De Valera's Relationship with Irish Delegation
Curran says that the strong reaction from Griffith and Collins to de Valera’s letter came from their belated realisation that de Valera would not accept a Dominion settlement. This is unlikely as external association was not a dominion settlement but, at a minimum, it shows that Collins and Griffith did not fully comprehend external association but then de Valera had probably not fully explained it to them.