2 Euros Centenary of the 1st Meeting of Dail Eireann

The First Dáil convened on 21 January 1919 in the Mansion House, Dublin — the same day that two Royal Irish Constabulary officers were shot dead at Soloheadbeg in Tipperary, an ambush now widely regarded as the opening engagement of the War of Independence. The delegates, most of them Sinn Féin MPs elected in the December 1918 general election, met as a unilaterally declared Irish parliament while the majority of their number remained imprisoned in British jails.

Ireland issued commemorative €2 pieces marking the centenary in modest numbers relative to its larger eurozone partners, and this coin circulated concurrently with a politically charged anniversary season.