Irish State

Irish State, the (1922-). The modern political entity that governs three-quarters of the island has a short history but a long pedigree, tracing its origins to a distinct Irish nation from the earliest times. After the Act of Union of 1800 a separatist movement began to emerge, originating with the struggle for Catholic Emancipation led by Daniel O'Connell, nurtured by the Repeal Association, radicalized by Young Ireland, and galvanized by the catastrophic experience of the Famine. Crucially, the Gaelic concept of the sovereignty of Ireland [see Irish mythology] was conflated with the modern idea of nationhood, while the insular character of the territory suggested a corresponding natural political unity. An Irish Republic was proclaimed by Patrick Pearse at the outset of the Easter Rising, and following the landslide victory of Sinn Féin candidates in the general election of 1918, a separatist Irish parliament (Dáil Éireann) was established in Dublin in 1919, on behalf of which the IRA fought the Anglo-Irish War. The Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921 created an Irish Free State of twenty-six counties, the Better Government of Ireland Act of 1920 having already established the six northern counties as the state of Northern Ireland, thus institutionalizing the partition of the island. The newly formed Free State was defined by its Constitution as a dominion of the British Commonwealth. A new Constitution of 1937, largely drawn up by Eamon de Valera, contained a more explicit declaration of sovereignty and removed the king from internal affairs. The State, now called Éire or Ireland, remained associated for purposes of external relations with the Commonwealth. Impatience with this compromise led a coalition government under J. A. Costello to declare a Republic with effect from 18 April 1949. The creation under the 1937 Constitution of a popularly elected non-executive Presidency provided a Head of State. The administrative structure and legal system was built round British precedent and practice, as was the Civil Service. However, a conservative Catholic ethos was established involving censorship and an embargo on divorce legislation. Irish neutrality during the Second World War increased the cultural and economic isolationism of the country. Later, free-trade policies with investment incentives under the Whitaker plan for economic development, implemented by Seán Lemass in 1958, in conjunction with United Nations membership in 1955 and membership of the European Economic Community in 1973, resulted in wider political affiliations with associated benefits and disadvantages. Rapprochement with Northern Ireland, the object of antipartition propaganda throughout the history of the State, became a matter of constructive policy with the signing of a series of bilateral accords with the British Government from the Sunningdale Agreement (1973), to the Good Friday Agreement (1998).