From 1916, when the Republic was proclaimed in arms to the end of the Tan War in 1921, during which the Republic was established, many underground newspapers appeared. Among these were: Nationality (1917-1919), edited by Arthur Griffith and Seamus O’Kelly; An tOglach (1918-1921), edited by Piaras Béaslaí; and the Irish Bulletin (1919-’21), the paper of the Dáil Publicity Department, edited by Erskine Childers and Frank Gallagher.
In January 1922, following the signing of the Treaty in December 1921 and the betrayal of the Republic, the title Poblacht was chosen as the title for a new republican newspaper.
On January 3rd, four days before the Dáil vote on the Treaty, anticipating what lay ahead, three republicans opposed to the Treaty, Liam Mellows, Frank Gallagher and Erskine Childers, founded a newspaper, Poblacht na hÉireann (Republic of Ireland). The editorial committee included such republicans as Cathal Brugha, killed later in the year following the beginning of the Civil War, and Máire Mac Swiney, sister of Terence Mac Swiney who died on hunger-strike in Brixton Prison in October 1920.
Childers on board the AsgardPoblacht na hÉireann, under the editorship of Gallagher, was issued at a time when all the national daily papers — except the Connaughtman of Sligo — were in favour of the Treaty. It reflected the ideals of the republican leadership which was soon to be in arms against the Free State regime.
In the paper, Childers put a strong case for the republican side, including cold, analytical facts on dominion status in theory and the hard facts of the Treaty’s Defence Clauses in reality.
The issue of January 5th contained, side by side, the Treaty and Document Number Two, de Valera’s alternative to the Treaty, showing how important were the differences between them. The counter-proposal, Childers wrote, was ‘‘neither a dead negative to the English claims nor a humiliating sacrifice of Irish rights. It is an earnest effort to go to the utmost lengths possible in meeting England’s fears and prejudices without sacrificing any essential rights on the sovereign status of Ireland.’’
After February, and the acceptance of the Treaty by the Dáil by 64 votes to 57, the small journal, Poblacht na hÉireann, was edited by Childers. A fine propagandist with a natural flair for journalism, he had been Dáil Éireann’s Director of Publicity and one of the editors of the Irish Bulletin during the Tan War.
In the work of explaining the worst features of the Treaty and counteracting misrepresentations, Childers, through the columns of Poblacht na hÉireann, which he brought out once or twice a week, played a major part.
Following the failure of the Collins/de Valera Pact of June 1922, and the outbreak of the Civil War later in the month, Childers joined the IRA as a Staff-Captain but confined himself to the important work of propaganda.
Moving along with the brigade on the Cork-Kerry borders, he ran a mobile printing press with the assistance of Roibeard O Longphuirt of the Lee Press. He produced 20,000 copies weekly of Poblacht na hÉireann, sending it to embassies, newspapers, all organisations in Britain and also into jails and among the flying columns, lifting their hearts as he put their case so cogently.
In November 1922, while on his way to Dublin to meet senior IRA leaders, Childers was arrested and was executed by a Free State firing squad in Beggar’s Bush Barracks on November 24th.
With the death of Childers, the IRA lost one of its most effective propagandists and it meant the end of Poblacht na hÉireann.