Ireland, Republic of

VI

History

Ireland has had a long history of involvement with Britain, from the time of the Anglo-Norman invasions in the 12th century to the Act of Union in 1800 and the Irish Revolution of 1912-1921. This article begins with the formation of an independent Irish state from 1919. For the history of Ireland before 1919, see Ireland: History.

A

Irish Revolution

The Easter Rising was an uprising of Irish nationalists in Dublin on Easter Monday, April 24, 1916, organized by the Irish Republican Brotherhood and manned with troops from the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army militia groups. The rising was doomed to failure, in part because of limited support from the Irish people. The subsequent execution of 15 leaders, however, and the threat of forced conscription in Ireland in 1918 during the final stages of World War I, set the stage for Sinn Féin to replace the Irish Parliamentary Party as the dominant political party in Ireland. Founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith and Bulmer Hobson, Sinn Féin called for Ireland to become a republic independent of the United Kingdom, and for an end to the partition movement among Protestants in the north. In the general election in November 1918, Sinn Féin candidates won 73 of the 105 seats allotted to Ireland in the United Kingdom parliament.

In January 1919 the elected Sinn Féin members abstained from the British parliament and instead convened a national assembly in Dublin, called Dáil Éireann. They proclaimed Ireland’s independence and formed a government, with Eamon De Valera, the only surviving commandant of the 1916 rising, later elected president. There followed guerrilla attacks by the Irish Volunteers, reorganized by Michael Collins and increasingly called the Irish Republican Army (IRA), on government forces throughout the year, escalating in early 1920 with an ambitious raid on a police barracks in Carraigtwohill, County Cork. The British government responded by deploying two new forces, the Black and Tans and the Auxiliaries, to reinforce the Royal Irish Constabulary. The events of November 21, 1920, known as Bloody Sunday, when 13 men who were mostly British intelligence agents were killed by IRA activists, and Auxiliaries later opened fire on a crowd at a Gaelic football match in Dublin killing 12 people, marked another sharp escalation in the levels of violence and reprisals.

B

Partition of Ireland

In December 1920 the British parliament enacted the Government of Ireland Act, providing one parliament for the six north-eastern counties of Ireland and another for the remaining 26 counties in the south. The Act also provided for a Council of Ireland to consist of 20 members from each assembly, to promote cooperation and the possibility of a future all-Ireland parliament. The Protestant majority in the north accepted this limited Home Rule and elected a separate parliament in May 1921, although they rejected the Council of Ireland. The partition of Ireland was, however, not accepted by the Roman Catholic minority in the north and majority in the south. Efforts to implement the new government in the 26 counties served only to solidify Sinn Féin’s position.

The guerrilla war ended with a truce on July 11, 1921. Preliminary negotiations began between De Valera and the British prime minister David Lloyd George, following which a plenipotentiary delegation representing the Dáil was sent to London, headed by Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins. After intense negotiations a treaty was signed on December 6, 1921, under which the 26 counties would become the Irish Free State (Saorstát na hÉireann) within the Commonwealth of Nations, with dominion status equal to that of Canada. A governor-general was to be appointed to represent the British monarch, and a modified oath of allegiance was required. Although partition remained in effect, a Boundary Commission was to be established to review territorial claims. Further, Britain retained ownership of a number of ports in the Free State for defensive purposes. The treaty was immediately rejected by De Valera and other Sinn Féin members, largely in opposition to the oath of allegiance and the office of governor-general. The Dáil, however, following heated debate ratified it on January 7, 1922, by a small majority of 64 to 57. De Valera resigned as president, and was replaced by Griffith. The pro-Treaty side formed a Provisional Government with Collins as chairman that, under the terms of the treaty, co-existed with the Dáil and was responsible for overseeing the formation of the new state, drafting its constitution and organizing elections for the new assembly.

C

The Irish Free State

C

1

Irish Civil War

Under the leadership of De Valera the dissident Sinn Féin group, known as Republicans, called for a resumption of the struggle against Britain. The majority of the IRA were also anti-Treaty, and became known as the Irregulars. After a six-month period in which positions were consolidated and attempts at reconciliation were made, government troops attacked the headquarters of the Irregulars in the Four Courts building in Dublin in June 1922, initiating the Irish Civil War. By August of that year the pro-Treatyites, better organized and supported with British aid, had retaken control of all of the country’s urban area. There followed a protracted guerrilla campaign by the Irregulars, recalling the tactics used in the Anglo-Irish War of 1919-1921. However, following the death of the vehement anti-Treaty leader Liam Lynch in April 1923, a ceasefire was called, operative from April 30.

Meanwhile, the Provisional Government, headed by William Thomas Cosgrave after the assassination of Collins in August 1922, drafted a new constitution providing for a bicameral legislature, the Oireachtas, comprising Dáil Éireann (Assembly of Ireland) and Seanad Éireann (the Senate), nominally headed by the British monarch, represented by the governor-general. The constitution was ratified by the Dáil in December 1922 and the Provisional Government was dissolved. The official government of the Irish Free State was instituted at once, with Cosgrave assuming office as president of the Executive Council.

C

2

Cosgrave Government

In August 1923 the Republicans participated in the national elections, and public order was gradually restored. Neither Cumann na nGaedheal, the pro-Treaty party founded by Cosgrave in April 1923, nor the reformed republican Sinn Féin secured a majority in the August elections. Cosgrave retained power, however, and De Valera led the republicans in a boycott of the Dáil. Cosgrave put together a viable government, which reached an agreement with the United Kingdom on some mutual problems and strengthened the economy by a series of measures, including a hydroelectric project at Ardnacrusha on the River Shannon. In December 1925 the Boundary Commission was abandoned after the chairman’s findings were leaked to the press, and instead a tripartite agreement was reached confirming the existing border.

The Irish Free State had joined the League of Nations in September 1923, and the following year it issued its own passports and set a precedent for members of the Commonwealth of Nations by sending its own ambassador to Washington, D.C. At the Imperial Conference of 1926, the Free State joined with other dominions to obtain the Balfour Report, which stated that the British government would not legislate for the dominions or nullify acts passed by their own legislatures. Once this was confirmed by the Statute of Westminster in 1931, Ireland had the power to legislate away its relationship with the United Kingdom.