Ireland 1919-Dáil Éireann

Title page of the periodical 'Ár n-Eire/New Ireland' 29th March 1919.

An extract from the article 'Ireland at the Peace Conference' by J.C. Walsh, published in Studies: an Irish Quarterly Review Vol. VIII No. 30, June 1919.

1919 turned out to be the most violent year in Ireland since 1916, as the lid could no longer be held over forces that had been simmering throughout the previous two years. The armed conflict ran in tandem with significant political events at home and abroad.

January 21st saw the setting up of Dáil Éireann which met for the first time, as 26 of the 73 Sinn Féin members who had been elected to Westminister the previous month met at the Mansion House in Dublin instead of taking their seats in London. In spite of the absence of their 47 imprisoned colleagues, the assembly issued a number of important declarations and appointed delegates to the forthcoming Paris Peace Conference, where it was hoped that the cause of Irish independence would get a hearing. By coincidence a fatal ambush took place on the same day at Soloheadbeg, Co. Tipperary in which two policemen were killed. That episode, in which Dan Breen figured prominently, is traditionally regarded as the opening scene in Ireland’s War of Independence.

A more significant second meeting took place on April 1st. The other Sinn Féin members were by then out of prison and again the meeting coincided with a killing, a magistrate having been fatally wounded in Mayo two days earlier. Eamon De Valera was elected President and a cabinet was set up that included W.T Cosgrave, Arthur Griffith, Cathal Brugha and Constance Markievicz. Finance minister Michael Collins introduced an ambitious national loan scheme through republican bonds which would eventually be oversubscribed by £40,000. That inexperienced government went on to establish an effective court system and an agricultural bond scheme. The ministers were fortunate to have the services of dedicated and experienced officials such as the very industrious Diarmuid O’Hegarty.

The Paris Peace Conference was convened to reorganise political geography after World War I with many colonised territories likely to be freed from the empires of other countries.  This caused Irish hopes to be raised and for that reason the Freedom of the City of Dublin was awarded to US President Woodrow Wilson to hopefully make him sympathetic towards Ireland’s cause but this faith was misplaced. The countries that were being freed had been colonised by powers that had been defeated in World War I and victorious countries like Britain were not going to cede any territory. In March, although both the US Congress and Senate passed motions favourable to Ireland’s cause, Wilson objected and in June he informed an Irish delegation in Paris that he would support any British veto over Irish independence.