Page "Southern Ireland" Paragraph 15

The Anglo-Irish Treaty was further ratified on the Irish side on 14 January 1922 by " a meeting summoned for the purpose approving the Treaty of the members elected to sit in the House of Commons of Southern Ireland " The Treaty, in specifying a " meeting of members ", did not say that the Treaty needed to be approved by the House of Commons of Southern Ireland as such.

The difference is subtle but was fully grasped by those who entered the Treaty.

Hence, when that " meeting " was convened, it was convened by Arthur Griffith in his capacity as " Chairman of the Irish Delegation of Plenipotentiaries " ( who had signed the Treaty ).

Notably, it was not convened by Viscount FitzAlan, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, who, under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, was the office-holder with the entitlement to convene a meeting of the House of Commons of Southern Ireland.