The Treaty | The Dignity of Everyday Life | More questions than answers

The TreatyIn the early hours of 6 December 1921 the Irish delegates taking part in the negotiations with the British government signed The Anglo Irish Treaty. Their decision reinforced the terms of the partitionist Government of Ireland Act passed in the British Parliament one year earlier. In the years since then the decision to sign The Treaty has been discussed, debated, argued over and been the subject of countless books and articles. For some it was a necessary decision in the face of the threat of immediate and terrible war by British Prime Minister Lloyd George. For others it was a betrayal of the Republic, of the Proclamation and of those who had fought and died in 1916 and in the following five years. The Dignity of Everyday Life.Back in the day I would often travel by bus from Dundalk to Dublin. Sometimes I was unlucky and my bus was the one which stopped at every telegraph pole on route. A tedious journey. Other times I was lucky with the express yoke and before I knew it we would be pulling into Busáras in the capital.More questions than answers:I find myself asking questions I used to hear older people ask.  Questions which are rarely answered no matter how often they are asked. Maybe because I often mutter them to myself.