The Minister for Publicity was a position in the Ministry of Dáil Éireann, the government of the

Irish Republic The Irish Republic ( ga, Poblacht na hÉireann or ) was an unrecognised revolutionary state that declared its independence from the United Kingdom in January 1919. The Republic claimed jurisdiction over the whole island of Ireland, but by ...

, a self-declared state which was established in 1919 by Dáil Éireann, the parliamentary assembly made up of the majority of Irish MPs elected in the 1918 general election.

History

In April 1918, a

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...

Department of Propaganda was established at No. 6 Harcourt Street in charge of Robert Brennan. The portfolio was created to promote the new government of Ireland throughout the country. After the

First Dáil The First Dáil ( ga, An Chéad Dáil) was Dáil Éireann as it convened from 1919 to 1921. It was the first meeting of the unicameral parliament of the revolutionary Irish Republic. In the December 1918 election to the Parliament of the United ...

came into being a similar department was set up under the new Dáil, concentrating more on overseas publicity. Both Departments co-operated in issuing publicity material. The first Director of Publicity under Dáil Éireann was

Laurence Ginnell Laurence Ginnell (baptised 9 April 1852 – 17 April 1923) was an Irish nationalist politician, lawyer and Member of Parliament (MP) of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as member of the Irish Parliamentary ...

. In the

, the post was called Director of Propaganda.

List of office-holders

References

{{Government of Ireland Publicity Publicity