User:Jnestorius/Second Dáil continuity

<Second Dáil <Irish republican legitimatism

Comhairle na dTeachtaí
< Comhairle na dTeachtaí It seems this was not formally established until after.

Other notes and docs
Army Council account of April 1927 meeting, published bby Free State and read into Dáil record 1927-07-26, re proposals for SF-FF alliance at June 1927 Irish general election:
 * Section 3(3): Each panel candidate shall sign a pledge and an undertaking, pledging undivided allegiance to the Republic of Ireland proclaimed on Easter Monday, 1916, and by law established on the 21st day of January, 1919
 * Section 6: The Second Dáil Eireann and the present Republican Government shall retain their present position until a Government functions as the de facto Government of the Republic of Ireland.

1927 IRA Constitution Article 5: provides for Army Council to delegate power to, and Army Convention to declare allegiance to, "a de facto government of the republic"; former where "actively endeavouring" latter where actually "functioning".

Stationery Office 1930:
 * 'Document "A" purports to be a note of the proceedings of a meeting held on the 18th and 19th December, 1926 of a body calling itself Comhairle na dTeachtai.'
 * 'Document "B" purports to be a note of the proceedings of a meeting held on the 10th December, 1927 of a body calling itself Dail Eireann."'

'Decree to establish the validity of certain acts done and omissions made by Comhairle na dTeachtai' [between 1924 and 1926]

BMH Sidney Czira papers (CD186) include (Group 13):
 * Dáil Éireann accounts July 1924-June 1925, and minutes of 28 June 1925 meeting
 * Opinion of counsel and questions by Art O'Connor on status of Comhairle na dTeachtai, 28 October 1926
 * Dáil Éireann minutes and manifesto of 10 Dec 1927 meeting

UCD De Valera papers P150
 * secs 20-26 P150/1679 to P150/1949

UCD Seán Macentee papers
 * P67/91 1926 "Copies of 3 Dáil decrees concerning the membership of Comhairle na dTeachtai and of Dáil Éireann, and the position of President of the Republic."

T. Ryle Dwyer "One of his first tasks was to do something about the Emergency Government, which had supposedly been set up by "the faithful members" of the second Dáil. A number of new Republican deputies who had not been members of the latter, had since been elected in June 1922 or August 1923, but they had no legal standing within the Emergency set-up, as the second Dáil was still supposedly the de jure parliament. Faced with the difficulty of finding a proper role for the new deputies, de Valera proposed replacing the Council of State with Comhairle na dTeachtaí, which the second Dáil could then authorise to function as 'the actual government of the country'. In short, the second Dáil would be the de jure government, while Comhairle na dTeachtaí would, in theory, be the de facto one. Yet de Valera personally accepted the Free State Dáil as the de facto government of the country, with the result that what he was really saying was that Republicans should consider Comhairle na dTeachtaí as the de jure de facto government, and the Free State parliament at Leinster House the de facto de facto government."

"shadow government" 1923-4 gave "particular attention" to "finance, health care, education and roads". De Valera was taken aback in July 1924 to find Mary MacSwiney's hardline view predominant in SF. Meeting of 2nd + 3rd + 4th Dáil republicans agreed only 2nd Dáil was legitimate govt of Republic. Late 1925 events precipitating change, each partly spurred by the previous one:
 * 1) failure of Boundary Commission;
 * 2) Dev's feelers on abstentionism;
 * 3) withdrawal of IRA support from 2nd Dáil; possible causes:
 * 4) stay aloof from impending SF split and/or De Valera wing
 * 5) revolutionary wing triumph over political wing

After founding of FF, Dev wanted "To relegate Dáil Éireann [i.e. the second Dáil] to a mythical region where it might get some formal recognition, but with a clear understanding that it should claim no right, nor try to exercise any."[quoting Dev public, Dev private, or opponent?]

SF Ard Chomhairle in May 1926 called on FF TDS to submit their resignations from the Second Dáil to the Ceann Comhairle.

SF meeting [ardfheis? election?] in Rotunda 11 June 1926 introduced Art O'Connor as President of the Irish Republic. Some cheers at mention of De Valera.

In 1977 Paddy Smith fondly remembered "the comradeship in the small headquarters off Grafton Street of Cumann na dTeachtai, the association of abstenrtionist Sinn Feiners"; I suspect this was the then SF HQ, not a separate premises?

Irish Times reported Garda seizure of IRA Army Council document proposing 1927 election pact between SF and FF based on loyalty to Republic and rejection of oath; SF agreed, FF didn't.

IT 1927/0822/Pg004 Mary MacSwiney has figure of 77 executees

IT 1927/0823/Pg007 after failed confidence motion, Labour clarifies it would not unilaterally abolish the oath; 3 SF TDs deny rumours it will follow FF in. FF had 2 NIMPs, rumours they would also sit. 1927/0824/Pg007 4th of 5 SF TDs denies

Electoral deposits form 1918 and 1921 were not automatically refunded to successful candidates. Sinn Féin was short of funds in 1925 and sought refunds in the Free State courts. The courts ruled (after the FF split) that deposits be returned to the candidates, not the party; many candidates were no longer with SF by then. Who was entitled if candidate had died? Was it an agent/trustee at the time of the election, or the estate of the deceased?

There were mid-1920s court cases relating to monies collected as Dáil Loan subscriptions but misappropriated.

IT 1929/0502/Pg013 Austin Stack funeral included 'members of the "Government of the Irish Republic", Sinn Fein, Oglaigh na hEireann, Cumann na mBan, Fianna Eireann, Clan na nGaedheal (Republican Girl Guides), ...'.

dail/1932-10-20 Mulcahy speech quotes various republican documents from September 1922 onwards

c.1933 Message from the executive of Dáil Éireann to the Sinn Fein Ard-Fheis derides name of "United Ireland" Party

June 1933 "Dail Eireann's Message" -- produced after Constitution (Removal of Oath) Act 1933 might have "confused" "our young people" to restate legitimist case.

White 2006

 * p.17 republicans said "Leinster House" for the Free State Dáil/Oireachtas
 * p.18 Army Reserve (1933) and military pensions for anti-treaty (1934) intended to co-opt IRA sympathisers
 * p.35 when Seán MacBride founded Clann na Poblachta, IRA expelled members, remembering FF turning on them in the 30s.
 * p.37 SF 1949 ardfheis leadership changes were a "friendly coup" by the IRA; "Sinn Féin welcomed them and became the political wing of the Irish Republican Movement."
 * p.42 Army Council has 7 members to reflect 1916 signatories

Secondary
Eunan O'Halpin: de Valera's "effective abandonment of the legitimist fiction of the second Dáil and its notional Irish republican government in 1925."