Provisional Government of the Irish Republic

In the Easter Rising in Dublin on 24 April 1916, the Proclamation of the Irish Republic read by Padraig Pearse was headed and signed as being issued by the 'Provisional Government of the Irish Republic'. The Rising lasted five days and, despite controlling only a few strategic sites, transformed the political picture in Ireland and began a chain of events that led to Independence for the Irish Free State six years later.

It is probable that all the leaders of the Rising expected to be defeated, and in a very short time. The object of their action was to strike the first blow in the struggle for freedom, rather than actually to establish a republic, with institutions, policies and government. The establishment of a Provisional government, therefore, was symbolic rather than practical. In contrast with the Dáil government of 1919–1922, which had a cabinet, a police force and a courts system, or the Provisional Government of the Irish Free State, the Provisional Government of April 1916 does not appear ever to have operated as such.