Lecture 12: De Valera’s
Ireland
1. The Constitution of the Irish Free State
2. The ‘Economic War’
3. Threats to the state: Bluehsirts and IRA
4. Irish neutrality during the Second World War
De Valera’s amended birth
certificate
Eamon de Valera (1882-1975)
Born in New York on 14 October 1882
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Reared by his grandmother in a
labourer’s cottage in Co. Limerick
Won a scholarship to the prestigious
Blackrock College in Dublin.
A Gaelic League enthusiast.
Joined the Irish Volunteers in 1913
Commanded the third battalion at
Boland’s Mill during the Easter Rising
Elected MP for East Clare in 1917 also
1917: president of both SF and the Irish
Vols.
Eamon de Valera (1882-1975)
Rejected the Anglo Irish treaty
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Resigned as president following its
acceptance by the Dáil.
Released from prison in August
1923
May 1926: Founded the Fianna Fáil
party
1927: took the oath of allegiance
and entered the Free State Dáil.
‘With the change of government in
1932 came a change not merely of
party, but also of style and substance.
The
workaday
offerings
and
aspirations of Cumann na nGaedheal
were dispelled, to be replaced by the
republican mystique of Fianna Fail and
the quirky charisma of its leader
Eamon
de
Valera.’
Jackson, Ireland 1798-1998, p288
• In 1931 Cosgrave’s government passed
the Customs Duties (Provisional
Imposition) Act. This enabled it to impose
emergency import tariffs.
• The measure was used only once by
Cosgrave.
• In 1931, only 68 articles were liable to
import tariffs.
• By 1937 the tariff net had been widened to
take in 288 articles.
• Just under 2,000 other articles were
restricted through the application of a
quota system.
Economic War
• The so-called ‘Economic
War’ was a six-year
Anglo-Irish dispute.
• It involved economic,
constitutional, financial
and defence questions.
• It began in 1932 when de
Valera abolished the oath
of allegiance and refused
to pay land annuities to
the British government.
Constitutional Change
April 23 1932: Constitutional Amendment
(Removal of Oath) Bill. Passed into law in
1933.
In 1935, the Irish Nationality and Citizenship
Act and the Aliens Act were passed.
Governor-generalship abolished with the
passing of the 1937 Constitution.
External Association
‘The idea that Ireland would be associated
with, but not a member of, the British
Commonwealth. It was devised by de Valera
as the basis for the Irish proposals during the
negotiation of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, formed
as the basis of his alternative to the treaty
proposals, Document No. 2, and later found
expression in his External Relations Act.’
Oxford Companion to Irish History, p191.
Constitutional Change
• The official state title became Ireland or ‘Éire.’
• The 26 counties became a republic in all but
name.
• De Valera kept features of the 1922 constitution
of the IFS regarding the Oireachtas, the
government and the courts.
• There were a number of important differences.
Constitutional Change
• Article 2: defined the national territory as the
‘whole island of Ireland.’ In article 3 jurisdiction
was limited to the 26 counties.
• Articles 12-14 provided for an elected president
as head of state with important discretionary
powers.
• The president of the executive council was
replaced by the Taoiseach with strengthened
prime ministerial powers.
• Article 34 gave the Supreme Court power to
review the constitutionality of new legislation.
Constitutional Change
• Articles 40-45 dealt with fundamental
rights concerning family, education, private
property, and religion.
• Articles 46-7 provided for amendment of
the constitution by popular referendum.
• Senate abolished in 1936. The 1937
constitution revived the concept of an
upper house.
What’s in a name?
• ‘These provisions combined with marriage
bars to women’s employment, the 1936
Conditions of Employment Act and the
Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1935
outlawing the importation and sale of
contraceptives, led to caustic judgements of
de Valera’s perceived paternalism and
failure to acknowledge the full contribution
that women made to Irish society.’
• Ferriter, Judging Dev, p237.
Article 40.1
• ‘The State recognises that by her life
within the home, a woman gives to the
State a support without which the common
good cannot be achieved. The State shall
therefore, endeavour to ensure that
mothers shall not be obliged by economic
necessity to engage in labour to the
neglect of their duties within the home.’
• The Constitution
of Ireland (1937)
was submitted to
a referendum in
July 1937.
• It was passed
by 685,105 votes
to 526,945.
• It became law in
December 1937.
Internal Security
• In the early 1930s the threat of extremism was
quite real
• The Army Comrades’ Association was a political
movement set up by ex-servicemen from the
Free State army in February 1932.
• By January 1933 the ACA had a membership of
over 30,000.
• In 1929 Comhairle na Poblachta was set up.
• In 1931 Saor Éire was founded.
• Republican Congress formed in 1934
• IRA banned in June 1936
‘The preservation of
Irish neutrality during
the most terrible of the
twentieth century’s
global wars was not
only the capstone of de
Valera’s assertion of
independence, but also
the outgrowth of deeply
etched beliefs about
Ireland’s place within
the world.’
Townshend, Ireland: The
Twentieth Century, p151.