Dáil Éireann

Dáil Éireann (Irish, “Assembly of Ireland”), Irish legislative body. It was established as a revolutionary congress in 1918, when 73 members of the Sinn Féin who had been elected in December 1918 to the British House of Commons from Ireland declared the independence of the Irish Republic. Among the leaders of this movement were Eamon De Valera, who was elected president of the Dáil; Arthur Griffith, vice-president; and William Cosgrave, minister of local government. The Dáil continued to meet as a revolutionary body until a truce with Great Britain made possible the election of a legislature under the Government of Ireland Act of 1920. This Dáil met in 1921 and early the following year, despite the opposition of De Valera and others, accepted the British proposal for the establishment of the Irish Free State, excluding Northern Ireland. Under the Irish Free State, the lower house of the legislature was called Dáil Éireann. In 1936 the Senate was abolished, and the Dáil became the legislature of the Irish Free State. The 1937 constitution, which established the Republic of Éire, provided for a bicameral national parliament, the Oireachtas, of which Dáil Éireann was the lower house.

The Dáil meets at Leinster House in Dublin, where it sits for about 100 days each year. It comprises 166 members, known as Teachtaí Dála (Irish, 'Representatives to the Assembly'), or TDs, who are elected by 41 constituencies. The Speaker of the Dáil is known as the Ceann Comhairle.