Editing 2nd Dáil (section)

==1921 Election==
{{main|1921 Irish elections}}
Since 1919, those elected for [[Sinn Féin]] at the [[1918 Irish general election|1918 general election]] had [[abstentionism|abstained]] from the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] and established [[Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic)|Dáil Éireann]] as a parliament of a self-declared [[Irish Republic]], with members calling themselves [[Teachta Dála|Teachtaí Dála]] or TDs. In December 1920, in the middle of the Irish War of Independence, the British Government passed the [[Government of Ireland Act 1920|Government of Ireland Act]], which enacted [[partition of Ireland|partition]] by establishing two [[home rule]] parliaments in separate parts of Ireland. These provisions arose out of discussions held at the [[Irish Convention]] held in 1917, from which Sinn Féin had abstained. In May 1921 the [[1921 Irish elections|first elections]] to the [[House of Commons of Northern Ireland]] and the [[House of Commons of Southern Ireland]] were held, by means of the [[single transferable vote]]. On 10 May 1921, the Dáil passed a resolution that the elections scheduled to take place later in the month in both parts of the country would be "regarded as elections to Dáil Éireann".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1921-05-10/26/ |title=Dáil Éireann debate - Tuesday, 10 May 1921 - PRESIDENT'S STATEMENT. - ELECTIONS. |website=Houses of the Oireachtas |access-date=26 January 2019 |archive-date=5 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200805195618/https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1921-05-10/26/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the elections for Southern Ireland, all seats were uncontested, with Sinn Féin winning 124 of the 128 seats, and Independent Unionists winning the four seats representing the [[Dublin University (constituency)|Dublin University]]. In the [[1921 Northern Ireland general election|election for Northern Ireland]], the [[Ulster Unionist Party]] won 40 of the 52 seats, with Sinn Féin and the [[Nationalist Party (Northern Ireland)|Nationalist Party]] winning 6 seats each. Of the six seats won by Sinn Féin in Northern Ireland, five were held by people who had also won seats in Southern Ireland; therefore when the Second Dáil met, there were 125 Sinn Féin TDs.<ref group="n">The five TDs elected for two constituencies were [[Michael Collins (Irish leader)|Michael Collins]], [[Éamon de Valera]], [[Arthur Griffith]], [[Seán Milroy]] and [[Eoin MacNeill]].</ref>

The Second Dáil responded favourably to the proposal from King [[George V]] on 22 June 1921 for a [[Irish War of Independence#Truce|Truce]], which became effective from noon on 11 July 1921. This was upheld by nearly all of the combatants while the months-long process of arranging a [[Anglo-Irish Treaty|treaty]] got under way. The Truce allowed the Dáil to meet openly without fear of arrest for the first time since September 1919, when it had been banned and driven underground.