2.  How did the government of one country
change over time?

3.  During the years of 1800-1921 there was a
drastic change in the function of government
here in Ireland.
 Ireland today is a democratic country made
up of 26 counties although this was not
always the case. It only became an
independent republic on Easter Monday
1949.

4.  This stated that all Irish MPs had to travel to
Westminster , London, to take their seats in British
government .
 Irish MPs were always outnumbered by the MPs
from England.
 It was felt by many Irish people that Britain should
allow the Irish to have its Parliament in Dublin. This
Parliament could then make decisions that
affected Ireland but still remained a part of the
British Empire.
 This idea was called Home Rule.

6.  Most Irish MPs that were elected to
Parliament were members of the IPP(Irish
parliamentary party).
 These people wanted to win Home Rule
for Ireland and soon became known as
the Home Rule Party.
 The leader at start of the 20th century
was John Redmond.

7.  Nationalists wanted Ireland to be an
independent nation.
 Most Nationalists were
catholic, supported Home Rule and
voted for the Home Rule Party.

8.  Unionists were mainly Protestants and opposed
Home Rule.
 They voted for the UPP and their leader was
Edward Carson.
 They feared that they would suffer discrimination
from the Catholics if Home Rule was introduced.
 Their slogan was ‘Home Rule is for Rome Rule’
 They strongly supported the union with Britain as it
meant that they had a main market to sell their
goods to.

9.  The 2 main political parties in Britain were the Liberals
and the Conservatives.
 The Liberals led by Herbert Asquith supported Home
Rule.
 The Conservatives led by Andrew Bonar Law
opposed Home Rule.
 The Parliament in Westminster is divided into 2
houses, The House of Commons and The House of
Lords.
 The House of Commons is elected by the people
and the party with the most seats in the House of
Commons.

10.  However, if the government wants to change the
law, it would have to get the House of Lords to
agree with them.
 This is were the problem laid with the Home Rule
Party as the House of Lords was made up of
noblemen and Protestant Bishops, these people
belonged to the Conservative Party and they
were against Home Rule.
 Also, the House of Lords could stop any new law
that they didn’t like, this called the power of veto.
 This fact was a great source of frustration to
Nationalists but a source of comfort to Unionists.

11.  King George V decided to change the veto. He
told the Lords he would take away all their power
by creating hundreds of new liberal Lords who
would then have the majority. They had no choice
but to accept the1911 Parliament act.
 The Act stated that the House of Lords could only
veto a law twice.
 The Third Home Rule Bill was passed in the House of
Commons in 11th April 1912(they were previously in
1886 and 1893)
 This meant that Ireland would have Home Rule by
1914.

13.  While the Nationalists celebrated, the Unionists, who
were very angry, organised a petition against Home
Rule, they called it the Solomon League and Covenant.
 It was organised by Edward Carson and James Craig
and it got over 400,000 signatures.
 It stated that the Unionist people would never ever
accept Home Rule.
 In January 1913 they set up the Ulster Volunteer
Force(UVF) to fight Home Rule.
 In April 1914 they smuggled rifles and ammunitions from
Germany into Larne(Antrim). It became known as the
Larne Gun Running.

14.  A Nationalist Army was then set up called the Irish
Volunteer Force(IVF) to support Irish
Independence, led by Eoin MacNeill .
 In July 1914 the IVF then smuggled their own rifles
and ammunition into Ireland and they landed in
Howth, Dublin. This became known as the Howth
Gun Running.
 The RIC(police-force) attempted to capture the
weapons as they were on the side of the UVF.

15.  In August 1914 war broke out in Europe between
the Allies and the Central Powers.
 Britain then decided that it was not safe to give
Home Rule to Ireland during the war so they
suspended the bill until the war was over.
 Carson and Redmond both asked their followers in
the UVF and IVF to help Britain in the war.
 Ten per cent of the IVF refused to fight for the
British. They would not die to protect England.

16.  Some people soon began to believe
that Ireland should be completely
independent from Britain.
 They were people that wanted an Irish
Republic, they were called Republicans.
 They believed the only way to get a
republic was to rebel violently.

17.  Some Republicans were members of a secret
organisation called the Irish Republican
Brotherhood(IRB)
 They believed ‘England’s difficulty was Ireland’s
opportunity’.
 Some of the members included, Padraig Pearse,
Eamonn Ceannt and Joseph Plunkett and many
more.
 They planned a rebellion for Easter 1916.
 The IRB was a small group do they needed to find a
group that would help them they tricked Eoin
MacNeill into helping them by forging a castle
document and they also persuaded the ICA led by
James Connolly to aid them.

18.  The 1916 Rising was a military disaster, Casement
who was sent for ammunitions to Germany on the
Aud, was captured, MacNeill found out that the
Castle Document was a fake and then placed an
ad about the Rising in the Sunday Independent.
 The GPO was the headquarters of the rebel force
and it was there that the Proclamation of The Irish
Republic was read.
 There was a rebel force of around 1,500 controlling
The GPO, Four Courts, Bolands Mill and other
buildings by Monday.

19.  On Tuesday the British began to arrive. They were
hemmed in and faced the wrath of a gunboat called
the Helga which shelled the city.
 On April 29th Connolly, who was very badly injured, and
Pearse surrendered to General Lowe.
 Eamonn de Valera was the last to surrender his post in
Bolands Mill the next day.
 Around 64 rebels and 90 British were killed but around
300 civilians died.
 The British believed it was a Sinn Féin rising.
 90 people were arrested and sentenced to death,
including the leaders which made the public
sympathise with the rebels.

20.  Arthur Griffith founded this tiny political party in
1905.
 The British blamed the for the Rising as the IRB were
a secret organisation and very few people knew of
them.
 Support for Sinn Féin grew very popular after the
Rising.
 Eamonn de Valera, the only surviving leader of the
Rising soon replaced Griffith as the leader.

22.  De Valera and Michael Collins(fought in the GPO)
promised to give Ireland a republic if people voted for
them in the next election.
 Sinn Féin won 76 seats, the Home Rule part only 6 seats
and the Unionists 26.
 Sinn Féin immediately set up the Dáil, the parliament of
an independent Irish Republic in the Mansion
House, Dublin.
 The British then declared this illegal and Sinn Féin and its
military wing, the Irish Republican Army(IRA).
 Most IRA members were member of the IRB or Irish
Volunteers.

23.  In January 1919, a group of IRA men in
Tipperary led by Dan Breen attacked
a RIC patrol in Soloheadbeg and stole
their weapons.
 The war seeking independence had
begun and would last until December
1921.

24.  Many of the men who led the IRA during the war of
Independence had fought in the 1916 Rising.
 The decision was made to fight using guerrilla/ambush
tactics.
 The IRA was split into small groups called ‘Flying
Columns’ of between 40 and 80 men. These would live
rough in the countryside relaying on the support of the
locals to feed and support them.
 De Valera was the leader of Sinn Féin during this war,
he went to America to raise money for the war.
 Cathal Brugha was officially in charge as he was the
Minister for Defence but the real leader was Michael
Collins.

25.  In the 1918 election Collins was elected as a candidate, but
he refused to take his sear in Westminster so he became the
Minister for Finance in the First Dáil of 1919 and he
immediately went on the run to avoid being arrested.
 Collins organised his ‘Squad’ who ere 12 assassins to kill any
British spies lurking around.
 The IRA’s main was to seek out and destroy the RIC therefore
the British law in Ireland . By the end of 1920 it only existed in
main cities and towns. The British retaliated by sending The
Black and Tans, who were ex World War 1 soldiers to deal
with the rebellious Irish.
 Michael Collins became the most wanted man in the entire
British Empire with a £10,000 reward for capturing him

26.  The violence of the war reached its peak on the
21st November 1920.
 Early that morning 12 British spies and 2 Auxiliaries
were taken out by Collins’s Squad across Dublin.
 On the same day Tipperary and Dublin had a
Gaelic Football Match in Croke Park, the Black and
Tans went in and fired into the crowds, killing 14
civilians even a Tipperary player, Michael Hogan.
 Later on that same day 2 leading members of the
IRA, Dick McKee and Peadar Clancy were killed in
Dublin Castle.

27.  The IRA were remarkably successful during their
search for Independence.
 The IRA knew they could not possibly win the war
by entirely beating the British. They only way the
war could come to an end was by bargaining and
negotiating an agreement with the British.
 The British King, King George V was very worried
about the brutal behaviours of the Black and Tans
and called for peace in June 1921.
 David Lloyd George, the Prime Minster also wanted
to end the war as it was costly.
 On July 11th 1921 a truce was called in the fighting!

28.  A delegation of Irish people including Michael
Collins, Robert Barton and Arthur Griffith went to
London in October 1921 to try and bring about a
treaty.
 The British group included Winston Churchill, David
Lloyd George and Austen Chamberlain, these
were all clever politicians who did not intend to
give the Irish a full Republic.
 The Irish demanded two key issues
1. A totally independent Irish Republic
2. An end to the partition of Ireland(Government of
Ireland Act 1920)

29.  The British did not wish to accept either of the Irish
demands.
 They did though offer a partial independence for the 26
counties.
 They promised a Boundary Commission which would look
at the partition later. The Irish were then lead to believe
that Tyrone and Fermanagh would taken out of Northern
Ireland.
 The Irish decided to sign the treaty but were under
immense pressure as George had threatened ‘an
immediate and terrible war’.
 They signed the treaty in the knowledge that it would
mean nothing if the Dáil did not vote to accept its terms.

30.  The treaty stated that,
1) Ireland would be known as the Irish Free State
2) They would have their own flag , army, currency.
3) It would remain a member of the British Empire
and the members of the Dáil(TDs) would have to
swear an oath of allegiance to the King.
4) The partitioned counties would remain partitioned
until the Boundary Commission.
5) There would be a Governor General in Ireland who
would be the Kings representative and could
overrule the Dáil.
6) Britain would keep 3 Treaty Ports for the use of the
British Navy at Lough Swilly , Cobh and Berhaven.

31.  As a result from doing this project I have learned all
about the change in the function of government in
Ireland.
 I learned that it didn’t really have a proper
government and that the Irish MPs had to sit in
Westminster until people actually physically fought
for Ireland to have its own government,
 I feel I have learned more as I was able to
compare the way the government, especially the
first Dáil in the way in which it was illegal to the Dáil
in present day Ireland