Collins letter reveals a 'stupid error' nothing new in Finance

A LETTER from the minister for finance apologising for “a stupid error” made by an official in his department has come to light.

Ninety-one years before Michael Noonan blamed a “systems error” in his department for miscalculating the national debt by €3.6 billion, the former finance minister Michael Collins also found himself dealing with administrative error.

The letter is among newly uncovered correspondence from Michael Collins in 1920, to be auctioned in Dublin next month by rare books auctioneers, Mealy’s.

In one of the typewritten letters, dated July 23rd, 1920, Collins apologised for an unexplained error relating to the issuing of a receipt to Mrs Margaret Drohan, a subscriber to the National Loan.

He signed in Irish as Míceál Ó Coileáin, Aire Airgid (minister for finance), enclosed “a fresh receipt” and wrote: “I am sorry that one of my assistants made such a stupid error”. He also acknowledged that the department was under intense pressure, saying that “work is awfully heavy at present”.

The National Loan was the first “State”-guaranteed bond, launched during a fundraising drive by the First Dáil in 1919 to finance the provisional government which was trying to achieve freedom from British rule.

Collins was delegated by the cabinet to oversee and administer the project whereby members of the public were invited to lend the government money at an interest rate of 5 per cent.

But the ambitious scheme strained the resources of the nascent department of finance and other letters in the batch of correspondence confirm that officials were struggling. In an earlier letter, dated May 28th, 1920, Collins wrote “work is very busy just at the moment and we have to labour under immense difficulties. There may, therefore, be a little longer time than usual taken.”

Despite the challenges, by the summer of 1920, more than £300,000 had been raised.

The letters, which were sent to J P Cooney, a fundraiser for the National Loan in Clonmel, Co Tipperary, will be sold along with a ledger, scrutinised and annotated by Collins, which records the names of hundreds of individuals and sports clubs who bought the bond.

They included a Mrs Ranson, Devonshire Arms Hotel, Dungarvan (Co Waterford); William Forde, 1 Richmond Terrace, Bray (Co Wicklow); and the Scariff Hurling Club (Co Clare) who each bought 10 shillings’ worth. William Sullivan, publican, Listowel (Co Kerry) subscribed 20 shillings.

Auctioneer Fonsie Mealy said the documents would go under the hammer “as one lot” in Dublin on December 13th (in the D4 Berkeley Hotel, Ballsbridge) with a pre-sale estimate of €14,000-€18,000.

Letters by Collins are eagerly sought after by collectors. Last year, a collection of letters from Collins to his sister Hannah made about €100,000 at the annual Independence Sale in Dublin.