President Arthur Griffith en route to Sligo, April 1922.

Following the Royal Assent of the Free State Agreement Act it was required that a General Election be held in the Free State before 30 June. Political meetings were held throughout the country. In Sligo town, a meeting to be addressed by Arthur Griffith and other pro-treaty politicians on Sunday 16 April was threateded by IRA troops; as a result Free State Army troops were brought in to protect it.