Comhairle na dTeachtaí (; "Council of Deputies") was an

Irish republican Irish republicanism ( ga, poblachtánachas Éireannach) is the political movement for the unity and independence of Ireland under a republic. Irish republicans view British rule in any part of Ireland as inherently illegitimate. The develop ...

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

established by opponents of the 1921

Anglo-Irish Treaty The 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty ( ga , An Conradh Angla-Éireannach), commonly known in Ireland as The Treaty and officially the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was an agreement between the government of the ...

and the resulting

Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between th ...

, and viewed by republican legitimatists as a successor to the

Second Dáil The Second Dáil () was Dáil Éireann as it convened from 16 August 1921 until 8 June 1922. From 1919 to 1922, Dáil Éireann was the revolutionary parliament of the self-proclaimed Irish Republic. The Second Dáil consisted of members elected ...

. Members were abstentionist from the

Third Dáil The Third Dáil was elected at the general election held on 16 June 1922. This election was required to be held under the Anglo-Irish Treaty signed on 6 December 1921. It first met on 9 September and until 6 December 1922, it was the Provision ...

established by the pro-Treaty faction. Just as the First Dáil established a parallel Irish Republic in opposition to the British

Dublin Castle administration Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 cen ...

, so Comhairle na dTeachtaí attempted to establish a legitimatist government in opposition to the

Provisional Government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, or a transitional government, is an emergency governmental authority set up to manage a political transition generally in the cases of a newly formed state or f ...

and

Government of the Irish Free State A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

established by the Third Dáil. This legitimatist government, called the Council of State, had Éamon de Valera as president. In 1926 de Valera resigned as president, left the

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Gri ...

party and founded

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtí Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christian- ...

, which in 1927 entered the

Fourth Dáil Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

. Comhairle na dTeachtaí, never more than a symbolic body, was thereby rendered defunct. Fianna Fáil members spoke at a Comhairle na dTeachtaí meeting in December 1926, whose minutes were discovered in a 1928 raid on Cumann na mBan headquarters and published in 1930 by the Cumann na nGaedheal government. Cumann na nGaedheal TDs quoted from this document that year to cast aspersions on Fianna Fáil's commitment to the Free State constitution. Patrick McGilligan quoted from it in 1932 to oppose Fianna Fáil's proposed withholding of land annuities, and again in 1947 opposing the Sinn Féin Funds Bill.

References

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Notes

Government in the Irish Free State History of Sinn Féin Historical Irish legislatures Defunct unicameral legislatures 1920s establishments in Ireland {{Ireland-hist-stub

See also

References

Notes