Declaration of Independence (Ireland)

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The Declaration of Independence was a document adopted by Dáil Éireann, the revolutionary parliament of the self-proclaimed Irish Republic, at its first meeting in the Mansion House, Dublin, on 21st January, 1919. It followed from the Sinn Féin election manifesto of December 1918. Texts of the declaration were adopted in three languages: Irish, English and French.

1 Scope
2 Ratification of 1916
3 English Garrison
4 700 Years
5 International recognition
6 Notes
7 External links

[edit] Scope

The Irish Republic was intended to encompass the whole island of Ireland and loyalists who mostly lived in the northeast had no part to play in it. The declaration made no mention of the independence of the 32-county geographic island, just the independence of the 'Irish nation' or 'Irish people'. Despite efforts in Europe and the United States, the new state was recognised only by the Soviet Union. It was rivaled by the administration of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, but as the Anglo-Irish War went on it increased its legitimacy in the eyes of Irish people. It was superseded by the Irish Free State in 1922, after the Anglo-Irish Treaty.

[edit] Ratification of 1916

By the Declaration of Independence the Dáil claimed to "ratify" the earlier Easter Proclamation of 1916. This proclamation had not been adopted by an elected body but merely by the Easter rebels claiming to act in the name of the Irish people. Unlike the proclamation, the Declaration of Independence was followed by the establishment of some de facto political organs. In its crucial line the declaration pronounced that:

..we, the elected Representatives of the ancient Irish people in National Parliament assembled, do, in the name of the Irish nation, ratify the establishment of the Irish Republic and pledge ourselves and our people to make this declaration effective by every means at our command

[edit] English Garrison

We solemnly declare foreign government in Ireland to be an invasion of our national right which we will never tolerate, and we demand the evacuation of our country by the English Garrison.

Differing meanings were given to the occupying 'English garrison'. This was the closest that the Irish Republic came to declaring war on Britain in January 1919, arguing that an invasion had taken place and therefore any military action from then on was to remove the invaders. The government in London refused to take this as a declaration of war, considering that it was worded for an Irish audience. When the Irish War of Independence started with some haphazard shootings in the same month, it was treated by London as a police matter. The Dáil had no claim to control the volunteers (IRA) beyond sharing the aim of Irish sovereignty until they had sworn an oath of allegiance to it in August 1920.^[1]

Many took this phrase to mean the garrison in uniform - the police and army - but as the war developed it legitimised attacks on loyalists and Protestants^[2], even if their ancestors had lived on the island for 400 years. Many loyalists and Protestants subsequently left the island. In Ulster this phraseology and the subsequent attacks by the IRA motivated loyalists to accept the British 1920 formula for home rule in Northern Ireland^[3].

[edit] 700 Years

And Whereas for seven hundred years the Irish people has never ceased to repudiate and has repeatedly protested in arms against foreign usurpation.

This was based on the 'apostolic succession' of revolts against the Dublin administrations, placing the pure Irish in the Gaelic world of about the 1160s. Most of the intervening period had been quiet but particularly the wars and revolts of 1595-1603, 1641-50, 1689-91, 1798, 1848, 1867 and 1916 suggested a continuing attempt at self-government, with or without links to the crown. This alienated unnecessarily many Irish people who were descended from immigrants who had arrived since 1160, but not all.^[4] This was also a logical identification of the Dáil as the elected Representatives of the ancient Irish people - see above.

[edit] International recognition

We claim for our national independence the recognition and support of every free nation in the world, and we proclaim that independence to be a condition precedent to international peace hereafter:

An important element in the 1918 Sinn Féin election manifesto was to secure recognition at the forthcoming peace conference that would end the First World War. President Wilson of the USA had suggested that the Versailles Conference would be inclusive and even-handed, but his European allies were not so welcoming and the Irish Republic was not invited to attend. Referring proudly to the 1916 Easter Rising (see above) did not help. It was only recognised by communist Russia, then a 'pariah' state which was also not invited to Versailles.