President Of Dáil Éireann
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The president of Dáil Éireann ( ), later also president of the Irish Republic, was the leader of the
revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates for, a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective to describe something producing a major and sudden impact on society. Definition The term—bot ...
Irish Republic The Irish Republic ( or ) was a Revolutionary republic, revolutionary state that Irish Declaration of Independence, declared its independence from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in January 1919. The Republic claimed jurisdict ...
of 1919–1922. The office was created in the Dáil Constitution adopted by Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Republic, at its first meeting in January 1919. This provided that the president was elected by the Dáil as head of a cabinet called the
Ministry of Dáil Éireann The ministry of Dáil Éireann () was the cabinet of the 1919–1922 Irish Republic during the Irish War of Independence. The ministry was originally established by the Dáil Constitution adopted by the First Dáil on 21 January 1919, after i ...
. During this period, Ireland was deemed by Britain to be part of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the union of the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland into one sovereign state, established by the Acts of Union 1800, Acts of Union in 1801. It continued in this form until ...
, but the Irish Republic had made a unilateral Declaration of Independence on 21 January 1919. On 6 December 1922, after the ratification of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, the
Irish Free State The Irish Free State (6 December 192229 December 1937), also known by its Irish-language, Irish name ( , ), was a State (polity), state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-ye ...
was recognised by Britain as a sovereign state, and the position of the President of Dáil Éireann was replaced by that of President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State but, as a
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of the
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, the British monarch was head of state until the dominion status was rescinded in 1949.


Title

The Irish text of the Dáil Constitution referred to the leader of the state as the . In English this was translated as both 'prime minister' and 'president of the ministry'. The term 'President of Dáil Éireann' was also used interchangeably with these terms, although this did not appear in the constitution. This was the title preferred by
Éamon de Valera Éamon de Valera (; ; first registered as George de Valero; changed some time before 1901 to Edward de Valera; 14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975) was an American-born Irish statesman and political leader. He served as the 3rd President of Ire ...
during his visit to the United States in 1920–1921. The president of Dáil Éireann was not its chairman, this was the role of a separate official: the . The Dáil Constitution did not provide for a
head of state A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...
and the titles initially used suggested an official who was
head of government In the Executive (government), executive branch, the head of government is the highest or the second-highest official of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presid ...
only. In practice, de Valera, particularly when abroad, called himself "President de Valera", creating the impression that he was head of state. In August 1921, in the preparatory negotiations that would produce the Anglo-Irish Treaty, de Valera asked the Dáil to amend the constitution to upgrade his official status to that of head of state, in part to give him equality with
George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. George w ...
in accrediting delegates to the negotiations. He also had the ministry restructured, with a number of offices downgraded from cabinet to sub-cabinet level. He also maintained that, as the highest official in the Republic, the príomh aire was the head of state and that an amendment would merely bring the language of the constitution into harmony with this reality. It was first suggested that the constitution be amended to explicitly use the term ''president of the Republic''. However, because of opposition to this, a more ambiguously worded amendment was adopted referring to the office-holder as "the President who shall also be Prime Minister". After the adoption of this amendment, de Valera was elected as "president of the Republic" and continued to use the title until he resigned in January 1922. Both his two successors were both elected as "presidents of Dáil Éireann".


Functions

The president of Dáil Éireann had authority to appoint the remaining members of the Ministry, subject to ratification by the Dáil, and ministers could be dismissed by the president at any time. The resignation of the president also resulted in the automatic dissolution of the whole Ministry. The president, and all other members of the cabinet, had to be members of the Dáil and could theoretically be removed from office, either collectively or individually, by a vote of the house. In April 1919 a constitutional amendment was adopted providing for a form of vice presidency. The president was granted power to appoint a 'president-substitute' or 'deputy president' who would carry out his duties on a temporary basis if he was unable to discharge them.


History

When the First Dáil met in 1919, Éamon de Valera was the president of
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and thus the natural choice for leadership. However he had been imprisoned in England so, at the second meeting of the Dáil on 22 January, Cathal Brugha was elected as the first príomh aire on a temporary basis. De Valera escaped Lincoln Prison in February and so was elected to replace Brugha at the Dáil's third meeting on 1 April. As leader de Valera visited the United States from June 1919 to December 1920. His aim was to gain both popular and official recognition for the Republic, and to float a loan to finance Dáil Éireann and the War of Independence. By letter, de Valera requested that Arthur Griffith–then the Minister for Home Affairs– be appointed as Deputy President in his absence. De Valera resumed his position in the Dáil on 25 January 1921. By his return de Valera had won public but not official support for the Republic and had raised a loan of $6 million. After the election of the Second Dáil in 1921, de Valera resigned on 26 August and was immediately re-elected, adopting the new style of President of the Republic. He then remained in office until January 1922 after the Dáil voted to ratify the Anglo-Irish Treaty. De Valera had opposed the Treaty, and resigned as president. He submitted his name for re-election but was rejected by the Dáil, which then elected Arthur Griffith on 10 January, who supported the treaty, under the previous style and title of President of Dáil Éireann. On 16 January the British government, to implement the treaty, appointed a new Irish administration called the
provisional government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, a transitional government or provisional leadership, is a temporary government formed to manage a period of transition, often following state collapse, revoluti ...
which over the course of the year from the date of the signing of the Treaty would succeed to functions of the Dublin Castle administration in preparation for the recognition of the
Irish Free State The Irish Free State (6 December 192229 December 1937), also known by its Irish-language, Irish name ( , ), was a State (polity), state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-ye ...
. This administration operated in parallel with the Dáil administration, which the British government continued not to recognise. Therefore, throughout 1922, there were two parallel Irish administrations, which from January to August had different heads of government: Arthur Griffith as president of Dáil Éireann, and Michael Collins as chairman of the provisional government. Collins was also minister for finance in Griffith's cabinet. This anomalous situation continued until Griffith and Collins both died suddenly in August 1922; Collins was shot by anti-Treaty irregulars while Griffith died of natural causes. W. T. Cosgrave was appointed chairman of the provisional government on 25 August and was later elected as President of Dáil Éireann on 9 September. On 6 December, the Irish Free State was established as a sovereign state recognised as independent of the United Kingdom. The institution of both the Irish Republic and the provisional government came to an end as the new Constitution of the Irish Free State came into force. The Irish Free State had the
king King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...
as head of state, with the Governor-General of the Irish Free State as the king's representative, and the president of the executive council as head of government. On the day the Irish Free State came into operation, W.T. Cosgrave was nominated by the Dáil as the first president of the executive council and appointed by the governor-general.


List of office-holders


See also

* Irish heads of government since 1919


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:President Of Dail Eireann Institutions of the Irish Republic (1919–1922)