90th Anniversary of An Céad Dáil Éireann - the First Dáil Éireann‏

[MartinP]

The 90th anniversary of the historic First All-Ireland Dáil takes place on Wednesday 21st January. A number of organisations will be celebrating the anniversary in Dublin.

On the eve of the anniversary Sinn Féin (Poblachtach) will host an event to mark the occasion at Wynn's Hotel, Lower Abbey Street, Dublin 1.

The Programme of Events include; Reading of the Declaration of Independence, Reading of the Address to the Free Nations of The World, Reading of the Democratic Programme of Dáil Éireann, and a Lecture on the First Dáil Éireann by Ruairí Ó Brádaigh.

[toxic avenger]

Might as well stick in John A.'s article on the subject in this morning's Sindo:

Enduring legacy of the first Dail - Analysis - Independent.ie

[Utopian Hermit Monk]

Dil ireann - Volume 1 - 21 January, 1919 - DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.

21 January, 1919

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.

Whereas the Irish people is by right a free people:

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

And Whereas English rule in this country is, and always has been, based upon force and fraud and maintained by military occupation against the declared will of the people:

And Whereas the Irish Republic was proclaimed in Dublin on Easter Monday, 1916, by the Irish Republican Army acting on behalf of the Irish people:

And Whereas the Irish people is resolved to secure and maintain its complete independence in order to promote the common weal, to re-establish justice, to provide for future defence, to insure peace at home and goodwill with all nations and to constitute a national polity based upon the people's will with equal right and equal opportunity for every citizen:

And Whereas at the threshold of a new era in history the Irish electorate has in the General Election of December, 1918, seized the first occasion to declare by an overwhelming majority its firm allegiance to the Irish Republic:

Now, therefore, 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 curselves and our people to make this declaration effective by every means at our command:

We ordain that the elected Representatives of the Irish people alone have power to make laws binding on the people of Ireland, and that the Irish Parliament is the only Parliament to which that people will give its allegiance:

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

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:

In the name of the Irish people we humbly commit our destiny to Almighty God who gave our fathers the courage and determination to persevere through long centuries of a ruthless tyranny, and strong in the justice of the cause which they have handed down to us, we ask His divine blessing on this the last stage of the struggle we have pledged ourselves to carry through to Freedom.


.......................

Hmmm ... Lisbon II anyone?

[edifice.]

Yet over the decades since independence, successive "republican'' groups, while refusing to recognise the "Free State'' and its institutions, have bizarrely insisted on their allegiance to the First and Second Dails as the wellspring of legitimate political authority in Ireland. Unreal and perverse though this mentality may be, it unwittingly acknowledges the priority of the parliamentary tradition as the most enduring political force in our history.

Good old John A still talking through his hole.

[toxic avenger]

Good old John A still talking through his hole.

What's wrong exactly with the bit you quoted? Isn't he right?

[edifice.]

What's wrong exactly with the bit you quoted? Isn't he right?

No, he isn't. The First and Second Dail's were parliaments of a 32 County Republic whose legitimacy was sourced from the sovereignty of the people of the island. What sits at Leinster House now isn't.

The enduring nature of the parliamentary tradition ever since partition has ensured the continuance of partition, the very opposite of what the original Dail stood for.

[daftpunkt]

Great work from Sinn Féin securing the actual location where an Chéad Dáil actually sat. There will be around 500 people at the mansion house on Wednesday evening for an evening of political debate and historical education.

[Keith-M]

No, he isn't. The First and Second Dail's were parliaments of a 32 County Republic whose legitimacy was sourced from the sovereignty of the people of the island. What sits at Leinster House now isn't.

The enduring nature of the parliamentary tradition ever since partition has ensured the continuance of partition, the very opposite of what the original Dail stood for.

The first Dail was simply Sinn Fein TDs who were elected to Westminster, ignoring te democratic wishes of the majority of the people of the island.

The second Dail had not democratic mandate whatsoever.

[daftpunkt]

The first Dail was simply Sinn Fein TDs who were elected to Westminster, ignoring te democratic wishes of the majority of the people of the island.

The second Dail had not democratic mandate whatsoever.

Are you saying that the electorate of the 1918 election wanted SF to sit in Westminster? Effectively misunderstanding SF aims and strategy of that time?

Or have I taken you up wrong?

[PhoenixIreland]

Are you saying that the electorate of the 1918 election wanted SF to sit in Westminster? Effectively misunderstanding SF aims and strategy of that time?

Or have I taken you up wrong?

He may mean that if you add up the popular votes for that election you could read it as most people wanting to stay part of GB as they voted for parties that wanted to stay in.