First D�il (original) (raw)

The First D�il (pronounced 'dawl') was the first independent Irish parliament, formed by Irish MPs elected in Ireland in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland general election of 1918. A majority of the MPs, who were members of Sinn F�in, refused to take their seats in Westminster but instead set up an illegal Irish parliament in Dublin.

Among its primary decisions were

The Parliament, called D�il �ireann, assembled on January 21, 1919, in the Round Room of the Mansion House, the residence of the Lord Mayor of Dublin. It elected a speaker, called the Ceann Comhairle, a prime minister called the Pr�omh Aire and a ministry or cabinet called the Aireacht. D�il �ireann was subsequently declared illegal by the British government.

The First D�il met intermittently until it was replaced by a new D�il, called the Second D�il, formed by MPs elected to the House of Commons of Southern Ireland in 1921. All modern D�la (pronounced 'dawla', plural for D�il) are counted as successors to that First D�il of 1919-21. The first D�il elected Cathal Brugha as President of D�il �ireann in January 1919. He was replaced by Eamon de Valera in April 1919. De Valera also used a variation on the title, namely 'President of D�il �ireann.'

Though more recent Irish politicians (notably current Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern have suggested that Irish independence only really began in 1922 with the foundation of the Irish Free State successive D�la [plural for D�il] have been numbered from the 1st D�il formed in 1919. The current D�il, elected in 2002, is as a result, the Twenty-Ninth D�il.

First D�il
Michael Collins (second from left, front row),
Cathal Brugha (third from left, front row)
Arthur Griffith (fourth from left, front row)
Eamon de Valera (centre, front row),
Eoin MacNeill (third from right, front row)
W.T. Cosgrave (second from right, front row)
Kevin O'Higgins (first on right, third row)

The First D�il's most prominent members included:

Modern D�il �ireann website