1.
Ireland
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Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, Ireland is the second-largest island of the British Isles, the third-largest in Europe, and the twentieth-largest on Earth. Politically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland, which covers five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, in 2011, the population of Ireland was about 6.4 million, ranking it the second-most populous island in Europe after Great Britain. Just under 4.6 million live in the Republic of Ireland, the islands geography comprises relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain, with several navigable rivers extending inland. The island has lush vegetation, a product of its mild, thick woodlands covered the island until the Middle Ages. As of 2013, the amount of land that is wooded in Ireland is about 11% of the total, there are twenty-six extant mammal species native to Ireland. The Irish climate is moderate and classified as oceanic. As a result, winters are milder than expected for such a northerly area, however, summers are cooler than those in Continental Europe. Rainfall and cloud cover are abundant, the earliest evidence of human presence in Ireland is dated at 10,500 BC. Gaelic Ireland had emerged by the 1st century CE, the island was Christianised from the 5th century onward. Following the Norman invasion in the 12th century, England claimed sovereignty over Ireland, however, English rule did not extend over the whole island until the 16th–17th century Tudor conquest, which led to colonisation by settlers from Britain. In the 1690s, a system of Protestant English rule was designed to materially disadvantage the Catholic majority and Protestant dissenters, with the Acts of Union in 1801, Ireland became a part of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland saw much civil unrest from the late 1960s until the 1990s and this subsided following a political agreement in 1998. In 1973 the Republic of Ireland joined the European Economic Community while the United Kingdom, Irish culture has had a significant influence on other cultures, especially in the fields of literature. Alongside mainstream Western culture, an indigenous culture exists, as expressed through Gaelic games, Irish music. The culture of the island shares many features with that of Great Britain, including the English language, and sports such as association football, rugby, horse racing. The name Ireland derives from Old Irish Eriu and this in turn derives from Proto-Celtic *Iveriu, which is also the source of Latin Hibernia. Iveriu derives from a root meaning fat, prosperous, during the last glacial period, and up until about 9000 years ago, most of Ireland was covered with ice, most of the time
2.
Republic of Ireland
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Ireland, also known as the Republic of Ireland, is a sovereign state in north-western Europe occupying about five-sixths of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, which is located on the part of the island. The state shares its land border with Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom. It is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the Celtic Sea to the south, Saint Georges Channel to the south-east, and it is a unitary, parliamentary republic. The head of government is the Taoiseach, who is elected by the Dáil and appointed by the President, the state was created as the Irish Free State in 1922 as a result of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. It was officially declared a republic in 1949, following the Republic of Ireland Act 1948, Ireland became a member of the United Nations in December 1955. It joined the European Economic Community, the predecessor of the European Union, after joining the EEC, Ireland enacted a series of liberal economic policies that resulted in rapid economic growth. The country achieved considerable prosperity between the years of 1995 and 2007, which known as the Celtic Tiger period. This was halted by a financial crisis that began in 2008. However, as the Irish economy was the fastest growing in the EU in 2015, Ireland is again quickly ascending league tables comparing wealth and prosperity internationally. For example, in 2015, Ireland was ranked as the joint sixth most developed country in the world by the United Nations Human Development Index and it also performs well in several national performance metrics, including freedom of the press, economic freedom and civil liberties. Ireland is a member of the European Union and is a member of the Council of Europe. The 1922 state, comprising 26 of the 32 counties of Ireland, was styled, the Constitution of Ireland, adopted in 1937, provides that the name of the State is Éire, or, in the English language, Ireland. Section 2 of the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 states, It is hereby declared that the description of the State shall be the Republic of Ireland. The 1948 Act does not name the state as Republic of Ireland, because to have done so would have put it in conflict with the Constitution. The government of the United Kingdom used the name Eire, and, from 1949, Republic of Ireland, for the state, as well as Ireland, Éire or the Republic of Ireland, the state is also referred to as the Republic, Southern Ireland or the South. In an Irish republican context it is referred to as the Free State or the 26 Counties. From the Act of Union on 1 January 1801, until 6 December 1922, during the Great Famine, from 1845 to 1849, the islands population of over 8 million fell by 30%
3.
Northern Ireland
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Northern Ireland is a constituent unit of the United Kingdom in the north-east of Ireland. It is variously described as a country, province, region, or part of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland shares a border to the south and west with the Republic of Ireland. In 2011, its population was 1,810,863, constituting about 30% of the total population. Northern Ireland was created in 1921, when Ireland was partitioned between Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland by an act of the British parliament, Northern Ireland has historically been the most industrialised region of Ireland. After declining as a result of the political and social turmoil of the Troubles, its economy has grown significantly since the late 1990s. Unemployment in Northern Ireland peaked at 17. 2% in 1986, dropping to 6. 1% for June–August 2014,58. 2% of those unemployed had been unemployed for over a year. Prominent artists and sports persons from Northern Ireland include Van Morrison, Rory McIlroy, Joey Dunlop, Wayne McCullough, some people from Northern Ireland prefer to identify as Irish while others prefer to identify as British. Cultural links between Northern Ireland, the rest of Ireland, and the rest of the UK are complex, in many sports, the island of Ireland fields a single team, a notable exception being association football. Northern Ireland competes separately at the Commonwealth Games, and people from Northern Ireland may compete for either Great Britain or Ireland at the Olympic Games. The region that is now Northern Ireland was the bedrock of the Irish war of resistance against English programmes of colonialism in the late 16th century, the English-controlled Kingdom of Ireland had been declared by the English king Henry VIII in 1542, but Irish resistance made English control fragmentary. Victories by English forces in war and further Protestant victories in the Williamite War in Ireland toward the close of the 17th century solidified Anglican rule in Ireland. In Northern Ireland, the victories of the Siege of Derry and their intention was to materially disadvantage the Catholic community and, to a lesser extent, the Presbyterian community. In the context of open institutional discrimination, the 18th century saw secret, militant societies develop in communities in the region and act on sectarian tensions in violent attacks. Following this, in an attempt to quell sectarianism and force the removal of discriminatory laws, the new state, formed in 1801, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, was governed from a single government and parliament based in London. Between 1717 and 1775 some 250,000 people from Ulster emigrated to the British North American colonies and it is estimated that there are more than 27 million Scotch-Irish Americans now living in the US. By the close of the century, autonomy for Ireland within the United Kingdom, in 1912, after decades of obstruction from the House of Lords, Home Rule became a near-certainty. A clash between the House of Commons and House of Lords over a controversial budget produced the Parliament Act 1911, which enabled the veto of the Lords to be overturned. The House of Lords veto had been the unionists main guarantee that Home Rule would not be enacted, in 1914, they smuggled thousands of rifles and rounds of ammunition from Imperial Germany for use by the Ulster Volunteers, a paramilitary organisation opposed to the implementation of Home Rule
4.
Europe
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Europe is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, yet the non-oceanic borders of Europe—a concept dating back to classical antiquity—are arbitrary. Europe covers about 10,180,000 square kilometres, or 2% of the Earths surface, politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states of which the Russian Federation is the largest and most populous, spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a population of about 740 million as of 2015. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable than close to the coast, Europe, in particular ancient Greece, was the birthplace of Western civilization. The fall of the Western Roman Empire, during the period, marked the end of ancient history. Renaissance humanism, exploration, art, and science led to the modern era, from the Age of Discovery onwards, Europe played a predominant role in global affairs. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, European powers controlled at times the Americas, most of Africa, Oceania. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, gave rise to economic, cultural, and social change in Western Europe. During the Cold War, Europe was divided along the Iron Curtain between NATO in the west and the Warsaw Pact in the east, until the revolutions of 1989 and fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1955, the Council of Europe was formed following a speech by Sir Winston Churchill and it includes all states except for Belarus, Kazakhstan and Vatican City. Further European integration by some states led to the formation of the European Union, the EU originated in Western Europe but has been expanding eastward since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The European Anthem is Ode to Joy and states celebrate peace, in classical Greek mythology, Europa is the name of either a Phoenician princess or of a queen of Crete. The name contains the elements εὐρύς, wide, broad and ὤψ eye, broad has been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion and the poetry devoted to it. For the second part also the divine attributes of grey-eyed Athena or ox-eyed Hera. The same naming motive according to cartographic convention appears in Greek Ανατολή, Martin Litchfield West stated that phonologically, the match between Europas name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor. Next to these there is also a Proto-Indo-European root *h1regʷos, meaning darkness. Most major world languages use words derived from Eurṓpē or Europa to refer to the continent, in some Turkic languages the originally Persian name Frangistan is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as Avrupa or Evropa
5.
Sovereign state
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A sovereign state is, in international law, a nonphysical juridical entity that is represented by one centralized government that has sovereignty over a geographic area. International law defines sovereign states as having a permanent population, defined territory, one government, and it is also normally understood that a sovereign state is neither dependent on nor subjected to any other power or state. The existence or disappearance of a state is a question of fact, States came into existence as people gradually transferred their allegiance from an individual sovereign to an intangible but territorial political entity, of the state. States are but one of political orders that emerged from feudal Europe, others being city states, leagues. Westphalian sovereignty is the concept of sovereignty based on territoriality. It is a system of states, multinational corporations. Sovereignty is a term that is frequently misused and that position was reflected and constituted in the notion that their sovereignty was either completely lacking, or at least of an inferior character when compared to that of civilised people. Lassa Oppenheim said There exists perhaps no conception the meaning of which is more controversial than that of sovereignty. It is a fact that this conception, from the moment when it was introduced into political science until the present day, has never had a meaning which was universally agreed upon. In the opinion of H. V. Evatt of the High Court of Australia, sovereignty is neither a question of fact, nor a question of law, but a question that does not arise at all. The right of nations to determine their own status and exercise permanent sovereignty within the limits of their territorial jurisdictions is widely recognized. The Westphalian model of sovereignty has increasingly come under fire from the non-west as a system imposed solely by Western Colonialism. What this model did was make religion a subordinate to politics and this system does not fit in the Islamic world because concepts such as separation of church and state and individual conscience are not recognised in the Islamic religion as social systems. Nation denotes a people who are believed to or deemed to share common customs, religion, language, origins, however, the adjectives national and international are frequently used to refer to matters pertaining to what are strictly sovereign states, as in national capital, international law. State refers to the set of governing and supportive institutions that have sovereignty over a definite territory, State recognition signifies the decision of a sovereign state to treat another entity as also being a sovereign state. Recognition can be expressed or implied and is usually retroactive in its effects. It does not necessarily signify a desire to establish or maintain diplomatic relations, There is no definition that is binding on all the members of the community of nations on the criteria for statehood. In actual practice, the criteria are mainly political, not legal, in international law, however, there are several theories of when a state should be recognised as sovereign
6.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
7.
Irish nationalism
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Irish nationalism asserts that the Irish people are a nation. Since the partition of Ireland, the term refers to support for a united Ireland. Irish nationalists assert that rule from London has been to the detriment of Irish interests and this vision sought to overcome the old ethnic divide between Gaeil and Gaill which had been a feature of Irish life since the 12th century. Protestantism in England introduced an element to the 16th century Tudor conquest of Ireland, as many of the native Gaels. The Plantations of Ireland dispossessed many native Catholic landowners in favour of Protestant settlers from England and Scotland, in addition, the Plantation of Ulster, begun in 1609, planted a sizeable colony of English and Scottish Protestant settlers into the north of Ireland. Irish aristocrats waged many campaigns against the English presence, a prime example is the rebellion of Hugh ONeill which became known as the Nine Years War of 1594–1603, which aimed to expel the English and make Ireland a Spanish protectorate. The Confederate Catholics of Ireland, also known as the Confederation of Kilkenny, emphasised the idea of Ireland as a Kingdom independent from England and they demanded autonomy for the Irish Parliament, full rights for Catholics and an end to the confiscation of Catholic-owned land. The Cromwellian conquest of Ireland destroyed the Confederate cause and resulted in the permanent dispossession of the old Catholic landowning class. A similar Irish Catholic monarchist movement emerged in the 1680s and 1690s, the Jacobites demanded that Irish Catholics have a majority in an autonomous Irish Parliament, the restoration of confiscated Catholic land, and an Irish-born Lord Deputy of Ireland. Like the Confederates, they suffered defeat, in the Williamite War in Ireland. Thereafter, the largely English Protestant Ascendancy dominated Irish government and landholding, the Penal Laws discriminated against non-Anglicans. However, the Irish Catholic movements of the 16th century were led by a small landed. Professor Kevin Whelan has traced the emergence of the modern Catholic-nationalist identity that formed in 1760–1830, parliamentarians who wanted more self-government formed the Irish Patriot Party, led by Henry Grattan, who achieved substantial legislative independence in 1782–83. Grattan and radical elements of the Irish Whig party campaigned in the 1790s for Catholic political equality and he wanted useful links with Britain to remain, best understood by his comment, The channel forbids union, the ocean forbids separation. Grattans movement was notable for being both inclusive and nationalist as many of its members were descended from the Anglo/Irish minority, many other nationalists such as Samuel Neilson, Theobald Wolfe Tone and Robert Emmet were also descended from plantation families which had arrived in Ireland since 1600. From Grattan in the 1770s to Parnell up to 1890, nearly all the leaders of Irish separatism were Protestant nationalists, modern Irish nationalism with democratic aspirations began in the 1790s with the founding of the Society of the United Irishmen. It sought to end discrimination against Catholics and Presbyterians and to found an independent Irish republic and they were sponsored by the French Republic, which was then the enemy of the Holy See. The United Irishmen led the Irish Rebellion of 1798, which was repressed with great bloodshed, as a result, the Irish Parliament voted to abolish itself in the Act of Union of 1800–01 and thereafter Irish MPs sat in London
8.
Irish republicanism
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Irish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic. This followed hundreds of years of British conquest and Irish resistance through rebellion and it launched the 1798 Rebellion with the help of French troops. The rebellion had some success, especially in County Wexford, before it was suppressed, a second rising in 1803, led by Robert Emmet, was quickly put down, and Emmet was hanged. The Young Ireland movement, formed in the 1830s, was initially a part of the Repeal Association of Daniel OConnell, primarily a political and cultural organisation, some members of Young Ireland staged an abortive rising, the Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848. Its leaders were transported to Van Diemens Land, some of these escaped to the United States, where they linked up with other Irish exiles to form the Fenian Brotherhood. They staged another rising, the Fenian Rising, in 1867, in the early 20th century IRB members, in particular Tom Clarke and Seán MacDermott, began planning another rising. The execution of the Risings leaders, including Clarke, MacDermott, Patrick Pearse and James Connolly, the elected members did not take their seats but instead set up the First Dáil. Between 1919 and 1921 the Irish Republican Army, who were loyal to the Dáil, fought the British Army and Royal Irish Constabulary in the Irish War of Independence. Talks between the British and Irish in late 1921 led to a treaty by which the British conceded, not a 32-county Irish Republic and this led to the Irish Civil War, in which the republicans were defeated by their former comrades. That same year, the movement took the decision to focus on Northern Ireland thereafter. The Border Campaign, which lasted from 1956 to 1962, involved bombings, the failure of this campaign led the republican leadership to concentrate on political action, and to move to the left. Following the outbreak of The Troubles in 1968-9, the movement split between Officials and Provisionals at the beginning of 1970. The Provisional IRA, except during brief ceasefires in 1972 and 1975, kept up a campaign of violence for nearly thirty years, directed against security forces and civilian targets. This began to change with a speech by Danny Morrison in 1981, advocating what became known as the Armalite. Under the leadership of Gerry Adams, Sinn Féin began to focus on the search for a political settlement. When the party voted in 1986 to take seats in legislative bodies within Ireland, there was a walk-out of die-hard republicans, who set up Republican Sinn Féin and the Continuity IRA. Following the Hume–Adams dialogue, Sinn Féin took part in the Northern Ireland peace process led to the IRA ceasefires of 1994 and 1997. However, another split occurred, with anti-Agreement republicans setting up the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, today, Irish republicanism is divided between those who support the institutions set up under the Good Friday Agreement and the later St Andrews Agreement, and those who oppose them
9.
Unionism in Ireland
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Unionism in Ireland is a political ideology that favours the continuation of some form of political union between the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. Since the partition of Ireland, unionism in Ireland has focused on maintaining and preserving the place of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom, in this context, a distinction may be made between the unionism in the province of Ulster and unionism elsewhere in Ireland. Irish nationalism is opposed to the ideology of unionism, most unionists come from Protestant backgrounds, most nationalists come from a Roman Catholic background. Exceptions to these generalisations exist, there are Protestant nationalists and there are Catholic unionists, the political relationship between England and Ireland dates from the 12th century with the establishment of the Lordship of Ireland. In 1542, the Crown of Ireland Act was passed by both the English and Irish Parliaments, the Act established a sovereign Kingdom of Ireland with Henry VIII as King of Ireland. Both parliaments later passed the Act of Union 1800 by which a new state was created - the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922, twenty-six counties of Ireland gained autonomy from the U. K. as the Irish Free State, in 1949, the State was declared to be a Republic, the Republic of Ireland left the Commonwealth of Nations organisation. The remaining six counties of the island of Ireland constituted the territory of Northern Ireland, in 1927, the realm, consisting of combined territories of Northern Ireland and Great Britain, was renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Today, unionism is almost exclusively an issue for Northern Ireland and it is concerned with the governance of and relationship between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. Unionism emerged as a force in opposition to William Ewart Gladstones Home Rule Bill of 1886. Irish nationalists believed in separation from Great Britain, whether through repeal of the 1800 Act of Union, home rule, Unionists believed in maintaining and deepening the relationship between the various nations of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. They expressed pride in symbols of Britishness, a key symbol for unionists is the Union Flag. Unionist areas of Northern Ireland often display this and other symbols to show the loyalty, Unionism is also known for its allegiance to the person of the British monarch, both historically and today. Historically, most unionists in Ireland have been Protestants and most nationalists have been Catholics, however, a significant number of Protestants have adhered to the nationalist cause, and likewise with Catholics and unionism. These phenomena continue to exist in Northern Ireland, both unionism and nationalism have had sectarian and anti-sectarian elements. While nationalism has had a number of Protestant leaders, unionism was invariably always led by Protestant leaders, newe, served in the Government of Northern Ireland. UUP leader and Nobel Peace Prize-winner David Trimble suggested that Northern Ireland had been a house for Catholics in the past. People espousing unionist beliefs are sometimes referred to as loyalists, the two words are sometimes used interchangeably, but the latter is more often associated with particularly hardline forms of unionism
10.
Partition of Ireland
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The partition of Ireland was the division of the island of Ireland into two distinct jurisdictions, Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland. It took place on 3 May 1921 under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, today the former is still known as Northern Ireland and forms part of the United Kingdom while the latter is now a sovereign state also named Ireland, formally known as the Republic of Ireland. The Act of 1920 was intended to create two self-governing territories within Ireland, with both remaining within the United Kingdom and it also contained provisions for co-operation between the two territories and for the eventual reunification of Ireland. Since partition, a key aspiration of Irish nationalists has been to bring about a reunited Ireland and this goal conflicts with that of the unionists in Northern Ireland, who want the region to remain part of the United Kingdom. The British and Irish government agreed, under the 1998 Belfast Agreement, in its white paper on Brexit the United Kingdom government reiterated its commitment to the Belfast Agreement. The unionist MP Horace Plunkett, who would later support home rule, exclusion was first considered by the British cabinet in 1912, in the context of Ulster unionist opposition to the Third Home Rule Bill, which was then in preparation. The Curragh incident on 20 March 1914 had already led Westminster to believe that the British Army could not be trusted to carry out their orders in Ireland, the Home Rule Crisis was interrupted by the outbreak of World War I. Westminster passed the Home Rule Bill on 18 September 1914 and it immediately received Royal Assent, at the time it was widely believed that the conflict would only last for a few months. Concurrent with the Conscription Crisis of 1918, support for Irish republicanism had risen in Ireland due to the length of the war, Irish republicans were further emboldened by successful revolutions in the Russian, German and Austro-Hungarian Empires. Meanwhile, Irish unionists – most of whom lived in the northeast of the island – were just as determined to maintain the Union and it was intended that each jurisdiction would be granted home rule but remain within the United Kingdom. The government of Southern Ireland never functioned, the war for independence continued until the two agreed a truce in July 1921, ending with the Anglo-Irish Treaty on 6 December 1921. The new state had the status of a dominion of the British Empire, on 7 December 1922 the houses of the Parliament of Northern Ireland approved an address to George V, requesting that its territory not be included in the Irish Free State. This was presented to the king the day on 8 December 1922. Following independence, the state gradually severed all remaining constitutional links with the United Kingdom. In 1937 the Free State was renamed Ireland in its new constitution, in 1949 the state was declared to be a republic, under the Republic of Ireland Act. The Government of Ireland Act 1920, which came into effect on 3 May 1921, provided for separate self-governing parliaments for Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland, the Irish War of Independence led to the Anglo-Irish Treaty. The treaty was given effect in the United Kingdom through the Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922. Under the former Act, at 1pm on 6 December 1922, the treaty, and the laws which implemented it, allowed Northern Ireland to opt out of the Irish Free State
11.
Government of Ireland Act 1920
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The Government of Ireland Act 1920 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Acts long title was An Act to provide for the government of Ireland. Both areas of Ireland were to continue as a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and provision was made for their future reunification under common Home Rule institutions. Home Rule never took effect in Southern Ireland, due to the Irish War of Independence, which resulted instead in the Anglo-Irish Treaty and the establishment in 1922 of the Irish Free State. However, the set up under this Act for Northern Ireland continued to function until they were suspended by the British parliament in 1972 as a consequence of the Troubles. The remaining provisions of the Act still in force in Northern Ireland were repealed under the terms of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, various attempts had been made to give Ireland limited regional self-government, known as Home rule, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Third Home Rule Bill introduced in 1912 by the Irish Parliamentary Party could no longer be vetoed after the passing of the Parliament Act 1911 which removed the power of the Lords to veto bills and they could merely be delayed for two years. Because of the threat of civil war in Ireland, King George V called the Buckingham Palace Conference in July 1914 where Irish Nationalist and Unionist leaders failed to reach agreement. A few weeks after the British entry into the war, the Act received Royal Assent, however, the Suspensory Act 1914 meant that implementation would be suspended for the duration of what was expected to be only a short European war. A delay ensued because of the end of the First World War in November 1918, the Paris Peace Conference,1919. Long proposed the creation of two Irish home rule entities, Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland, each with unicameral parliaments, the Bills second reading debates in late March 1920 revealed that already a large number of Irish members of parliament present felt that the proposals were unworkable. After considerable delays in debating the financial aspects of the measure, a considerable number of the Irish Members present voted against the Bill, including Southern Unionists such as Maurice Dockrell, and Nationalists like Joe Devlin. During the Great War Irish politics moved decisively in a different direction, sinn Féin, standing for an independent sovereign Ireland, won 73 of the 105 parliamentary seats on the island in the 1918 general election. Its elected members established their own parliament, Dáil Éireann, which declared the independence as the Irish Republic. Dáil Éireann, after a number of meetings, was declared illegal in September 1919 by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, also for a variety of reasons all the Ulster Unionist MPs at Westminster voted against the Act. They preferred that all or most of Ulster would remain fully within the United Kingdom, thus, when the Act became law on 23 December 1920 it was already out of touch with realities in Ireland. The long-standing demand for home rule had been replaced among Nationalists by a demand for complete independence, the Republics army was waging the Irish War of Independence against British rule, which had reached a nadir in late 1920. Northern Ireland as defined by the Act, amounting to six of the nine counties of Ulster, was seen as the area within which Unionists could be expected to have a safe majority
12.
Anglo-Irish Treaty
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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 it exercised. The agreement was signed in London on 6 December 1921, by representatives of the British government and by representatives of the Irish Republic including Michael Collins, the Irish representatives had plenipotentiary status acting on behalf of the Irish Republic, though the British government declined to recognise that status. As required by its terms, the agreement was ratified by a meeting of the elected to sit in the House of Commons of Southern Ireland. In reality, Dáil Éireann first debated then ratified the treaty, though the treaty was narrowly ratified, the split led to the Irish Civil War, which was won by the pro-treaty side. Among the treatys main clauses were that, Crown forces would withdraw from most of Ireland, Ireland was to become a self-governing dominion of the British Empire, a status shared by Australia, Canada, Newfoundland, New Zealand and the Union of South Africa. As with the dominions, the King would be the Head of State of the Irish Free State. Members of the new free states parliament would be required to take an Oath of Allegiance to the Irish Free State. A secondary part of the oath was to be faithful to His Majesty King George V, His heirs and successors by law, Northern Ireland would have the option of withdrawing from the Irish Free State within one month of the Treaty coming into effect. If Northern Ireland chose to withdraw, a Boundary Commission would be constituted to draw the boundary between the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland. Britain, for its own security, would continue to control a number of ports, known as the Treaty Ports. The Irish Free State would assume responsibility for a part of the United Kingdoms debt. The treaty would have superior status in Irish law, i. e. in the event of a conflict between it and the new 1922 Constitution of the Irish Free State, the treaty would take precedence. The negotiators included, Providing Secretarial Assistance Robert Barton was the last surviving signatory and he died on 10 August 1975 at the age of 94. Notably, the Irish President Éamon de Valera did not attend, Robert Erskine Childers, the author of the Riddle of the Sands and former Clerk of the British House of Commons, served as one of the secretaries of the Irish delegation. Tom Jones was one of Lloyd Georges principal assistants, and described the negotiations in his book Whitehall Diary, Éamon de Valera sent the Irish plenipotentiaries to the 1921 negotiations in London with several draft treaties and secret instructions from his cabinet. In the meantime, de Valera had been elevated to President of the Republic on 26 August, primarily to be able to accredit plenipotentiaries for the negotiations and that was the basis of our proposals, and we cannot alter it. The status which you now claim in advance for your delegates is, in effect, I am prepared to meet your delegates as I met you in July, in the capacity of chosen spokesmen for your people, to discuss the association of Ireland with the British Commonwealth. On 7 October de Valera signed a letter of accreditation as President on behalf of the Government of the Republic of Ireland, but the letter was never requested by the British side
13.
Irish Free State
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The Irish Free State was an independent state established in 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. That treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between the forces of the self-proclaimed Irish Republic, the Irish Republican Army, and British Crown forces, the Free State was established as a Dominion of the British Commonwealth of Nations. It comprised 26 of the 32 counties of Ireland, Northern Ireland, which comprised the remaining six counties, exercised its right under the Treaty to opt out of the new state. W. T. Cosgrave, who had led both of these governments since August 1922, became the first President of the Executive Council, the legislature consisted of Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann, also known as the Senate. Members of the Dáil were required to take an Oath of Allegiance, the oath was a key issue for opponents of the Treaty, who refused to take the oath and therefore did not take their seats. Pro-Treaty members, who formed Cumann na nGaedheal in 1923, held a majority in the Dáil from 1922 to 1927. In the first months of the Free State, the Irish Civil War was waged between the newly established National Army and the anti-Treaty IRA, who refused to recognise the state. The Civil War ended in victory for the government forces, with the anti-Treaty forces dumping its arms in May 1923, the anti-Treaty political party, Sinn Féin, refused to take its seats in the Dáil, leaving the relatively small Labour Party as the only opposition party. In 1926, when Sinn Féin president Éamon de Valera failed to have this policy reversed, he resigned from Sinn Féin, Fianna Fáil entered the Dáil following the 1927 general election, and entered government after the Irish general election,1932, when it became the largest party. De Valera abolished the Oath of Allegiance and embarked on a war with Britain. In 1937 he drafted a new constitution, which was passed by a referendum in July of that year, the Free State came to an end with the coming into force of the new constitution on 29 December 1937. Under the new constitution the Irish state was named Ireland, meanwhile, opposition increased to Irelands participation in World War I in Europe and the Middle East. This came about when the Irish Parliamentary Party supported the Allied cause in World War I in response to the passing of the Third Home Rule Bill in 1914. Many people had begun to doubt whether the Bill, passed by Westminster in September 1914 but suspended for the duration of the war, Sinn Féin, the Irish Party and all other Nationalist elements joined forces in opposition to the idea during the Conscription Crisis of 1918. At the same time the Irish Parliamentary lost in support on account of the crisis, Irish republicans felt further emboldened by successful anti-monarchical revolutions in the Russian Empire, the German Empire, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Sinn Féin party, founded by Arthur Griffith in 1905, had espoused non-violent separatism, under Éamon de Valeras leadership from 1917, it campaigned aggressively and militantly for an Irish republic. On 21 January 1919, Sinn Féin MPs, refusing to sit at Westminster, assembled in Dublin and it affirmed the formation of an Irish Republic and passed a Declaration of Independence, the irish people is resolved. To promote the common weal, to re-establish justice, with equal rights and equal opportunity for every citizen
14.
Constitution of Ireland
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The Constitution of Ireland is the fundamental law of the Republic of Ireland. It asserts the national sovereignty of the Irish people, the constitution falls broadly within the tradition of liberal democracy being based on a system of representative democracy. It guarantees certain rights, along with a popularly elected non-executive president, a bicameral parliament based on the Westminster system. It is the constitution of the state since independence, replacing the 1922 Constitution of the Irish Free State. It came into force on 29 December 1937 following a plebiscite held on 1 July 1937. The Constitution may be amended solely by a national referendum, there were two main motivations for replacing the constitution in 1937. Firstly, the Statute of Westminster 1931 granted parliamentary autonomy to the six British Dominions within a British Commonwealth of Nations, the Irish Free State constitution of 1922 was, in the eyes of many, associated with the controversial Anglo-Irish Treaty. The largest political group in the anti-treaty faction, who opposed the treaty initially by force of arms, had boycotted the institutions of the new Irish Free State until 1926, in 1932 they were elected into power as the Fianna Fáil party. Such amendments removed references to the Oath of Allegiance, appeals to the United Kingdoms Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the British Crown, the sudden abdication of Edward VIII in December 1936 was quickly used to redefine the Royal connection. Nevertheless, the Fianna Fáil government, led by Éamon de Valera, the second motive for replacing the original constitution was primarily symbolic. De Valera wanted to put an Irish stamp on the institutions of government, De Valera personally supervised the writing of the Constitution. It was drafted initially by John Hearne, legal adviser to the Department of External Affairs and it was translated into Irish over a number of drafts by a group headed by Micheál Ó Gríobhtha, who worked in the Irish Department of Education. He also received significant input from The Rt Rev. John Charles Monsignor McQuaid, Monsignor McQuaid later became, in 1940, the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin. Other religious leaders who were consulted were, Archbishop Edward Byrne, Archbishop John Gregg, Rev. William Massey, a draft of the constitution was presented personally to the Vatican for review and comment on two occasions by the Department Head at External Relations, Joseph P. Walsh. The text of the constitution, with minor amendments, was approved on 14 June by Dáil Éireann. The draft constitution was put to a plebiscite on 1 July 1937. 56% of voters were in favour, comprising 38. 6% of the whole electorate, the constitution formally came into force on 29 December 1937. Among the groups who opposed the constitution were supporters of Fine Gael and the Labour Party, Unionists, the question put to voters was simply Do you approve of the Draft Constitution which is the subject of this plebiscite
15.
Provisional Irish Republican Army
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It was the biggest and most active republican paramilitary group during the Troubles. It saw itself as the successor to the original IRA and called simply the Irish Republican Army. It was also referred to as such by others. The Provisional IRA emerged in December 1969, following a split in the republican movement, the IRA initially focused on defence, but it began an offensive campaign in 1971. The IRAs primary goal was to force the British to negotiate a withdrawal from Northern Ireland and it used guerrilla tactics against the British Army and RUC in both rural and urban areas. It also carried out a campaign in Northern Ireland and England against what it saw as political. The IRA called a ceasefire in July 1997, after Sinn Féin was re-admitted into the Northern Ireland peace talks. It supported the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and in 2005 it disarmed under international supervision, the campaign was supported by arms and funding from Libya and from some Irish American groups. As a result, the IRA launched a new strategy known as the Long War and this saw them conduct a war of attrition against the British and increased emphasis on political activity, via the political party Sinn Féin. The success of the 1981 Irish hunger strike in mobilising support and winning elections led to the Armalite and ballot box strategy, with more time, the British demand was quickly dropped after the May 1997 general election in the UK. The IRA ceasefire was reinstated in July 1997 and Sinn Féin was admitted into all-party talks. The IRAs armed campaign, primarily in Northern Ireland but also in England and mainland Europe, the dead included around 1,100 members of the British security forces, and about 640 civilians. The IRA itself lost 275–300 members and an estimated 10,000 imprisoned at times over the 30-year period. The organisation remains classified as a proscribed terrorist group in the UK, two small groups split from the Provisional IRA, the Continuity IRA in 1986, and the Real IRA in 1997. Both reject the Good Friday Agreement and continue to engage in paramilitary activity and this new IRA group is estimated by Police Service of Northern Ireland intelligence sources to have between 250 and 300 active militants and many more supporting associates. The Provisional IRA was organised hierarchically, at the top of the organisation was the IRA Army Council, headed by the IRA Chief of Staff. All levels of the organisation were entitled to send delegates to IRA General Army Conventions, the GAC was the IRAs supreme decision-making authority. Since 1969, there have only three, in 1970,1986, and 2005, owing to the difficulty in organising such a large gathering of an illegal organisation in secret
16.
Ulster loyalism
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Ulster loyalism is a political ideology found primarily among working class Ulster Protestants in Northern Ireland, whose status as a part of the United Kingdom has remained controversial. Most Ulster Protestants are descendants of settlers from Great Britain in the 17th and 18th centuries, like unionists, loyalists are attached to the British monarchy, support the continued existence of Northern Ireland, and oppose a united Ireland. Ulster loyalism has been described as a kind of ethnic nationalism and it is strongly associated with paramilitarism. Ulster loyalism emerged in the late 19th century, as a response to the Irish Home Rule movement, although most of Ireland was Catholic, in the province of Ulster, Protestants were the majority. Ulster was also more industrialized than other parts of Ireland and was dependent on trade with Britain. Loyalism began as a movement among Ulster Protestants who did not want to become part of an autonomous Ireland. While some Irish Catholics were also unionist, loyalism emphasized a Protestant, loyalists often use Ulster as an alternative name for Northern Ireland. Since partition, most loyalists have supported upholding Northern Irelands status as a part of the United Kingdom, i. e. unionism. Historically, the terms unionist and loyalist were often used interchangeably, however, since the resurgence of loyalist paramilitarism in the 1960s, a distinction between the two is made more often. The term loyalist is now used to describe working class unionists who are willing to use, or tacitly support. Loyalists are also described as being loyal primarily to the Protestant British monarchy rather than to the British government, garret FitzGerald argued that loyalists are loyal primarily to Ulster rather than to the Union. A small minority of loyalists have called for an independent Ulster Protestant state, in Northern Ireland there is a long tradition of militaristic loyalist Protestant marching bands. There are hundreds of bands who hold numerous parades each year. The yearly Eleventh Night bonfires and The Twelfth parades are strongly associated with loyalism, the term loyalist was first used in Irish politics in the 1790s to refer to Protestants who opposed Catholic Emancipation and Irish independence from Great Britain. Upon the partition of Ireland in 1921, six of the nine counties in the province of Ulster didnt join the new independent Irish Free State and remained a part of the United Kingdom. Academically cited records from 1926 indicate that at that stage 33. 5% of the Northern Ireland population was Roman Catholic, tensions between Northern Irelands Catholic population and its Protestant population led to a long-running bloody conflict known as the Troubles from the late 1960s to the late 1990s. This includes the British National Front, the British Peoples Party, bigger and more moderate right-wing unionist parties like the Ulster Unionists or Democratic Unionists usually seek to distance themselves from loyalist paramilitary activity. Loyalist paramilitary and vigilante groups have been active since the early 20th century, in 1912, the Ulster Volunteers were formed to stop the British Government granting self-rule to Ireland, or to exclude Ulster from it
17.
The Troubles
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The Troubles is the common name for the ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland during the late 20th century. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is described as a guerrilla war or low-level war. The most recent instalment of violence began in the late 1960s and is deemed to have ended with the Good Friday Belfast Agreement of 1998. Although the Troubles mainly took place in Northern Ireland, violence spilled over at times parts of the Republic of Ireland, England and mainland Europe. The conflict was political and nationalistic, fuelled by historical events. It also had an ethnic or sectarian dimension, although it was not a religious conflict, a key issue was the constitutional status of Northern Ireland. Unionists/loyalists, who are mostly Protestants and consider themselves British, want Northern Ireland to remain within the United Kingdom, Irish nationalists/republicans, who are predominantly Catholics, want Northern Ireland to be reunited with the 26 counties which make up the Republic of Ireland in an independent united Ireland. This campaign was met with violence by loyalists who viewed the campaign as a stalking horse. This eventually led to the deployment of British troops, initially to protect Catholic civilians, the security forces of the Republic played a smaller role. More than 3,500 people were killed in the conflict, of whom 52% were civilians, 32% were members of the British security forces, there has been sporadic violence since the Good Friday Agreement was signed, including a campaign by anti-ceasefire republicans. The Troubles refers to the recent three-decade conflict between nationalists and unionists, the term the Troubles was previously used to refer to the Irish revolutionary period, it was adopted to refer to the escalating violence in Northern Ireland after 1969. The violence was characterised by the campaigns of Irish republican and Ulster loyalist paramilitary groups. It thus became the focus for the longest major campaign in the history of the British Army, nationalists regard the state forces as forces of occupation or partisan combatants in the conflict. One part of the Agreement is that Northern Ireland will remain within the United Kingdom unless a majority of the Northern Irish electorate vote otherwise and it also established the Northern Ireland Executive, a devolved power-sharing government, which must consist of both unionist and nationalist parties. In 1609, Scottish and English settlers, known as planters, were given land escheated from the native Irish in the Plantation of Ulster. As the Penal Laws started to be phased out in the part of the 18th century, there was more competition for land. With Roman Catholics allowed to buy land and enter trades from which they had formerly been banned, tensions arose resulting in the Protestant Peep ODay Boys and Catholic Defenders. This created polarisation between the communities and a reduction in reformers among Protestants, many of whom had been growing more receptive to democratic reform
18.
Good Friday Agreement
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The Good Friday Agreement or Belfast Agreement was a major political development in the Northern Ireland peace process of the 1990s. Northern Irelands present devolved system of government is based on the agreement, the agreement also created a number of institutions between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and between the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. The agreement set out a series of provisions relating to a number of areas including, The status. The relationship between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, the relationship between the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. Issues relating to sovereignty, civil and cultural rights, decommissioning of weapons, justice, the agreement was approved by voters across the island of Ireland in two referendums held on 22 May 1998. In Northern Ireland, voters were asked whether they supported the multi-party agreement, in the Republic of Ireland, voters were asked whether they would allow the state to sign the agreement and allow necessary constitutional changes to facilitate it. The people of both jurisdictions needed to approve the agreement in order to effect to it. The British-Irish Agreement came into force on 2 December 1999, the Democratic Unionist Party was the only major political group in Northern Ireland to oppose the Good Friday Agreement. The former text has just four articles, it is that text that is the legal agreement. Technically, this scheduled agreement can be distinguished as the Multi-Party Agreement, the vague wording of some of the provisions, described as constructive ambiguity, helped ensure acceptance of the agreement and served to postpone debate on some of the more contentious issues. Most notably these included paramilitary decommissioning, police reform and the normalisation of Northern Ireland, both of these views were acknowledged as being legitimate. For the first time, the government of the Republic of Ireland accepted in an international agreement that Northern Ireland was part of the United Kingdom. On the other hand, the language of the agreement reflects a switch in the United Kingdoms statutory emphasis from one for the union to one for a united Ireland, the agreement thus left the issue of future sovereignty over Northern Ireland open-ended. The agreement reached was that Northern Ireland would remain part of the United Kingdom until a majority both of the people of Northern Ireland and of the Republic of Ireland wished otherwise. Should that happen, then the British and Irish governments are under an obligation to implement that choice. The two governments also agreed, irrespective of the position of Northern Ireland, in its white paper on Brexit the United Kingdom government reiterated its commitment to the Belfast Agreement. The agreement sets out a framework for the creation and number of institutions across three strands, the Northern Ireland Executive is a power-sharing executive with ministerial portfolios to be allocated between parties by the dHondt method. Strand 2 dealt with issues and institutions to be created between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland
19.
Brexit
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Brexit is a commonly used term for the United Kingdoms planned withdrawal from the European Union. Following the 2016 referendum vote to leave, the UK government started the process on 29 March 2017. She has promised a Great Repeal Bill to repeal the European Communities Act, the terms of withdrawal have not yet been negotiated and in the meantime, the UK remains a full member of the European Union. The UK joined the European Communities, the EUs predecessor, in 1973, in the 1970s and 1980s, withdrawal from the European Economic Community was advocated mainly by Labour Party and trade union figures. From the 1990s, withdrawal from the EU was advocated mainly by the newly founded UK Independence Party, Brexit is a portmanteau of British and exit. It was derived by analogy from Grexit, referring to a withdrawal of Greece from the eurozone. The term Brexit may have first been used in reference to a possible UK withdrawal from the EU by Peter Wilding in a Euractiv blog post on 15 May 2012, since 1977 both pro- and anti-European views have had majority support, with dramatic swings between the two camps. In the United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum of 1975, two-thirds of British voters favoured continued membership. The highest ever rejection of membership was in 1980, the first full year of Prime Minister Margaret Thatchers term of office, with 65% opposed to, once de Gaulle had relinquished the French presidency in 1969, the UK made a third and successful application for membership. The document concluded that it was advisable to put the considerations of influence, the Treaty of Accession was signed in January 1972 by the prime minister Edward Heath, leader of the Conservative party. In 1975, the United Kingdom held its first ever national referendum on whether the UK should remain in the European Communities, All of the major political parties and mainstream press supported continuing membership of the EC. On 5 June 1975, the electorate were asked to vote yes or no on the question, every administrative county and region in the UK returned majority Yes votes, apart from the Shetland Islands and the Outer Hebrides. With a turnout of just under 65%, the outcome of the vote was 67. 2% in favour of staying in, support for the UK to leave the EC in 1975, in the data, appears unrelated to the support for Leave in the 2016 referendum. In 1979 the United Kingdom opted out of the newly formed European Exchange Rate Mechanism which was the precursor to the creation of the euro, the opposition Labour Party campaigned in the 1983 general election on a commitment to withdraw from the EEC without a referendum. It was heavily defeated as the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher was re-elected, the Labour Party subsequently changed its policy. In 1985 the United Kingdom ratified the Single European Act, the first major revision to the Treaty of Rome without a referendum with the full support HM Government of Margaret Thatcher. In November 1990 Thatcher resigned as Prime Minister amid internal divisions within the Conservative Party arising partly from her increasingly Eurosceptic views, in September 1992 the United Kingdom was forced to withdraw from the ERM after the pound sterling came under pressure from currency speculators. The resulting cost to UK taxpayers was estimated to be in excess of £3 billion, as a result of the Maastricht Treaty, the European Communities became the European Union on 1 November 1993
20.
European Union
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The European Union is a political and economic union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe. It has an area of 4,475,757 km2, the EU has developed an internal single market through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states. Within the Schengen Area, passport controls have been abolished, a monetary union was established in 1999 and came into full force in 2002, and is composed of 19 EU member states which use the euro currency. The EU operates through a system of supranational and intergovernmental decision-making. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community, the community and its successors have grown in size by the accession of new member states and in power by the addition of policy areas to its remit. While no member state has left the EU or its antecedent organisations, the Maastricht Treaty established the European Union in 1993 and introduced European citizenship. The latest major amendment to the basis of the EU. The EU as a whole is the largest economy in the world, additionally,27 out of 28 EU countries have a very high Human Development Index, according to the United Nations Development Programme. In 2012, the EU was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, through the Common Foreign and Security Policy, the EU has developed a role in external relations and defence. The union maintains permanent diplomatic missions throughout the world and represents itself at the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the G7, because of its global influence, the European Union has been described as an emerging superpower. After World War II, European integration was seen as an antidote to the nationalism which had devastated the continent. 1952 saw the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community, the supporters of the Community included Alcide De Gasperi, Jean Monnet, Robert Schuman, and Paul-Henri Spaak. These men and others are credited as the Founding fathers of the European Union. In 1957, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany signed the Treaty of Rome and they also signed another pact creating the European Atomic Energy Community for co-operation in developing nuclear energy. Both treaties came into force in 1958, the EEC and Euratom were created separately from the ECSC, although they shared the same courts and the Common Assembly. The EEC was headed by Walter Hallstein and Euratom was headed by Louis Armand, Euratom was to integrate sectors in nuclear energy while the EEC would develop a customs union among members. During the 1960s, tensions began to show, with France seeking to limit supranational power, Jean Rey presided over the first merged Commission. In 1973, the Communities enlarged to include Denmark, Ireland, Norway had negotiated to join at the same time, but Norwegian voters rejected membership in a referendum
21.
Taoiseach
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The Taoiseach is the head of government or prime minister of Ireland. The current Taoiseach is Enda Kenny, TD, who was appointed on 9 March 2011, on 10 March 2016, at the first sitting of the 32nd Dáil, Kenny failed to gain the support of the house and tendered his resignation to the President. He remained in office in a capacity until being re-elected on 6 May 2016. The word means chieftain or leader in Irish and was adopted in the 1937 Constitution of Ireland as the title of the head of the Government, Taoiseach is the official title of the head of government in both English and Irish. Outside of Ireland, the Taoiseach is often referred to as the Prime Minister of Ireland, under the Constitution of Ireland, the Taoiseach is nominated by a simple majority of Dáil Éireann from among its members. He/she is then appointed to office by the President, who is required to appoint whomever the Dáil designates. For this reason, it is said that the Taoiseach is elected by Dáil Éireann. The Taoiseach may lose the support of Dáil Éireann by the passage of a vote of no confidence, or the failure of a vote of confidence, or alternatively, the Dáil may refuse supply. In the event of the Taoiseachs resignation, he/she continues to exercise the duties, the Taoiseach nominates the remaining members of the Government, who are then, with the consent of the Dáil, appointed by the President. The Taoiseach also has authority to advise the President to dismiss cabinet ministers from office, advice the President is required to follow by convention, the Taoiseach is further responsible for appointing eleven members of the Seanad. The Department of the Taoiseach is the government department which supports, since 2013, the Taoiseachs annual salary is €185,350. It was cut from €214,187 to €200,000 when Kenny took office, a proposed increase of €38,000 in 2007 was deferred when Brian Cowen became Taoiseach and in October 2008, the government announced a 10% salary cut for all ministers, including the Taoiseach. However this was a cut and the salaries remained nominally the same with ministers. This courted controversy in December 2009 when a cut of 20% was based on the higher figure before the refused amount was deducted. The Taoiseach is also allowed an additional €118,981 in annual expenses, there is no official residence of the Taoiseach. The house, which part of the Farmleigh estate acquired by the State in 1999 for €29. 2m, was renovated at a cost of nearly €600,000 in 2005 by the Office of Public Works. Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern did not use it as a residence, the words Taoiseach and Tánaiste are both from the Irish language and of ancient origin. Though the Taoiseach is described in the Constitution of Ireland as the head of the Government or Prime Minister, Tánaiste in turn refers to the system of tanistry, the Gaelic system of succession whereby a leader would appoint an heir apparent while still living
22.
Enda Kenny
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Enda Kenny is an Irish politician who has been leader of Fine Gael since 2002 and Taoiseach since March 2011. He has also been Irelands Minister for Defence since 6 May 2016 and he was a two-term Vice-President of the European Peoples Party and was Irelands Minister for Tourism and Trade from 1994 to 1997. Kenny has been a Teachta Dála for Mayo since 1975, having succeeded his father Henry Kenny and he is the longest-serving TD currently in Dáil Éireann, which makes him the incumbent Father of the Dáil. He is the first taoiseach from Fine Gael since John Bruton, Enda Kenny was born in 1951 in Derrywash, Islandeady, near Castlebar, County Mayo, the third child of five of Mary Eithne and Henry Kenny. He was educated locally at St Patricks National School, Cornanool and at St. Geralds College and he attended St Patricks College of Education, Dublin, qualifying as a national teacher and was an undergraduate student at University College Galway. He worked as a school teacher for four years. Kenny has been married to Fionnuala OKelly since 1992 and she has been described by the media as his secret weapon. OKelly is first cousin to sitting Fine Gael MEP Seán Kelly, the OKelly family originally come from the parish of Kilcummin near Killarney, County Kerry. The Kennys have three children, one daughter - Aoibhinn, and two sons - Ferdia and Naoise, the couple met in Leinster House where OKelly worked as a press officer for Fianna Fáil. She later worked with Raidió Teilifís Éireann, Kenny has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and completed the Ring of Kerry Charity Cycle. He is a supporter of his native Mayo GAA football team. He played Gaelic football for his club, Islandeady, of which he is the current club president. His father Henry won an All-Ireland medal with the county team in 1936 and his grandfather was a lighthouse keeper. From an early age Kenny was exposed to politics as his father, Henry Kenny, in the early 1970s he became directly involved in politics when he started helping his father with constituency clinics. In 1975, Henry Kenny died after a battle with cancer. The Fine Gael party wanted one of his sons to stand as their candidate at the subsequent by-election and he was elected on the first count with 52% of the vote, and at 24 he was the youngest member of the 20th Dáil. Kenny remained on the backbenches of the Dáil for almost a decade and he was appointed party spokesperson firstly on youth affairs and sport, then western development, however, he failed to build a national profile as he concentrated more on constituency matters. Kenny was left out in the cold when Garret FitzGerald became Taoiseach for the first time in 1981 and he was, however, appointed as a member of the Fine Gael delegation at the New Ireland Forum in 1983 and later served on the British-Irish Parliamentary Association
23.
East Germany
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East Germany, formally the German Democratic Republic, was an Eastern Bloc state during the Cold War period. The Soviet zone surrounded West Berlin, but did not include it, as a result, the German Democratic Republic was established in the Soviet Zone, while the Federal Republic was established in the three western zones. East Germany, which lies culturally in Central Germany, was a state of the Soviet Union. Soviet occupation authorities began transferring administrative responsibility to German communist leaders in 1948, Soviet forces, however, remained in the country throughout the Cold War. Until 1989, the GDR was governed by the Socialist Unity Party, though other parties participated in its alliance organisation. The economy was centrally planned, and increasingly state-owned, prices of basic goods and services were set by central government planners, rather than rising and falling through supply and demand. Although the GDR had to pay war reparations to the USSR. Nonetheless it did not match the growth of West Germany. Emigration to the West was a significant problem—as many of the emigrants were well-educated young people, the government fortified its western borders and, in 1961, built the Berlin Wall. Many people attempting to flee were killed by guards or booby traps. In 1989, numerous social and political forces in the GDR and abroad led to the fall of the Berlin Wall, the following year open elections were held, and international negotiations led to the signing of the Final Settlement treaty on the status and borders of Germany. The GDR was dissolved and Germany was unified on 3 October 1990, internally, the GDR also bordered the Soviet sector of Allied-occupied Berlin known as East Berlin which was also administered as the states de facto capital. It also bordered the three sectors occupied by the United States, United Kingdom and France known collectively as West Berlin. The three sectors occupied by the Western nations were sealed off from the rest of the GDR by the Berlin Wall from its construction in 1961 until it was brought down in 1989, the official name was Deutsche Demokratische Republik, usually abbreviated to DDR. West Germans, the media and statesmen purposely avoided the official name and its abbreviation, instead using terms like Ostzone, Sowjetische Besatzungszone. The centre of power in East Berlin was referred to as Pankow. Over time, however, the abbreviation DDR was also used colloquially by West Germans. However, this use was not always consistent, for example, before World War II, Ostdeutschland was used to describe all the territories east of the Elbe, as reflected in the works of sociologist Max Weber and political theorist Carl Schmitt
24.
Berlin Wall
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The Berlin Wall was a guarded concrete barrier that physically and ideologically divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989. Its demolition officially began on 13 June 1990 and was completed in 1992, the barrier included guard towers placed along large concrete walls, which circumscribed a wide area that contained anti-vehicle trenches, fakir beds and other defenses. The Eastern Bloc claimed that the Wall was erected to protect its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the will of the people in building a socialist state in East Germany. In practice, the Wall served to prevent the massive emigration and defection that had marked East Germany, the West Berlin city government sometimes referred to it as the Wall of Shame—a term coined by mayor Willy Brandt—while condemning the Walls restriction on freedom of movement. Between 1961 and 1989, the Wall prevented almost all such emigration, during this period, around 5,000 people attempted to escape over the Wall, with an estimated death toll ranging from 136 to more than 200 in and around Berlin. After several weeks of civil unrest, the East German government announced on 9 November 1989 that all GDR citizens could visit West Germany, crowds of East Germans crossed and climbed onto the Wall, joined by West Germans on the other side in a celebratory atmosphere. Over the next few weeks, euphoric people and souvenir hunters chipped away parts of the Wall, contrary to popular belief the Walls actual demolition did not begin until the summer of 1990 and was not completed until 1992. The fall of the Berlin Wall paved the way for German reunification, the capital of Berlin, as the seat of the Allied Control Council, was similarly subdivided into four sectors despite the citys location, which was fully within the Soviet zone. Within two years, political divisions increased between the Soviets and the occupying powers. Property and industry was nationalized in the East German zone, if statements or decisions deviated from the described line, reprimands and punishment would ensue, such as imprisonment, torture and even death. Indoctrination of Marxism-Leninism became a part of school curricula, sending professors. The East Germans created a political police apparatus that kept the population under close surveillance. In 1948, following disagreements regarding reconstruction and a new German currency, Stalin instituted the Berlin Blockade, preventing food, materials and supplies from arriving in West Berlin. The United States, Britain, France, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and several countries began a massive airlift, supplying West Berlin with food. The Soviets mounted a public campaign against the Western policy change. Communists attempted to disrupt the elections of 1948, preceding large losses therein, in May 1949, Stalin lifted the blockade, permitting the resumption of Western shipments to Berlin. The German Democratic Republic was declared on 7 October 1949, by a secret treaty, the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs accorded the East German state administrative authority, but not autonomy. The Soviets permeated East German administrative, military and secret police structures and had full control, East Germany differed from West Germany, which developed into a Western capitalist country with a social market economy and a democratic parliamentary government
25.
Ulster Protestants
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Ulster Protestants are an ethnoreligious group in the Irish province of Ulster, where they make up about 54% of the population. These settlers were mostly Lowland Scottish and Northern English people and predominantly from Galloway, begun privately in 1606, the Plantation of Ulster became government-sponsored in 1609, with much land for settlement being allocated to the Livery Companies of the City of London. By 1622 there was a settler population of about 19,000. Ulster Protestants descend from a variety of lineages, including Scots, English, Irish, and Huguenots. Another influx of an estimated 20,000 Scottish Protestants, mainly to the counties of Antrim, Down. This migration decisively changed the population of Ulster, giving it a Protestant majority, most Ulster Protestants are Presbyterian or Anglican, Scottish colonists were mostly Presbyterian and the English mostly members of the Church of England. Between 1717 and 1775, an estimated 200,000 migrated to what became the United States of America, some Presbyterians also returned to Scotland during this period, where the Presbyterian Church of Scotland was the state religion. This repression by Anglicans largely ended after the Irish Rebellion of 1798, as Belfast became industrialised in the 19th century, it attracted yet more Protestant immigrants from Scotland. Because of these migrations, Ulster has a proportion of Catholics than the other provinces of Ireland. The vast majority of Ulster Protestants live in Northern Ireland, which is part of the present-day United Kingdom, most tend to support its Union with Great Britain, and are thus known as unionists. Unlike Protestants in the rest of the Republic, some retain a sense of Britishness, most Ulster Protestants speak Ulster English, and some speak one of the Ulster Scots dialects. British nationalism Protestantism in Ireland Unionism in Ireland Amity and enmity, variety in Ulster Protestant culture Ulster Protestants - Blood & Belonging
26.
Irish Catholics
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Irish Catholics are people who are Catholic and Irish. Divisions between Irish Catholics and Irish Protestants played a role in the history of Ireland from the 16th to the 20th century, especially the Home Rule Crisis. While religion broadly marks the delineation of these divisions, the contentions were primarily political, in the Irish Rebellion of 1798 Catholics and Presbyterians, who were not part of the established Church of Ireland, found common cause. Irish Catholics are found in countries around the world, especially in the English-speaking world. Emigration following the Famine in the late 1840s saw the population drop from over 8 million to just over 4 million, today, Irish Catholics are very well established in the United States and are part of mainstream American society. Endnotes Library of Congress The Irish Catholic Diaspora in America, describes the book ISBN 0-8132-0896-3 St. Colman Mac Duagh On Irish Catholics of Australia
27.
Protestant Irish nationalists
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Protestant Irish nationalists refers to adherents of Protestantism in Ireland who also support Irish nationalism. Protestant nationalists have consistently been influential supporters and leaders of movements for the political independence of Ireland from Great Britain. Today the relationship between Protestants and Irish nationalism differs sharply between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. In the Republic, the vast majority of Protestants accept and support the independence of Ireland, in Northern Ireland, however, the vast majority of Ulster Protestants are unionist and vote for unionist parties. All the various denominations of Protestantism in Ireland have had members involved in nationalism, historically the Anglican Church of Ireland and the Presbyterian Church of Ireland have been the largest Protestant churches, and this remains the situation across the island of Ireland today. In the eighteenth century the first attempt towards a form of greater Irish home rule under the British Crown was led by the Irish Patriot Party in the 1770s and 1780s, inspired by Henry Grattan. At its first meeting on 14 October 1791, almost all attendees were Presbyterians, apart from Tone, Presbyterians, led by McCracken, James Napper Tandy, and Neilson would later go on to lead Ulster Protestant and Catholic Irish rebels in the Irish Rebellion of 1798. At that time, the French republicans were opposed to all churches, such people were inspired by Thomas Paine of the American Revolution, who disapproved of organised religions in The Age of Reason and preferred a deist belief. Although the United Irish movement was supported by individual priests, the Roman Catholic hierarchy was opposed to it, during the 1798 rebellion the military leaders were also largely Anglicans. After the initial battles in County Kildare the rebels holding out in the Bog of Allen were led by William Aylmer, in Antrim and Down the rebels were almost all Presbyterians, and at the Battle of Ballynahinch the local Catholic Defenders decided not to take part. In County Wexford, which remained out of British control for a month, Joseph Holt led the rebels in County Wicklow. Only in Mayo, where there were few Protestants, was the rebellion led entirely by Catholics, the disarming of Ulster saw several hundred Protestants tortured, executed and imprisoned for their United Irish sympathies. The rebellion became the reason for the Acts of Union. In 1803 there was another Irish rebellion led by Robert Emmet and he was joined by other Protestants such as James Hope and was later executed for his part in the rising. In the 1840s Thomas Davis, the writer and poet, and John Mitchel were involved in the radical politics of their day. The new Home Government Association was founded by Isaac Butt in 1870, William Shaw presided over the convention held to found its successor, the Home Rule League, of which he was chairman. He was followed by Charles Stewart Parnell, the founder of the Irish Parliamentary Party, Parnell led the Gladstonian constitutionalist Home Rule movement and for a time dominated Irish and British affairs. However, at the height of his power he was to be dethroned by the OShea divorce affair, several Protestant figures in the early Northern Ireland Labour Party were nationalists
28.
Northern Ireland Act 1998
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The Act allows for a devolved Northern Ireland Assembly of 108 members. Membership of the assembly is subject to a pledge of office, Northern Ireland remains a part of the United Kingdom until or unless a majority vote in a referendum determines otherwise. The Assembly has the power of modifying any Act of the British Parliament as far as it is part of the law of Northern Ireland. The Assembly has been suspended a number of times since 1998, election to the Assembly is by single transferable vote, a form of proportional representation. Belfast Agreement Ireland Act 1949 Walker, Graham, scotland, Northern Ireland, and Devolution, 1945–1979, Journal of British Studies Jan. Website of the Northern Ireland Assembly
29.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
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It alone possesses legislative supremacy and thereby ultimate power over all other political bodies in the UK and its territories. Its head is the Sovereign of the United Kingdom and its seat is the Palace of Westminster in the City of Westminster, one of the boroughs of the British capital, the parliament is bicameral, consisting of an upper house and a lower house. The Sovereign forms the third component of the legislature, prior to the opening of the Supreme Court in October 2009, the House of Lords also performed a judicial role through the Law Lords. The House of Commons is an elected chamber with elections held at least every five years. The two Houses meet in separate chambers in the Palace of Westminster in London, most cabinet ministers are from the Commons, whilst junior ministers can be from either House. The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 following the ratification of the Treaty of Union by Acts of Union passed by the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The UK parliament and its institutions have set the pattern for many throughout the world. However, John Bright – who coined the epithet – used it with reference to a rather than a parliament. In theory, the UKs supreme legislative power is vested in the Crown-in-Parliament. However, the Crown normally acts on the advice of the Prime Minister, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was created in 1801, by the merger of the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland under the Acts of Union. The principle of responsibility to the lower House did not develop until the 19th century—the House of Lords was superior to the House of Commons both in theory and in practice. Members of the House of Commons were elected in an electoral system. Thus, the borough of Old Sarum, with seven voters, many small constituencies, known as pocket or rotten boroughs, were controlled by members of the House of Lords, who could ensure the election of their relatives or supporters. During the reforms of the 19th century, beginning with the Reform Act 1832, No longer dependent on the Lords for their seats, MPs grew more assertive. The supremacy of the British House of Commons was established in the early 20th century, in 1909, the Commons passed the so-called Peoples Budget, which made numerous changes to the taxation system which were detrimental to wealthy landowners. The House of Lords, which consisted mostly of powerful landowners, on the basis of the Budgets popularity and the Lords consequent unpopularity, the Liberal Party narrowly won two general elections in 1910. Using the result as a mandate, the Liberal Prime Minister, Herbert Henry Asquith, introduced the Parliament Bill, in the face of such a threat, the House of Lords narrowly passed the bill. However, regardless of the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949, the Government of Ireland Act 1920 created the parliaments of Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland and reduced the representation of both parts at Westminster
30.
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
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The Secretary of State is a Minister of the Crown who is accountable to the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is the chief minister in the Northern Ireland Office. As with other ministers, the position is appointed by the British monarch on the advice of the Prime Minister, the position is normally described simply as the Secretary of State by residents of Northern Ireland. g. Security, human rights, certain public inquiries and the administration of elections, created in 1972, the position has switched between Members of Parliament from the Conservative Party and Labour Party. This contrasts with the Secretary of State for Scotland and the Secretary of State for Wales, historically, the principal ministers for Irish affairs in the UK Government and its predecessors were, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, the Chief Secretary for Ireland, and the Home Secretary. In August 1969, for example, Home Secretary James Callaghan approved the sending of British Army soldiers to Northern Ireland, the office of Secretary of State for Northern Ireland was created following the suspension, then abolition, of the Northern Ireland Parliament, following widespread civil strife. The UK Government was increasingly concerned that the Northern Ireland Government was losing control of the situation, on 24 March 1972, it announced that direct rule from Westminster would be introduced. This took effect on 30 March 1972, the post effectively filled three roles which existed under the previous Stormont regime, the Governor of Northern Ireland, the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, and the Minister of Home Affairs. Direct rule was seen as a measure, with a power-sharing devolution preferred as the solution. The Sunningdale Agreement in 1973 resulted in a brief, power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive, from 1 January 1974, the strikers opposed the power-sharing and all-Ireland aspects of the new administration. The Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention and Northern Ireland Assembly were unsuccessful in restoring devolved government, after the Anglo-Irish Agreement on 15 November 1985, the UK Government and Irish Government co-operated more closely on security and political matters. Following the Belfast Agreement on 10 April 1998, devolution returned to Northern Ireland on 2 December 1999 and this removed many of the duties of the Secretary of State and his Northern Ireland Office colleagues and devolved them to locally elected politicians, constituting the Northern Ireland Executive. On each of these occasions, the responsibilities of the ministers in the Executive then returned to the Secretary of State and his ministers. During these periods, in addition to administration of the region, power was again devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly on 8 May 2007. The Secretary of State retained responsibility for policing and justice until most of powers were devolved on 12 April 2010
31.
Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973
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The Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which received the royal assent on 18 July 1973. When the Republic of Ireland ceased to be a member of the British Commonwealth, schedule 1 provided that no referendum was to be held before 9 March 1983. If the result of that or any future referendum meant that Northern Ireland remained part of the United Kingdom, part III of the Act dealt with discrimination on the ground of religious belief or political opinion. It was also said to be unlawful for the Executive or a government body to discriminate, or aid, the Standing Advisory Commission on Human Rights was also created. The Parliament of Northern Ireland, which had been suspended on 30 March 1972 by the Northern Ireland Act 1972 was now permanently abolished. Its staff were transferred to work for the new Assembly, the office of Governor of Northern Ireland was also abolished. Unlike the position with the Parliament, his duties were not transferred to a new role but were absorbed by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. Responsibility for appointing the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland was given to the Attorney General for Northern Ireland. Devolution was only to come into effect if an Executive could be formed that had the support of the Assembly, the chief executive was also to be ex officio Leader of the Assembly. Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973 Text of the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973 as in force today within the United Kingdom, from legislation. gov. uk Extracts from the text as enacted
32.
Ireland Act 1949
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The Ireland Act 1949 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom intended to deal with the consequences of the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 as passed by the Irish parliament, the Oireachtas. The British monarch continued to be head of state, then somewhat unexpectedly in 1948, during a visit to Canada, Taoiseach John A. Costello announced that Ireland was to be declared a republic. When the Act came into force on 18 April 1949, it effectively ended Irelands status as a British dominion, the reasons for including this declaration were described in a Working Party Report to the British Cabinet. The Report added that inclusion of the declaration would forestall any such legal argument, S.1 – Declared that all of Northern Ireland would continue as part of the United Kingdom, and would remain within the Commonwealth, unless the Parliament of Northern Ireland consented otherwise. The Working Party Report noted around this that it become a matter of strategic importance. that the North should continue to form part of His Majestys dominions. The Report continued that it indeed seemed unlikely that Great Britain would ever be able to agree to if the people of Northern Ireland desired it. S.1 – Established that the country up to then known in British law as Eire will in future be referred to by subsequent British legislation by the name Republic of Ireland. S.2 – Declared that, even though the Republic of Ireland was no longer a British dominion, S.2 – Established that the Irish ambassador to the United Kingdom would enjoy the same legal privileges with regard to taxation as the High Commissioners representing Commonwealth countries. S.3 – Continued in force certain existing British laws in relation to the Republic of Ireland that had related to the Irish state. S. s. ss. s.6 – Made a number of changes to the electoral law relating to the election of MPs to sit at Westminster for Northern Ireland. The Ireland Act was also used by the United Kingdom to repair an omission in the British Nationality Act,1948, the British Nationality Act included provisions dealing specifically with the position of a person who was a British subject and a citizen of Eire on 31st December,1948. Because of this, how the British law would apply was dependent on a question of Irish law, namely, the UK Government seriously misunderstood the position under Irish law. They therefore considered that such a person became a United Kingdom citizen on 1st January,1949, the impact of this was that many people in Northern Ireland were in theory deprived of a British citizenship status they would otherwise have enjoyed but for Irish law. This was a consequence of the British Nationality Act. The Secretary of State also explained the background to the mistake and he reported that under Irish law the question of who was a citizen of Eire was in part, dependent on whether a person was domiciled in the Irish Free State on 6th December,1922. In this regard he noted, The important date to bear in there is 6th December,1922. The Act made no change to Northern Irelands name, however, earlier drafts of the Bill had included a provision changing Northern Irelands name to Ulster. The Act created outrage in Ireland because its provisions guaranteed that partition would continue unless the Parliament of Northern Ireland chose otherwise, the Irish parliament called for a Protest Against Partition as a result
33.
Parliament of Northern Ireland
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It was subsequently abolished under the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973. The Parliament of Northern Ireland was bicameral, consisting of a House of Commons with 52 seats, the House of Commons had 52 members, of which 48 were for territorial seats and four were for graduates of Queens University, Belfast. The boundary changes were not made by a boundary commission but by the Unionist government. Population movements were so small that these boundaries were used almost everywhere until the Parliament was dissolved in 1972, in 1968 the government abolished the Queens University constituency and created four new constituencies in the outskirts of Belfast where populations had grown. This change helped the Unionists, as they only two of the University seats but won all four of the newly created seats. There had, however, long been calls from outside Unionism to abolish the graduate franchise, the Senate was a last-minute addition to the Parliament, after the original plans for a single Senate covering both the Stormont and Dublin Parliaments were overtaken by events. Twenty-four senators were elected by the House of Commons using the single transferable vote, the elections were carried out after each general election, with 12 members elected for two parliaments each time. The other two seats were held ex officio by the Lord Mayor of Belfast and the Mayor of Londonderry, the Senate generally had the same party balance as the House of Commons, though abstaining parties and very small parties were not represented. Because of this, and its dependence on the House of Commons for election, the British monarch was originally to have been represented in both Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. However, the replacement of Southern Ireland by the Irish Free State led to the abolition of the post of Lord Lieutenant, instead, a new office – Governor of Northern Ireland – was created on 12 December 1922. Initially the Parliament met in Belfasts City Hall but moved immediately to the Presbyterian Churchs Assemblys College, the Commons met in the Colleges Gamble Library and the Senate in the Chapel. In 1932, Parliament moved to the new purpose-built Parliament Buildings, designed by Sir Arnold Thornely, at Stormont, the city boundaries were extended slightly to include Stormont within the capital city. Stormont came to be a nickname referring both to the Parliament itself and to the Northern Ireland government, the Parliament did not try to infringe the terms of the Government of Ireland Act, on only one occasion did the United Kingdom government advise the King to withhold royal assent. This was the Local Government Act which abolished proportional representation in government elections. The output of legislation was high for a devolved Parliament, though some of the Acts were adaptations of recently passed acts by the United Kingdom parliament. The 1921 general election was fought on the issue of partition. Thereafter, general election timing was up to the Prime Minister, elections almost always took place at a time when the issue of partition had been raised in a new crisis. This generally guaranteed the loyalty of Protestant voters to the Unionist Party, independent Unionist candidates and the Northern Ireland Labour Party were usually accused of being splitters or dupes of the Nationalists
34.
Proclamation of the Irish Republic
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In it, the Military Council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, styling itself the Provisional Government of the Irish Republic, proclaimed Irelands independence from the United Kingdom. The reading of the proclamation by Patrick Pearse outside the General Post Office on Sackville Street, Dublins main thoroughfare, the proclamation was modelled on a similar independence proclamation issued during the 1803 rebellion by Robert Emmet. Though the Rising failed in terms, the principles of the Proclamation to varying degrees influenced the thinking of later generations of Irish politicians. The proclamation had been printed prior to the Rising on a Summit Wharfedale Stop Cylinder Press, located in Liberty Hall. Because of its printing, problems arose which affected the layout. In particular, because of a shortage of type, the document was printed in two halves, printing first the top then the bottom on the pieces of paper. The typesetters were Willie OBrien, Michael Molloy and Christopher Brady and they lacked a sufficient supply of type in the same size and font, and as a result the some parts of the document use es from a different font, which are smaller and do not quite match. The language suggested that the copy of the proclamation had actually been signed by the Risings leaders. Molloy also recalled that Connolly had asked for the document to resemble an auctioneers notice in general design, there are about 30 original copies still remaining, one of which can be viewed in the National Print Museum. Reproductions were later made, which have sometimes been misattributed as originals, james Mosley notes that complete originals rapidly became rare in the chaos, and that over a month later the Dublin police had failed to find one for their files. Had the arrangement of names been alphabetical, Éamonn Ceannt would have appeared on top, clarkes widow maintained that it was because the plan had been for Clarke, as a famed veteran, to become the President of the Provisional Republic. Such an explanation would explain his premier position. However others associated with the Rising dismissed her claims, which she made in her memoirs, all seven signatories of the proclamation were executed by the British military in the aftermath of the Rising, being viewed as having committed treason in wartime. British political leaders regarded the executions initially as unwise, later as a catastrophe, though initially deeply unsympathetic to the Rising, Irish public opinion switched and became more sympathetic due to manner of their treatment and executions. Eventually Asquiths government ordered a halt to the executions and insisted that those not already executed be dealt with through civilian, not military, by that stage all the signatories and a number of others had been executed. Full copies of the Easter Proclamation are now treated as a revered Irish national icon, a copy owned by Rising participant Seán T. OKelly was presented by him to the Irish parliament buildings, Leinster House, during his tenure as President of Ireland. It is currently on permanent display in the main foyer, Other copies are on display in the GPO, the National Museum of Ireland, the Trinity College Librarys Long Room and other museums worldwide. Facsimile copies are sold as souvenirs in Ireland, and copies of the text are displayed in Irish schools
35.
Easter Rising
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The Easter Rising, also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week, April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans to end British rule in Ireland and it was the most significant uprising in Ireland since the rebellion of 1798, and the first armed action of the Irish revolutionary period. Organised by a seven-man Military Council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, the Rising began on Easter Monday,24 April 1916, the British Army brought in thousands of reinforcements as well as artillery and a gunboat. There was fierce fighting on the routes into the city centre. Elsewhere in Dublin, the fighting consisted of sniping and long-range gun battles. The main rebel positions were surrounded and bombarded with artillery. Germany had sent a shipment of arms to the rebels, Volunteer leader Eoin MacNeill had then issued a countermand in a bid to halt the Rising, which greatly reduced the number of rebels who mobilised. With much greater numbers and heavier weapons, the British Army suppressed the Rising, Pearse agreed to an unconditional surrender on Saturday 29 April, although sporadic fighting continued until Sunday, when word reached the other rebel positions. After the surrender the country remained under martial law, about 3,500 people were taken prisoner by the British, many of whom had played no part in the Rising, and 1,800 of them were sent to internment camps or prisons in Britain. Most of the leaders of the Rising were executed following courts-martial, the Rising brought physical force republicanism back to the forefront of Irish politics, which for nearly 50 years had been dominated by constitutional nationalism. It, and the British reaction to it, led to increased support for Irish independence. In December 1918, republicans, represented by the reconstituted Sinn Féin party and they did not take their seats, but instead convened the First Dáil and declared the independence of the Irish Republic, which led to the War of Independence. 485 people were killed in the Easter Rising, about 54% were civilians, 30% were British military and police, and 16% were Irish rebels. Many of the civilians were killed as a result of the British using artillery and heavy machine guns, others were caught in the crossfire in a crowded city. The shelling and the fires it caused left parts of inner city Dublin in ruins, from early on, many Irish nationalists opposed the union and the ensuing exploitation and impoverishment of the island, which led to a high level of depopulation. Opposition took various forms, constitutional, social and revolutionary, the Irish Home Rule movement sought to achieve self-government for Ireland, within the United Kingdom. In 1886, the Irish Parliamentary Party under Charles Stewart Parnell succeeded in having the First Home Rule Bill introduced in the British parliament, the Second Home Rule Bill of 1893 was passed by the House of Commons but rejected by the House of Lords. After the fall of Parnell, younger and more radical nationalists became disillusioned with parliamentary politics, the Gaelic Athletic Association, the Gaelic League and the cultural revival under W. B
36.
Kingdom of Ireland
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The Kingdom of Ireland was a client state of the Kingdom of England that existed on Ireland from 1542 until 1800. It came into being when the Parliament of Ireland passed the Crown of Ireland Act 1542, the territory of the Kingdom had previously had the status of a lordship of the Crown. The Parliament of Ireland passed the Acts of Union 1800 by which it abolished itself, the act was also passed by the Parliament of Great Britain. The act also had the effect of establishing the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland on the first day of 1801 by uniting the Crowns of Ireland, in its early years, the Kingdom of Ireland had limited recognition. While some Protestant powers in Europe recognised Henry and his heir Edward as monarch of Ireland, Henrys daughter, Queen Mary I of England, was recognised as Queen of Ireland by Pope Paul IV in 1555. The papal bull Laudabiliter of Pope Adrian IV was issued in 1155 and it granted the Angevin King Henry II of England the title Dominus Hibernae. Laudabiliter authorised the king to invade Ireland, to bring the country into the European sphere, in return, Henry was required to remit a penny per hearth of the tax roll to the Pope. This was reconfirmed by Adrians successor Pope Alexander III in 1172, when Pope Clement VII excommunicated the king of England, Henry VIII, in 1533, the constitutional position of the lordship in Ireland became uncertain. Henry had broken away from the Holy See and declared himself the head of the Church in England and he had petitioned Rome to procure an annulment of his marriage to Queen Catherine. The Treason Act 1537 was passed to counteract this, following the failed revolt of Silken Thomas in 1534–35, Grey, the lord deputy, had some military successes against several clans in the late 1530s, and took their submissions. By 1540 most of Ireland seemed at peace and under the control of the kings Dublin administration, Henry was proclaimed King of Ireland by the Crown of Ireland Act 1542, an Act of the Irish Parliament. The new kingdom was not recognised by the Catholic monarchies in Europe, after the death of King Edward VI, Henrys son, the papal bull of 1555 recognised the Roman Catholic Queen Mary I as Queen of Ireland. The link of personal union of the Crown of Ireland to the Crown of England became enshrined in Catholic canon law, in this fashion, the Kingdom of Ireland was ruled by the reigning King of England. This placed the new Kingdom of Ireland in personal union with the Kingdom of England, in line with its expanded role and self-image, the administration established the Kings Inns for barristers in 1541, and the Ulster King of Arms to regulate heraldry in 1552. Proposals to establish a university in Dublin were delayed until 1592, in 1603 James VI King of Scots became James I of England, uniting the Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland in a personal union. The political order of the kingdom was interrupted by the Wars of the Three Kingdoms starting in 1639, during the subsequent interregnum period, England, Scotland and Ireland were ruled as a republic until 1660. This period saw the rise of the loyalist Irish Catholic Confederation within the kingdom and, from 1653, the kingdoms order was restored 1660 with the restoration of Charles II. Without any public dissent, Charless reign was backdated to his fathers execution in 1649, Poynings Law was repealed in 1782 in what came to be known as the Constitution of 1782, granting Ireland legislative independence
37.
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was established as a sovereign state on 1 January 1801 by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland. The growing desire for an Irish Republic led to the Irish War of Independence, Northern Ireland remained part of the United Kingdom, and the state was consequently renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Britain financed the European coalition that defeated France in 1815 in the Napoleonic Wars, the British Empire thereby became the foremost world power for the next century. The Crimean War with Russia and the Boer wars were relatively small operations in a largely peaceful century, rapid industrialisation that began in the decades prior to the states formation continued up until the mid-19th century. A devastating famine, exacerbated by government inaction in the century, led to demographic collapse in much of Ireland. It was an era of economic modernization and growth of industry, trade and finance. Outward migration was heavy to the colonies and to the United States. Britain also built up a large British Empire in Africa and Asia, India, by far the most important possession, saw a short-lived revolt in 1857. In foreign policy Britain favoured free trade, which enabled its financiers and merchants to operate successfully in many otherwise independent countries, as in South America. Britain formed no permanent military alliances until the early 20th century, when it began to cooperate with Japan, France and Russia, and moved closer to the United States. A brief period of limited independence for Ireland came to an end following the Irish Rebellion of 1798, the British governments fear of an independent Ireland siding against them with the French resulted in the decision to unite the two countries. This was brought about by legislation in the parliaments of both kingdoms and came into effect on 1 January 1801, however, King George III was bitterly opposed to any such Emancipation and succeeded in defeating his governments attempts to introduce it. When the Treaty of Amiens ended the war, Britain agreed to return most of the territories it had seized, in May 1803, war was declared again. In 1806, Napoleon issued the series of Berlin Decrees, which brought into effect the Continental System and this policy aimed to eliminate the threat from the British by closing French-controlled territory to foreign trade. Frances population and agricultural capacity far outstripped that of the British Isles, Napoleon expected that cutting Britain off from the European mainland would end its economic hegemony. The Spanish uprising in 1808 at last permitted Britain to gain a foothold on the Continent, after Napoleons surrender and exile to the island of Elba, peace appeared to have returned. The Allies united and the armies of Wellington and Blucher defeated Napoleon once, simultaneous with the Napoleonic Wars, trade disputes, arming hostile Indians and British impressment of American sailors led to the War of 1812 with the United States. The war was little noticed in Britain, which could devote few resources to the conflict until the fall of Napoleon in 1814, American frigates inflicted a series of defeats on the Royal Navy, which was short on manpower due to the conflict in Europe
38.
Acts of Union 1800
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The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland with effect from 1 January 1801. Both Acts, though amended, still remain in force in the United Kingdom. Since the 12th century, the King of England had been technical overlord of the Lordship of Ireland, both the Kingdoms of Ireland and England later came into personal union with that of Scotland upon the Union of the Crowns in 1603. In 1707, the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland were united into a single kingdom, each Act had to be passed in both the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of Ireland. The Parliament of Ireland had recently gained a measure of legislative independence under the Constitution of 1782. Many members of the Irish Parliament jealously guarded this autonomy and a motion for union was rejected in 1799. Only Anglicans were permitted to become members of the Parliament of Ireland, though the majority of the Irish population were Roman Catholic. In 1793 Roman Catholics regained the right to vote if they owned or rented property worth £2 p. a. The Catholic hierarchy was strongly in favour of union, hoping for rapid emancipation, also the Irish and British parliaments, when creating a regency during King George IIIs madness, gave the Prince Regent different powers. These considerations led Great Britain to decide to attempt merger of the two kingdoms and their parliaments, whereas the first attempt had been defeated in the Irish House of Commons by 109 votes against to 104 for, the second vote in 1800 produced a result of 158 to 115. The Acts of Union were two complementary Acts, namely, The Union with Ireland Act 1800, an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain, and The Act of Union 1800, an Act of the Parliament of Ireland. They were passed on 2 July 1800 and 1 August 1800 respectively and they ratified eight articles which had been previously agreed by the British and Irish Parliaments, Articles I–IV dealt with the political aspects of the Union. The other 84 Irish parliamentary boroughs were disfranchised, all were pocket boroughs, article VI created a customs union, with the exception that customs duties on certain British and Irish goods passing between the two countries would remain for 10 years. Article VII stated that Ireland would have to contribute two-seventeenths towards the expenditure of the United Kingdom, the figure was a ratio of Irish to British foreign trade. Article VIII formalised the legal and judicial aspects of the Union, part of the attraction of the Union for many Irish Catholics was the promise of Catholic Emancipation, allowing Roman Catholic MPs, who had not been allowed in the Irish Parliament. This was however blocked by King George III who argued that emancipating Roman Catholics would breach his Coronation Oath, in the first Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the members of the House of Commons were not elected afresh. The flag, created as a consequence of the union of the Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1800, called the Union Flag, it combined the flags of St Georges Cross and the St Andrews Saltire of Scotland with the St Patricks Saltire to represent Ireland. The Irish Constitutional Tradition, Responsible Government and Modern Ireland 1782–1992, gill & Macmillan, Dublin, Ireland,2003
39.
Isaac Butt
–
Butt was born in 1813 in Glenfin, a district bordering the Finn Valley in County Donegal, Ireland. Glenfin is a distance west of Ballybofey. He was the son of a Church of Ireland rector but was descended from the ODonnells of Tyrconnell. Butt received his school education at The Royal School in Raphoe, County Donegal. Whilst there he co-founded the Dublin University Magazine and edited it for four years, for much of his life was a member of the Irish Conservative Party. He became Whately Professor of Political Economy at Trinity in 1836, after being called to the bar in 1838, Butt quickly established a name for himself as a brilliant barrister. He was known for his opposition to the Irish nationalist leader Daniel OConnells campaign for the repeal of the Act of Union and he also lectured at Trinity College, Dublin, in political economy. This led to his involvement in Irish nationalist politics and the foundation of the Home Rule League, Butt was instrumental in fostering links between Constitutional and Revolutionary nationalism through his representation of members of the Fenians Society in court. He began his career as a Tory politician on Dublin Corporation and he was Member of Parliament for Youghal from 1852 to 1865, and for Limerick from 1871 to 1879. The failed Fenian Rising in 1867 strengthened Butts belief that a system was the only way to break the dreary cycle of inefficient administration punctuated by incompetent uprisings. In 1870 Butt then founded the Irish Home Government Association and this was in no sense a revolutionary organisation. It was designed to mobilise public opinion behind the demand for an Irish parliament, with, as he put it and he believed that Home Rule would promote friendship between Ireland and her neighbour to the east. In November 1873 Butt replaced the Association with a new body, the Home Rule League, in the General Election the following year,59 of its members were elected. However, most of those elected were men of property who were closer to the Liberal cause. In the meantime Charles Stewart Parnell had joined the League, with radical ideas than most of the incumbent Home Rulers. Butt had failed to win substantial concessions at Westminster on the things that mattered to most Irish people, however, soon a Belfast Home Ruler, Joseph Gillis Biggar, began making extensive use of the ungentlemanly tactic of obstructionism to prevent bills being passed by the house. When Parnell entered Parliament he took his cue from John OConnor Power and Joseph Biggar, mPs at that time could stand up and talk for as long as they wished on any subject. In one case they talked for 45 hours non-stop, stopping any important bills from being passed, Butt, ageing, and in failing health, could not keep up with this tactic and considered it counter-productive
40.
Charles Stewart Parnell
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Charles Stewart Parnell was an Irish nationalist politician and one of the most powerful figures in the British House of Commons in the 1880s. Born into a wealthy and powerful Anglo-Irish Protestant landowning family, he entered the House of Commons in 1875 and he was imprisoned in Kilmainham Gaol in 1882 but, a very capable negotiator, was released when he renounced violent extra-Parliamentary action. That same year he reformed the Home Rule League as the Irish Parliamentary Party, the hung Parliament of 1885 saw him hold the balance of power between William Gladstones Liberals and Lord Salisburys Conservatives. His power was one factor in Gladstones adoption of Home Rule as the central tenet of the Liberal Party and his reputation peaked in 1889-90 when letters published in The Times linking him to the Phoenix Park murders of 1882 were shown to have been forged by Richard Pigott. He headed a minority faction until his death in 1891. Gladstone described him as, I do not say the ablest man, I say the most remarkable and the most interesting. Liberal leader H. H. Asquith called him as one of the three or four greatest men of the 19th century, while Lord Haldane described him as the strongest man the House of Commons had seen in 150 years. Taylor says, More than any man he gave Ireland the sense of being an independent nation. There were eleven children in all, five boys and six girls, admiral Stewarts mother, Parnells great-grandmother, belonged to the Tudor family, so Parnell had a distant relationship with the British Royal Family. The family produced a number of figures, including Thomas Parnell. Parnells grandfather William Parnell, who inherited the Avondale Estate in 1795, was a liberal Irish MP for Wicklow from 1817–1820, yet it was as a leader of Irish Nationalism that Parnell established his fame. Parnells parents separated when he was six, and as a boy he was sent to different schools in England and his father died in 1859 and he inherited the Avondale estate, while his older brother John inherited another estate in Armagh. The young Parnell studied at Magdalene College, Cambridge but, due to the financial circumstances of the estate he inherited, he was absent a great deal. In 1871, he joined his elder brother John Howard Parnell and their travels took them mostly through the South and apparently the brothers neither spent much time in centres of Irish immigration nor sought out Irish-Americans. In 1874, he became High Sheriff of Wicklow, his county in which he was also an officer in the Wicklow militia. He was noted as a landowner who played an important part in opening the south Wicklow area to industrialisation. His attention was drawn to the theme dominating the Irish political scene of the mid-1870s and it was in support of this movement that Parnell first tried to stand for election in Wicklow, but as high sheriff was disqualified. He failed again in 1874 as home rule candidate in a County Dublin by-election, historian Kevin Flynn reports, When Gladstone came to know him in later years, he was astonished to find that Parnell was ignorant even of the basic facts of Irish history
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Irish National League
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The Irish National League was a nationalist political party in Ireland. It was founded on 17 October 1882 by Charles Stewart Parnell as the successor to the Irish National Land League after this was suppressed. Whereas the Land League had agitated for reform, the National League also campaigned for self-government or Irish Home Rule, further enfranchisement. The League was the base of support for the Irish Parliamentary Party. In 1884, the League secured the support of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland and its secretary was Timothy Harrington who organised the Plan of Campaign in 1886. The Irish League was effectively controlled by the Parliamentary Party, which in turn was controlled by Parnell, the majority of the League, which opposed Parnell, broke away to form the Anti-Parnellite Irish National Federation under John Dillon. John Redmond assumed the leadership of the minority Pro-Parnellite group who remained faithful to Parnell, despite the split, in the 1892 general election the combined factions still retained the Irish nationalist pro-Home Rule vote and their 81 seats. The Penguin Dictionary of British History, ed. Juliet Gardiner
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Liberal Party (UK)
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The Liberal Party was a liberal political party which was one of the two major parties in the United Kingdom in the 19th and early 20th century. The party arose from an alliance of Whigs and free-trade Peelites and Radicals favourable to the ideals of the American, by the end of the nineteenth century, it had formed four governments under William Gladstone. Despite splitting over the issue of Irish Home Rule, the party returned to power in 1906 with a landslide victory, by the end of the 1920s, the Labour Party had replaced the Liberals as the Conservatives main rival. The party went into decline and by the 1950s won no more than six seats at general elections, apart from notable by-election victories, the partys fortunes did not improve significantly until it formed the SDP–Liberal Alliance with the newly formed Social Democratic Party in 1981. At the 1983 General Election, the Alliance won over a quarter of the vote, at the 1987 General Election, its vote fell below 23% and the Liberal and Social Democratic parties merged in 1988 to form the Liberal Democrats. A splinter group reconstituted the Liberal Party in 1989 and it was formed by party members opposed to the merger who saw the Lib Dems diluting Liberal ideals. Prominent intellectuals associated with the Liberal Party include the philosopher John Stuart Mill, the economist John Maynard Keynes, the Liberal Party grew out of the Whigs, who had their origins in an aristocratic faction in the reign of Charles II, and the early 19th century Radicals. The Whigs were in favour of reducing the power of the Crown, although their motives in this were originally to gain more power for themselves, the more idealistic Whigs gradually came to support an expansion of democracy for its own sake. The great figures of reformist Whiggery were Charles James Fox and his disciple, after decades in opposition, the Whigs returned to power under Grey in 1830 and carried the First Reform Act in 1832. The Reform Act was the climax of Whiggism, but it brought about the Whigs demise. As early as 1839 Russell had adopted the name of Liberals, the leading Radicals were John Bright and Richard Cobden, who represented the manufacturing towns which had gained representation under the Reform Act. They favoured social reform, personal liberty, reducing the powers of the Crown and the Church of England, avoidance of war and foreign alliances, for a century, free trade remained the one cause which could unite all Liberals. This allowed ministries led by Russell, Palmerston, and the Peelite Lord Aberdeen to hold office for most of the 1850s and 1860s, a leading Peelite was William Ewart Gladstone, who was a reforming Chancellor of the Exchequer in most of these governments. The formal foundation of the Liberal Party is traditionally traced to 1859 and this was brought about by Palmerstons death in 1865 and Russells retirement in 1868. After a brief Conservative government Gladstone won a victory at the 1868 election. The establishment of the party as a membership organisation came with the foundation of the National Liberal Federation in 1877. John Stuart Mill was a Liberal MP from 1865 to 1868, for the next thirty years Gladstone and Liberalism were synonymous. William Ewart Gladstone served as prime minister four times, called the Grand Old Man later in life, Gladstone was always a dynamic popular orator who appealed strongly to the working class and to the lower middle class
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