Ireland

2019

Commemorative coin

100 years since the establishment of the Dáil Éireann (Irish Parliament)

Official Journal of the European Union

The design depicts the first sitting of Dáil Éireann in the Round Room. The Governance of the Irish nation began on the 21st of January and the sitting was conducted entirely in the Irish language to mark the symbolic nature of the meeting. The large Round Room of the Mansion House arcs above the vast congregation of the nation’s first elected Dáil. The words ‘An Chéad Dáil’, at the centre of the design, together with the year ‘1919’ at the top, are inscribed in a traditional uncial font. At the bottom are inscribed the name of the country and the year of issuance ‘ÉIRE 2019’. The coin’s outer ring depicts the 12 stars of the European flag.

Additional information

The commemorative coin commemorates the first meeting of the "Assembly of Ireland", the Dáil Éireann, on 21 January 1919, which proclaimed Ireland's independence, citing the Easter Proclamation of 1916, which triggered the two-year Irish War of Independence. The unicameral parliament met in the "Round Room" of the "Mansion House", the residence of the Lord Mayor of Dublin, built in 1710. Since 1922 Leinster House, the former Ducal Palace of Dublin, has been the seat of the Dáil Éireann. The stylised coin motif was inspired by a photograph from August 1921 showing the "Round Room", which was filled with members of parliament and other guests and surrounded by a gallery. The heads of those present in the round room and on the gallery are symbolised by dots.

Edge lettering

Designer