Dáil Éireann (House of Assembly)

From 1919 to 1922 Dáil Éireann ( English House of Assembly , "House of Assembly") was the revolutionary unicameral parliament of the unilaterally declared independent Irish Republic . The Dáil , as it was called in short, was originally formed by MPs from the Sinn Féin party , who were elected to the British House of Commons in 1918 . They refused to recognize the British Parliament in Westminster and decided to set up an independent Parliament in Dublin . The first meeting of the so-called First Dáil ( Irish : An Chéad Dáil ) took place on the same day that the Irish War of Independence began.

The First Dáil was replaced by the Second Dáil ( An Dara Dáil ) in 1921 - both Dála existed outside British law and were never recognized by Great Britain . Only the Third Dáil ( An Tríú Dáil ) as a kind of transitional parliament was officially elected under the Anglo-Irish Treaty .

In 1922, with the creation of the Irish Free State , a new parliament called Oireachtas was created, the lower house of which became the Dáil Éireann.

To the prehistory

In 1918 all of Ireland was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and was represented there by 105 MPs in the House of Commons. From 1882 to 1918 almost all Irish parliamentarians were members of the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP). a. was the peaceful creation of Home Rule . This finally succeeded, but the First World War broke out before it was implemented , so the Home Rule was postponed. In the following years, the (more radical) party Sinn Féin experienced an enormous upswing. The founder of Sinn Féin, Arthur Griffith , believed that the Irish should model the Hungarian nationalists, who achieved some independence from Austria in 1867 . In addition to this peaceful solution, Sinn Féin also pursued an armed insurrection if necessary in order to achieve independence.

Between the Easter Rising in 1916 and the 1918 election, Sinn Féin's popularity rose sharply. To this z. B. the brutal executions after the uprising at and the attempt by the British to introduce military service in Ireland. The party also benefited from the 1918 Representation of the People Act , which increased the Irish electorate by one step from 700,000 to around 2,000,000.

First Dáil (1919-1921)

Irish election results for the British Parliament in 1918. Of the total of 105 constituencies, there were: Sinn Féin (73 seats) Irish Unionists (22 seats) Labor Unionists (3 seats) Irish Parliamentary Party (6 seats) Independent Unionist (1 seat) Also the three universities Ireland's elected MEPs: Trinity College Dublin (TCD): 2 seats National University of Ireland (NUI): 1 seat Queen’s University Belfast (QUB): 1 seat

The 1918 election took place in most constituencies on December 14th under the majority voting system . Sinn Féin got 73 out of 105 possible Irish seats in Parliament in Westminster. The unionists won 26 seats, 23 of which came from what is now Northern Ireland . The remaining seats went to the Irish Parliamentary Party . Now Sinn Féin's parliamentarians decided to go ahead with their plan. They did not take their seat in Westminster and instead gathered as a revolutionary parliament, which they called Dáil Éireann ( Irish for "Assembly of Ireland"). Unionists and members of the Irish Parliamentary Party refused to recognize the new parliament, and three Sinn Féin candidates were elected in two different constituencies, so that the first Dáil out of 70 members of parliament (so-called Deputies , ir. Teachta Dála or TD for short ) duration. However, some of them were not present at the first event because they were on the run from the British.

The first meeting

The first meeting of the Dáil took place on January 21, 1919 in the "Round Room" of the Mansion House in Dublin , the residence of the Dublin Mayor. At this first very symbolic meeting, most of the session was conducted in Irish. The Dáil elected Cathal Brugha as its chairman, the so-called Ceann Comhairle . The following four documents were approved:

Constitution of the Dáil

The Constitution of Dáil ( English : Constitution of Dáil Éireann or Dáil Constitution ; Irish: Bunreacht Dála Éireann ) was a short, provisional constitution. It provided for a cabinet ( Aireacht ), which is led by the President of the Dáil Éireann ( Príomh Aire ). Due to disagreements within Sinn Féin , no explicit head of state was specified in the constitution; this was only adjusted in August 1921 at the suggestion of Eamon de Valera . The post of "President of the Dáil Éireann" was raised to "President of the Republic of Ireland".

Irish declaration of independence

With the declaration of independence, the Dáil ratified the Easter proclamation from 1916. This proclamation had not yet been adopted by an elected body. The text exists in three languages: Irish, English, French:

Text of the Declaration of Independence in English

Message to the free nations of the world

This text asked the free nations of the world to be recognized as a nation in its own right - free from British rule. Despite efforts in Europe and the USA , the new state was only recognized by Soviet Russia . The text exists in three languages: Irish, English, French:

Text in English

The democratic program

The "democratic program" consisted of a performance of economic and social principles recognized by the First Dáil. The main purpose of the program was to support some values of socialism.

The democratic program in English

The Irish War of Independence

On the same day that the Dáil first met and proclaimed Ireland's independence, two members of the Royal Irish Constabulary were ambushed by the Irish Volunteers at Soloheadbeg (County Tipperary ) and murdered. This incident was not ordered by the Dáil, but it subsequently recognized the volunteers as the Army of the Republic of Ireland. January 21, 1919 marked the beginning of the War of Independence, both militarily and politically. In August 1919 the Volunteers (together with the Irish Citizen Army ) changed their name to Irish Republican Army (IRA, Irish Óglaigh na hÉireann ) and swore their allegiance to the Republic and the Dáil. From its first meeting, the Dáil attempted to establish de facto centers of power across the country, including the Dáil Courts , a separate judicial system.

Shortly after the establishment, the Dáil was declared illegal by British rule and therefore only met sporadically and in different places. The last meeting of the First Dáil took place on May 10, 1921. Two weeks later, on May 24th, it was replaced by the newly elected "Second Dáil".

Legacies

The First Dáil and the 1918 election are still very important in Irish Republican history. 1918 was the last election, until the European Parliament election 60 years later, when the whole island of Ireland voted together in one day. The enormous profit of the Sinn Féin was a clear sign of a united independent Ireland. Today the name Dáil Éireann denotes the lower house of the Parliament of the Republic of Ireland .

Famous members of the First Dáil

Second Dáil (1921-1922)

Dáil Éireann in the Mansion House, August 1921

In 1920, in the middle of the Irish War of Independence , the British government passed the Government of Ireland Act . This should bring a solution to the "Irish problem" by dividing Ireland into two parts - each part with an independent government under Home Rule . In 1921 the first elections were held for both lower houses ("House of Commons of Northern Ireland" and House of Commons of Southern Ireland ). Sinn Féin took part in these elections but refused to recognize the new parliaments. Instead, the party viewed both elections as a vote on the "Second Dáil". Therefore - in theory - the "Second Dáil" consisted of members from both parts of Ireland.

The House of Commons elections in Northern Ireland took place on May 24, 1921. Of the 52 seats, 40 seats went to Unionists, 6 to moderate nationalists and 6 to Sinn Féin. There was no real election in " Southern Ireland " as all 128 candidates ran without opponents. 124 of them belonged to Sinn Féin, the remaining 4 were unionists from the constituency of Dublin University. Since only the Sinn Féin candidates recognized the "Dáil" and 5 of them were elected in both parts of the island, the Second Dáil, which met for the first time on August 16, 1921, consisted of 125 members.

The Anglo-Irish Treaty

Meanwhile, the Irish Republic and the British government under David Lloyd George agreed peace talks. As 'President of the Dáil Éireann', Eamon de Valera was the highest-ranking person in the republic, but according to the constitution of the Dáil, only head of the government. Therefore, in order to strengthen his power in negotiations, the constitution of the Dáil was changed accordingly and he was additionally given the title of President of the Irish Republic .

On September 14, 1921, the Dáil decided to appoint Arthur Griffith , Michael Collins , Robert Childers Barton , EJ Duggan and George Gavan Duffy as representatives of the Irish government for the upcoming peace negotiations in England. These plenipotentiaries signed the Anglo-Irish Treaty on December 6, 1921 , which the Second Dáil ratified by 64 to 57 votes on January 7, after bitter debates. Since the Second Dáil was never officially recognized by England, ratification by the South Irish House of Commons was primarily necessary from an English perspective.

The "Second Dáil" met for the last time on June 8, 1922.

Third Dáil (1922-1923)

The "Third Dáil", also known as the "Provisional Parliament" or "Constitutional Assembly", was the parliament of the 26-county association before it became the Irish Free State . Depending on whether you look into Irish or British political history, this Parliament is

the "Third Dáil" and thus the direct successor of the first two Dála, or
the "Provisional Parliament" and thus successor to the South Irish House of Commons

The election for the Third Dáil took place on June 16, 1922 under the system of majority suffrage and the single transferable vote . In contrast to the Second Dáil, this time only members from "Southern Ireland" were available for election. Since the 1921 election, the only party in the Dáil, Sinn Féin , had split into two wings: supporters and opponents of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. So it came about that the two wings became the main contenders for election and it was a vote for or against the treaty. The proponents of the treaty won a majority of seats, whereupon the opposing parties boycotted the assembly and refused to recognize it as the successor to the Second Dáil. Shortly after this election, in June 1922, the Irish Civil War broke out.

The question of whether the Dáil was a republican (Irish) or a royal (English) assembly became a problem for some Irish opponents of the treaty. Laurence Ginnell wanted to clarify this question within the congregation. But even the chairman and the lord lieutenant were confused. At one point the chairman read out a message on behalf of the Lord Lieutenant, although if this assembly were to descend from the previous two Dála no message from a British envoy would be accepted. In return, the Lord Lieutenant should not send a message to the Assembly if it was still the Parliament of the Irish Republic.

The ambiguities and constitutional confusion were not resolved until the deaths of President Arthur Griffith and Chairman Michael Collins in quick succession . The two highest titles, "President of the Republic of Ireland" and "Chairman of the Provisional Government" (who was constitutionally considered a minister of the English Crown) were suddenly in the hands of a single person: William T. Cosgrave . He was thus a unique constitutional hybrid: a royal confirmed Prime Minister and at the same time President of another republic. Yet despite all these confusions about the status of parliament and the title of prime minister, the ambiguous combination of monarchy and republicanism in Cosgrave's person was accepted by both parties.

With the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty on December 6, 1922, political power passed to the new Irish parliament "Oireachtas". However, since no official elections to the House of Commons had yet taken place, the "Third Dáil" temporarily remained the legislative power until it was dissolved on August 9, 1923 and replaced a month later by the newly elected Dáil Éireann.

President of the Dáil Éireann

The President of the Dáil Éireann (sometimes also called Príomh Aire ; "Prime Minister") was the head of the government according to the Dáil constitution of January 1919. Eamon de Valera mainly used the title of "President of Dáil Éireann" on his travels to the USA from 1920 to 1921. Strictly speaking, the title did not designate a real head of state, but the holder of the title was actually the highest-ranking person in the state at the time.

List of presidents of the Dáil

Dáil	elected	president	Political party
First Dáil	January - April 1919	Cathal Brugha	Sinn Féin
First Dáil	April 1919 - August 1921	Eamon de Valera	Sinn Féin
Second Dáil	August 1921 - January 1922	Eamon de Valera	Sinn Féin
Second Dáil	January - August 1922	Arthur Griffith	Sinn Féin (wing of proponents of the treaty)
Third Dáil	August 1922 - December 1922	WT Cosgrave	Cumann na nGaedheal

The Cabinet (Aireacht)

The Cabinet of the Republic of Ireland from 1919 to 1922 was officially called Aireacht and was established by the Dáil Constitution. This constitution stipulated that a cabinet should consist of a head of state, the so-called Priomh Aire or 'President of Dáil Éireann', and 4 other ministers. The Irish Republic was modeled on other parliamentary systems, so that the cabinet was responsible to the Dáil Éireann.

After 1919, some changes were made to the cabinet system. The number of ministers was increased and there was no explicit head of state, which was only introduced in 1921.

For much of 1921, the Aireacht coexisted with the Provisional Government established under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, and many of its members served in both governments. This unusual fact did not end until December 1922 when both administrations became the Executive Council of the Irish Free State.

Individual evidence

↑ Exceptions here were the electoral districts of the University in Dublin and the city of Cork . The two unionist representatives from the university were elected in the single transferable vote system. Sinn Féin's two envoys from Cork were elected through the bloc voting system.
↑ These were Arthur Griffith , Eamon de Valera, and Liam Mellows .
↑ These were Michael Collins , Eamon de Valera , Arthur Griffith , Sean Milroy, and Eoin MacNeill .
↑ To take the confusion even further, Cosgrave called himself, like Griffith, also "President of Dáil Éireann".
↑ At the time of the Dáil constitution, Sinn Féin was divided into two camps: The "old" (before 1917) members under the former leader Arthur Griffith were monarchist. The "new" (after 1917) members under Eamon de Valera were republican. A compromise from 1917 led to wanting to ask the "people" in the event of an established republic. If the title "President of the Republic" had been included in the Dáil Constitution, this would probably have led to renewed clashes within the party. It was not until 1921, at de Valera's request and due to the fact that the monarchy supporters were decreasing, that the title "President of the Irish Republic" was officially changed in the constitution.

This text is based on a translation of the articles w: en: Dáil Éireann (1919–1922) , w: en: First Dáil , w: en: Second Dáil , w: en: Third Dáil and w: en: President of Dáil Éireann from of the English Wikipedia, version of July 25, 2005.

Web links

Past debates in the Dáil (Engl.)

[1] Exceptions here were the electoral districts of the University in Dublin and the city of Cork . The two unionist representatives from the university were elected in the single transferable vote system. Sinn Féin's two envoys from Cork were elected through the bloc voting system.

[2] These were Arthur Griffith , Eamon de Valera, and Liam Mellows .

[3] These were Michael Collins , Eamon de Valera , Arthur Griffith , Sean Milroy, and Eoin MacNeill .

[4] To take the confusion even further, Cosgrave called himself, like Griffith, also "President of Dáil Éireann".

[5] At the time of the Dáil constitution, Sinn Féin was divided into two camps: The "old" (before 1917) members under the former leader Arthur Griffith were monarchist. The "new" (after 1917) members under Eamon de Valera were republican. A compromise from 1917 led to wanting to ask the "people" in the event of an established republic. If the title "President of the Republic" had been included in the Dáil Constitution, this would probably have led to renewed clashes within the party. It was not until 1921, at de Valera's request and due to the fact that the monarchy supporters were decreasing, that the title "President of the Irish Republic" was officially changed in the constitution.