Irish Army Mutiny

[3] As the prelude to a coup d'état,[4] the decisions made by influential politicians and soldiers at the time have continuing significance for the Government of Ireland.

Two more of the senior generals, John T. Prout and J.J. "Ginger" O'Connell, had served in the United States Army.

Collins promoted fellow-members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood but was slow to put Squad members in high positions.

The committee, consisting of Eoin MacNeill, Ernest Blythe, and IRAO sympathiser Joseph McGrath, effectively undermined the authority of the Army Council.

[6] The ultimatum was signed by senior Army officers, Major-General Liam Tobin and Colonel Charles Dalton.

[8] That morning 35 men of the 36th Infantry Battalion had refused to parade and the preceding week officers had absconded with arms from Templemore, Gormanstown, Baldonnel Aerodrome and Roscommon.

[10] Fearing an incendiary speech by McGrath, Cosgrave first offered the IRAO an inquiry and an amnesty before then taking sick leave thus making Minister for Justice, Kevin O’Higgins, de facto head of the Government.

[12] Generals Costello and MacEoin recounted that Cosgrave feigned illness, hoping O’Higgins would talk himself into resigning.

Tobin and Dalton were able to escape using an old path of retreat across the roofs, known from the days when Devlin's had been a safehouse for Michael Collins [14] The cabinet, already wary of the Free State Army, ordered an inquiry and appointed Garda Commissioner Eoin O'Duffy to the army command.

[13] The crisis within the army was solved but the government was divided, Richard Mulcahy, the Minister for Defence, resigned and O'Higgins was victorious in a very public power struggle within Cumann na nGaedheal.