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1921 The Population of Ireland in the whole 32 Counties, was now at 3,000,000 people. - There was to be a slump after the 1st World War boom post years in the 6 Counties, to be Artificially Partitioned from the 9 Counties in the Ulster Province, which were to be still under the control of the British Government, and the Ascendancy Official Unionists at Belfast in the north - east of the Province.

The Irish Republicans, were in the third year of their struggle with the British Imperial Government in England, for "Irish Independence" / Self Determination" in Ireland, despite the fact that the Irish political Sinn Fein Party had won all of the elections with landslide victories. The British Government was even more determined then ever, to uphold their Imperial Empire position, regardless of the costs of Irish life, although by now they well and truly realised that the Mere Irish / Bog Irish themselves were not as easy to push around as they once thought.

Winston Churchill, the British Secretary of State for the Colonies, was ready to launch, "The most unlimited exercise of rough handed force on the Irish population" and changes had been made to the British Imperial Government's regular policy of "unofficial" reprisals, carried out on the Irish population, and they now blatantly and "officially" condoned the reprisals in Ireland by their British Military Forces, and 18 of the 32 Counties in Ireland, were now placed under British Martial Law. The Irish Volunteers / I.R.A. / Irish Republican Army came out in response to the increased raids carried out by the British Government Military Forces, and their other activities, by increasing their own attacks to obtain arms, and it was now finally and abundantly clear to all that an ongoing Military conclusion by the British Imperial Military Forces was now totally impracticable. The British Government, had also by now lost any chance of retaining their previous full control over the people in Ireland, but true to their British Imperialistic traditions, they had and were to continue to ferociously carry on the onslaught no matter what the costs of human suffering in Ireland. The population of Ireland was to be denied their democratic rights for another two years, while the British Imperial Government Military Forces continued to carry out their ferocious reprisals, with much Irish blood continuing to be shed. The British Imperial Government now had to either decide to conquer Ireland outright, or offer up terms to the Irish people to reach a final solution, but unfortunately for everyone involved, due to the Centuries of their continuing Imperialistic Military control over other "foreign" Countries, including Ireland, which had suffered the longest and the most, their bruised egos could not, as usual, allow them to make a just democratic decision. To make it even harder for them to reach a final decision, there were now 3 individual parties involved in the final solution, for by now their chickens had well and truly came home to roost, after nearly 8 Centuries of continued Ethnic and Religious repression in Ireland, and their Confiscations and ongoing 'Foreign Sectarian Plantations." Because of their continued intransigence on Irish Civil Rights they now had not only the Irish Republicans, but also the Ascendancy Official Unionists in the north - east of the Ulster Province to contend with.

Within weeks, feelers were put out for an Anglo - Irish Truce by the British Imperial Government, but their conditions still included the Irish Volunteers / I.R.A / Irish Republican Army laying down their guns first, but the Irish had gone through too many English broken promises to fall for that one. Michael Collins, had also previously set up the A.S.U. / Active Service Unit under Patrick Flanagan from the I.R.A's Dublin Brigade's 3rd Battalion, who took in other members from his group, including James Browne, James Doyle, James Gibbons, Richard Sweetman and others, and was not going to allow their cover to be broken.

January 1st: Eammon de Valera, the President of the 1st Dail Eireann / Irish Assembly, was now set up in a house at Merrion in Dublin by the Irish Sea, were many of the individual members of the Dail Eireann Cabinet were now able to visit him to carry out discussions on their individual problems, away from the searching eyes of the many British Imperial Government agents in Ireland.

January 3rd: Eammon de Valera, had discussions with Father Flanagan, who was the vice - President of the political Sinn Fein Party, and Arthur Cope who was the British appointed Assistant Under - Secretary in Ireland, and because of these extra discussions, Arthur Cope then informed Archbishop Clune that the British Cabinet had now decided to carry out their own separate negotiations with "other" Irish parties. The inference was that these negotiations were now being carried out separately, on behalf of Eamonn de Valera, through the offices of Father Flanagan, who also went to London to see David Lloyd - George the British Prime Minister, personally. Nothing further was to come from these "individual" negotiations, but it was generally recognized that these further unofficial discussions, had now only weakened Ireland's negotiating position in the eyes of David Lloyd - George, who considered that he now had another string to his bow.

Further pressure was increased also on the Irish Volunteer forces now, as the British Government's Military Auxiliaries were coming to realise that their Imperial "carte blanche" position, to do as they liked in Ireland, was not as strong as they had first thought, and more general incidents were to occur, like the attack on 3 Irish men who were walking along Clare Street, who were at first assaulted by the British Auxiliaries with their rifle butts, who then shot one of them in the back as he panicked and ran away. The Dail Eireann Finance Office were Michael Collins was operating out of at this time was also raided by the British Auxiliaries, while he was still in there, but he just continued on slowly down the stairs and passed them by and went on out into the street, were although they stopped him and searched him they let him continue on, not realising who they really had within their grasp.

January 7th: Sean Mac Eoin, while out walking on his own, was also surrounded by 11 members of the Dublin Castle's R.I.C. police force, and during the ensuing struggle to arrest him, Inspector Mac Grath the leader of the R.I.C. police was killed, while Sean mac Eoin managed to escape.

January 9th: Eammon de Valera, met withhis 1st Dail Eireann Cabinet, were he appointed Kevin O Higgins to the Assistant Minister for Local Government position, to assist William. J. Cosgrave, and Joseph Mac Donagh as the Minister for Labour to replace Countess Constance Markievicz who was still being held in a prison in England. Eammon de Valera, was now well aware of the personal stress between the defiant obstinate idealist, Cathal Brugha and the realist, Michael Collins, and that Cathal Brugha wanted control over all of the Irish Volunteer forces as the Minister for Defence. The officers at the Irish G.H.Q., who were members of the I.R.B. / Irish Republican Brotherhood, gave their allegiance only to Michael Collins, who was in charge there, while Cathal Brugha felt that Michael Collins should be subordinate to him in his position as the Director of Military Intelligence, but this could not be, as Michael Collins had much more responsibility and was also his equal as the Minister for Finance in the Irish Dail Cabinet. Cathal Brugha, also was of the opinion that he should have been the acting - President after Arthur Griffith was arrested, due to his seniority, although he had himself declined to take up the position. Eammon de Valera, was also well aware of the personal role carried out by Michael Collins, and as a consequence, wrote to him stating that," I would be sorry to think that your feeling discontented, dissatisfied and fed up, was due to anything more than natural physical reaction after the terrible personal strain you have been subjected to. "

January 21st: Eammon de Valera and Michael Collins, decided to hold another meeting of the 1st Dail Eireann / Irish Assembly on this date, but Cathal Brugha was worried about them all being arrested, and Eammon de Valera and the other Dail Eireann Cabinet Ministers did not show, while Michael Collins was pulled up on the way there by a British Military Force, who once again not realising who he was, allowed him to go on his way.

The British Government Military Forces were now constantly executing all of the I.R.A. / Irish Republican Army / Irish Volunteers members, whenever they were able to capture them. Michael Collins, as the I.R.A. Director of Military Intelligence kept his contacts with all the Irish Brigades who were now under the control of Sean O Hegarty, Liam Lynch, and later on Tom Barry in Co. Longford in the north - west of Northern Leinster, who would succeed Sean Mac Eoin, and also Tom Hales who commanded the Irish Brigade in Co. Cork in Southern Munster. Meanwhile, the Cork Brigade were to be successful in ambushing 7 truck loads of British Imperial Government Forces at Macroom there in Co. Cork in Southern Munster, with only one of the trucks being able to make it back to their British Army base.

January 24th: In the 6 Counties, to be Artificially Partitioned from the 9 in the Ulster Province, which were still under the control of the British Imperial Government also and the Ascendancy Official Unionists up to this date, a further 264 Irish men and women were to meet with more violent deaths, with two thirds of these being Catholic Irish, and William Craig the Official Unionist leader had since appointed "A" and "B " Special Police there.

January 25th: 24 members of the Dail Eireann / Irish Assembly were able to finally meet at Walter Cole's house in Mountjoy Square in Dublin, were Eammon de Valera put it to them to cut back or lighten off on the Anglo - Irish War effort, as he was of the opinion, "That the enemy had superior forces while all the Irish people had, was endurance and moral resistance," and to this end he put forward the suggestion that Michael Collins should be sent away from Ireland to the United States of America. Naturally the rest of the members refused to go along with this request, except for Roger Sweetman and Liam de Roistre, and it was around this time that Cathal Brugha and Austin Stack really joined forces. The Dail Eireann Cabinet, decided as a show of strength, that Austin Stack as the Minister for Home Affairs should make an order to prohibit the taking of any Census by the British Imperial Government authorities in Dublin Castle, and this then made it impossible for them to carry it out in Ireland.

+On to 1921 / 2 - February to March

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