The Republic

“We’re out for a Republic and to hell with your Free State,

No Surrender is the war cry of the Belfast Brigade!”

Something that causes consternation among the establishment in the south is when Sinn Féin uses the term “The 26-Counties.” When it is said, it is met with ire and suspicion, as if we intend to destroy it. Well, in a way we do. We intend to knock this state down and build a new one in its place-or perhaps restore an old one. This article intends to explain our position a little.

The Irish Republic was established during the Easter Rising of 1916 and ratified by the people of Ireland during the 1918 General Election. Its representatives took an oath to uphold it.

"I, A.B., do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I do not and shall not yield a voluntary support to any pretended Government, authority or power within Ireland hostile and inimical thereto, and I do further swear (or affirm) that to the best of my knowledge and ability I will support and defend the Irish Republic and the Government of the Irish Republic, which is Dáil Eireann, against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, so help me, God."

 The majority of them broke this oath in 1922 with the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. They then held an election in the 26-counties in which they refused to update the register, broke the agreed pact and only published the new constitution on the day of the election. Only women over 30 and men over 21 could vote-excluding many of those who had fought for Ireland. Less than 60% of the populace voted.

But regardless of anything else, we lost the Civil War and the Republic was substituted for the Free State. The Free State went to war with the Republic and defeated it driving the Irish Republican Army back, town by town, shooting TDs and grinding the dream into the dirt. It did not spring from it. It did not retain its courts, its police. Its social policy was ripped asunder.

The Free State gradually worked its way to becoming the Republic of Ireland of today, De Valera tinkering at the edges to remove the trappings of the Free State and finally, Fine Gael declaring a “Republic” 26 years after defeating the last one. Most actual republicans (and Fianna Fáil) rejected this change of status, arguing that the Republic must consist of all 32 counties.

The Second Dáil:

The Second Dáil is an archaic theory but it does deserve some explanation. After the outbreak of the Civil War of 1922, the second Dáil Eireann was never dissolved due to the hostilities. Republicans clung on to this as the legitimate government, issuing edicts and decrees that went unnoticed by the population at large. This body was reduced to a rump with the foundation of Fianna Fáil.

De Valera stated in 1929 as to regards legitimacy:

"I still hold that our right to be regarded as the legitimate Government of this country is faulty, that this house itself is faulty - you have secured a de facto position." 

"Those who have continued on in that organisation which we have left can claim exactly the same continuity that we claimed up to 1925.”

In 1938 the surviving Republican TDs of the Second Dáil formally transferred their power to the IRA Army Council. As this body no longer exists, whether it really is or ever was the legitimate Government is a moot point and the 1986 vote to end abstentionism is generally blamed on young northerners in the party choosing pragmatic reality over dogma. The party attitude towards the state stems in part still from the Second Dáil.

The 26-County state is a Republic. It is a legitimate state as the party will happily tell you, having accepted such since 1998, or 1986, depending on one’s view of if ’86 was done on principle or merely tactics. To deny that would be to deny reality and the will of the Irish people, who have accepted it almost unanimously since Fianna Fáil entered the Dáil (again, not Dáil  Éireann). But being A Republic and being The Republic are very different things.

In addition the name of the state is not the Republic of Ireland. That is a description that can be applied to the state. The name of the state is Ireland or Éire. I point blank refuse to call Lifford Ireland, and Strabane something else. The Tories who call it “Southern Ireland” are closer to the reality of the situation.

It is hypocritical also to call the north “The Six Counties” and be outraged when similar is applied down south. Use of the term was normal, even on RTÉ for decades, even during the conflict. Now Ógra FF have attempted to bring back the jargon.

In my view the Republic must uphold the principles of the 1916 Proclamation and 1919 Programme for Government, and have as its national territory, all 32 counties of Ireland. (Perhaps Rockall for good measure.) That means it must cherish all the children equally, provide housing for all its citizens etc.

I will refer to this state as the 26 Counties so long as it continues to consist of only 26 Counties and fails to uphold the principles of the state its defenders claim it inherited the position of.

I very much doubt this state will survive the end of partition in the form it is today. You cannot bolt something as dysfunctional as the Six Counties to it and expect that to work. There will be a new constitution, new laws and hopefully, a return to old principles that were swept away by the Free State.

Note: Having thought things over, the Wexford and Connacht Republics of 1798 are the only legitimate states on the island. I don’t make the rules.

Le

Shane Waters,
Loch Garman,
Cúige Laighean,
26 Contaetha,
Éire