IRISH QUESTION

Material by advocates and opponents of Irish nationalism, including the Irish Defence Union, the Irish Dominion League, the Labour Party, the Liberal Party, the National Constitution Defence Movement, the National and Radical Union, the North East Boundary Bureau, and the Southern Irish Loyalists Relief Fund.

In 1914 at the beginning of World War I (1914 - 1918) Ireland was part of the United Kingdom governed from Westminster. At this time Ireland was represented by 105 MPs, a third of whom were Unionists and generally supported the Conservative Party. The majority of Irish MPs were members of the Home Rule Party, led by John Redmond (1856 - 1918), who had been campaigning for nearly 40 years for the right to have their own Parliament in Dublin. In 1920 the Home Rule Bill was enacted, establishing separate parliaments for Ulster and Catholic Ireland. This plan was accepted by Ulster, and Northern Ireland was created in Autumn 1921. The Prime Minister Lloyd George (1863 - 1945) granted Catholic Ireland dominion status within the British Empire. The Irish Free State was established in January 1922. A new constitution was ratified in 1937 that terminated Great Britain's sovereignty. In 1948, all semblance of Commonwealth membership ended with the Republic of Ireland Act.

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