Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The general election of 1918 was a central aspect of a process which led to Irish independence. Not only did we see the franchise extended to some women in that year, we saw it extended also to a huge number of men who had never voted before. The result was in large part a legacy of the events of 1916 and the First World War when heavily resisted attempts to introduce conscription in Ireland had been made. Attempts were also made to conscript 1916 internees at Frongoch internment camp in Wales and those were also resisted through effective handling by the prisoners, in particular the camp commandant, Michael Staines, who subsequently stood and was elected in 1918. My grandfather, who was also an internee at Frongoch, was his director of elections. Frongoch was dubbed "the university of revolution" where prisoners were prepared for release through a major push to reorganise and strengthen the volunteers. Women played a huge role in the aftermath of the Rising through fundraising and supporting the families of internees. Many of those women who did not qualify to vote on age and income grounds worked actively on the election campaign as can be seen from the military service records. The election result was no accident but was highly organised by a cohesive movement. While the election elected people to a parliament which did not, in effect, exist, the optimism regarding what could be created must have been a major influence on the result. The democratic programme of the First Dáil was short, visionary and inclusive. It declared that the nation's sovereignty extended not only to all men and women of the nation, but to all its material possessions. It reaffirmed that all right to private property must be subordinated to the public right and welfare.

It went on to say "It shall be the first duty of the Government of the Republic to make provision for the physical, mental and spiritual well-being of the children, to secure that no child shall suffer hunger or cold from lack of food, clothing, or shelter". While much has been achieved in the last century, often in very difficult circumstances, the fact that we have a significant problem with homelessness and childhood poverty in 2018 is a major failure. It should also be a regret that we never built the republic aspired to in the Democratic Programme. Who would have thought 100 years ago that the War of Independence and Civil War would follow, that women would have been so written out of history, and that the war to end all wars would be followed by the Second World War?

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