Irish Republic
Irish Republic Poblacht na hÉireann (Irish) | |||||||||||
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1916 Disputed with the United Kingdom 1919–1922 Disputed with the United Kingdom | |||||||||||
Anthem: parliamentary revolutionary republic | |||||||||||
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• 21 January – 1 April 1919 | Cathal Brugha | ||||||||||
• April 1919 – January 1922 | Éamon de Valera | ||||||||||
• January–August 1922 | Arthur Griffith | ||||||||||
• August–December 1922 | W. T. Cosgrave | ||||||||||
Legislature | Dáil | ||||||||||
Historical era | Interwar period | ||||||||||
24 April 1916 | |||||||||||
21 January 1919 | |||||||||||
1919–1921 | |||||||||||
7 January 1922 | |||||||||||
6 December 1922 | |||||||||||
Currency | Pound sterling | ||||||||||
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Today part of |
History of Ireland |
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t |
The Irish Republic (Irish: Poblacht na hÉireann or Saorstát Éireann)[1] was an unrecognised revolutionary state that declared its independence from the United Kingdom in January 1919.[2] The Republic claimed jurisdiction over the whole island of Ireland, but by 1920 its functional control was limited to only 21 of Ireland's 32 counties,[3] and British state forces maintained a presence across much of the north-east, as well as Cork, Dublin and other major towns. The republic was strongest in rural areas, and through its military forces was able to influence the population in urban areas that it did not directly control.
Its origins date back to the
The War of Independence ended with the
Name
In English, the revolutionary state was to be known as the "Irish Republic". Two different
Saorstát Éireann was adopted as the official Irish title of the Irish Free State when it was established at the end of the Irish War of Independence, although this Free State was not a republic but a form of constitutional monarchy within the British Empire. Since then, the word saorstát has fallen out of use as a translation of "republic". After the Irish state had changed its name to "Ireland", in 1949 the description of the state was declared "Republic of Ireland", while in Irish it was translated as Poblacht na hÉireann.[8]
In his memoir, Winston Churchill gives an account of the first meeting of Éamon de Valera (then the President of Dáil Éireann) with David Lloyd George (then the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom) on 14 July 1921, at which Churchill was present. Lloyd George was a native speaker of Welsh and a noted Welsh linguist, and as such was interested in the literal meaning of Saorstát. De Valera replied that it meant 'Free State'. Lloyd George asked, "What is your Irish word for Republic?" After what Churchill characterized as some delay and no reply from de Valera, Lloyd George commented: "Must we not admit that the Celts never were Republicans and have no native word for such an idea?"[9]
Lord Longford gives a different account in Peace by Ordeal: "The only doubt in de Valera's mind, as he explained to Lloyd George, arose from the current dispute among Gaelic purists whether the idea Republic was better conveyed by the broader 'Saorstát' or the more abstract 'Poblacht'."[10]
Establishment
In 1916, nationalist rebels participating in the Easter Rising issued the Proclamation of the Republic. By this declaration, they claimed to establish an independent state called the "Irish Republic", and proclaimed that the leaders of the rebellion would serve as the "Provisional Government of the Irish Republic" until it became possible to elect a national parliament. The Easter Rising was short-lived, largely limited to Dublin and, at the time it occurred, enjoyed little support from the Irish general public.
The leaders of the Easter Rising had proclaimed a republic.
In the
On the same day as the Declaration of Independence was issued, two members of the
The decision to establish a republic in 1919, rather than any other form of government, was significant because it amounted to a complete repudiation of all constitutional ties with Great Britain, and set the party against any compromise that might involve initial self-government under the
Institutions of government
President of Dáil Éireann |
---|
Cathal Brugha (Jan–Apr 1919) |
Éamon de Valera (1919 – Aug 1921) |
President of the Republic |
Éamon de Valera (Aug 1921 – Jan 1922) |
President of Dáil Éireann |
Arthur Griffith (Jan–Aug 1922) |
W. T. Cosgrave (Aug–Dec 1922) |
Office abolished December 1922 |
Dáil Éireann
The central institution of the republic was Dáil Éireann, a
At its first meeting the Dáil adopted a brief, provisional constitution known as the Dáil Constitution, as well as a series of basic laws, notably the Democratic Programme. It also passed a Declaration of Independence.
Ministry
The Dáil Constitution vested executive authority in a cabinet called the Ministry of Dáil Éireann (or Aireacht in Irish). The Ministry was answerable to the Dáil which elected its head, known initially as the President of Dáil Éireann (Príomh Aire). He in turn appointed the ministers. According to the original version of the constitution enacted in January 1919, there were to be four ministers:
- Minister of Finance (Aire Airgid)
- Minister of Home Affairs (Aire Gnóthaí Duthchais)
- Minister of Foreign Affairs (Aire Gnóthaí Coigcríoch)
- Minister of National Defence (Aire Cosanta)
In April 1919, the ministry was increased in size to not more than nine ministers. In August 1921, it was changed again with the title President of the Republic used, suggesting a position of head of state. A ministry of six was created. These were:
A number of previous cabinet ministers, notably Constance Markievicz, were demoted to under-secretary level.
The Ministry met as often as secrecy and safety allowed.
Heads of state and government
Initially, partly because of the division between republicans and monarchists, the Irish Republic had no head of state. The Republic's leader was known initially as the Príomh Aire, literally "prime minister" but referred to in the English version of the constitution as "President of the Ministry". Later the English title "President of Dáil Éireann" also came to be used for the same post, especially during President de Valera's tour of the United States. On 26 August 1921, de Valera had the Dáil appoint him to the new post of "President of the Republic", so that he would be regarded as the head of state in the forthcoming Treaty negotiations. This was to assert the claim that the negotiations were between two sovereign states (Ireland's view), and not that it was between the British government and local politicians (Britain's view). After de Valera's resignation in January 1922, his successors Griffith and Cosgrave called themselves "President of Dáil Éireann".
Military
The military branch of the Irish Republic were the Irish Volunteers who, in the course of the War of Independence, who were formally renamed the "Irish Republican Army" to reflect their status as the national army of the declared republic. Despite being theoretically under the command of the Dáil's Ministry, in practice individual IRA columns enjoyed a high level of autonomy, subject to H.Q. in Dublin. Arrangements were made in August 1920 for the volunteers to swear an oath of allegiance to the Dáil.
Judiciary and police
The judicial arm of the Irish Republic consisted of a network of
The enforcement of law and the decrees of the Dáil Courts was vested in the Irish Republican Police.
Functionality
The Irish Republic had some of the attributes of a functioning state; a ministry (with a head of state in the latter stages), a parliament, a courts system, a police force and a constitution. The extent to which these functioned fluctuated in different parts of the island, with the success or otherwise of republican institutions depending both on the degree of control of the IRA in the region and on the brutality of the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries, active from June 1920 to July 1921. The more brutal the 'Tans' the more they alienated the local populace from the Dublin Castle administration and Assize courts and the greater success the republican alternatives had. Some measures such as the Dáil Decree of 6 August 1920 prohibiting emigration without a permit[14] were violently enforced.[15]
At the height of the Irish War of Independence, as atrocities committed by the Black and Tans reached such a scale as to result in the burning of the city of
The main function of the Dáil courts was in resolving civil cases and very rarely dealt with criminal matters. The cabinet met frequently, though necessarily in secret, and dealt with everyday matters as well as the conduct of the war. The Dáil sat for 21 days before the Truce of July 1921, and more frequently after that.[16]
Support for the Republic, though it ebbed and flowed constantly during the war, was strongest in the south of the country. The claim to authority of the Irish Republic was rejected in
Recognition
Efforts by President de Valera in the United States and by the Republic's "ambassador" at the
In June 1920, a "Draft Treaty between the new
The issue of recognition raises the question of how much the new Dáil, particularly de Valera, fully appreciated the developing relationship between the victorious powers following the war. Wilson had promised self-determination for nations and international norms were changing. Article V. of Wilson's 'Fourteen Points' outlined in January 1918 did not, however, promise that all colonies would be decolonised on demand at the end of the war, but that a colonial population's claim for arbitration would have "equal weight" with any claim by its government. In declaring independence unilaterally for the whole island, the new republic had denied "equal weight" to the wishes of Britain or the Irish loyalists. Having misunderstood or misread this part of Wilson's formula, the Dáil still required his support against his main ally.
The obvious problem was that the Irish Republic's Declaration of Independence of January 1919 was hostile to Britain, which was one of the four main powers arranging terms at Versailles. The RSFSR was also not invited to Versailles. Although armistices were holding, World War I was technically unfinished until the treaties ending it were signed, starting with Germany on 28 June 1919. The British view was that the 69 new Sinn Féin members of parliament had chosen not to take their seats at Westminster (to the relief of the Conservative Party), and that an Irish settlement would be arranged after the more important treaties with the former Central Powers had been signed off, involving Sinn Féin as the representatives of the majority, whether or not it had proclaimed a republic.
The Irish Republic was never recognised by the British government. Because its original contents were not seen as workable, the government under
The Truce signed between representatives of the Dáil and Britain was agreed on 9 July 1921, to become effective from noon on 11 July.[19] This marked the end of the Irish War of Independence. On 14 July 1921 Éamon de Valera met David Lloyd George in London for the first time to find some common ground for a settlement. He had been invited as: "the chosen leader of the great majority in Southern Ireland", but tried to extend this to a British recognition of the republic.[20] Lloyd George made it clear to him, 'that the achievement of a republic through negotiation was impossible'.[21] In August, in preparation for the formalities, de Valera had the Dáil upgrade his status from prime minister to full President of the Republic. As a head of state he then accredited envoys plenipotentiary, an accreditation approved by the Dáil. This accreditation gave them the legal ability to sign a treaty without waiting for approval from the Republic's cabinet, some of whose members were among the envoys. However, the British view was that they were not envoys, and they recognised them only as elected members of parliament representing those Irish people who wanted independence in one form or another.
By September, the British called for a conference with the envoys "to ascertain how the association of Ireland with the community of nations known as the British Empire can best be reconciled with Irish national aspirations". De Valera replied on 12 September "Our nation has formally declared its independence and recognises itself as a sovereign State." The same invitation was repeated and negotiations started on 11 October.
Anglo-Irish Treaty
Each side in the 1921 negotiations used sufficiently elastic language to enable the Republic's delegates to suggest that what was taking place was inter-state negotiations, while allowing the British Government to suggest that it was an internal United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland matter. The Anglo-Irish Treaty, when signed on 6 December, was similarly put through three processes to satisfy both sides. It was:
- passed by Dáil Éireann, to satisfy the belief in the Republic's supporters that it was a state and its parliament was sovereign;
- passed by the United Kingdom, to satisfy British constitutional theory that a treaty had been negotiated between His Majesty's Government and His Majesty's subjects in Ireland;
- passed by the House of Commons of Southern Ireland, to reflect the belief in British constitutional law that Ireland already possessed a home rule parliament. In reality the House of Commons had the same membership (bar four) as the Dáil, though anti-Treaty members of the House stayed away.
Finally, the two structures of government (the British government's administration in Dublin Castle and the Republic's) began a process of convergence, to cover the year until the coming into force of the new Irish Free State.
Dissolution
By approving the Anglo-Irish Treaty on 7 January 1922 and the Constitution of the Irish Free State in October 1922 the Dáil agreed to the replacement of the Republic with the system of constitutional monarchy of the Irish Free State.
In January 1922, a
On 6 December 1922, the Constitution of the Irish Free State came into effect and the institutions of both the Irish Republic and the Provisional Government ceased to exist.
Legacy
The goal of those who established the Irish Republic was to create an independent republic comprising the whole island of Ireland. They failed in this goal, but the Irish Republic paved the way for the creation of the Irish Free State, a
Irish Republic in the post-Treaty Republican tradition
Since the Civil War during 1922 and 1923, the Irish Republic has been an important symbol for radical republicans, amongst others. The Civil War began in June 1922 when both Sinn Féin and the IRA split between those pragmatists, who supported the Treaty, and the hardline republicans who opposed the compromises it contained. In particular the anti-Treaty faction objected to the continued role in the Irish constitution that would be granted to the British monarch under the Irish Free State. When the Dáil ratified the Treaty its opponents mostly walked out, arguing that the Dáil was attempting to 'destroy' the Irish Republic, and that its members had no right to do so. After the Irish electorate voted in a majority of pro-Treaty candidates to the Dáil, Éamon de Valera declared that "the people have no right to do wrong."
Opponents of the Treaty refused to recognise either the Provisional Government or, when it was established, the Irish Free State, insisting that the Irish Republic continued to exist as a de jure entity. Their line of authority included some TDs but also the Army Executive of the IRA which decided in early 1922 that it, and no longer the Dáil, was the only body loyal to the republic. In August 1920 it had sworn allegiance to both the Dáil and the republic, and felt that the Dáil had broken its oath when it voted to approve the Treaty. Arguments about abandoning the republic had, however, been very fully discussed during the Treaty Debates.
The anti-treaty faction also refused to recognise the Third Dáil elected in June 1922, as the Second Dáil had not met to dissolve itself formally (though the "declaration of election" on 19 May, which gave dates for nominations and the election, was not opposed at the time[22]). Anti-Treaty Republicans considered the Third Dáil, and all future institutions arising from it, as illegal, even though some had been elected to sit in it (See Second Dáil).
The anti-Treaty side was then defeated in the Civil War. Most militant opposition to the Free State came to an end on 24 May 1923 when Frank Aiken, chief-of-staff of the IRA, issued the order to "dump arms", and Éamon de Valera issued his address to the "Legion of the Rearguard". Éamon de Valera continued as president Sinn Féin. In March 1926, de Valera, along with most anti-Treaty politicians, founded a new party called Fianna Fáil and ended their boycott of the institutions of the Free State.
Nonetheless, a hard-line minority continued to reject the legitimacy of the Free State and its successor, the Republic of Ireland. In 1938, a group calling itself the Executive Council of the Second Dáil delegated its self-declared authority to the IRA Army Council. The
References
- ISBN 9781139426299. Archivedfrom the original on 24 December 2019. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
- ISBN 978-0-275-96311-8. Archivedfrom the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
- ^ M.E. Collins, Ireland, p. 252.
- ISBN 0862430968. Archivedfrom the original on 27 December 2019. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
- ^ "CAIN: Democratic Dialogue: With all due respect - pluralism and parity of esteem (Report No. 7)". cain.ulster.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 4 October 2019. Retrieved 7 April 2019.
- ^ Hachey, Thomas E. et al. The Irish Experience: A Concise History Archived 11 January 2020 at the Wayback Machine 1996 p172
- ISBN 1-85182-322-0
- ^ An tAcht Phoblacht na hÉireann, 1948
- ^ The World Crisis: The Aftermath, Volume 4, Winston Churchill, Thornton, 1929, page 298
- ^ Peace by Ordeal: : An Account, from First-hand Sources, of the Negotiation and Signature of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, 1921, Frank Pakenham Earl of Longford, New English Library, 1967, page 73
- ^ "ROLL CALL". Houses of the Oireachtas. 22 January 1919. Archived from the original on 28 August 2018. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
- ^ History Ireland, May 2007, p.56.
- ^ Under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland was to be the chief executive of both Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland. Later, when Southern Ireland was replaced by the Irish Free State, the Lord Lieutenancy was abolished and replaced by a Governor of Northern Ireland.
- ^ "MINISTERIAL MOTIONS. - PROHIBITION OF EMIGRATION. – Dáil Éireann (1st Dáil) – Friday, 6 August 1920". Houses of the Oireachtas. Archived from the original on 1 August 2020. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
- ^ "SINN FEIN RAIDS HALT EMIGRANTS". The New York Times. 20 February 1921. p. 3. Archived from the original on 10 November 2012. Retrieved 4 November 2010.
- ^ "Dáil Éireann sittings 1921". Houses of the Oireachtas. Archived from the original on 1 August 2020. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
- ^ "Official Memorandum in support of Ireland's demand for recognition as a sovereign independent state. Presented to Georges Clemenceau and the members of the Paris Peace Conference by Sean T O'Ceallaigh and George Gavan Duffy from O Ceallaigh Gavan Duffy to George Clemenceau - June 1919. - Documents on IRISH FOREIGN POLICY". Archived from the original on 18 November 2017. Retrieved 14 June 2007.
- ^ Carr, EH The Bolshevik Revolution 1917–23, vol 3 Penguin Books, London, 4th reprint (1983), pp. 257–258. The draft treaty was published for propaganda purposes in the 1921 British document Intercourse between Bolshevism and Sinn Fein (Cmd 1326).
- ^ Eamon de Valera and David Lloyd George http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/E900003-007/text001.html Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine Official Correspondence relating to the Peace Negotiations.
"PART 1. Preliminary Correspondence. 24 June–9 July 1921" - ^ "Official Correspondence relating to the Peace Negotiations June-September, 1921". Archived from the original on 23 June 2011. Retrieved 7 August 2008.
- ISBN 978-0-521-37741-6
- ^ "DECLARATION OF ELECTION. – Dáil Éireann (2nd Dáil) – Friday, 19 May 1922". Houses of the Oireachtas. Archived from the original on 1 August 2020. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
See also
- History of Ireland (1801–1923)
- History of the Republic of Ireland
- Names of the Irish state
- List of historical unrecognized states and dependencies
References
- ISBN 0-09-174106-8.
- Tim Pat Coogan, Éamon de Valera (Hutchinson, 1993) ISBN 0-09-175030-X.
- R.F. Foster, Modern Ireland 1600–1972.
- Joseph Lee, The Modernisation of Irish Society.
- F. S. L. Lyons, Ireland Since the Famine.
- Lord Longford, Peace by Ordeal.
- Dorothy Macardle, The Irish Republic.
- Earl of Middleton, Ireland: Dupe or Heroine?
- Arthur Mitchell & Pádraig Ó Snodaigh, Irish Political Documents 1916–1949.
- John A. Murphy, Ireland in the Twentieth Century.