The Dáil loans were bonds issued in 1919–1921 by the Dáil (parliament) of the self-proclaimed Irish Republic to raise the Dáil funds or Republican funds, used to fund the state apparatus the Republic was attempting to establish in opposition to the Dublin Castle administration of the internationally recognised United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The subscribers were Irish nationalists, in Ireland for the Internal Loan and in the United States for the External Loan.
When Michael Collins was appointed Minister for Finance in the Dáil Ministry on 2 April 1919, the First Dáil authorised him to use anti-conscription funds raised in 1917–18, "Republican Bonds", and other funding. [1] [2] The Dáil approved the First Dáil Loan on 19 June 1919. [3] This was for £500,000, half in an Internal Loan raised in Ireland, half in an External Loan raised in the United States ($1.25m at an exchange rate of $4.50 to the pound). [4] [5] Both were oversubscribed, and the External limit was increased in August 1919 to $25m. [6] The money raised was held in bank accounts in Ireland and the United States controlled by three trustees: Éamon de Valera, President of Dáil Éireann; Michael Fogarty, the Catholic Bishop of Killaloe; and James O'Mara. [3] [7] £25,000 worth of gold was buried in concrete in Batt O'Connor's garden. [8] On 27 March 1920, Alan Bell, a resident magistrate investigating bank accounts linked to the Dáil, was taken from a tram and shot by Collins' IRA "Squad". [9] The Second Dáil on 26 August 1921 approved the Second Dáil Loan of £500,000 internal and $20,000,000 external, [10] which was launched in America on 15 October 1921 and raised $700,000 before being suspended after the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 6 December 1921. [11] About $2,500,000 of the total of $5,800,000 raised in America had been sent to the Dáil Ministry in Ireland by then. [11]
The Cork Examiner was closed by the military authorities in 1919 for publishing the prospectus of the internal loan. [12]
Area | Amount (£) |
---|---|
Connacht | 57,797 |
Munster | 171,177 |
Leinster | 87,444 |
Ulster | 41,297 |
Great Britain and France | 11,647 |
Cumann na mBan | 801 |
Total | 370,163 |
Patrick McCartan was appointed ambassador to the United States by the First Dáil. De Valera went on a fundraising tour of America from June 1919 to December 1920. O'Mara went to the United States in September 1919 and liaised with the Friends of Irish Freedom. [14] O'Mara fell out with de Valera over management of the funds and resigned his post in May 1921. [14] De Valera replaced him with his brother Stephen M. O'Mara. [11] The amount raised by the first loan was about $5,100,000 external and £375,000 internal. [2] [11]
The Dáil split over the Treaty and the pro- and anti-Treaty factions agreed to freeze the bank accounts until the situation was resolved. The Irish Civil War of 1922–1923 was won by the forces of the Irish Free State established under the 1921 treaty. The Free State Oireachtas' Dáil Eireann Loans and Funds Act, 1924 vested the Dáil loan funds in its Minister for Finance. [15] In 1925, the Free State courts released the Dáil funds in Irish bank accounts to the Free State Executive Council, which undertook to redeem the bonds. As regards Dáil funds in bank accounts in the United States, bondholders were divided between the "Hearn Committee", led by de Valera supporter John J. Hearn, and the "Noonan Committee", led by Bernard Noonan. [16] Noonan felt the Free State should control the funds and redeem them; Hearn argued they should preferably go to Sinn Féin as leaders of the rump Irish Republic, or failing that be returned to subscribers. In 1927, the Supreme Court of New York ruled against Noonan, on the basis that the Free State was successor to the United Kingdom but not to the Irish Republic; it further ruled that the funds should be returned to subscribers, as "the purpose for which the moneys were subscribed by the so-called bondholders, that is, the establishment of a Republic of Ireland free and independent of any allegiance to Great Britain, was never accomplished". [17] De Valera, now leader of the opposition Fianna Fáil party, urged his American supporters to use their refunds to invest in The Irish Press newspaper. The Executive Council refused to allow the trustees to implement the New York court decision until after the 1932 general election, when the first Fianna Fáil government took office. Repayment was "effectively completed" by 1936, [18] under the Dáil Eireann Loans and Funds (Amendment) Acts of 1933 [19] and 1936. [20]
William Thomas Cosgrave was an Irish Fine Gael politician who served as the president of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State from 1922 to 1932, leader of the Opposition in both the Free State and Ireland from 1932 to 1944, leader of Fine Gael from 1934 to 1944, founder and leader of Fine Gael's predecessor, Cumann na nGaedheal, from 1923 to 1933, chairman of the Provisional Government from August 1922 to December 1922, the president of Dáil Éireann from September 1922 to December 1922, the minister for Finance from 1922 to 1923 and minister for Local Government from 1919 to 1922. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1921 to 1944. He was a member of parliament (MP) for the Kilkenny North constituency from 1918 to 1922.
The president of Dáil Éireann, later also president of the Irish Republic, was the leader of the revolutionary Irish Republic of 1919–1922. The office was created in the Dáil Constitution adopted by Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Republic, at its first meeting in January 1919. This provided that the president was elected by the Dáil as head of a cabinet called the Ministry of Dáil Éireann. During this period, Ireland was deemed by Britain to be part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, but the Irish Republic had made a unilateral Declaration of Independence on 21 January 1919. On 6 December 1922, after the ratification of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, the Irish Free State was recognised by Britain as a sovereign state, and the position of the President of Dáil Éireann was replaced by that of President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State but, as a Dominion of the British Empire, King George V was head of state until the dominion status was rescinded in 1949.
The Oireachtas, sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the bicameral parliament of Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of the president of Ireland and the two houses of the Oireachtas, a house of representatives called Dáil Éireann and a senate called Seanad Éireann.
The Constitution of Dáil Éireann, more commonly known as the Dáil Constitution, was the constitution of the 1919–22 Irish Republic. It was adopted by the First Dáil at its first meeting on 21 January 1919 and remained in operation until 6 December 1922. As adopted it consisted of five articles. Article 1 declared that the Dáil had "full powers to legislate" and would consist of representatives elected in elections conducted by the British government. For the exercise of executive power it created a cabinet, answerable to the Dáil, called the Ministry, headed by a prime minister called the "Príomh Aire". The constitution was limited to an outline of the functions of the legislature and the executive; the Dáil later established a system of Dáil Courts, but there was no provision in the constitution on a judiciary. The final article of the constitution declared that it was intended to be a provisional document, in the sense that it was subject to amendment. As adopted the constitution came to only around 370 words. In comparison, the modern Constitution of Ireland has approximately 16,000 words. Overall, the structure of the document was as follows:
The 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty, commonly known in Ireland as The Treaty and officially the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was an agreement between the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the government of the Irish Republic that concluded the Irish War of Independence. It provided for the establishment of the Irish Free State within a year as a self-governing dominion within the "community of nations known as the British Empire", a status "the same as that of the Dominion of Canada". It also provided Northern Ireland, which had been created by the Government of Ireland Act 1920, an option to opt out of the Irish Free State, which was exercised by the Parliament of Northern Ireland.
The Second Dáil was Dáil Éireann as it convened from 16 August 1921 until 8 June 1922. From 1919 to 1922, Dáil Éireann was the revolutionary parliament of the self-proclaimed Irish Republic. The Second Dáil consisted of members elected at the 1921 elections, but with only members of Sinn Féin taking their seats. On 7 January 1922, it ratified the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64 votes to 57 which ended the War of Independence and led to the establishment of the Irish Free State on 6 December 1922.
The First 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. 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.
The Constitution of the Irish Free State was adopted by Act of Dáil Éireann sitting as a constituent assembly on 25 October 1922. In accordance with Article 83 of the Constitution, the Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922 of the British Parliament, which came into effect upon receiving the royal assent on 5 December 1922, provided that the Constitution would come into effect upon the issue of a Royal Proclamation, which was done on 6 December 1922. In 1937 the Constitution of the Irish Free State was replaced by the modern Constitution of Ireland following a referendum.
The 7th executive council of the Irish Free State was the Executive Council formed after the general election to the 8th Dáil held on 24 January 1933. It was led by Fianna Fáil leader Éamon de Valera as President of the Executive Council, who had first taken office in the Irish Free State after the 1932 general election. It lasted for 1,625 days.
There were two governments of the 6th Dáil. The 4th executive council of the Irish Free State was formed after the September 1927 general election to the 6th Dáil held on 15 September 1927. The 4th executive council lasted for 900 days from its appointment until it resigned from office, and continued to carry out its duties until the appointment of its successor for a further 5 days, for a total of 905 days. The 5th executive council of the Irish Free State was formed after the executive council resigned in a Dáil defeat. It lasted for 708 days. Both minority governments of Cumann na nGaedheal led by W. T. Cosgrave as President of the Executive Council and had the same composition in personnel.
There were two governments of the 2nd Dáil, which were ministries of Dáil Éireann, the assembly of Dáil Éireann that was the legislature of the Irish Republic, a unilaterally declared state which lasted from 1919 to 1922. The Second Dáil was elected at the 1921 Irish elections on 24 May 1921. The 3rd ministry was led by Éamon de Valera as president and lasted 136 days. De Valera resigned as president after the Dáil voted to accept the Anglo-Irish Treaty. The 4th ministry was led by Arthur Griffith as president. Griffith died in office on 12 August 1922, but a new Dáil ministry was not formed until 9 September 1922. Griffith served 214 days as president, with a further 28 days between his death and the appointment of W. T. Cosgrave as his successor by the Dáil.
The Vice-President of the Executive Council was the deputy prime minister of the 1922–1937 Irish Free State, and the second most senior member of the Executive Council (cabinet). Formally the Vice-President was appointed by the Governor-General on the nomination of the President of the Executive Council, but by convention the Governor-General could not refuse to appoint a vice-president whom the president had selected.
The state known today as Ireland is the successor state to the Irish Free State, which existed from December 1922 to December 1937. At its foundation, the Irish Free State was, in accordance with its constitution and the terms of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, governed as a constitutional monarchy, in personal union with the monarchy of the United Kingdom and other members of what was then called the British Commonwealth. The monarch as head of state was represented in the Irish Free State by his Governor-General, who performed most of the monarch's duties based on the advice of elected Irish officials.
The current Constitution of Ireland came into effect on 29 December 1937, repealing and replacing the Constitution of the Irish Free State, having been approved in a national plebiscite on 1 July 1937 with the support of 56.5% of voters in the then Irish Free State. The Constitution was closely associated with Éamon de Valera, the President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State at the time of its approval.
The 8th Dáil was elected at the 1933 general election on 24 January 1933 and met on 8 February 1933. The members of Dáil Éireann, the house of representatives of the Oireachtas (legislature) of the Irish Free State, are known as TDs. Initially, it was one of two houses of the Oireachtas, sitting with the First Seanad constituted as the 1931 Seanad and the 1934 Seanad. From 29 May 1936, it was the sole house of the Oireachtas, after the disbandment of Seanad Éireann under the Constitution Act 1936. The 8th Dáil was dissolved on 14 June 1937. The 8th Dáil lasted 1,588 days.
Stephen Mary O'Mara was an Irish businessman and republican politician in Limerick.
External association was a hypothetical relationship between Ireland and the Commonwealth of Nations proposed by Éamon de Valera in 1921–1922, whereby Ireland would be a sovereign state associated with, but not a member of, the Commonwealth; the British monarch would be head of the association, but not head of state of Ireland. De Valera proposed external association as a compromise between isolationist Irish republicanism on the one hand and Dominion status on the other. Whereas a full republic could not be a member of the Commonwealth until the London Declaration of 1949, a Dominion could not be fully independent until the Statute of Westminster 1931.
Dáil Éireann is the lower house, and principal chamber, of the Oireachtas, which also includes the president of Ireland and a senate called Seanad Éireann. It consists of 160 members, each known as a Teachta Dála. TDs represent 39 constituencies and are directly elected for terms not exceeding five years, on the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV). Its powers are similar to those of lower houses under many other bicameral parliamentary systems and it is by far the dominant branch of the Oireachtas. Subject to the limits imposed by the Constitution of Ireland, it has power to pass any law it wishes, and to nominate and remove the Taoiseach. Since 1922, it has met in Leinster House in Dublin.
The Sinn Féin Bank, formally the Sinn Féin Co-operative People's Bank, Ltd. was a co-operative bank in Ireland associated with the Sinn Féin movement, which operated from August 1908 to October 1921. The Sinn Féin Bank is sometimes confused with the National Land Bank, established as a friendly society in 1919 with Dáil backing and premises at 5 Harcourt Street.