The copy of the 1916 Proclamation to be sold at auction

Mystery surrounds the origins of a copy of the 1916 Proclamation, reputedly salvaged from the burning ruins of the GPO by the Taghmon-born medical officer to the rebels, that is to be sold at auction in Dublin.

James Ryan, a final-year medical student at UCD and a member of the Irish Volunteers, was one of the last men to leave the burning GPO along with the wounded James Connolly, whom he had tended.

According to the Irish Times, Ryan, who went on to become a doctor and for 47 years served as a TD for Wexford, took the document with him and kept it until his death in 1970. It was subsequently sold privately by his family for an undisclosed sum to a collector.

'That collector has decided to put it on the market in a sale of historical memorabilia at Fonsie Mealy Auctioneers on April 23, the eve of the centenary of the start of the Rising,' the Irish Times reported.

However, Dr Ryan's son and daughter, Seamus O'Riain and Nuala Colgan, both of who live in Dublin, have written to the newspaper saying they were very surprised to read the report.

'We have no knowledge of any such document ever being in the family, and certainly no knowledge of any such sale after our father's death in 1970. It would have been completely out of character for our mother, or any members of the family, to sell such an historic document as the Proclamation for financial gain,' the siblings said in their letter.

'All our parents' writings and memorabilia have been presented to the appropriate archives, including the UCD Archives, the National Library and the Military Archives.

'In addition, our father left detailed accounts of his time in the GPO, including the evacuation, and there is no reference to his possession of such an important document.'

The Proclamation - one of only 25 surviving copies (of the 1,000 printed) still in private hands - has been assigned what the auctioneers said was a 'conservative estimate of €100,000-€150,000'.

After the Rising, Ryan was arrested by the British and sent to prison in England and Wales.

However, he was released in time to return to Dublin to sit - and pass - his final medical exams in 1917.

The following year he was elected as a Sinn Féin MP for the Westminster seat of Wexford South in the 1918 general election.

He later became a TD for Wexford. He opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty and eventually became a founder member of Fianna Fáil.

During a long political career, he served as a cabinet minister for four decades, most notably as minister for agriculture (1932-1947) and minister for finance (1957-1965). He served in the governments of two taoisigh - Éamon de Valera and Seán Lemass. Although he had quit his medical career in the 1920s, he was popularly known as Dr Jim Ryan, and, although a TD for Wexford, he bought and lived on a farm near Delgany, Co Wicklow.

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