Joseph Walshe - From Irish Republic To Treaty Split

From Irish Republic To Treaty Split

Having completed his studies, Walsh went on holidays to France where he met with Seán T. Ó Ceallaigh, whom he had known at the University. Ó Ceallaigh had been sent to Paris in 1919 to lobby the international delegates for recognition of the revolutionary Irish Republic at the Paris Peace Conference. While the Irish War of Independence continued, Walshe worked with Ó Ceallaigh and his small team for international recognition of the nascent government of which he was now an employee, and which the British authorities considered illegal. Walsh was formally engaged in Paris from 1 November 1920 until his recall to Dublin on 31 January 1922. His transfer and meteoric promotion were precipitated by the split within the Irish government due to disagreements over the Anglo-Irish Treaty and which soon led to the Irish Civil War. Robert Brennan, who was Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs prior to the split, and who sided with the anti-treaty faction, recommended to the pro-treaty George Gavan Duffy that Walsh would be a capable replacement for him to organise the Department. Gavan Duffy accepted the recommendation of his erstwhile colleague and Walsh was appointed Acting Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Provisional Government.