Irish Council Bill

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The Irish Council Bill (or Irish Councils Bill;[n 1] long title A Bill to provide for the Establishment and functions of an Administrative Council in Ireland and for other purposes connected therewith) was a bill introduced and withdrawn from the UK Parliament in 1907 by the Campbell-Bannerman administration. It proposed the devolution of power, without Home Rule, to Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. A partly elected Irish Council would take control of many of the departments thitherto administered by the Dublin Castle administration, and have limited tax-raising powers.[4] The bill was introduced by Augustine Birrell, the newly appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland, on 7 May 1907.[5] It was rejected by the United Irish League (UIL) at a conference in Dublin on 21 May, which meant the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) aligned to the UIL would oppose it in Parliament. Henry Campbell-Bannerman announced on 3 June that the government was dropping the bill,[4] and it was formally withdrawn on 29 July.[6]

Political background[edit]

In 1893, the Second Home Rule Bill was rejected by the House of Lords.[7] Whereas Irish nationalists like the IPP and UIL wanted full Home Rule with a legislature, this was opposed by Irish unionists, who also opposed any devolution scheme that might evolve into Home Rule. The Irish Reform Association and Sir Antony MacDonnell, the Under-Secretary for Ireland, unsuccessfully proposed a devolution scheme in 1904–1905.[8] In a speech in Stirling in November 1905, Henry Campbell-Bannerman, about to take office as Liberal prime minister, promised "an instalment of representative control" for Ireland while implying no Home Rule.[9] In 1906 James Bryce as Chief Secretary for Ireland began work with MacDonnell on a bill along the lines of the Stirling speech. When IPP leaders John Dillon and John Redmond were apprised of it, they were "as much alienated by the secrecy surrounding Bryce's scheme as shocked by the inadequacy of its proposals".[10] Birrell replaced Bryce as Chief Secretary in 1907, and improved relations with IPP leaders.[10] Edward Blake was involved in negotiating revisions to the draft bill with Dillon and Redmond.[11] Originally, MacDonnell proposed that two-thirds of the Irish Council would be indirectly elected by the county councils; as introduced, it was to be three-quarters elected by popular vote.[12]

William O'Brien, a nationalist outside the IPP, supported both the 1904 devolution scheme and the 1907 bill as a step in the right direction, or "Home Rule by instalments".[13] The IPP MPs were initially uncertain whether to oppose the bill outright or seek amendments to it.[11] They voted for the first reading on 7 May, Redmond saying, "if this measure fulfilled certain conditions I laid down we should consider it an aid to Home Rule. I do not know whether it does or not till I have examined it."[14] Dillon was sympathetic but the sudden death of his wife removed him from public debate.[11] The Roman Catholic church in Ireland opposed what it viewed as increased state interference in education.[15] Joseph Devlin and the Ancient Order of Hibernians also opposed it.[3] The Irish Trades Union Congress opposed the proposed council as "a constitutional cripple, more likely than otherwise to hamper and irritate industrial improvement in Ireland".[16] T. W. Russell, head of the "Russellite Unionists", supported the bill and alleged most unionists opposed it because it would end Protestant Ascendancy in the senior ranks of the Irish civil service.[17][n 2] The antipathy within the UIL and from nationalists more generally forced Redmond's hand and he proposed the rejection motion at the UIL convention, which was overwhelmingly carried[19][11]

MacDonnell retired shortly after the bill's failure. The Liberal Party decided there was no workable middle ground between the Union status quo and Home Rule, and put aside attempts to address Ireland's constitutional status.[20] It was after the 1910 election and the Parliament Act 1911 that the Asquith ministry returned to the issue with the Third Home Rule Bill.[21] Conor Mulvagh suggests the 1907 bill's failure fed into a current of disillusion and malaise in the IPP that opened the way for more advanced nationalist alternatives like Sinn Féin.[11] William O'Brien wrote in 1923, "It is now obvious enough that, had the Irish Council Bill been allowed to pass, the Partition of Ireland would never have been heard of."[3] The Spectator countered that unionists would never have been reconciled to the 1907 scheme.[2]

Provisions[edit]

The Irish Council was to have 107 members, with a term of office of three years[22] (four years for the initial Council[23]):

The departments of the Irish administration to be transferred to the control of the council were:[29][4]

The possibility was provided for future transfer of authority for:[30]

The council would also have some financial powers, with a separate "Irish Treasury" and "Irish Fund".[4][31] Joseph V. O'Brien describes these as "paltry".[13]

The bill would also have abolished the prohibition on Roman Catholics serving as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.[32][n 3]

Footnotes[edit]

  1. ^ The official name was "Irish Council Bill". The plural "Councils" was common "both to Irish Nationalists and to Unionists".[1] The Spectator said this was used "maliciously ... as though [the bill] were a mere measure of County Councils".[2] William O'Brien alleged that the opposing Freeman's Journal used the plural to raise the spectre of the Partition of Ireland, with separate councils for unionist Ulster and the rest of Ireland.[3]
  2. ^ The Civil Service Commissioners enforced fair open recruitment to the British civil service but did not operate in Ireland.[18]
  3. ^ This abolition was ultimately effected by the Government of Ireland Act 1920.[33]

References[edit]

Sources[edit]

Primary
  • Hansard: "Irish Council Bill" index and "Irish Councils Bill" index
  • [Bill 182] Irish Council Bill. Parliamentary Papers. Vol. Session 1907, Vol. II. 1907. p. 481.
Secondary

Citations[edit]

  1. ^ A Lawyer (24 December 1910). "Letter: The Irish Council Bill". The Spectator (4304): 16.
  2. ^ a b "Mr. O'Brien's Version of Recent Irish History". The Spectator (4955): 17–18. 16 June 1923.
  3. ^ a b c O'Brien, William (1923). "Introduction; X". The Irish Revolution and how it came about. London: Allen & Unwin. pp. 35–36. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  4. ^ a b c d Campbell-Bannerman, Henry (3 June 1907). "Business of the Session". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). HC Deb vol 175 c323. Retrieved 22 November 2017.
  5. ^ "Irish Council Bill". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 7 May 1907. HC Deb vol 174 cc195–6. Retrieved 22 November 2017.
  6. ^ "Irish Council Bill". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 29 July 1907. HC Deb vol 179 cc693–4. Retrieved 22 November 2017.
  7. ^ Morton 2014 p.45
  8. ^ Morton 2014 pp.51–53
  9. ^ Jalland 1976 p.427
  10. ^ a b Jalland 1976 p.429
  11. ^ a b c d e Mulvagh, Conor (3 June 2016). The Irish Parliamentary Party at Westminster, 1900-18. Manchester University Press. pp. 106–113. ISBN 9781526100177. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
  12. ^ Hepburn 1971 p.486
  13. ^ a b O'Brien, Joseph Valentine (1976). William O'Brien and the Course of Irish Politics, 1881-1918. University of California Press. pp. 175–176. ISBN 9780520028869. Retrieved 22 November 2017.
  14. ^ Redmond, John (7 May 1907). "Irish Council". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). HC Deb vol 174 c131. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  15. ^ Titley, E. Brian (1983). Church, State, and the Control of Schooling in Ireland 1900-1944. McGill-Queen's University Press. pp. 28–30. ISBN 9780773503946. Retrieved 22 November 2017.
  16. ^ "Extract from 14th Annual Report 1907". Decade of Centenaries : Annual reports of the Irish Trades Union Congress. National Archives of Ireland. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  17. ^ Campbell 2007 p.636
  18. ^ Campbell 2007 p.637
  19. ^ Hepburn 1971
  20. ^ Jalland 1976 p.430; Morton 2014 pp.54–55
  21. ^ Morton 2014 pp.55–59
  22. ^ Irish Council Bill, Second Schedule (3)
  23. ^ Irish Council Bill, §26(5)
  24. ^ a b Irish Council Bill, §1(1)
  25. ^ Hepburn p.487
  26. ^ Irish Council Bill, §1(1) and First Schedule
  27. ^ Irish Council Bill, §1(2)
  28. ^ Irish Council Bill, §1(5)
  29. ^ Irish Council Bill, §2(2)(a)
  30. ^ Irish Council Bill, §2(3) and Third Schedule
  31. ^ Irish Council Bill, Part II
  32. ^ Irish Council Bill, §15
  33. ^ "Government of Ireland Act 1920". 23 December 1920. §37(1). Retrieved 24 November 2017.
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