1926 - 1927 AD
1926 In
the Irish Free State
(26 Counties) the population was now
2,971, 992 and in the
6 Counties artificially partitioned
from the 9
in the Ulster Province
1,256,561.
The total Emigration from
Ireland up until this year since
1845 was
by now at 4,100,000
with
3,000,000 alone going to the
U.S.A., 300,000
to
Australia and
New Zealand, 200,000
migrating to
Canada and
60,000
to
Argentina, South Africa
and
other sundry destinations and of these 26% were non -
Catholics.
During this year,
Professor
Michael Hayes
was the
Chairman / Ceann Comhairle (Head of the
Dail Eireann)
in the
Irish Free State
(26 Counties.) and the anti - Treaty
Irregular IRA
during this period were also still active in the
Irish Free State.
March 19th:
William T.
Cosgrave from the political
Cuman na Gaedhal Party
who was
the Taoiseach (leader) in the
Irish Free State,
and also the
Minister for Finance
agreed with
Winston Churchill
to
continue to pay
the Ultimate Financial Settlement
to the British
Treasury of
5,000,000 pounds
a
year, which included the money from the
Land Annuities in
Ireland,
that actually should have been
retained by the
Irish Government
under the original British
artificial partition
arrangements.
April 14th: Eamonn de Valera set about further founding his new political body the political Fianna Fail Party (Warriors of Destiny) as an Irish Republican Party that was also for reform by Constitutional means, in opposition to the political Sinn Fein Party, to try and get into government. Among his followers were Frank Aiken who was to go to America, Hanna Sheehy - Skeffington and Tomas Derrig.
April 17th:
The new political
Fianna Fail Party was now launched
"officially" by
Eamonn de Valera
from the Post Office
in
Dublin, which
had been the
original site of the
1916 Irish Easter Uprising
under the leadership of
Patrick Pearse to ultimately try and gain
government and a truly
Independent Irish Republic
for the "whole" of
Ireland from the repression of the British Imperial
Empire.
May:
The Benjamin Franklin Council
of
Cleveland in
America sent over
50
pounds
to
Ireland in support
of Eamonn de Valera's new political
Fianna Fail Party, whose aims were
to be supposedly solely focussed towards a total Irish Republic,
June: Tom Cullen was accidentally drowned this month at Loch Dan in Co. Wicklow in the south - east of the Leinster Province.
September 15th:
The
IRA
now under the leadership of
Dr.
Andrew Cooney, who was their
Chief of Staff made an
agreement
with the previous breakaway group from the
Clann na
Gael in America
were
Luke Dillon
was still their
secretary.
November:
The new political Fianna Fail Party under the leadership of
Eamonn de Valera was by now receiving
large amounts of cash from
Ohio in
America towards
a total Irish Republic, and was
also to gain further
great financial assistance from the
Association for the Recognition of the
Republic of Ireland.
November 24th:
The new political
Fianna Fail Party now held their first
Ard Fheis (Convention) under the
leadership of
Eamonn de Valera.
The Irish
Free State Government
under the leadership of William T. Cosgrave
and the
Cuman na Gaedhal Party took legal action in America
for the residue of the monies held there, that had been collected there in
1920 - 21 in America to try and
bring about
Irish Independence,
which
had been originally collected
for use in Ireland
and
Eamonn de Valera who was still one of the
Trustees refused to hand it over.
- At this time
the anti - Treaty IRA
were out again
attacking the
Irish Police / Garda
stations in the
Irish Free State
and had raided
12 of them
killing 2 Garda policeman.
- Gene Tunney
/ Ua Tonnaigh whose parents were from Kiltimagh
in Co. Mayo
in the mid - west of the Connacht Province became the
World
Heavyweight Boxing Champion and was to hold the title until
1928.
In the
6 Counties artificially partitioned from the
9 in the Ulster Province
Sir
James Craig the leader of the
"Official" Unionists
was knighted by the British
Conservative Government under Stanley Baldwin
and became Lord Craigavon
and boasted
openly of a "non - Catholic Parliament
there for a
non - Catholic State"
even though there were still
208,024 non - Catholics still living
in the
Irish Free State and
420,428
Irish
Catholics still living in the 6
Counties.
1927
The Cuman na nGaedhal Party government under William T.
Cosgrave in the
Irish Free State
(26 Counties) set up the
Agricultural Credit Corporation to
advance the farmers credit there.
John Devoy
one of the most important leaders of the
Clann Na Gael
in
America, who had constantly sustained the
fight for Irish Independence over such a long period
of time, died, and was given a
State Funeral in
Ireland where he was to be buried in
Glasnevin Cemetery
near
Dublin.
Countess
Markievicz,
who was
originally from a non - Catholic
family in
Co.
Sligo in the north - west of the
Connacht Province
who had been
born in 1868 AD in London, and was educated in
Paris, and married a Catholic
Count from Poland,
who had also
joined the Women's Suffrage movement and
Maud Gonne's Women's movement in
Ireland
and physically fought hard
for Irish Independence,
besides becoming the first woman elected to the
British parliament. also
died
February:
The position regarding the residue monies held in
Trust in
America
originally to be used towards
Irish Independence was cleared up by the
Supreme Court in
New York who determined
that it all was
all to be returned to its original subscribers,
and that it was not to go to the
Irish
Free State Government, after
Eamonn de Valera gave
evidence against it being handed over to them.
June 23rd:
General Elections
were held in the
Irish Free State
(26 Counties) were the
Fianna Fail Party
under
Eamonn de Valera
were
fairly successful with the election results being close, as out of the
153
seats
the
Fianna Fail Party had won
44
as against
47
won by the previous
Irish Free State Government
under
William Cosgrave's
Cuman na nGaedhal
Party.
This also included an uncontested seat for the
Speaker of the House,
and the
result was to be
well
down for the
Cuman na Gaedhal Party
who in 1923
had won
63
seats,
and there was now only a
3 seat majority between them, with the
Oath to the
British Crown
still to be taken under Article 17
of the Anglo
- Irish Treaty
as another problem to be solved by the opposition
Fianna Fail Party under the leadership
of Eamonn de Valera. Meanwhile the political
Sinn Fein Party
was by now really on
the outer also, as many of their supporters never bothered to vote, in the full knowledge that they would not
take up their seats anyway, and
their vote was also split as the political
Fianna Fail Party under Eamonn de Valera now also existed, and this
was to mean that the political Sinn Fein Party
seats were to drop from
25 down to
5. Also 2 of the
Independent Republicans won seats, and one of these then joined in with
the Fianna Fail Party.
The
Irish Labour Party
still faired well
gaining 22
of the seats,
and other
Independents won
another 14,
with the
Farmers winning
11 and the
National League 8.
They were all then informed that they had to take the
Oath of Allegiance
to the
British
Crown before they could
take up their
seats, so those who
were against this, once again, naturally did not physically take
up any of their seats in the
Irish
Free State Parliament.
The political Fianna Fail Party's
elected Deputies / T.D's, under
the leadership of
Eamonn de Valera,
turned up
at the Leinster House
were the
Irish
Assembly met, and
Colm O Murchadha the
Clerk of the Dail Eireann
/ Irish Assembly asked them to comply with
Article 17 and take the
Oath of Allegiance
to the
British King so they all left.
Eamonn de Valera
then had
Sean T. O Kelly
begin
legal
proceedings against their exclusion on these grounds and they began to draw up a
Petition, which had to be signed by
75,000
Irish voters
to have the possible removal of the
Oath to the
British Crown
submitted to
Referendum in the
Irish Free State.
July 10th:
Kevin O Higgins
who was the Vice - President of the
political
Cuman na nGaedhal Party
and
Minister for Home Affairs in the
Executive Council, who had been
the T.D for
South
Dublin
since
1923 under the leadership of
William T. Cosgrave, was assassinated on his way
to Mass by
2 young
members
of the
IRA acting on
their own initiative and who were never to be brought to trial for the murder.
William
T. Cosgrave's,
Cuman na nGaedhal Party
Government
who were now returned to power in their own right declared the IRA an
"illegal" organization after the the killing of
Kevin O Higgins
and was to
create 3 new
Irish Free State Bills to try and
bring about a more settled order, as the
Irish Free
State Government gave themselves
Coercion Powers under the
Public Safety Act
against
seditious activities,
with
Habeus Corpus
suspended and
internment without trial introduced. Under the new
Electoral Amendment Bill
anyone
who was to stand for the
Irish Free State
election and win must make the
Article 17 Oath
of Allegiance
to the British King before taking up
their seat, while the other Bill
was
to abolish the possibility for
Petitions to be put to
Referendum,
which was a
definite shot at stopping the previous move by
Eamonn de Valera.
July:
Patrick Belton
also took up his elected seat in the
Irish Free State Parliament,
and because of this he he was
subsequently expelled from the political
Fianna Fail Party.
-
Meanwhile
Eamonn de Valera
personally desperate
to get into the Irish Free State Parliament himself, with the
necessary superior numbers to gain overall control, began an effort to negotiate with
Tom Johnson from the
Irish Labour Party who had won
22
of
the seats and also had discussions
with the political
National League
who
had won 8
seats after it had been
founded by
Captain A.W.
Redmond.
August 8th:
Eamonn de Valera the leader of the
political Fianna Fail Party
had another meeting with
Tom Johnson
the
Irish Labour
Party leader
to discuss their options and for co - operation in bringing in a new
Irish Coalition Parliament in the
Irish Free State.
August 9th:
Eamonn de Valera
then met with
his own
National Fianna Fail Party Executive who voted
44 For to
7 Against that they be given a
free hand on entering the
Irish Free
State Parliament.
August 10th:
The
Fianna Fail Teachi
Deputies / T.D's who
had been successfully elected then in the Irish Free State
elections held a meeting were they decided to attend the
Irish Parliament,
but let it be
known generally that they considered the
Oath
of Allegiance to the British King was an empty formality, as their
only allegiance was
to Ireland.
August 11th:
Eamonn de Valera
and the political
Fianna Fail Party T.D's
fronted at
Leinster House / Irish Parliament building
were he read out his declaration in
Irish
that he regarded the
Oath of Allegiance to the
British Crown
as only a formality and the Clerk told him that he was
not interested in personal statements just his signature in the book, so
Eamonn de Valera removed the
Bible to another part of the room.
He then covered over the wording of the
Oath to the British King
and
signed on the line below and they
all took up their seats
stating the Oath was taken
under "duress."
August 12th:
The next day
Eamonn de Valera
and the
rest of the political
Fianna Fail Party T.D's
took up their elected places in the
Irish Free State Parliament
at
Leinster House.
August 16th:
Thomas Johnson
the leader
of the
Irish Labour Party as pre - arranged
moved a vote of, "No Confidence"
in the
Cuman na nGaedhal
Government led by William T.
Cosgrave who were now still in power in the Irish Free
State, which was lost by the deciding vote of the
Speaker with
72 votes
to
71 when
John Jenkins from the
Co. Sligo political National League
forgot to turn up, and
William T. Cosgrave
saw the only
way out was to adjourn the
Irish Free State Parliament
and call a
new
election.
August 18th:
William T. Cosgrave
dissolved the two month old Cuman na nGaedhal
Irish
Free State Parliament and set a date for the
new elections
and during this time
some of the
IRA members tried to convince the others to become more political
and introduce
socialism, but they were
outvoted.
September 15th: In the next
General Election the
Cuman na nGaedhal Party
led by
William T. Cosgrave
this time won an
extra 10 seats
giving them 57
while the
Fianna Fail Party
under
Eamonn de Valera won an extra
13 seats
giving them the equal amount of
57 also, while the
Irish Labour Party
lost
9
of their seats and the
National League
lost
6 of theirs and the failing
Sinn Fein Party
did not field
any
candidates at all. The
Cuman na
nGaedhal Party now combined with the
Farmers and
Independents and formed the
new Irish Free State Cuman na
nGaedhal Coalition Government.
October:
The Dail
Eireann / Irish Assembly met but the
Fianna Fail Party
led by Eamonn de Valera had put
themselves once again under a further burden by agreeing amongst themselves
not to attend
any Government
functions.
December:
Eamonn de
Valera as the leader of the political Fine Gael Party,
for a total Irish Republic, went to
America again this time to raise further funds to set up an
Irish
Republican
newspaper.
Meanwhile in the 6 Counties artificially partitioned from the 9 in the Ulster Province and still under the control of the British Conservative Government of Stanley Baldwin and the "Official Unionists," Joseph Devlin the Irish Nationalist leader there had only a minority 10 man Opposition in the Belfast Ascendancy Stormont Parliament and the "Official" Unionists who were actually in complete control, now also abolished "Proportional Representation" in the Local elections there, which gave them even more overall control there due to their further gerrymandering.