Irish Republicanism

Irish Republicanism is the nationalist belief that all of Ireland should be a united independent republic.

Irish Republicanism in independent Ireland (the Irish Free State and the Republic of Ireland)

The Irish Free State

Though many across the country were unhappy with the Anglo-Irish Treaty (since, during the Anglo-Irish war, the IRA had fought for independence for all Ireland and for a republic, not a partitioned dominion under the British crown), most republicans were satisfied that the Treaty was the best that could be achieved at the time. However, a substantial minority opposed it. Dáil Éireann, the revolutionary Irish parliament, voted by 64 votes to 57 to ratify it, the majority believing that the treaty created a new base from which to move forward. Éamon de Valera, who had served as President of the Irish Republic during the war, refused to accept the decision of the Dáil and led the opponents of the treaty out of the House. The IRA itself split between pro-Treaty and anti-Treaty elements, with the former forming the nucleus of the new National Army.

Related Topics:
Anglo-Irish Treaty - Republic - Dominion - Dáil Éireann - Éamon de Valera - President of the Irish Republic - National Army

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Michael Collins became Commander-in-Chief of the National Army. Shortly afterwards, some dissidents, apparently without the authorisation of the anti-Treaty IRA Army Executive, occupied the Four Courts in Dublin and kidnapped a pro-Treaty general. The government, responding to this provocation and to intensified British pressure following the assassination by an IRA unit in London of Sir Henry Wilson, ordered the regular army to take the Four Courts, thereby beginning the Irish Civil War.

Related Topics:
Michael Collins - Four Courts - Dublin - Government - Sir Henry Wilson - Irish Civil War

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It is believed that Collins continued to fund and supply the IRA in Northern Ireland throughout the civil war but, after his death, W.T. Cosgrave (the new President of the Executive Council) discontinued this support.

Related Topics:
Northern Ireland - W.T. Cosgrave

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By May 1923, the war (which had claimed more lives than the War of Independence) had ended in the defeat of the Irregulars. However, the harsh measures adopted by both sides, including assassinations of politicians by the Republicans and executions and atrocities by the Free State side, left a bitter legacy in Irish politics for decades to come.

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De Valera, who had strongly supported the Republican side in the Civil War, reconsidered his views while in jail, and came to accept the ideas of political activity under the terms of the Free State constitution. However, he and his supporters failed to convince a majority of the anti-treaty Sinn Féin of these views and the movement split again. In 1926, he formed a new party called Fianna Fáil (Soldiers of Destiny). In 1932 he was elected President of the Executive Council of the Free State and began a slow process of turning the country from a constitutional monarchy to a constitutional republic, thus fulfilling Collins' prediction of "the freedom to achieve freedom".

Related Topics:
1926 - Fianna Fáil - Constitutional monarchy

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By then, the IRA was engaged in confrontations with the Blueshirts, a quasi-fascist group led by a former War of Independence and pro-Treaty leader, General Eoin O'Duffy. O'Duffy looked to Fascist Italy as an example for Ireland to follow. Several hundred supporters of O'Duffy briefly went to Spain to volunteer on the Nationalist side in the Spanish Civil War, and a smaller number of IRA members, communists and others participated on the Republican side.

Related Topics:
Blueshirts - Fascist - Eoin O'Duffy - Fascist - Italy - Spanish Civil War

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In 1937 the Constitution of Ireland was written by the De Valera government; the Constitution claimed jurisdiction over the whole of Ireland and, with an elected Irish President, diminished the role of the King as Ireland's head of state to the purely ceremonial. Although de Valera claimed Ireland was a republic in every way except in name, legally the country was still a British "dominion" like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, or South Africa. Furthermore, the claim to the whole of the island did not reflect practical reality and probably further entrenched Unionist opposition. Despite the successive splits of 1922 and 1926, the remainder of the IRA rejected all compromise with political realities and continued to consider themselves to be original and sole Republican Movement.

Related Topics:
Constitution of Ireland - Canada - Australia - New Zealand - South Africa - Unionist

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Republic of Ireland

Ireland finally became a republic in 1948 when the Republic of Ireland Act was passed. This finally severed constitutional connection with Britain or The Commonwealth. In 1955 the Republic joined the United Nations and in 1973 joined the European Economic Community (now the European Union) in a move designed to bring Ireland closer to other European nations and to reduce the extent of its economic ties with Britain.

Related Topics:
Republic of Ireland Act - The Commonwealth - United Nations - European Economic Community - European Union

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Nowadays there is little more than "tabloid newspaper" interest in the British monarchy in the Republic of Ireland, though there are a handful of Irish monarchists who have argued for replacing the republic with one of the original Irish royal families (the O'Neills, O'Connors or O'Briens). Today all the dominant political parties in the Republic of Ireland support the state's republican constitution.

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Republican political parties in Ireland

Parties in favour of the Good Friday Agreement

• Sinn Féin is Northern Ireland's biggest republican party and the fastest growing party in all of Ireland. It represents a mixture of progressive, socialist and conservative political views. It is led by Gerry Adams, and organises in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Previously known as Provisional Sinn Fein, the current organisation has its origins in the 1970 split between that group and Official Sinn Fein. In 1986 it reversed its original policy of not taking seats in Dáil Éireann. By the late 1990s it had replaced the SDLP as Northern Ireland's largest nationalist party. It currently holds a small number of seats in the British parliament, a modest number in the Dáil, and a large number in Northern Ireland's provincial assembly. Sinn Féin members elected to the British parliament refuse to take part in debates or votes, as they would have to take an oath of loyalty to the British monarch to do so.
• Workers' Party of Ireland - After the IRA split in 1970 between the Provisional IRA and the Official IRA, Sinn Féin split as well between those who supported the leadership's Marxist line and more traditional republicans who supported Seán Mac Stiofáin and the Provisional IRA. In 1972 after a two-year armed campaign, the Official IRA called a ceasefire. Official Sinn Fein , in 1977, changed its name to Sinn Féin - The Workers' Party and in 1982 to simply The Workers Party. The Workers Party engaged in a Marxist-Leninist platform stressing "class politics", hoping to attract working-class Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland away from sectarian politics. However their efforts yielded little electoral success in Northern Ireland, where the party has performed very poorly at the polls.

Parties opposed to the Good Friday Agreement

• Republican Sinn Féin Does not take part in parliamentary elections in either the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland because it views both as illegitimate. It is linked to the Continuity IRA, whose goals are the overthrow of British rule in Northern Ireland and the reunification of the country. They are led by former Sinn Fein leader Ruairí Ó Brádaigh who led radicals in a break with Sinn Féin in 1986 to create the party.
• Irish Republican Socialist Party The IRSP was founded by Seamus Costello in 1974, who possibly had an eye towards James Connolly's Irish Socialist Republican Party of the late 19th/early 20th century when coining the party's name. Costello led other former Official IRA members dissatisfied with Goulding's policies and tactics.
• The party quickly organized a paramilitary wing called the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) which is still operating today, though on a "no first strike" ceasefire. It claims to follow the principles of republican socialism as set out by the 1916 rebellion leader James Connolly and radical 20th-century trade unionist James Larkin.

Republican political parties unique to the Republic of Ireland

• Fianna Fáil - Translation: Soldiers of Destiny. A socially conservative, economically centrist party, it is Ireland's largest party and is currently the main partner in the Republic's coalition government. Its origins are in the 1926 split of the anti-treaty fraction of the original Sinn Féin.
• Fine Gael - Translation: tribe of Irishmen. Currently the second largest party in Ireland, created by a merger of Cumann na nGaedheal with other pro-Treaty groups in 1933. Its origins are in the pro-Treaty fraction of the original Sinn Féin. In Government in 1948, it enacted the Republic of Ireland Act, that finally removed the state from UK Dominion and from the Commonwealth.

Republican political parties unique to Northern Ireland

• SDLP - Irish Social Democratic and Labour Party. Formed in the 1960s, it associated itself entirely with the Civil Rights movement and was strongly opposed to the tactics of the IRA even in response to loyalist paramilitary and British army actions. The party is today led by Mark Durkan and is linked to other social-democratic parties (like those in the Republic of Ireland, Sweden, France, and Germany). The SDLP, unlike Sinn Féin, does not organise in the Republic of Ireland, but is strongly allied to the Irish Labour Party.