Dáil Cabinet Prohibits Army Convention
Macardle says that the banning of the convention arose because Mulcahy realised that 70 to 80 per cent of the IRA went against the Treaty and he feared that if the Convention was held a military dictatorship might be set up. He attended a meeting of IRA Divisional and Brigade Commandants that evening (who were meeting to prepare an agenda for the convention) and told them that the convention was prohibited and followed this up the next day by issuing a proclamation saying that if any officer attended the convention that he would be dismissed. (Hopkinson says that Griffith issued an order banning the convention on the 16th March.) The Republican Military Council took it upon themselves to call the convention for the 26th March. The summons to attend is signed by over 50 senior officers including 4 GHQ staff, 5 divisional commanders and a number of brigade commandants. The summons appears in the papers, along with Rory O’Connor’s infamous interview of the 22nd March, on the 23rd March