Terry Brennan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Ar dtús, ba mhaith liom fáilte a chur roimh an Aire go dtí Seanad Éireann ar an lá stairiúil seo.

Today is a special and historic day for our country as it marks the 750th anniversary of the first known Irish Parliament. It met on this day in 1264 in Castledermot, County Kildare, as the Minister noted. The Normans were the first to give Ireland a centralised administration and many of the systems under which we still operate, including our legal system and courts of law, survive from that time.

The first Irish Parliament was the pre-Union Parliament that operated for over 500 years. During that time much happened, as we know, including colonisation, Brehon law, the Nine Years War, the flight of the earls, the plantation of Ulster, the invasion of Cromwell and the penal laws. At the beginning of the 18th century most people in Ireland lived off the land, which was predominantly owned by powerful landlords and the Church. In Ireland at that time most land owners and senior officials were of a different race and religion to the general population. Around 1700 most of the social elite were first generation English settlers or descendants of English people. There was extreme division in Irish society and the normal Irish citizen had no political rights.

Towards the end of the 18th century the Irish nation was mentioned for the first time and recent Protestant settlers and converts to Protestantism led the way. They were known as the Protestant ascendancy and were known to be highly aspirational. Companies of volunteers were established and in 1782 Grattan's Parliament began work towards political reform in the form of Catholic emancipation. Real revolution came with Wolfe Tone, the United Irishmen and the 1798 Rebellion.

Grattan's Parliament lasted just 18 years. The Act of Union of 1800, which came into operation on 1 January 1801, created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and united the Parliaments of the two kingdoms. From then until independence in 1922 Irish Members of Parliament held seats in the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, which had its seat at the Palace of Westminster.

In the aftermath of the Easter Rising of 1916, Sinn Féin, the party founded by Arthur Griffith in 1905, was recognised and grew into a nationwide movement. Abstention from Westminster and the establishment of an independent Irish Parliament had long been part of Sinn Féin's policy. The party contested the general election of 14 December 1918, which was called after the dissolution of the British Parliament, and swept the country by winning 73 of the 105 Irish seats. Acting on the pledge not to sit in the Westminster Parliament but to instead set up an Irish legislative assembly, 28 newly elected Sinn Féin representatives and constituted themselves as the first Dáil Éireann. The remaining Sinn Féin representatives were either in prison or unable to attend for other reasons.

The first Dáil met in the Round Room of the Mansion House on 21 January 1919. The Dáil asserted the exclusive right of the elected representatives of the Irish people to legislate for the country. The Members present adopted a provisional Constitution and approved the Declaration of Independence. The Dáil also approved a democratic programme based on the 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic and read and adopted a message to the free nations of the world. The following day, 22 January 1919, a private sitting was held which elected Seán T. Ó Ceallaigh as Ceann Comhairle and Cathal Brugha as President of the Ministry. The Dáil also approved the President's nominations to the Ministry. Cathal Brugha resigned and Éamon de Valera was elected President of the Dáil on 1 April 1919.

Following the outbreak of the War of Independence in January 1919, the British Government decided to suppress the Dáil and on 10 September 1919 it was declared a dangerous association and was prohibited. The Dáil continued to meet in secret and Ministers carried out their duties as best they could. In all, the Dáil held 14 sittings in 1919 and of these four were public and ten private. Further private sittings were held in 1920 and four were held in 1921 while the formal Government of Ireland remained with Westminster.

In an attempt to settle the Irish question the United Kingdom Parliament passed the Government of Ireland Act in December 1920. This Act created a separate state of Northern Ireland consisting of the six north-eastern counties of Ulster. It proposed separate Parliaments for the North and South. On 24 May 1921 elections were held for the return of Members to serve in the new Parliaments. At a private sitting of the Dáil on 10 May 1921 the Sinn Féin representatives who refused to accept the British concession of a Parliament for southern Ireland adopted a resolution declaring that the parliamentary elections that were to take place should be regarded as elections to Dáil Éireann.

All Sinn Féin candidates in the Twenty-six Counties were returned unopposed and took 128 of the 132 seats. The remaining four seats were filled by Unionists representing the University of Dublin, Trinity College. Continuing in the footsteps of their predecessors, Sinn Féin Members constituted themselves as the second Dáil, which held its first meeting on 16 August 1921 in the Mansion House. The inaugural meeting of the Parliament of southern Ireland was held in Dublin on 28 June 1921 but as Sinn Féin refused to recognise the Parliament only four Members of the House of Commons from the University of Dublin and 15 Senators attended. The Parliament met for a brief period and then adjourned.

Following the truce between Britain and Ireland in July 1921, which led to the suspension of the War of Independence, peace negotiations between the two countries were initiated. This culminated in the signing of Articles of Agreement for a Treaty between Great Britain and Ireland on 6 December 1921. The Treaty provided for the establishment of the Irish Free State with jurisdiction over 26 of the 32 counties.

After a bitter debate which began on 14 December 1921, the second Dáil approved the Treaty by 64 votes to 57 on 7 January 1922. Éamon de Valera resigned as President on 9 January 1922 and Arthur Griffith was elected President on 10 January 1922. In accordance with the terms of the Treaty, a meeting of the Members elected to sit in the House of Commons of Southern Ireland was held on 14 January 1922. The meeting, which was attended by the pro-Treaty Members of the Dáil and the four Members for the University of Dublin, formally endorsed the Treaty to set up a provisional Government under the chairmanship of Michael Collins to administer the Twenty-six Counties pending the establishment of the Free State Parliament and Government. The provisional Government and the Government of Dáil Éireann, which was not recognised by Britain, existed in parallel and with overlapping membership. Following the death of Arthur Griffith, President of the Dáil, on 12 August 1922 and the death of Michael Collins on 22 August, William T. Cosgrave became both President of the Dáil and chairman of the Government.
Article 12 of the Irish Free State constitution states:

A Legislature is hereby created, to be known as the Oireachtas. It shall consist of the King and two Houses, the Chamber of Deputies (otherwise called and herein generally referred to as “Dáil Éireann”) and the Senate (otherwise called and herein generally referred to as “Seanad Éireann”).

I am deeply honoured to be a Member of Seanad Éireann on this historic day.