dail Eireann Loans, 1919-1936

Raising money was one of the great successes of the Irish government, as the funds provided the sinews of war with which to fight Britain. This book details the history of the financing of the Irish revolution from both domestic and international loans. Divisions in Irish society over the Anglo-Irish Treaty and the creation of the Irish Free State led to the outbreak of the Civil War. The Free State’s ability to deny the anti-Treaty forces access to the loan funds through a ten-year court battle would prove a powerful weapon in defeating the Republicans. The Dail government depended on the loans to finance their operations, and the failure of the anti-Treaty forces was due in part to their shortage of funds. International complications arose for the Free State when courts in Dublin and New York disagreed over dispersal of the money. Upon his return to government office, Eamon de Valera appealed to bond holders, particularly those in the United States, to give the loan money to him to found an opposition newspaper. Only when de Valera himself formed a government would all of the bond money be repaid. These events would raise questions of international law, and the results would shape Irish relations with the United States for a decade.