Parliamentary Debates. Official Report. Volume 1. 9th September – 4th December, 1922. Volume 2: 6th December,1922 to 27th March, 1923. Dublin: Alex Thom & Co., [1923]. (1) Pp viii, 2646 (printed columns) 30 (index); (2) Pp viii, 2564, [Index]. Thick 8vo. Green buckram boards, titles lettered in gilt to spines. A near fine set.

The first two volumes of the ‘Third Dáil’ which first met on 9 September 1922, where Liam. T. Cosgrave was appointed as President of Dáil Éireann.

The republican deputies (Anti-Treaty) refused to recognise the new Dáil when it met. They claimed that it was not the legitimate successor to the first and second Dáils, stating that it therefore derived its authority from the Treaty and not from the Irish people. The only republican who attended the opening was Lawrence Ginnell, who did so at De Valera’s suggestion. Republicans called it the Provisional Dáil but its supporters regarded it as the Third Dáil Eireann.

The Irish Free State officially came into being on 6th December 1922, one year after the Treaty was signed, governing twenty-six of Ireland’s thirty-two counties.