Editing 1st Dáil (section)

==First meeting==
[[File:Digital Eye–2015–Mansion House, Dublin.jpg|thumb|The Mansion House, Dublin]]
[[File:Cathalbrugha.JPG|thumb|Cathal Brugha, the Dáil's first speaker and president]]
Sinn Féin had held several meetings in early January to plan the first sitting of the Dáil. On 8 January, it publicly announced its intention to convene the assembly. On the night of 11 January, the [[Dublin Metropolitan Police]] raided Sinn Féin headquarters and seized drafts of the documents that would be issued at the assembly. As a result, the [[Dublin Castle administration]] was fully aware what was being planned.<ref>Mitchell, Arthur. ''Revolutionary Government in Ireland''. Gill & MacMillan, 1995. p.12</ref>

The first meeting of Dáil Éireann began at 3:30&nbsp;pm on 21 January in the Round Room of the [[Mansion House, Dublin|Mansion House]], the residence of the [[Lord Mayor of Dublin]].<ref name="Ellis">Ellis, Peter Berresford. ''Eyewitness to Irish History''. Wiley, 2004. pp.230–231</ref> It lasted about two hours. The packed audience in the Round Room rose in acclaim for the members of the Dáil as they walked into the room, and many waved [[Flag of Ireland|Irish tricolour]] flags.<ref>[https://www.rte.ie/centuryireland/index.php/articles/dail-eireann-meets-in-mansion-house "Dáil Éireann meets in Mansion House"]. [https://www.rte.ie/centuryireland/index.php/about-century-ireland/ Century Ireland].</ref> A tricolour was also displayed above the lectern.<ref name="Mitchell17">Mitchell, ''Revolutionary Government in Ireland'', p.17</ref> Among the audience were the Lord Mayor [[Laurence O'Neill]] and [[Maud Gonne]].<ref name="Mitchell17"/> Scores of Irish and international journalists were reporting on the proceedings. Outside, Dawson Street was thronged with onlookers. [[Irish Volunteers]] controlled the crowds, and police were also present.<ref name="Mitchell17"/> Precautions had been taken in case the assembly was raided by the police.<ref name="Comerford">Comerford, Maire. ''The First Dáil''. J Clarke, 1969. pp.51–54</ref> A reception for soldiers of the [[British Army]]'s [[Royal Dublin Fusiliers]], who had been prisoners of war in Germany, had ended shortly beforehand.<ref name="Mitchell17"/>

Twenty-seven Sinn Féin MPs attended. Invitations had been sent to all elected MPs in Ireland, but the Unionists and Irish Parliamentary Party MPs declined to attend. The IPP's [[Thomas Harbison]], MP for [[North East Tyrone (UK Parliament constituency)|North East Tyrone]], acknowledged the invitation but wrote he should "decline for obvious reasons". He expressed sympathy with the call for Ireland to have a hearing at the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference]].<ref>[https://www.dail100.ie/en/debates/1919-01-22/1907 "Roll Call, Wednesday 22 January 2019"]. [[Oireachtas]].</ref> Sir [[Robert Henry Woods]] was the only unionist who declined rather than ignored his invitation.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hayes |first1=Cathy |last2=Byrne |first2=Patricia M. |title=Woods, Sir Robert Henry |url=https://dib.cambridge.org/viewReadPage.do?articleId=a9118 |url-access=subscription |website=[[Dictionary of Irish Biography]] |publisher=Cambridge University Press |access-date=27 April 2020}}</ref> Sixty-nine Sinn Féin MPs had been elected (four of whom represented more than one constituency), but thirty-four were in prison, and eight others could not attend for various reasons.<ref name="Lyons">[[F. S. L. Lyons|Lyons, Francis]]. "The war of independence", in ''A New History of Ireland: Ireland Under the Union''. Oxford University Press, 2010. pp.240–241</ref> Those in prison were described as being "imprisoned by the foreigners" (''fé ghlas ag Gallaibh'').<ref>{{cite web|url=http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/DT/D.F.O.191901210004.html |title=Roll call of the first sitting of the First Dáil |work=Dáil Éireann Parliamentary Debates (in Irish) |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071119184338/http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/DT/D.F.O.191901210004.html |archive-date=19 November 2007}}</ref> [[Michael Collins (Irish leader)|Michael Collins]] and [[Harry Boland]] were marked in the roll as ''i láthair'' (present), but the record was later amended to show that they were ''as láthair'' (absent). At the time, they were in England planning the escape of [[Éamon de Valera]] from [[HM Prison Lincoln|Lincoln Prison]], and did not wish to draw attention to their absence.<ref name="Oireachtas"/>

Being a first and highly symbolic meeting, the proceedings of the Dáil were held wholly in the [[Irish language]], although translations of the documents were also read out in English and French.<ref name="Mitchell17"/> [[George Noble Plunkett]] opened the session and nominated [[Cathal Brugha]] as acting [[Ceann Comhairle]] (chairman or [[Speaker (politics)|speaker]]), which was accepted. Both actions "immediately associated the Dáil with the 1916 Rising, during which Brugha had been seriously wounded, and after which Plunkett's son had been executed as a signatory to the famed Proclamation".<ref name="Oireachtas"/> Brugha then called upon Father [[Michael O'Flanagan]] to say a prayer.<ref name="Oireachtas"/><ref name="Mitchell17"/>

===Declarations and constitution===
[[File:Irish Declaration of Independence.jpg|thumb|130px|Cover page of the Declaration of Independence]]
A number of short documents were then read out and adopted. These were the:

*[[Dáil Constitution]]
*[[Irish Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]]
*[[Message to the Free Nations of the World]] – calling for international recognition of Irish independence
*[[Democratic Programme]] – a declaration of social and economic policy<ref name="Lyons"/>

These documents asserted that the Dáil was the parliament of a sovereign state called the "[[Irish Republic]]". With the Declaration of Independence, the Dáil ratified the [[Proclamation of the Irish Republic]] that had been issued in the 1916 Rising,<ref name="Lyons"/> and pledged "to make this declaration effective by every means". It stated that "the elected representatives of the Irish people alone have power to make laws binding on the people of Ireland, and that the Irish Parliament is the only Parliament to which that people will give its allegiance". It also declared "foreign government in Ireland to be an invasion of our national right" and demanded the withdrawal of British forces from Irish soil.<ref>Lynch, Robert. ''Revolutionary Ireland, 1912–25''. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015. pp.140–142</ref> Once the Declaration was read, Cathal Brugha said (in Irish): "Deputies, you understand from what is asserted in this Declaration that we are now done with England. Let the world know it and those who are concerned bear it in mind. For come what may now, whether it be death itself, the great deed is done".<ref>Townshend, Charles. ''Political Violence in Ireland: Government and Resistance Since 1848''. Clarendon Press, 1983. p.328</ref>

The Message to the Free Nations called for international recognition of Irish independence and for Ireland to be allowed to make its case at the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference]].<ref name="Lyons"/> It stated that "the existing state of war between Ireland and England can never be ended until Ireland is definitely evacuated by the armed forces of England". Although this could have been a "rhetorical flourish", it was the nearest the Dáil came to a declaration of war.<ref>Smith, Michael. ''Fighting for Ireland?: The Military Strategy of the Irish Republican Movement''. Routledge, 2002. p.32</ref>

The Dáil Constitution was a brief provisional constitution. It stated that the Dáil had "full powers to legislate" and would be composed of representatives "chosen by the people of Ireland from the present constituencies of the country". It established an executive government or [[Ministry of Dáil Éireann|Ministry]] (''Aireacht'') made up of a [[President of Dáil Éireann|president]] (''Príomh-Aire'') chosen by the Dáil, and ministers of finance, home affairs, foreign affairs and defence. Cathal Brugha was elected as the first, temporary president.<ref name="Lyons"/> He would be succeeded, in April, by Éamon de Valera.

===Reactions===
The first meeting of the Dáil and its declaration of independence was headline news in Ireland and abroad.<ref name="presscoverage">[https://www.dail100.ie/en/long-reads/press-coverage/ "Press coverage of the First Dáil"]. [[Oireachtas]].</ref> However, the press censorship that began during the First World War was continued by the Dublin Castle administration after the war. The Press Censor forbade all Irish newspapers from publishing the Dáil's declarations.<ref>Carty, James. ''Bibliography of Irish History 1912–1921''. Irish Stationery Office, 1936. p.xxiii</ref>

That evening, a [[Unionism in Ireland|unionist]] view of events was printed in a local newspaper. It claimed that the [[Lord Lieutenant of Ireland]], "[[John French, 1st Earl of Ypres|Lord French]], is today the master of Ireland. He alone... will decide upon the type of government the country is to have, and it is he rather than any member of the House of Commons, who will be the judge of political and industrial reforms".<ref name="Comerford"/> French's observer at the meeting, George Moore, was impressed by its orderliness and told him that the Dáil represented "the general feeling in the country".<ref name="Mitchell17"/> ''[[The Irish Times]]'', then the voice of the Unionist status quo, called the events both farcical and dangerous.<ref name="presscoverage"/>

Irish republicans, and many nationalist newspapers, saw the meeting as momentous and the beginning of "a new epoch".<ref name="presscoverage"/> According to one observer: "It is difficult to convey the intensity of feeling which pervaded the Round Room, the feeling that great things were happening, even greater things impending, and that in looking around the room he saw a glimpse of the Ireland of the future".<ref name="Mitchell17"/>

One American journalist was more accurate than most when he forecast that "The British government apparently intends to ignore the Sinn Fein republic until it undertakes to enforce laws that are in conflict with those established by the British; then the trouble is likely to begin".<ref name="presscoverage"/>