Home Rule and the Irish Parliamentary Party

Keywords• Home Rule• Ulster Unionist• Blood Sacrifice• Irish volunteers• IRB / IRA• Partition• Allegiance• Dominion Status• Civil war• Free state

Name: Unionist

Wants: to remain part of Britain

Location: Ulster (mainly)

Religion: Protestant (mainly)

View: Opposed to Ireland having it’s own parliament

Name: Nationalist

Wants: Ireland to be independent

Location: All over Ireland

Religion: Catholic (mainly)

View: Want Ireland to have it’s own parliament and eventually be independent of Britain

What was Home Rule?•By 1912 Ireland had been ruled directly from London for over 100 years•Home Rule was the attempt to gain a parliament for Ireland that would take care of Irish affairs while Ireland would remain part of Britain•For many years the ‘Home Rule Political Party’ fought in London for Ireland to have it’s own parliament to look after Irish affairs•For years British politicians (under pressure from Ulster Unionists) blocked any attempts to give Ireland a parliament

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvvUJdn0Gi4

In Britain the two main political parties were the Conservatives & the Liberals.

Conservatives Liberals

They were against Home Rule

They were more willing to support Home Rule

Political Crisis in Britain• In 1909 the British government was plunged into crisis when

the House of Lords rejected the Liberal government budget • Two general elections in 1910 led to a stalemate• The Irish Parliamentary Party (Home Rule Party) held the

balance of power. • The Liberal Party passed a law that removed the veto the House

of Lords (what had been blocking home rule for Ireland)• In future the House of Lords could only hold up legislation for

two years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvvUJdn0Gi4

• When the British Government introduced a Bill in 1912 that would grant Home Rule to Ireland, the House of Lords could only delay it for two years.

• Ireland would inevitably have it’s own parliament• Unionists in Ulster were not happy

What was the effect of this change?

Ulster Volunteer Force:• The Irish Parliamentary Party were very popular in Ireland. • Unionists felt betrayed by a British government. • Unionists, under the leadership of Edward Carson and William

Craig established the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) as an armed group to resist Home Rule.

• Over 100,000 Unionists in Ulster signed up (many using their own blood!)

• Under pressure from the UVF and the Conservative Party the Government proposed that Ulster would be excluded from Home Rule.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfqUhTnQzlM

The Unionist case was helped by the fact that:• The Unionists had the support of the Conservative Party and the British army. • Officers in the Curragh threatened to resign rather than march on Ulster to impose Home Rule – this was known as the Curragh Mutiny.• In 1913, historian Eoin Mac Neill wrote an article called ‘The North Began’ – he suggested that the nationalists should set up their own volunteer group – The Irish Volunteers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eh7nLdURDTI

Establishment of Irish Volunteers• Eoin Mac Neill called a meeting in Dublin on 25 November

1913 to establish the Irish Volunteers. • He was worried that the Ulster Volunteers would use

violence to try stop Home rule being introduced• Organisations like the GAA and the Gaelic League were

actively supporting the idea • By the middle of 1914 they had over 110,000 members

being trained in military actions

•In April of 1914, the UVF landed half a million rifles and ammunition at Larne •In July of 1914 the IVF smuggled rifles & ammunition into Howth, Co. Dublin - they were brought from Germany on board Erskine Childers’ yacht, The Asgard.•The British army in Ireland were mocked as volunteers succeed in landing arms. They shot 3 people in retaliation•As both the UVF & the IVF had now secured weapons there was a real threat of a Civil war

• Due to the threat posed by the UVF, the British government were eager to find a solution to avoid a civil war

• The Liberal government suggested the idea of partition that would create a border between Unionist Ulster and the rest of Ireland

• Redmond and the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) were opposed to such an idea

• Carson and Craig were determined to resist Home Rule and following the UVF landing of guns and ammunition at Larne, their threat was all the more real

• Nationalist public opinion was also against partition

Partition of Ulster

• In July 1914, King George V invited all sides to Buckingham Palace for a conference to try and work out a compromise

• Compromise was not found• Start of First World War in August caused the postponement of Home

Rule until the war was over. It was assumed some sort of Home Rule would be brought in after the war(Most assumed the war would only take a few months!!!)

• John Redmond (of Irish Parliamentary party)called on the Irish Volunteers to join the British Army. He hoped this would show the British that Ireland was loyal and should be given home rule.

• Eoin MacNeill opposed Redmond and said volunteers should remain in Ireland.

• The Irish Volunteers split in two

Home Rule Postponed

Video clip: The Home Rule Crisis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBONYJIh8Nw

Split in the Volunteers:

Irish Volunteers

10,000 remain with MacNeill and refuse to

fight in WWI

100,000 supported Redmond who formed

the National Volunteers

Went to Europe to fight on side of British in

WWI

Remained in Ireland. Many end up taking part in 1916 rising.