There is nothing new about parliamentary assemblies in Ireland. The Normans, who began to settle in Ireland in 1169, were the first to give Ireland a centralised administration. Our legal system and our courts of law are, in large measure, inherited from them. So too is our legislature which is directly descended from the parliament which developed in medieval Ireland.
The earliest known Irish Parliament for which there is a definitive record met on 18 June 1264 at Castledermot in County Kildare, although there is some evidence to suggest that the word "parliament" may have been in use as early as 1234. The pre-Union Irish Parliament continued to function for more than 500 years. The Houses of Parliament (Lords and Commons) later met in the first purpose built Parliament House in the world, on College Green in Dublin, which was constructed between 1729 and 1739.
Parliamentary assemblies took various forms down through the General Assembly of the Confederation of Kilkenny (1642-1649), the "Patriot Parliament" of 1689, and the independent Irish Parliament (1782 - 1800), popularly known as "Grattan's Parliament". These assemblies however all lacked the great principle on which Dáil Éireann was founded in 1919. This was that all legislative, executive and judicial power had its source in, and was derived from, the sovereign people of Ireland.
"Grattan’s Parliament" lasted just 18 years. The Act of Union 1800, which came into operation on 1 January 1801, created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and united the parliaments of the two kingdoms. From then until Independence in 1922, Irish Members of Parliament held seats in the parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with its seat at the Palace of Westminster.
In the aftermath of the Easter Rising of 1916 Sinn Féin, the party founded by Arthur Griffith in 1905, was reorganised and grew into a nation-wide movement. Abstention from Westminster and the establishment of a separate and independent Irish parliament had long been part of Sinn Féin's policy. The party contested the 14 December 1918 general election, called following the dissolution of the British Parliament, and swept the country winning 73 of the 105 Irish seats. Acting on the pledge not to sit in the Westminster parliament, but instead to set up an Irish legislative assembly, 28 of the newly-elected Sinn Féin representatives met and constituted themselves as the first Dáil Éireann. The remaining Sinn Féin representatives were either in prison or unable to attend for other reasons.
The first Dáil met in the Round Room of the Mansion House on 21 January 1919. The Dáil asserted the exclusive right of the elected representatives of the Irish people to legislate for the country. The Members present adopted a Provisional Constitution and approved a Declaration of Independence. The Dáil also approved a Democratic Programme, based on the 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic, and read and adopted a Message to the Free Nations of the World.
On the following day, 22 January 1919, a private sitting was held which elected Seán T. O'Kelly as Ceann Comhairle (Speaker) and Cathal Brugha as President of the Ministry. The Dáil also approved the President's nominations to the Ministry. Cathal Brugha resigned and Éamon de Valera was elected President of the Dáil (prime minister) on 1 April 1919.
Following the outbreak of the War of Independence in January 1919, the British Government decided to suppress the Dáil, and on 10 September 1919 Dáil Éireann was declared a dangerous association and was prohibited. The Dáil continued to meet in secret, and Ministers carried out their duties as best they could. In all, the Dáil held fourteen sittings in 1919. Of these, four were public and ten private. Three private sittings were held in 1920 and four in 1921.
During this time the formal government of Ireland remained with Westminster. In an attempt to settle the Irish question, the United Kingdom Parliament passed the Government of Ireland Act in December 1920. The Act created a separate state of Northern Ireland, consisting of the six north-eastern counties of Ulster, and proposed separate parliaments for Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland.
On 24 May 1921, elections were held for the return of members to serve in the new Parliaments. At a private sitting of the Dáil on 10 May 1921 the Sinn Féin representatives, who refused to accept the British concession of a Parliament for Southern Ireland, adopted a resolution declaring that the parliamentary elections which were to take place should be regarded as elections to Dáil Éireann.
All Sinn Féin candidates in the twenty-six counties were returned unopposed and took 128 of the 132 seats. The remaining four seats were filled by Unionists representing the University of Dublin (Trinity College). The Sinn Féin members, continuing in the footsteps of their predecessors, constituted themselves as the Second Dáil, which held its first meeting on 16 August 1921 in the Mansion House.
The inaugural meeting of the Parliament of Southern Ireland was held in Dublin on 28 June 1921 but, as Sinn Féin refused to recognise the parliament, only four members of the House of Commons – the University of Dublin representatives – together with fifteen senators attended. The Parliament met for a brief period and then adjourned sine die.
The Treaty between Great Britain and Ireland
Following the Truce between Britain and Ireland in July 1921, which led to the suspension of the War of Independence, peace negotiations between the two countries were initiated and culminated in the signing of the "Articles of Agreement for a Treaty between Great Britain and Ireland" on 6 December 1921. The Treaty provided for the establishment of the Irish Free State with jurisdiction over twenty-six of the thirty-two counties.
After a bitter and divisive debate, which began on 14 December 1921, the second Dáil approved the Treaty by 64 votes to 57 on 7 January 1922. Éamon de Valera resigned as President on 9 January 1922, and Arthur Griffith was elected President on 10 January 1922.
In accordance with the terms of the Treaty a meeting of "the members elected to sit in the House of Commons of Southern Ireland" was held on 14 January 1922. The meeting, which was attended by the pro-Treaty members of the Dáil and the four members for University of Dublin, formally endorsed the Treaty and set up a Provisional Government, under the Chairmanship of Michael Collins, to administer the twenty-six counties pending the establishment of the Free State parliament and government. The Provisional Government and the Government of Dáil Éireann, which was not recognized by Britain, existed in parallel and with overlapping membership.
Following the death of Arthur Griffith ( President of the Dáil ) on 12 August 1922 and the death of Michael Collins ( Chairman of the Provisional Government ) on 22 August 1922, William T. Cosgrave became both President of the Dáil and Chairman of the Provisional Government.
The Provisional Government called a General Election for 16 June 1922 and the new Dáil – the Third Dáil – held its first meeting in Leinster House on 9 September 1922. The Dáil, "sitting as a Constituent Assembly in this Provisional Parliament", enacted the Constitution of the Irish Free State (Saorstát Éireann) Act 1922 on 25 October 1922.
The Irish Free State (1922 - 1937)
On 6 December 1922, a year after the signing of the Treaty, the Irish Free State or Saorstát Éireann came into existence. From then until 1937 the government or cabinet of the Irish Free State was known as the Executive Council, and the head of government was known as the President of the Executive Council. William T. Cosgrave was nominated to be President of the Executive Council, and the other members of the Provisional Government were nominated to be members of the Executive Council.
Article 12 of the Irish Free State Constitution created the Oireachtas: "A Legislature is hereby created, to be known as the Oireachtas. It shall consist of the King and two Houses, the Chamber of Deputies ( otherwise called and herein generally referred to as "Dáil Éireann" ) and the Senate ( otherwise called and herein generally referred to as "Seanad Éireann" )."