Editing Republic of Ireland (section)

===Revolution and steps to independence===
[[File:The shell of the G.P.O. on Sackville Street after the Easter Rising (6937669789).jpg|thumb|Damage in Dublin city centre following the 1916 [[Easter Rising]]]]

Though it received the [[Royal Assent]] and was placed on the statute books in 1914, the implementation of the [[Home Rule Act 1914|Third Home Rule Act]] was suspended until after the [[World War I|First World War]] which defused the threat of civil war in Ireland. With the hope of ensuring the implementation of the Act at the end of the war through [[Ireland and World War I|Ireland's engagement in the war]], Redmond and the Irish [[National Volunteers]] supported the UK and its [[Allies of World War I|Allies]]. 175,000 men joined [[Irish regiment]]s of the [[10th (Irish) Division (United Kingdom)|10th (Irish)]] and [[16th (Irish) Division|16th (Irish)]] divisions of the [[Kitchener's Army|New British Army]], while Unionists joined the [[36th (Ulster) Division|36th (Ulster)]] divisions.<ref>{{cite web|title=Irish Soldiers in the First World War |url=http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/eng/Taoiseach_and_Government/History_of_Government/1916_Commemorations/Irish_Soldiers_in_the_First_World_War.html |work=1916 Commemorations |publisher=Department of the Taoiseach |access-date=29 August 2011 |year=2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110810192700/http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/eng/Taoiseach_and_Government/History_of_Government/1916_Commemorations/Irish_Soldiers_in_the_First_World_War.html |archive-date=10 August 2011}}</ref>

The remainder of the [[Irish Volunteers]], who refused Redmond and opposed any support of the UK, launched an armed insurrection against British rule in the 1916 [[Easter Rising]], together with the [[Irish Citizen Army]]. This commenced on 24 April 1916 with the [[Irish Declaration of Independence|declaration of independence]]. After a week of heavy fighting, primarily in Dublin, the surviving rebels were forced to surrender their positions. The majority were imprisoned, with fifteen of the prisoners (including most of the leaders) were executed as traitors to the UK. This included [[Patrick Pearse]], the spokesman for the rising and who provided the signal to the volunteers to start the rising, as well as [[James Connolly]], socialist and founder of the [[Industrial Workers of the World]] union and both the Irish and Scottish Labour movements. These events, together with the [[Conscription Crisis of 1918]], had a profound effect on changing public opinion in Ireland against the British Government.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.waterfordmuseum.ie/exhibit/web/Display/article/283/1/The_Hay_Plan__Conscription_In_Ireland_During_WW1_Introduction.html |title=The Hay Plan & Conscription in Ireland During WW1 |last1=Hennessy |first1=Dave |publisher=Waterford County Museum |access-date=6 September 2018 |archive-date=25 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225080831/http://www.waterfordmuseum.ie/exhibit/web/Display/article/283/1/The_Hay_Plan__Conscription_In_Ireland_During_WW1_Introduction.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In January 1919, after the December [[1918 Irish general election|1918 general election]], 73 of Ireland's 105 [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Members of Parliament]] (MPs) elected were [[History of Sinn Féin|Sinn Féin]] members who were elected on a platform of [[abstentionism]] from the [[British House of Commons]]. In January 1919, they set up an Irish parliament called [[Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic)|Dáil Éireann]]. This [[first Dáil]] issued a [[declaration of independence]] and proclaimed an [[Irish Republic]]. The declaration was mainly a restatement of the [[Proclamation of the Irish Republic|1916 Proclamation]] with the additional provision that Ireland was no longer a part of the United Kingdom. The Irish Republic's [[Ministry of Dáil Éireann]] sent a delegation under {{lang|ga|[[Ceann Comhairle]]|italic=no}} (Head of Council, or Speaker, of the Daíl) [[Seán T. O'Kelly]] to the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference]] of 1919, but it was not admitted.

[[File:Leinster_House_-_1911.jpg|thumb|[[Leinster House]], Dublin. In 1922 a new parliament called the [[Oireachtas of the Irish Free State|Oireachtas]] was established, of which [[Dáil Éireann]] became the [[lower house]].]]

After the [[Irish War of Independence|War of Independence]] and truce called in July 1921, representatives of the [[British government]] and the five Irish treaty delegates, led by [[Arthur Griffith]], [[Robert Barton]] and [[Michael Collins (Irish leader)|Michael Collins]], negotiated the [[Anglo-Irish Treaty]] in London from 11 October to 6 December 1921. The Irish delegates set up headquarters at [[Hans Place]] in [[Knightsbridge]], and it was here in private discussions that the decision was taken on 5 December to recommend the treaty to Dáil Éireann. On 7 January 1922, the [[Second Dáil]] [[Anglo-Irish Treaty Dáil vote|ratified]] the Treaty by 64 votes to 57.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1922-01-07/2/|website = [[Oireachtas]]|title = Dáil Éireann debates, 7 January 1922: Debate on Treaty|access-date = 28 September 2019|archive-date = 28 September 2019|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190928094536/https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1922-01-07/2/|url-status = live}}</ref>

In accordance with the treaty, on 6 December 1922 the entire island of Ireland became a self-governing [[Dominion]] called the Irish Free State (''Saorstát Éireann''). Under the [[Constitution of the Irish Free State]], the [[Parliament of Northern Ireland]] had the option to leave the Irish Free State one month later and return to the United Kingdom. During the intervening period, the powers of the [[Parliament of the Irish Free State]] and [[Executive Council of the Irish Free State]] did not extend to Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland exercised its right under the treaty to leave the new Dominion and rejoined the United Kingdom on 8 December 1922. It did so by making an address to the King requesting, "that the powers of the Parliament and Government of the Irish Free State shall no longer extend to Northern Ireland."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://stormontpapers.ahds.ac.uk/stormontpapers/pageview.html?volumeno=2&pageno=1145#bak-2-1149 |title=Northern Ireland Parliamentary Report, 7&nbsp;December 1922 |publisher=Stormontpapers.ahds.ac.uk |date=7 December 1922 |access-date=9 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160415143605/http://stormontpapers.ahds.ac.uk/stormontpapers/pageview.html?volumeno=2&pageno=1145#bak-2-1149 |archive-date=15 April 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The Irish Free State was a [[constitutional monarchy]] [[personal union|sharing a monarch]] with the United Kingdom and other Dominions of the [[Commonwealth of Nations|British Commonwealth]]. The country had a [[Governor-General of the Irish Free State|governor-general]] (representing the monarch), a [[Bicameralism|bicameral]] parliament, a cabinet called the "Executive Council", and a prime minister called the [[President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State|President of the Executive Council]].