The Irish Parliamentary Party and the Third Home Rule Crisis, by James McConnel

Abstract

How significant is the legacy that the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) left to the Irish Free State? Is there a democratic tradition which the Nationalists created and bequeathed to the ‘founding fathers’ of independent Ireland? One way to approach this question is to study how the IPP operated both at Westminster and in the constituencies—that is, how its MPs understood both their role as representatives in an imperial parliament and their vision for Ireland under Home Rule. This is the strategy adopted by James McConnel in this brilliant new analysis of the political elite who were preparing to run the country under devolved powers when the First World War and the Easter Rising changed forever the course of Irish history. The book consists of thirteen chapters grouped into four parts. Part I examines the MPs in their constituencies (including their readiness to serve local interests at Westminster), the way candidates were selected and the working of patronage. Part II is about the IPP’s ‘enemies’: significantly, under this rubric McConnel does not consider the Unionists, but the ‘enemies within’ nationalism, including the Fenians, Sinn Fein, and militant labour, which was behind the violent industrial actions, such as the one in Dublin in 1913. Part III looks at the social dynamics of the IPP when in London, including party behaviour and discipline in the House of Commons. Finally, Part IV is about ideas during the ‘long’ Home Rule crisis, from 1912 to 1916, focusing on the outlook of the IPP, including the way they imagined Ireland under self-government, the question of ‘loyalty’ and that of imperialism, the 1912 Ulster Crisis, the organisation of the Volunteers, and how all of these issues and attitudes were transformed by the Great War and the Easter Rising.