Treaty Debates Research Project Competition

Grace Nic Cormaic (Teacher: Seán Ó Mairtín)

Grace is a Transition year student in Coláiste Oiriall in Monaghan. She wrote her essay on Arthur Griffith and one of the reasons she decided to write about him was because the area where her grandparents live is named after him. She outlined her research goals very clearly and made very good use of relevant sources. She did an excellent job on summarising Griffith’s role in the Treaty Debates and summarised her project in a very clear and concise manner. marised her project in a very clear and concise manner.

Emily Walsh (Teacher: Monica Murphy)

Emily is a student at Presentation Secondary School Castleisland in Kerry and she developed a very interesting PowerPoint presentation on a local Kerry TD, Austin Stack. In particular her use of sources was very clear. Not only did she use local sources to support points made by using parts of the official Treaty Debate records she cleverly designed QR codes so that anyone reading the submission could quickly and easily access the relevant documents.

Michael Moran (Teacher: Rosie Reale)

Michael is a Transition Year student in Roscommon CBS. He wrote his essay on local TD Daniel O’Rourke. Michael gave a very detailed account of the Deputy who later went on to serve in the Seanad and so was a very interesting individual to research.

Michael and his teacher are pictured with deputy principal Francis Ferguson

Niamh Kinsella (Teacher: Laura Higgins)

Niamh is a third-year student in Kishoge Community College and did her essay on Harry Boland. As well as providing a very interesting look at his background life Niamh did an excellent job of evaluating the sources which she used when writing her essay.

Isobel Murphy (Teacher: Anne Marie Ryan)

Isobel is a Transition Year student in Loreto College Balbriggan and wrote an excellent account of the role played by Dr Ada English in not just the Treaty Debates but in promoting the role of women in politics. Her presentation style was excellent and Isobel also showed her interest in research by contacting current Members to get their views on the involvement of women in politics.

Isobel and her teacher are pictured with school principal Ann Marie McDonough

Sarah Jane O’Neill (Teacher: Michael Maher)

Sarah Jane is a third year student in St Kevin’s Community College Dunlavin and wrote her essay on Countess Markievicz. As well as writing about the Treaty debates Sarah Jane also included a very interesting paragraph about Markievicz and her contribution to Irish women and the franchise from March 1922. This gave another insight into the ideals that Markievicz stood for.

Daithi Murnane (Teacher: Ian Bright)

Daithi is a 5th year student in Celbridge Community School. Daithi wrote his essay in Irish and talked about the role of Cathal Brugha in the Treaty Debates. What was particularly interesting about his essay was the research he put in, even going as far as interviewing Cathal Brugha's grandson. This was an excellent essay which showed a very original approach to researching a difficult topic in Irish history.

Saoirse Barrett (Teacher Elaine Healy Rae)

Saoirse is a first-year student in Loreto College Fermoy and wrote her essay on Michael Collins. In particular she focused in on the interactions between Collins and Éamon De Valera and how their relationship changed over time. She made good use of the Oireachtas website to research the Debates and made some interesting points throughout her essay.

Bridgin O’Donnell (Teacher: Mary Walsh Foley)

Bridgin is a TY student in Abbeyfeale College, and she did her research project on local TD at the time M.P. Colivet. She made very good use of this local link and combined very good writing skills with interesting and relevant resources.

Saoirse McAree (Teacher: Joanne McEntee)

Saoirse is a second-year student in Beech Hill College in Monaghan Town and wrote her essay on local TD Seán MacEntee. Her essay showed a huge amount of research and she presented a very thorough account of the role he played in the Debates.

Thomas Cannon (Teacher: Kieran McTaggart)

Thomas is a fifth-year student in Loreto Community School in Milford Co. Donegal and wrote his essay on the input of two local TDs to the Treaty Debates: Joseph O’Doherty and Peter Joseph Ward. His essay presented a very balanced account of the decisions which were faced and made by both sides in the debate.

Carry out a research project on one or more of the Members of the second Dáil Éireann who were involved in the Debates on the Treaty, which took place from 14 December 1921 to 7 January 1922.

• Entries can be in English or Irish.
• Entries must be from individual students.
• The maximum word count is 1,500 words. References are not included in the word count.

Irish language entries and those which have a family, local or regional theme are especially welcome.

Submissions can be in any format such as Word, narrated Powerpoint, Adobe Spark, video etc.

The maximum word count of 1,500 words applies to all formats.

Audio-visual submissions should be no more than 2GB in size.

Prizes will be awarded for the best Junior Cycle (1st to 3rd year) and Senior Cycle (TY, 5th and 6th year) entry from each of five regions:

• Dublin
• Rest of Leinster
• Ulster
• Munster
• Connacht

We will also award the following:

• Overall prize for the best project
• Special award for the project which makes best use of the Oireachtas website to research the debates and individual Members

The winning entries will be announced on 14 December 2021.

Successful students from each region and category will be invited to present their research in Leinster House (subject to public health guidance) before the end of the school year. If this is not possible the event will be online.

Email your entry to the parliamentary education officer by Friday, 15 October 1921.

If your entry is too large to be emailed, you can share it via software such as OneDrive, Google Drive or WeTransfer.