The 1st Dáil () was Dáil Éireann as it convened from 1919 to 1921. It was the first meeting of the unicameral parliament of the revolutionary Irish Republic. In the December 1918 election to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the Irish republican party Sinn Féin won a landslide victory in Ireland. In line with their manifesto, its MPs refused to take their seats, and on 21 January 1919 they founded a separate parliament in Dublin called Dáil Éireann ("Assembly of Ireland"). They declared Irish independence, ratifying the Proclamation of the Irish Republic that had been issued in the 1916 Easter Rising, and adopted a provisional constitution.

Its first meeting happened on the same day as one of the first engagements of what became the Irish War of Independence. Although the Dáil had not authorised any armed action, it became a "symbol of popular resistance and a source of legitimacy for fighting men in the guerrilla war that developed".

The founder of the small Sinn Féin party, Arthur Griffith, believed Irish nationalists should emulate the Hungarian nationalists who had gained legislative independence from Austria. In 1867, Hungarian representatives had boycotted the Imperial parliament in Vienna and unilaterally established their own legislature in Budapest, resulting in the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867. Griffith argued that Irish nationalists should follow this "policy of passive resistance – with occasional excursions into the domain of active resistance".

In April 1916, Irish rebels launched the Easter Uprising against British rule in Ireland, proclaiming an independent Irish Republic. After a week of heavy fighting, mostly in Dublin, the rebellion was suppressed by British forces, who took 3,500 people prisoner, 1,800 of whom were sent to internment camps or prisons in Britain; most of the rebellion's leaders were executed. The rebellion, the British response to it, and the British government's failed attempt to introduce conscription in Ireland led to greater public support for Sinn Féin and Irish independence.

In the 1918 general election, Sinn Féin won 73 out of the 105 Irish seats in the House of Commons. In 25 constituencies, Sinn Féin won the seats unopposed. Elections were held almost entirely under the 'first-past-the-post voting' system. The recent Representation of the People Act had increased the Irish electorate from around 700,000 to about two million. Unionists (including the Ulster Unionist Labour Association) won 26 seats, all but three of which were in east Ulster, and the IPP won only six (down from 84), all but one in Ulster. The Labour Party did not stand in the election, allowing the electorate to decide between home rule or a republic by having a clear choice between the two nationalist parties. The IPP won a smaller share of seats than votes due to the first-past-the-post system.

Sinn Féin's manifesto had pledged to establish an Irish Republic by founding "a constituent assembly comprising persons chosen by Irish constituencies" which could then "speak and act in the name of the Irish people". Once elected the Sinn Féin MPs chose to follow through with their manifesto.

First meeting

thumb|The Mansion House, Dublin

thumb|Cathal Brugha, the Dáil's first speaker and president

Sinn Féin had held several meetings in early January to plan the first sitting of the Dáil. On 8 January, it publicly announced its intention to convene the assembly. On the night of 11 January, the Dublin Metropolitan Police raided Sinn Féin headquarters and seized drafts of the documents that would be issued at the assembly. As a result, the Dublin Castle administration was fully aware what was being planned.

The first meeting of Dáil Éireann began at 3:30 pm on 21 January in the Round Room of the Mansion House, the residence of the Lord Mayor of Dublin. It lasted about two hours. The packed audience in the Round Room rose in acclaim for the members of the Dáil as they walked into the room, and many waved Irish tricolour flags. A tricolour was also displayed above the lectern. Among the audience were the Lord Mayor Laurence O'Neill and Maud Gonne. A reception for soldiers of the British Army's Royal Dublin Fusiliers, who had been prisoners of war in Germany, had ended shortly beforehand. Sir Robert Henry Woods was the only unionist who declined rather than ignored his invitation. Sixty-nine Sinn Féin MPs had been elected (four of whom represented more than one constituency), but thirty-four were in prison, and eight others could not attend for various reasons. Those in prison were described as being "imprisoned by the foreigners" (fé ghlas ag Gallaibh). Michael Collins and Harry Boland were marked in the roll as i láthair (present), but the record was later amended to show that they were as láthair (absent). At the time, they were in England planning the escape of Éamon de Valera from Lincoln Prison, and did not wish to draw attention to their absence. Once the Declaration was read, Cathal Brugha said (in Irish): "Deputies, you understand from what is asserted in this Declaration that we are now done with England. Let the world know it and those who are concerned bear it in mind. For come what may now, whether it be death itself, the great deed is done".

The Message to the Free Nations called for international recognition of Irish independence and for Ireland to be allowed to make its case at the Paris Peace Conference.

The Dáil Constitution was a brief provisional constitution. It stated that the Dáil had "full powers to legislate" and would be composed of representatives "chosen by the people of Ireland from the present constituencies of the country". It established an executive government or Ministry (Aireacht) made up of a president (Príomh-Aire) chosen by the Dáil, and ministers of finance, home affairs, foreign affairs and defence. Cathal Brugha was elected as the first, temporary president. However, the press censorship that began during the First World War was continued by the Dublin Castle administration after the war. The Press Censor forbade all Irish newspapers from publishing the Dáil's declarations.

That evening, a unionist view of events was printed in a local newspaper. It claimed that the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, "Lord French, is today the master of Ireland. He alone... will decide upon the type of government the country is to have, and it is he rather than any member of the House of Commons, who will be the judge of political and industrial reforms". It began to refer to itself as the Irish Republican Army (IRA). The 1st Dáil was "a visible symbol of popular resistance and a source of legitimacy for fighting men in the guerrilla war that developed".

On the same day as the Dáil's first meeting, two officers of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) were killed in an ambush in County Tipperary by members of the Irish Volunteers. The Volunteers seized the explosives the officers had been guarding. This action had not been authorised by the Irish Volunteer leadership nor by the Dáil. Although the Dáil and the Irish Volunteers had some overlapping membership, they were separate and neither controlled the other.

The Soloheadbeg ambush "and others like it that occurred during 1919 were not [...] intended to be the first shots in a general war of independence, though that is what they turned out to be". It is thus seen as one of the first actions of the Irish War of Independence. The Dáil did not debate whether it would "accept a state of war" with, or declare war on, the United Kingdom until 11 March 1921. It was agreed unanimously to give President de Valera the power to accept or declare war at the most opportune time, but he never did so.

In September 1919 the Dáil was declared illegal by the British authorities in Ireland and thereafter met only intermittently and at various locations. The Dáil also set about attempting to secure de facto authority for the Irish Republic throughout the country. This included the establishment of a parallel judicial system known as the Dáil Courts. The 1st Dáil held its last meeting on 10 May 1921. After elections on 24 May the Dáil was succeeded by the 2nd Dáil which sat for the first time on 16 August 1921.

Legacy

The 1st Dáil and the 1918 general election came to occupy a central place in Irish republicanism and nationalism. Today the name Dáil Éireann is used for the lower house of the modern Oireachtas (parliament) of the Republic of Ireland. Successive Dála (plural for Dáil) continue to be numbered from the "1st Dáil" convened in 1919. Accordingly, the elected in 2024 is the 34th Dáil. The 1918 general election was the last time the whole island of Ireland voted as a unit until elections to the European Parliament over sixty years later. The landslide victory for Sinn Féin was seen by Irish republicans as an overwhelming endorsement of the principle of a united independent Ireland.

Seán MacEntee, who died on 10 January 1984 at the age of 94, was the last surviving member of the 1st Dáil.

See also

  • Government of the 1st Dáil
  • Members of the 1st Dáil
  • 2nd Dáil
  • 3rd Dáil

Footnotes

Notes

  • Oireachtas website:
  • Debates by year
  • Members since 1919
  • Records of Dáil Éireann 1919–1922 from Digital Repository of Ireland