Members of the 1st Dáil
1st Dáil | |||
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24 of the 27 TDs present at the first Dáil meeting on 21 January 1919, photographed afterwards on the steps of the Mansion House. The caption gives names in Irish. | |||
Overview | |||
Legislative body | Dáil Éireann | ||
Jurisdiction | Irish Republic | ||
Meeting place |
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Term | 21 January 1919 – 10 May 1921 | ||
Election | 1918 general election | ||
Government |
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Members | 105[a] | ||
Ceann Comhairle | Seán T. O'Kelly — Count Plunkett 22 January 1919 — Cathal Brugha until 22 January 1919 | ||
President of Dáil Éireann | Éamon de Valera — Cathal Brugha until 1 April 1919 |
The members of the First Dáil, known as Teachtaí Dála (TDs), were the 101[a] Members of Parliament (MPs) returned from constituencies in Ireland at the 1918 United Kingdom general election. In its first general election, Sinn Féin won 73[a] seats and viewed the result as a mandate for independence; in accordance with its declared policy of abstentionism, its 69[a] MPs refused to attend the British House of Commons in Westminster, and established a revolutionary parliament known as Dáil Éireann. The other Irish MPs — 26 unionists and six[b] from the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) — sat at Westminster and for the most part ignored the invitation to attend the Dáil. Thomas Harbison, IPP MP for North East Tyrone, did acknowledge the invitation, but "stated he should decline for obvious reasons".[1] The Dáil met for the first time on 21 January 1919 in Mansion House in Dublin. Only 27 members attended; most of the other Sinn Féin TDs were imprisoned by the British authorities, or in hiding under threat of arrest. All 101 MPs were considered TDs, and their names were called out on the roll of membership, though there was some laughter when Irish Unionist Alliance leader Edward Carson was described as as láthair ("absent").[2] The database of members of the Oireachtas (Irish parliament) includes for the First Dáil only those elected for Sinn Féin.[3]
Composition of the 1st Dáil
Party | Dec. 1918[c] | May 1921[d] | |
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● | Sinn Féin | 73[a] | 69 |
Irish Unionist | 22 | — | |
Irish Parliamentary | 6[b] | 2 | |
Labour Unionist | 3 | — | |
Ind. Unionist | 1 | 1 | |
Ulster Unionist | — | 23 | |
Nationalist | — | 4 | |
Unionist Anti-Partition League | — | 2 | |
Vacant | — | 4 | |
Total | 105 |
Government party denoted with bullet (●).
Members by constituency
Constituency | Name | Portrait | Party affiliation | Assumed office | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Start of Dáil term | End of Dáil term | ||||||
Antrim East | Robert McCalmont | Irish Unionist | Resigned in 1919 | Abstained | |||
George Hanna | Elected in 1919 by-election as Independent Unionist | Ulster Unionist | Abstained | ||||
Antrim Mid | Hugh O'Neill | Irish Unionist | Ulster Unionist | Abstained | |||
Antrim North | Peter Kerr-Smiley | Irish Unionist | Ulster Unionist | Abstained | |||
Antrim South | Charles Curtis Craig | Irish Unionist | Ulster Unionist | Abstained | |||
Armagh Mid | James Rolston Lonsdale | Irish Unionist | Ulster Unionist | Abstained | |||
Armagh North | William Allen | Irish Unionist | Ulster Unionist | Abstained | |||
Armagh South | Patrick Donnelly | Irish Parliamentary | Nationalist | Abstained | |||
Belfast Cromac | William Arthur Lindsay | Irish Unionist | Ulster Unionist | Abstained | |||
Belfast Duncairn | Edward Carson | Irish Unionist | Ulster Unionist | Abstained | |||
Belfast Falls | Joseph Devlin | Irish Parliamentary | Nationalist | Abstained | |||
Belfast Ormeau | Thomas Moles | Irish Unionist | Ulster Unionist | Abstained | |||
Belfast Pottinger | Herbert Dixon | Irish Unionist | Ulster Unionist | Abstained | |||
Belfast St Anne's | Thomas Henry Burn | Labour Unionist | Ulster Unionist | Abstained | |||
Belfast Shankill | Samuel McGuffin | Labour Unionist | Ulster Unionist | Abstained | |||
Belfast Victoria | Thompson Donald | Labour Unionist | Ulster Unionist | Abstained | |||
Belfast Woodvale | Robert Lynn | Irish Unionist | Ulster Unionist | Abstained | |||
County Carlow | James Lennon | Sinn Féin | 6 August 1920 | ||||
Cavan East | Arthur Griffith[e] | Sinn Féin | 1 April 1919 | ||||
Tyrone North West | |||||||
Cavan West | Paul Galligan | Sinn Féin | 1 April 1919 | ||||
Clare East | Éamon de Valera[f] | Sinn Féin | 1 April 1919 | ||||
Mayo East | |||||||
Clare West | Brian O'Higgins | Sinn Féin | 1 April 1919 | ||||
Cork City | Liam de Róiste | Sinn Féin | 1 April 1919 | ||||
J. J. Walsh[g] | Sinn Féin | 21 January 1919 | |||||
Cork East | David Kent | Sinn Féin | 9 May 1919 | ||||
Cork Mid | Terence MacSwiney | Sinn Féin | Died in 1920 | 1 April 1919 | |||
Cork North | Patrick O'Keeffe | Sinn Féin | 1 April 1919 | ||||
Cork North East | Thomas Hunter | Sinn Féin | 9 May 1919 | ||||
Cork South | Michael Collins | Sinn Féin | 1 April 1919 | ||||
Cork South East | Diarmuid Lynch | Sinn Féin | Resigned in 1920 | Never sat in Dáil | |||
Cork West | Seán Hayes[g] | Sinn Féin | 21 January 1919 | ||||
Donegal East | Edward Kelly | Irish Parliamentary | Abstained | ||||
Donegal North | Joseph O'Doherty[g] | Sinn Féin | 21 January 1919 | ||||
Donegal South | Peter Ward[g] | Sinn Féin | 21 January 1919 | ||||
Donegal West | Joseph Sweeney[g] | Sinn Féin | 21 January 1919 | ||||
Down East | David Reid | Irish Unionist | Ulster Unionist | Abstained | |||
Down Mid | James Craig | Irish Unionist | Ulster Unionist | Abstained | |||
Down North | Thomas Watters Brown | Irish Unionist | Ulster Unionist | Abstained | |||
Down South | Jeremiah McVeagh | Irish Parliamentary | Nationalist | Abstained | |||
Down West | Daniel M. Wilson | Irish Unionist | Ulster Unionist | Abstained | |||
Dublin Clontarf | Richard Mulcahy[g] | Sinn Féin | 21 January 1919 | ||||
Dublin College Green | Seán T. O'Kelly[g] | Sinn Féin | 21 January 1919 | ||||
Dublin Harbour | Philip Shanahan[g] | Sinn Féin | 21 January 1919 | ||||
Dublin North | Frank Lawless | Sinn Féin | 1 April 1919 | ||||
Dublin Pembroke | Desmond FitzGerald | Sinn Féin | 1 April 1919 | ||||
Dublin Rathmines | Maurice Dockrell | Irish Unionist | Unionist Anti-Partition League | Abstained | |||
Dublin South | George Gavan Duffy[g] | Sinn Féin | 21 January 1919 | ||||
Dublin St James's | Joseph McGrath | Sinn Féin | 1 April 1919 | ||||
Dublin St Michan's | Michael Staines[g] | Sinn Féin | 21 January 1919 | ||||
Dublin St Patrick's | Constance Markievicz | Sinn Féin | 1 April 1919 | ||||
Dublin St Stephen's Green | Thomas Kelly[g] | Sinn Féin | 21 January 1919 | ||||
Dublin University | Arthur Samuels | Irish Unionist | Resigned in 1919 | Abstained | |||
Robert Woods | Independent Unionist | Abstained | |||||
William Jellett | Elected in 1919 by-election as Irish Unionist | Unionist Anti-Partition League | Abstained | ||||
Fermanagh North | Edward Archdale | Irish Unionist | Ulster Unionist | Abstained | |||
Fermanagh South | Seán O'Mahony | Sinn Féin | 1 April 1919 | ||||
Galway Connemara | Pádraic Ó Máille[g] | Sinn Féin | 21 January 1919 | ||||
Galway East | Liam Mellows[h] | Sinn Féin | 21 January 1921 | ||||
Meath North | |||||||
Galway North | Bryan Cusack | Sinn Féin | 1 April 1919 | ||||
Galway South | Frank Fahy | Sinn Féin | 1 April 1919 | ||||
Kerry East | Piaras Béaslaí[g] | Sinn Féin | 21 January 1919 | ||||
Kerry North | James Crowley | Sinn Féin | 17 June 1919 | ||||
Kerry South | Fionán Lynch | Sinn Féin | 29 June 1920 | ||||
Kerry West | Austin Stack | Sinn Féin | Never sat in 1st Dáil | ||||
Kildare North | Domhnall Ua Buachalla[g] | Sinn Féin | 21 January 1919 | ||||
Kildare South | Art O'Connor | Sinn Féin | 1 April 1919 | ||||
Kilkenny North | W. T. Cosgrave | Sinn Féin | 1 April 1919 | ||||
Kilkenny South | James O'Mara | Sinn Féin | 1 April 1919 | ||||
King's County | Patrick McCartan | Sinn Féin | Never sat in 1st Dáil | ||||
Leitrim | James Dolan | Sinn Féin | 1 April 1919 | ||||
Limerick City | Michael Colivet | Sinn Féin | 1 April 1919 | ||||
Limerick East | Richard Hayes | Sinn Féin | 1 April 1919 | ||||
Limerick West | Con Collins[g] | Sinn Féin | 21 January 1919 | ||||
Londonderry City | Eoin MacNeill[g][i] | Sinn Féin | 21 January 1919 | ||||
National University | |||||||
Londonderry North | Hugh Anderson | Irish Unionist | Resigned in 1919 | Abstained | |||
Hugh T. Barrie | Elected in 1919 by-election as Irish Unionist | Ulster Unionist | Abstained | ||||
Londonderry South | Denis Henry | Irish Unionist | Ulster Unionist | Abstained | |||
Longford | Joseph McGuinness | Sinn Féin | 1 April 1919 | ||||
Louth | John J. O'Kelly[g] | Sinn Féin | 21 January 1919 | ||||
Mayo North | John Crowley[g] | Sinn Féin | 21 January 1919 | ||||
Mayo South | William Sears | Sinn Féin | 19 August 1919 | ||||
Mayo West | Joseph MacBride | Sinn Féin | 17 June 1919 | ||||
Meath South | Eamonn Duggan[g] | Sinn Féin | 21 January 1919 | ||||
Monaghan North | Ernest Blythe | Sinn Féin | 1 April 1919 | ||||
Monaghan South | Seán MacEntee | Sinn Féin | 1 April 1919 | ||||
Queen's County | Kevin O'Higgins[g] | Sinn Féin | 21 January 1919 | ||||
Roscommon North | George Noble Plunkett[g] | Sinn Féin | 21 January 1919 | ||||
Roscommon South | Harry Boland | Sinn Féin | 1 April 1919 | ||||
Queen's University of Belfast | William Whitla | Irish Unionist | Ulster Unionist | Abstained | |||
Sligo North | J. J. Clancy | Sinn Féin | 29 June 1920 | ||||
Sligo South | Alexander McCabe | Sinn Féin | 1 April 1919 | ||||
Tipperary East | Pierce McCan | Sinn Féin | Died in 1919 | Never sat in Dáil | |||
Tipperary Mid | Séamus Burke[g] | Sinn Féin | 21 January 1919 | ||||
Tipperary North | Joseph MacDonagh | Sinn Féin | 1 April 1919 | ||||
Tipperary South | P. J. Moloney[g] | Sinn Féin | 21 January 1919 | ||||
Tyrone North East | Thomas Harbison | Irish Parliamentary | Nationalist | Abstained | |||
Tyrone South | William Coote | Irish Unionist | Ulster Unionist | Abstained | |||
Waterford City | William Redmond | Irish Parliamentary | Abstained | ||||
Waterford County | Cathal Brugha[g] | Sinn Féin | 21 January 1919 | ||||
Westmeath | Laurence Ginnell | Sinn Féin | 1 April 1919 | ||||
Wexford North | Roger Sweetman[g] | Sinn Féin | Resigned in 1921 | 21 January 1919 | |||
Wexford South | James Ryan[g] | Sinn Féin | 21 January 1919 | ||||
Wicklow East | Seán Etchingham | Sinn Féin | 1 April 1919 | ||||
Wicklow West | Robert Barton[g] | Sinn Féin | 21 January 1919 |
Changes
Vacancies
When the Sinn Féin executive met on 1 January 1919 to plan for the Dáil's inaugural meeting, it considered appointing substitutes for the imprisoned Sinn Féin TDs who would be unable to attend, but decided against this.[4] When Pierce McCan died on 6 March 1919, his East Tipperary seat was left vacant at Westminster. In April 1919 a Dáil committee considering how to fill the vacancy considered allowing nomination by the Labour Party (which had stood aside in the 1918 election to avoid splitting the nationalist vote)[5] before recommending that the Sinn Féin constituency organisation should nominate.[6] However, in June 1919 the Dáil decided that "it was due to the memory of the late Pierce McCann that his place should not be filled at present".[7] Later vacancies were also left unfilled; when Diarmuid Lynch resigned his seat in 1920, Arthur Griffith said "as the letter of resignation was addressed to the people of South-East Cork, the next step in the matter lay with the South-East Cork Executive of Sinn Fein".[8]
Four TDs represented two separate constituencies: Éamon de Valera, Arthur Griffith, Eoin MacNeill and Liam Mellowes. Ordinarily, this would prompt them to choose one constituency to represent, and to move a writ for a by-election in the other constituency.
Constituency | Outgoing TD | Party | Reason for vacancy | Date of vacancy | Ref | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tipperary East | Pierce McCan | Sinn Féin | Death in prison | 6 March 1919 | [4] | |
Cork South East | Diarmuid Lynch | Sinn Féin | Resignation | 6 August 1920 | [8] | |
Cork Mid | Terence MacSwiney | Sinn Féin | Death from hunger strike | 25 October 1920 | [4] | |
North Wexford | Roger Sweetman | Sinn Féin | Resignation | 27 January 1921 | [9] |
By-elections
The following Westminster by-elections to Irish seats were filled by Unionists who sat at Westminster.
Winner | Party | Constituency | Date | Outgoing | Party | Reason for vacancy | Notes | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hugh T. Barrie | Irish Unionist | North Londonderry | 4 March 1919 | Hugh Anderson | Irish Unionist | Resignation | The only by-election contested by Sinn Féin, Patrick McGilligan losing.[10] | ||
George Hanna | Ind. Unionist | East Antrim | 27 May 1919 | Robert McCalmont | Irish Unionist | Appointed commander of the Irish Guards | |||
William Jellett | Irish Unionist | Dublin University | 28 July 1919 | Arthur Samuels | Irish Unionist | Appointed to the High Court of Justice in Ireland |
See also
Notes
- ^ a b c d e Sinn Féin won 73 of 105 constituencies but four were each elected for two constituencies, so there were 69 Sinn Féin MPs from a total of 101.
- ^ a b A seventh IPP MP, T. P. O'Connor, was elected for the English constituency of Liverpool Scotland.
- ^ December 1918 column shows the state of parties after the 1918 general election.
- ^ May 1921 column shows the state of the parties at the dissolution of the 1st Dáil.
- ^ Arthur Griffith was elected for two constituencies: Cavan East and Tyrone North West.
- ^ Éamon de Valera was elected for two constituencies: Clare East and Mayo East.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa Attended the opening session of the First Dáil on 21 January 1919.
- ^ Liam Mellows was elected for two constituencies: Galway East and Meath North.
- ^ Eoin MacNeill was elected for two constituencies: Londonderry City and National University of Ireland.
References
- ^ "Roll Call". Dáil Éireann (1st Dáil) debates. Houses of the Oireachtas. 22 January 1919. Archived from the original on 28 August 2018. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
- ^ "Irish Republican 'Parliament'". The Irish Times. 22 January 1919. p. 6. Archived from the original on 3 December 2010. Retrieved 9 September 2020.; Fallon, Donal (21 January 2019). "Opinion: The Democratic Programme of the First Dáil was a radical socialist document". TheJournal.ie. Archived from the original on 27 September 2020. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
- ^ "TDs & Senators". Houses of the Oireachtas. Archived from the original on 5 May 2018. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
- ^ a b c "Timeline". Dáil 100. Houses of the Oireachtas. Archived from the original on 21 January 2021. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
- ^ Mitchell, Arthur (1995). Revolutionary Government in Ireland: Dáil Éireann, 1919-22. Gill & MacMillan. p. 24. ISBN 9780717114818.
- ^ "East Tipperary Vacancy". Dáil Éireann debate. Oireachtas. 17 June 1919. Archived from the original on 14 August 2018. Retrieved 18 August 2018.
- ^ "Report of Select Committee on East Tipperary Vacancy – Dáil Éireann (1st Dáil) – Wednesday, 18 June 1919". Oireachtas. 17 June 1919. Archived from the original on 22 July 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
- ^ a b "Resignation Of Deputy For South-East Cork". Dáil Éireann debate. Oireachtas. 6 August 1920. Archived from the original on 14 August 2018. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
- ^ Sweetman, R. M. (28 January 1921). "Mr. Roger Sweetman's Position". The Irish Times. p. 4. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
- ^ Laffan, Michael (1999). The Resurrection of Ireland: The Sinn Féin Party, 1916–1923. Cambridge University Press. p. 309. ISBN 9781139426299. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
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