The Legacy of the Irish Parliamentary Party in Independent Ireland, 1922-1949

Abstract

This book provides the first detailed analysis of the influence of former Irish Parliamentary Party members and methods in independent Ireland and the place of the party’s leaders in public memory. Previous studies of the party have concluded with its dramatic fall in 1918 and shown little interest in the fate of its members thereafter. This study uses biographical data to provide the first statistical analysis of the Irish Party heritage of each political party in the independent Irish state established in 1922. Utilising a wealth of archival material, contemporary and critical writings, it asks how former Irish Party followers reacted to the changed circumstances of independent Ireland. One chapter undertakes a case study of the Irish National League, arguing that this organisation founded and led by former MPs effectively constituted a ‘legacy party’. Analysis of party politics is complemented by scrutiny of the practice of commemoration to ask how the Irish Party was remembered in a state founded on the sacrifice of the Easter Rising. This study therefore highlights significant features in the evolution of the party’s public memory and sheds new light on how figures such as Charles Stewart Parnell, John Redmond and Michael Davitt were remembered.