Irish Republic | ||||||||||
Poblacht na hÉireann (Saorstát Éireann) |
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Revolutionary state | ||||||||||
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Territory claimed by the Irish Republic
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Capital |
Dublin 53°21′N 6°16′W / 53.350°N 6.267°W |
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Languages | Irish, English | |||||||||
Government | Republic | |||||||||
President of Dáil Éireann (to August 1921) President of the Irish Republic (from August 1921) |
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• | 21 January 1919– 1 April 1919 |
Cathal Brughaa as President of Dáil Éireann |
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• | Apr 1919– Jan 1922 |
Éamon de Valera as President of the Republic |
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• | Jan–Aug 1922 |
Arthur Griffithb as President of Dáil Éireann |
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• | Aug–Dec 1922 |
W. T. Cosgravec as President of the Republic |
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Legislature | Dáil | |||||||||
Historical era | Interwar period | |||||||||
• | Proclamation of the Irish Republic | 24 April 1916 | ||||||||
• | Independence declared | 21 January 1919 | ||||||||
• | Anglo-Irish Treaty adopted | 7 January 1922 | ||||||||
• | Irish Free State established | 6 December 1922 | ||||||||
Area | ||||||||||
• | 1921 | 84,116 km² (32,477 sq mi) | ||||||||
Population | ||||||||||
• | 1921 est. | 4,400,000 | ||||||||
Density | 52.3 /km² (135.5 /sq mi) | |||||||||
Currency | Pound sterling | |||||||||
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Today part of |
Ireland United Kingdom |
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a. | Cathal Brugha presided over the opening of the First Dáil, due to the absence of Éamon de Valera and Arthur Griffith. | |||||||||
b. | Simultaneously with Arthur Griffith becoming President of the Irish Republic (a title he eschewed in favour of the earlier title of President of Dáil Éireann), Michael Collins became Chairman of the Provisional Government of the Irish Free State, the provisional state created in the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty. | |||||||||
c. | W. T. Cosgrave was simultaneously President of the Republic and Chairman of the Provisional Government; he continued in his role of head of government of independent Ireland as President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State until 9 March 1932. |
The Irish Republic (Irish: Poblacht na hÉireann or Saorstát Éireann) was a revolutionary state that declared its independence from Britain in January 1919. In theory the Republic covered the whole island of Ireland, but by 1920 its functional control was limited to only 21 of Ireland's 32 counties, and British state forces maintained presence across much of the north-east, as well as Cork, Dublin and other major towns.
Its origins date back to the Easter Rising of 1916, when Irish republicans seized key locations in Dublin and proclaimed an Irish Republic. The insurrection was crushed, but the survivors united under a reformed Sinn Féin party to campaign for a republic. The party won a clear majority of largely uncontested seats in the 1918 general election, and formed the first Dáil (legislature) of Ireland in Dublin on 21 January 1919. Republicans then established a government (Aireacht), a court system and a police force. At the same time, the Irish Volunteers, who came under the control of the Dáil and became known as the Irish Republican Army, fought against British state forces in the Irish War of Independence.
The War of Independence ended with the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed on 6 December 1921 and narrowly approved by Dáil Éireann on 7 January 1922. A Provisional Government was set up under the terms of the treaty, but the Irish Republic nominally remained in existence until 6 December 1922, when 26 of the island's 32 counties became a self-governing British Dominion called the Irish Free State. The island had been partitioned by the Government of Ireland Act 1920, and the six counties of Northern Ireland exercised their right under the Treaty to opt out of the Free State, and remain in the United Kingdom.