Republican Police [1921] General Instruction. Police Headquarters. Emigration. Issued by the Chief of...

Republican Police [1921] General Instruction. Police Headquarters. Emigration. Issued by the Chief of Police on the instruction of the Minister for Home Affairs. 3 pp folio (3rd page a specimen form), cyclostyled typescript, stapled, n.d. [circa November 1921]. Rare. A curious document stating that 'Dail Eireann has decreed that no citizen of the Irish Republic shall leave Ireland for the purpose of settling abroad, without first obtaining a permit from the Minister for Home Affairs', noting that 'Dail Eireann's intention of making Permits necessary was not to facilitate emigration but to ensure that no one was allowed to emigrate except those who had a good and sufficient reason', and requiring [Republican] police officers to process permit applications accordingly for transmission to the Dept. of Home Affairs. In mid-1921, after the RIC was forced out of many areas, IRA headquarters became concerned about a breakdown of civil law and order, and each Brigade was instructed to appoint a Police Officer to maintain civil law with the assistance of local Volunteers as necessary. The system was not effective, as brigade officers had other things to do, and documents relating to it are rare. The Minister for Home Affairs in late 1921 was Cathal Brugha; the Chief of Police was Simon Donnelly, Vice-Commandant of the IRA's 3rd Dublin Brigade.

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