Editing Michael Collins (Irish leader) (section)

==Provisional government==
[[File:Michael Collins addressing crowd in Cork cph.3b15295.jpg|thumb|right|Michael Collins addresses a crowd in [[Skibbereen]] on [[Saint Patrick's Day]], 1922.]]
De Valera resigned the presidency and sought re-election but Arthur Griffith replaced him after a close vote on 9 January 1922. Griffith chose as his title President of Dáil Éireann, rather than President of the Republic as de Valera had favoured.<ref>Younger, Calton. ''Arthur Griffith'', Dublin, Gill & Macmillan 1981</ref> The Dáil Éireann government did not hold legal status in British [[constitutional law]]. The provisions of the Treaty required the formation of a ''new'' government established under British law with royal assent, which would be recognised by Westminster as pertaining to the Free State dominion that had been agreed under the Treaty. Despite the abdication of a large part of the Dáil, the [[Provisional Government of the Irish Free State|Provisional Government (Rialtas Sealadach na hÉireann)]] was formed with Michael Collins as Chairman of the Cabinet (effectively [[Prime Minister]]). The Provisional Government operated concurrently with the Dáil Éireann government under Griffith. Collins retained his position as Minister for Finance in both governments.<ref name="ReferenceJ" /> 

In British legal tradition, Collins was now a Crown-appointed prime minister of a Commonwealth dominion, installed under the [[Royal Prerogative]]. To be so installed he had to formally meet the [[Lord Lieutenant of Ireland]] [[Edmund FitzAlan-Howard, 1st Viscount FitzAlan of Derwent|Viscount FitzAlan]], the head of the British administration in Ireland. The republican view of the same meeting is that Collins met FitzAlan to accept the surrender of Dublin Castle, the official seat of the British government in Ireland. Having surrendered, FitzAlan still remained in place as viceroy until December 1922.

The Provisional Government's first obligation was to create a Constitution for the Free State. This was undertaken by Collins and a team of solicitors. The outcome of their work became the Irish Constitution of 1922.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Constitution of the Irish Free State 1922|url=http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/E900003-004/|access-date=3 December 2013|archive-date=30 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131230153615/http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/E900003-004/|url-status=dead}}</ref> He drew up a republican constitution which, without repudiating the Treaty, would include no mention of the British King. His object was that the Constitution would allow participation in the Dáil by dissenting TDs who opposed the Treaty and refused to take any oath recognising the Crown. Under the Treaty, the Free State was obliged to submit its new Constitution to Westminster for approval. Upon doing so, in June 1922, Collins and Griffith found Lloyd George determined to veto the provisions they had fashioned to prevent civil war.<ref>Coogan, TP. ''Michael Collins''</ref>{{page needed|date=July 2020}}

The meetings with Lloyd George and Churchill were bitter and contentious. Collins, although less diplomatic than Griffith or de Valera, had no less penetrating comprehension of political issues. He complained that he was being manipulated into "doing Churchill's dirty work", in a potential civil war with his own former troops.<ref name="ReferenceJ"/><ref>Michael Collins – Winston Churchill correspondence June 1922</ref>{{full citation needed|date=July 2020}}