Keith Swanick (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire, Teachta Humphreys, go dtí an Teach inniu. Is mór an onóir dom ar son Fhianna Fáil, agus Seanadóirí Diarmuid Wilson, Paul Daly agus Mark Daly, an Bille seo a thairgeadh sa Seanad inniu. Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil le mo pháirtí, Fianna Fáil, agus lenár Seanadóirí go léir as ucht tacaíocht a thabhairt don Bhille seo.

Ar oireachtas.ie, tá sé an-suimiúil scrúdú a dhéanamh ar an gcéad díospóireacht sa Dáil. Ba iad na céad fhocail labhartha i nDáil Éireann: "Molaimse don Dáil Cathal Brugha, an Teachta ó Dhéisibh Phortláirge do bheith mar Cheann Comhairle againn indiu."With those words, Dáil Éireann, an Chéad Dáil, was born. I do not wish to be too parochial but they were spoken by Count George Noble Plunkett, a Deputy from Roscommon North, who was oldest of all elected Members present. The next to speak was Cathal Brugha as Ceann Comhairle, who called upon Fr. Michael O'Flanagan, who said the prayer that formally opened the first public session of the First Dáil. Fr. O'Flanagan was born in Kilteevin just outside my native home of Castlerea, County Roscommon. There are many aspects of the First Dáil on which one could speak, including the fact that Michael Collins and Harry Boland were missing from the first meeting as they were arranging the release of Eamon de Valera from Lincoln Jail. The attendance of Boland and Collins was incorrectly called to conceal their mission to rescue de Valera. I will dispense with the historical anecdotes for a moment to outline the broad purpose of the Bill.

The Bill, if enacted, will formally introduce a Declaration of Independence Day in Ireland ensuring it is formally recognised on 21 January each year. The First Dáil met in the Round Room of the Mansion House in Dublin on 21 January 1919 and asserted the exclusive right of the elected representatives of the people to legislate for the country. During the meeting, the elected Members present adopted a provisional Constitution and approved a Declaration of Independence. Dáil Éireann, a new national parliament for the Irish nation, ratified and gave democratic legitimacy to the Proclamation of Independence made in the Easter Rising of 1916. Cathal Brugha was nominated as Ceann Comhairle and read the Declaration of Independence in Irish. It was followed in French by George Gavan Duffy and finally in English by Edmund Duggan. On that day, the Dáil approved the Democratic Programme based on the 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic and read and adopted a message to the free nations of the world in Irish, English and French. The following day, on 22 January 1919, a private sitting of Dáil Éireann was held which elected Seán T. O'Kelly as Ceann Comhairle and Cathal Brugha as President of the Ministry. The Dáil also approved the President's nominations to the ministry. They were Minister for Finance, Eoin MacNeill, grandfather of our colleague Senator McDowell; Minister for Home Affairs, Michael Collins; Minister for Foreign Affairs, Count Plunkett; and Minister for National Defence, Richard Mulcahy.

In April 1919 Cathal Brugha resigned and Eamon de Valera was elected President of Dáil Éireann. The British Government decided to suppress Dáil Éireann and on 10 September 1919, it was declared a dangerous association and prohibited. The Dáil continued to meet in secret and Ministers carried out their duties as best they could. The Dáil held 14 sittings in 1919. Of these, four were public and ten private. Three private sittings were held in 1920 and four in 1921. It has always struck me that the meeting of the First Dáil and the Declaration of Independence on 21 January 1919 have not been commemorated to the level they should. In January 2009, in a speech on the 90th anniversary of Dáil Éireann, the then Taoiseach, Brian Cowen said:

Ninety years ago tomorrow, the elected representatives of the overwhelming majority of the people of this island who were not otherwise detained or in flight from the forces of occupation, met in Dublin’s Mansion House with the purpose of asserting the self determination of a sovereign, democratic, Irish Republic. Dáil Éireann — a National Parliament for the Irish nation — ratified and gave democratic legitimacy to the Proclamation of Independence for which the republican vanguard had laid down their lives at Easter 1916.

He continued:

When, in 1998, the people of Ireland voted by a majority, and by majorities North and South, in favour of the Good Friday Agreement, it was the first occasion since the general election of [14 December] 1918, the election at which the people selected the representatives who sat in the First Dáil, that the people of this island had voted on the same day on the issue of their constitutional status.

This has only happened on two occasions in the past 100 years.

I will now deal with the various sections of the Bill. Section 1 is a standard section providing the Short Title and commencement provisions for the Bill. Section 2 deals with the definitions of the terms used in the Bill. Section 3 specifies that 21 January will be known as "Declaration of Independence Day" and it will be celebrated irrespective of the day on which it falls. The section does not propose to make the day a public holiday as understood in the Holidays (Employees) Act 1973.

I look forward to the input of Senators and to hearing the remarks of the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, who is with us this evening. When I first raised in the Seanad the need to formally recognise the meeting of the First Dáil and the Declaration of Independence, I was struck by the genuine messages of support and encouragement I received. However, not every message was positive. Some wanted the day to be made a bank holiday and some said we have too many bank holidays as it is. Some commented it would take away from St. Patrick’s Day, which is our national day, but St. Patrick's Day is first and foremost the feast day of our patron saint. Some referred to the absence of a united Ireland. I was struck by Deputy Ó Snodaigh of Sinn Féin last November in the Dáil when he said:

We do not have a national patriotic or independence day similar to other countries. It is not necessary to have full independence to have such a day. Cyprus, for example, has an independence day even though it is partitioned ... The two Koreas, even though they are separated by a wall, have a liberation day on 15 August.

To give credit where credit is due, the first person I ever heard suggest this idea was Eamon Gilmore when, as leader of the Labour Party during the 90th anniversary celebrations in 2009, he said “[M]ay I suggest that we consider making 21 January our national independence day?” In January 2017, Sinn Féin Leader, Deputy Gerry Adams, said on RTE Radio 1:

Yesterday was the anniversary of the First Dáil. Was it commemorated anywhere? Did the State do anything about it? Did RTE do a special programme about it? The only party, that I understand, commemorated that, was the Sinn Féin Party.

No one party should claim ownership or attempt to claim ownership of the First Dáil or the Declaration of Independence. Many of the political figures involved went on to play significant roles in Irish life and included future Taoisigh, Presidents and Ministers. There will always be difference of opinion about how we remember the past but difference is the essence of democracy. We are all here in the Houses of the Oireachtas as successors to those elected to the First Dáil in the election held on 14 December 1918. If we were in full agreement on everything, there would be something wrong. Ideas should be tested and opinions challenged. We should all unite around this one act of national self-determination because the period that follows gets more complex and divisive, with the War of Independence, the Treaty and the Civil War.

A story that illustrates the complex and divergent history of this period can be seen in the events of 100 years ago this month. The Redmond family from Wexford were steeped in the tradition of Charles Stewart Parnell and the Land League and became interwoven with the struggle for Home Rule. Willie Redmond, MP, was killed at the Battle of Messines Ridge on 7 June 1917. One hundred years to the day, in one of his final acts as Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, the then leader of Fine Gael, attended a ceremony to commemorate the Battle of Messines Ridge alongside Britain’s Prince William, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, Arlene Foster, and others, including Fianna Fáil Deputy Darragh O’Brien, who is here today and whose grandfather and two great grand-uncles, Robert, Peadar and Eoghan O’Brien, served with distinction in the 1916 Rising in Dublin, the War of Independence and the Civil War as members of the 4th Battalion, Dublin Brigade of the Old IRA. This battle, which started on 7 June 1917, was the first time that the 16th Irish Division and the 36th Ulster Division fought side by side in battle. I understand it was one of two occasions when Protestant and Catholic soldiers from Ireland fought side by side on what was known as the western front. The death of Willie Redmond in June 1917 caused a by-election in East Clare that was held 100 years ago next Monday, on 10 July 1917. Eamon de Valera was elected a member of the House of Commons for East Clare. His grandson, Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív, serves in the Lower House. This by-election victory, alongside the earlier victories of Count Plunkett in the Roscommon North by-election of February 1917, Joseph McGuinness in the Longford South by-election of May 1917, and W.T. Cosgrave in Kilkenny city in August 1917, created the start of the momentum for the Sinn Féin movement to sweep to electoral victory in December 1918.

There is no plan to designate independence day as a public holiday but if we pass this legislation, it will allow schools, public bodies and community groups an opportunity to commemorate this hugely important day in an appropriate way. It would allow members of the diaspora, like my sisters in New Zealand and America, to celebrate this historic day. There are different views on how to commemorate our history. The 1916 centenary celebrations, from the national events to the individual events hosted by each local authority, were uplifting and educational.It helped create awareness about the events of the 1916 Rising and the impact that it had on our country. A new generation of Irish people have been introduced to the story of 1916. This Bill is another step on this journey and it recognises the truly historic meeting of the First Dáil and the Declaration of Independence.