merrion street

The Minister for Defence, Mr. Simon Coveney, T.D., today announced the third release online of material from the Military Service (1916-1923) Pensions Collection (MSPC) and the welcome extension of the Military Service Pensions Project to 2023.

Today’s release, which can be viewed on the MSPC pages of the Military Archives website (www.military archives.ie) is comprised of 2,839 files, with 113,481 scanned images, relating to 882 veterans of the period April 1916 to the 30th September 1923. Included in this latest release are the files of 42 veterans of the Easter Rising, files relating to applications from dependants of 392 casualties of the War of Independence, the dependants of 144 officers and men of the National Army from the Civil War and 25 anti-Treaty Forces casualties from that conflict, and service pension files of 106 female veterans of the period, 89 officers of the brigades and battalions of the IRA and the files of 84 men from the volunteer ranks.

Commenting in relation to this new release of information the Minister said “This new release will add significantly to our understanding of the history of the revolutionary period, the flame for which was lit by the Easter Rising of 1916.”

He went on to say “Earlier this year I was accompanied by my colleague Minister Humphreys when we viewed the progress on the building of the new Military Archives facility at Cathal Brugha Barracks, Dublin, which is one of the key flagship projects being funded by the Government as part of the 2016 Centenary Programme. It is in this context that I am delighted to be able to announce that my Department has decided to extend work on the Military Service Pensions Collection project with the retention of the current experienced staff who are employed.  I believe that we cannot underestimate the significance of this research project which will allow our future generations the opportunity to broaden their understanding of the events of the period by providing public access to heretofore unseen documents relaying actual accounts of the people who participated in the events that led to the establishment of our State.” 

NOTE FOR EDITORS

The Military Service (1916-1923) Pensions Collection (MSPC) project is a joint Department of Defence and Defence Forces contribution to the Decade of Centenaries. The project is mandated to release the files and records of the Department of Defence dealing with the service of qualifying members of the Irish Volunteers, the Irish Citizen Army, the Hibernian Rifles, Cumann na mBan, Na Fianna Éireann and the Irish Republican Army from the period April 1916 to the 30th of September 1923. This involves cataloguing and partially digitising nearly 300,000 files.

This third release follows on from two successful online releases from the MSPC during 2014-on the 16th January and the 2nd October- in which nearly 13,000 files relating to 3892 veterans of the period and a range of administrative files, comprising over 560,000 scanned images, were released.