Independent Nationalist

{{short description|Political description}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2018}}

{{Use Irish English|date=March 2018}}

Independent Nationalist ({{langx|ga|Náisiúnach Neamhspleách}}) is a political title frequently used by Irish nationalists when contesting elections to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom Great Britain and Ireland not as members of the Irish Parliamentary Party, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

In the decades leading up to Irish Independence, most Independent Nationalist candidates were either the Healyite Nationalists, supporters of Timothy Michael Healy, or the O'Brienite Nationalists, supporters of William O'Brien.{{Cite thesis |title=The Banshee's Kiss: Conciliation, Class and Conflict in Cork and the All for Ireland League. |last=Murphy |first=Patrick Joseph |date=2019 |access-date=2024-04-16 |degree=PhD of Philosophy |publisher=University of Liverpool |doi=10.17638/03061037 |chapter=Chapter One - ‘Tuppence Halfpenny Looking Down on Tuppence’: The Origins of the All for Ireland League, 1890-1909. |url=https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/3061037/1/PATRICK%20JOSEPH%20MURPHY%20-%20PhD%20THESIS%20.pdf |pages=68-69, 83, 89 |page=}}

Some others were elected as Independent Nationalists outside of the above groupings, such as Timothy Harrington (1900 and 1906), Joseph Nolan (1900),{{Cite web |title=1900 - 1900 General Election - South Louth |url=https://api.parliament.uk/uk-general-elections/elections/7933 |access-date=2024-04-16 |website=api.parliament.uk |language=en-GB}} D. D. Sheehan (1906),{{Cite journal |last=Walker |first=Brian Mercer |year=1978 |title=Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922 |journal=New History of Ireland |location=Dublin |publisher=Royal Irish Academy |volume=4 |isbn=9780901714121}} and Laurence Ginnell (in both the January and December 1910 elections).{{Cite news |last=Maye |first=Brian |date=2023-04-26 |title=From Home Ruler MP to anti-Treaty TD – Brian Maye on Laurence Ginnell |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/an-irish-diary/2023/04/26/from-home-ruler-mp-to-anti-treaty-td-brian-maye-on-laurence-ginnell/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240416215809/https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/an-irish-diary/2023/04/26/from-home-ruler-mp-to-anti-treaty-td-brian-maye-on-laurence-ginnell/ |archive-date=2024-04-16 |access-date=2024-04-16 |newspaper=The Irish Times |quote=He was the only Irish MP to actively support the women’s suffrage movement at Westminster and his frequent criticism of the IPP led to his expulsion from the party in 1909; thereafter, he sat as an independent nationalist.}}

William Redmond and James Cosgrave were elected to Dáil Éireann as Independent Nationalists in 1923,{{Cite book |url=https://www.tcd.ie/Political_Science/about/people/michael_gallagher/IrishElections1922to1944WithCovers.pdf |title=Irish Elections 1922–44: Results and Analysis |publisher=PSAI Press |year=2023 |isbn=978-0951974810 |editor-last=Gallagher |editor-first=Michael |location=Limerick |page=91 |orig-date=1993}}{{Cite web |title=ElectionsIreland.org: Captain William Redmond |url=https://www.electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?id=1087 |access-date=2024-04-16 |website=www.electionsireland.org}}{{Cite web |title=ElectionsIreland.org: James Cosgrave |url=https://electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=1287 |access-date=2024-04-16 |website=electionsireland.org}} before going on to form the National League Party.

Later in the twentieth century, Michael O'Neill was elected to the House of Commons as an Independent Nationalist in 1951.{{Cite web |title=1951 - 1951 General Election - Mid Ulster |url=https://api.parliament.uk/uk-general-elections/elections/15876 |access-date=2024-04-17 |website=api.parliament.uk |date=2022 |language=en-GB |doi=10.7910/DVN/S83HOA |last1=Umit |first1=Resul }} John Hume,{{Cite web |last=Black |first=Rebecca |date=2020-08-03 |title=From teacher to Nobel Peace Prize winner, a timeline of John Hume's achievements |url=https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/from-teacher-to-nobel-peace-prize-winner-a-timeline-of-john-humes-achievements/39418107.html |access-date=2024-04-17 |website=Irish Independent |language=en |quote=1969: Hume’s political career begins when he is elected at the age of 32 as an independent nationalist MP at Stormont. August 1970: Hume becomes a founding member of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP).}} Paddy O'Hanlon,{{Cite web |date=2001-06-29 |title=Northern Ireland Parliamentary Election Results: Counties: Armagh |url=https://www.election.demon.co.uk/stormont/armagh.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010629091719/https://www.election.demon.co.uk/stormont/armagh.html |archive-date=2001-06-29 |access-date=2024-04-17 |website=election.demon.co.uk}} and Ivan Cooper{{Cite web |date=1969-02-25 |title=Interview with Ivan Cooper for RTE News in February 1969 |url=https://www.qmul.ac.uk/peaceprocesshistory/layers-of-meaning-directory/items/interview-with-ivan-cooper-for-rte-news-in-february-1969.html |access-date=2024-04-17 |website=www.qmul.ac.uk |language=en}} were elected to the Northern Ireland House of Commons as Independent Nationalists in 1969; they formed the Social Democratic and Labour Party in the following year.{{Cite web |date=2013-07-16 |title=Northern Ireland Parliamentary Elections Results: Biographies |url=http://www.election.demon.co.uk/stormont/biographies.html |access-date=2024-04-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130716110353/http://www.election.demon.co.uk/stormont/biographies.html |archive-date=16 July 2013 }}{{Cite news |date=2002-01-30 |title=Bloody Sunday leader finds faith in film |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/1791090.stm |access-date=2024-04-17 |language=en-GB |quote=Mr Cooper was one of the major figures of the 1960s civil rights movement and a founder member of the nationalist SDLP - a political stance that led many of his own Protestant community to brand him a traitor.}}

In the Northern Ireland Assembly, Justin McNulty sat as an Independent Nationalist for a period in 2024 after being suspended from the SDLP on 4 February for leaving the inaugural sitting of the restored Executive early in order to manage the Laois county football team in a GAA game.{{cite news|url=https://www.rte.ie/news/ulster/2024/0204/1430428-justin-mcnulty-sdlp/|title=SDLP suspends MLA for leaving Stormont to attend GAA match|publisher=RTÉ News|date=4 February 2024|accessdate=4 February 2024}} On 20 August, he had the SDLP whip restored.{{cite news|url=https://www.itv.com/news/utv/2024-08-20/justin-mcnulty-has-sdlp-whip-restored|title=Justin McNulty has SDLP whip restored after leaving Assembly early for GAA game|date=20 August 2024|accessdate=28 September 2024|publisher=ITV News}}