One of the most important and valuable parts of the Military Service (1916-1923) Pensions Collection (MSPC) is the IRA Nominal Roll (RO) file series. This file series provides a unique window into the structure and membership of the Irish Republican Army during the Irish Independence struggle, while also revealing how the state later assessed and recognised military service.

This article will briefly explore how and why these records were created, what they contain, and why they remain so important today.

Background to the Creation of the IRA Nominal Rolls

The IRA Nominal Rolls were an indirect result of the Military Service Pensions Act, 1934, the successor to the Military Service Pensions Act, 1924. The 1924 Act, introduced by the Cumann na nGaedheal government, aimed to recognize and reward financially those who had served in the pro-Treaty National Forces during the Civil War and who could prove active service during either or both the 1916 Easter Rising and the War of Independence.

The 1934 Act, introduced by the Fianna Fáil government, widened eligibility significantly by allowing applications from those who had taken the anti-Treaty side in the Civil War, as well as individuals with no Civil War service at all.

As a result, there was a dramatic increase in applications between the two Acts. A total of 13,355 eligible applications were processed under the 1924 Act, while 51,880 applications would be received under the 1934 Act by the initial deadline of 31 December 1935. As unsuccessful applicants could appeal against their verdicts, this meant a massive task faced by the Referee and Advisory Committee processing and adjudicating on these 1934 Act service pension claims.

The Creation of the Brigade Committees

To assist with this task Humphrey Murphy, former OC 2 Kerry Brigade, IRA, and member of Advisory Committee, suggested the formation of Brigade Committees, based on the IRA structure of the War of Independence and Civil War periods. The committees would, in as far as possible, be manned by surviving IRA veterans, and would, it was hoped, provide accurate and complete membership listings, from local Company to General Headquarters level, and including specialist units such as the flying columns/active service units, for the IRA. In doing so, they created a remarkably comprehensive picture of the organisation and its membership

The files also reflect the island wide nature of the IRA and the conflicts of the Revolutionary period. It also reflects, in the files relating to units in Scotland, England and New York, the international dimension of the organisation at that time.
The Brigade Committees would also be tasked with compiling listings of operations and activities undertaken, and the participants involved, in their area. The latter would go on to comprise the Brigade Activity Reports – another hugely important aspect of the MSPC. 

The Critical Dates

A key feature of the IRA Nominal Rolls is their focus on two specific dates:

• 11 July 1921 – the end of the War of Independence
• 1 July 1922 – the outbreak of the Civil War

The critical dates were central to the processing and assessing of service pension claims. An applicant’s rank, and thus their pension grade, was determined by the rank held by them on one or other of those dates. Just as importantly, if they were claiming officer rank, the number of men under their command could determine the value of their pension. For example, the commanding officer of a battalion with a strength of over 300 on either critical date, would receive a higher pension grade and a pension worth £5 (five pounds sterling) extra per years of recognised service, than the commanding officer of a battalion with less than 300 members. Such a difference corresponds to approximately €361.70 as of May 2026.

The Number of Listings on a File

The number of listings on file per IRA unit can vary widely, nor are the listings always in agreement with each other. This can be confusing and there are several reasons why this happened. Firstly, as far as we can tell, all listings submitted to the Office of the Referee were kept and filed. Secondly, as we have already seen, the existence of the two critical dates meant, in theory at least, that there should be two listings for each company. This was not always the case, and we will come back to why that was later in the article.

Thirdly, listings were also submitted independently by former IRA officers and members as well as by the Brigade Committees. Furthermore, as listings were being created at least a decade after the events, lapses of memory, deaths and emigration, meant that individuals could be accidentally left off the listings initially submitted. Reconsideration by members of the committees, as well as appeals/complaints/queries arising from the processing of service pension claims, also led to committees having to revisit and revise existing listings and submit further rolls.

It is also clear that in some cases committees did not fully understand what was being asked of them. As a result, one can find listings which appear to cover both critical dates or neither, and did not include those recruited between 11 July 1921 and 1 July 1922. This would of course also prompt requests for revision and resubmission

Finally multiple listings, handwritten and typed can occur for a company on a file. At least in some cases the typed copies were created by clerical staff for reasons of legibility, and to allow greater flexibility of use by the Referee and Advisory Committee.

A Further Complication: Changes in the IRA Structure:

To further complicate matters, changes to the structure of the IRA, particularly between 11 July 1921 and 1 July 1922, made for further difficulties in the creation of listings in some areas. During that time the creation of a divisional structure, which had begun towards the end of the War of Independence, was completed. The creation of the IRA divisions also led to a reorganisation in some areas at lower levels of the IRA as existing company, battalion and brigade boundaries were sometimes redrawn. Units might cease to exist, be amalgamated, or change their battalion and or brigade designation. New units also came into existence.

Added to this the split in the IRA, into pro and anti-Treaty factions, led in some cases to even further reorganisation and later confusion. The departure of pro-Treaty elements from the IRA could again lead to the amalgamation or total disappearance of units, as men left to join some element of the National Forces, the newly formed Civic Guard, or just opted out completely by becoming neutral.

As a result, some companies do not have listings for both critical dates as they did not exist on one or other of those dates. Similarly listing(s) for a company may be found in more than one file due to confusion around which battalion or brigade it belonged to on a particular critical date.

What the IRA Nominal Rolls Contain:

The level of detail contained in the files can vary. It should also be remembered that aside from the information regarding the designation of the IRA unit to which the individual belonged, additional information generally relates to the date at which the listing was submitted. Typically they include the following:

• Name (sometimes just an initial and a surname)
• Rank and unit
• Address (from local townlands to countries if the individual had emigrated)
• Whether the individual was deceased at the time of compilation
• Whether the individual was imprisoned, interned or killed during the conflict

Some entries can also include reference to later service in the Irish Defence Forces or An Gárda Síochána as well as pension or medal file references, generally added by officials later.

It should also be noted that the nominal rolls contain the names of some, who for whatever reason, never applied for a pension or medal, and thus appear nowhere else in the MSPC.

Why the IRA Nominal Rolls Still Matter

On a practical level the IRA Nominal Rolls were widely used to verify pension and medal claims. This use continued, in respect of medal and related Army Pension Acts claims, beyond the ending of the service pension machinery in 1958 and indeed into the 21^st century.

Today they are an invaluable resource for family and local historians, and anyone interested in the Irish revolutionary period, the partition of the island of Ireland, the development of the Irish state, and the way that state chose to recognise and reward those who had brought it into existence.