4/4 They remain a reminder that the Irish Republic was neither gifted nor compromised into being, but claimed, defended and upheld in the face of foreign rule and repression.

3/ Together, the ambush at Soloheadbeg and the First Dáil embodied two pillars of the Irish Republic, the authority of the people and the duty of resistance.

2/ On the same day, the elected representatives of the Irish people, refusing to sit in the Westminster parliament, assembled in Dublin as the First Dáil, giving democratic expression to the Irish Republic proclaimed in 1916 and overwhelmingly endorsed in the 1918 General Election.