At long last, the pension records of those who fought in the Easter Rising and War of Independence are to be released. The first tranche will be uploaded online on Friday 17 January.
This collection, which holds some 300,000 files relating to 60,000 people who earned an old IRA pension, has been much anticipated.
The pensioners served as members of the Irish Volunteers, the Irish Citizen Army, the Irish Republican Army, Cumann na mBan, the National Army/Defence Forces and similar organisations during the period from April and May 1916 to 30 September 1923. Together with applications by individuals and/or their dependants for the award of a pension or gratuity, the records include statements from commanding officers explaining what each recipient did to earn the pension, plus many maps, drawings and diagrams.
Appropriately enough, the official launch will take place at the GPO in O'Connell Street and the collection will be free to view on the Military Archives website.
UPDATE: Official launch moved to 16 January, 7:30pm.
UPDATE 16 January, 12:25pm: First tranche of Irish Military Pension Collection online. More.