Comhairle na dTeachtaí

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

Comhairle na dTeachtaí ({{IPA|ga|ˈkoːɾˠl̠ʲə n̪ˠə ˈdʲaxt̪ˠiː}}; "Council of Deputies") was an Irish republican parliament established by opponents of the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty and the resulting Irish Free State, and viewed by republican legitimatists as a successor to the Second Dáil.{{cite book|last=Hopkinson|first=Michael|editor=J. R.Hill|title=Ireland, 1921–84|series=A New History of Ireland|volume= VII |date=4 December 2003 |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198217527.001.0001|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780191615597|page=91|chapter=Civil War and Aftermath, 1922–4}} Members were abstentionist from the Third Dáil established by the pro-Treaty faction. Just as the First Dáil established a parallel Irish Republic in opposition to the British Dublin Castle administration, so Comhairle na dTeachtaí attempted to establish a legitimatist government in opposition to the Provisional Government and Government of the Irish Free State established by the Third Dáil.{{cite book|last=Gallagher|first=Michael|title=Political Parties in the Republic of Ireland|url=https://archive.org/details/politicalparties0000gall|url-access=registration|access-date=24 May 2013|year=1985|publisher=Manchester University Press|isbn=9780719017971|pages=[https://archive.org/details/politicalparties0000gall/page/11 11]–12}} This legitimatist government, called the Council of State, had Éamon de Valera as president. In 1926 de Valera resigned as president, left the Sinn Féin party and founded Fianna Fáil, which in 1927 entered the Fourth Dáil. Comhairle na dTeachtaí, never more than a symbolic body, was thereby rendered defunct.

Fianna Fáil members spoke at a Comhairle na dTeachtaí meeting in December 1926, whose minutes were discovered in a 1928 raid on Cumann na mBan headquarters and published in 1930 by the Cumann na nGaedheal government.{{cite book |title=Two documents "A" and "B" found by the police on the 10th April, 1928, during the course of a search of the premises, 27 Dawson Street, Dublin |series=Official publications |volume=P. 202 |author=Department of Justice |date=1930 |url=http://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000233703 |oclc=232193280 |publisher=Stationery Office |location=Dublin}} Cumann na nGaedheal TDs quoted from this document that year to cast aspersions on Fianna Fáil's commitment to the Free State constitution.{{cite web|url=http://oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie/Debates%20Authoring/DebatesWebPack.nsf/takes/dail1930040200003|title=Nomination of President of the Executive Council.|date=2 April 1930|work=Dáil Éireann debates|publisher=Oireachtas|access-date=24 May 2013|page=Vol. 34 No. 4 p.3 cc.297–314}} Patrick McGilligan quoted from it in 1932 to oppose Fianna Fáil's proposed withholding of land annuities,{{cite web |last1=McGilligan |first1=Patrick |title=Land Purchase Annuities |url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/seanad/1932-01-28/5/ |website=Seanad Éireann (1931 Seanad) debates |publisher=Oireachtas |access-date=17 August 2020 |language=en-ie |date=28 January 1932}} and again in 1947 opposing the Sinn Féin Funds Bill.{{cite web |last1=McGilligan |first1=Patrick |title=Sinn Féin Funds Bill, 1947—Committee Stage (Resumed) |url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1947-04-24/24/#spk_536 |website=Dáil Éireann (12th Dáil) debates |publisher=Oireachtas |access-date=17 August 2020 |language=en-ie |date=24 April 1947}}