Irish Council Bill

In 1893, the Second Home Rule Bill was rejected by the House of Lords.Morton 2014 p.45 Whereas Irish nationalists like the IPP and UIL wanted full Home Rule with a legislature, this was opposed by Irish unionists, who also opposed any devolution scheme that might evolve into Home Rule. The Irish Reform Association and Sir Antony MacDonnell, the Under-Secretary for Ireland, unsuccessfully proposed a devolution scheme in 1904–1905.Morton 2014 [https://books.google.com/books?id=Nc4FBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA51 pp.51–53] In a speech in Stirling in November 1905, Henry Campbell-Bannerman, about to take office as Liberal prime minister, promised "an instalment of representative control" for Ireland while implying no Home Rule.Jalland 1976 p.427 In 1906 James Bryce as Chief Secretary for Ireland began work with MacDonnell on a bill along the lines of the Stirling speech. When IPP leaders John Dillon and John Redmond were apprised of it, they were "as much alienated by the secrecy surrounding Bryce's scheme as shocked by the inadequacy of its proposals".Jalland 1976 p.429 Birrell replaced Bryce as Chief Secretary in 1907, and improved relations with IPP leaders. Edward Blake was involved in negotiating revisions to the draft bill with Dillon and Redmond.{{cite book|last=Mulvagh|first=Conor|title=The Irish Parliamentary Party at Westminster, 1900-18|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=orwSDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT106|access-date=2017-11-23|date=2016-06-03|publisher=Manchester University Press|isbn=9781526100177|pages=106–113}} Originally, MacDonnell proposed that two-thirds of the Irish Council would be indirectly elected by the county councils; as introduced, it was to be three-quarters elected by popular vote.Hepburn 1971 p.486

William O'Brien, a nationalist outside the IPP, supported both the 1904 devolution scheme and the 1907 bill as a step in the right direction, or "Home Rule by instalments".{{cite book|last=O'Brien|first=Joseph Valentine |title=William O'Brien and the Course of Irish Politics, 1881-1918|url=https://archive.org/details/williamobrienc00jose|url-access=registration|access-date=22 November 2017|year=1976|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=9780520028869|pages=[https://archive.org/details/williamobrienc00jose/page/175 175]–176}} The IPP MPs were initially uncertain whether to oppose the bill outright or seek amendments to it. They voted for the first reading on 7 May, Redmond saying, "if this measure fulfilled certain conditions I laid down we should consider it an aid to Home Rule. I do not know whether it does or not till I have examined it."{{cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1907/may/07/irish-council#S4V0174P0_19070507_HOC_183|title=Irish Council|last=Redmond|first=John|date=7 May 1907|work=Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)|pages=HC Deb vol 174 c131 |no-pp=y|access-date=24 November 2017}} Dillon was sympathetic but the sudden death of his wife removed him from public debate. The Roman Catholic church in Ireland opposed what it viewed as increased state interference in education.{{cite book|last=Titley|first=E. Brian|title=Church, State, and the Control of Schooling in Ireland 1900-1944|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K3sRwG2UR88C&pg=PA28|access-date=22 November 2017|year=1983|publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press |isbn=9780773503946|pages=28–30}} Joseph Devlin and the Ancient Order of Hibernians also opposed it. The Irish Trades Union Congress opposed the proposed council as "a constitutional cripple, more likely than otherwise to hamper and irritate industrial improvement in Ireland".{{cite web|url=http://centenaries-ituc.nationalarchives.ie/extracts/extract-from-14th-annual-report-1907/|title=Extract from 14th Annual Report 1907|work=Decade of Centenaries : Annual reports of the Irish Trades Union Congress|publisher=National Archives of Ireland|access-date=24 November 2017}} T. W. Russell, head of the "Russellite Unionists", supported the bill and alleged most unionists opposed it because it would end Protestant Ascendancy in the senior ranks of the Irish civil service.Campbell 2007 p.636{{#tag:ref|The Civil Service Commissioners enforced fair open recruitment to the British civil service but did not operate in Ireland.Campbell 2007 p.637|group="n"}} The antipathy within the UIL and from nationalists more generally forced Redmond's hand and he proposed the rejection motion at the UIL convention, which was overwhelmingly carriedHepburn 1971

MacDonnell retired shortly after the bill's failure. The Liberal Party decided there was no workable middle ground between the Union status quo and Home Rule, and put aside attempts to address Ireland's constitutional status.Jalland 1976 p.430; Morton 2014 [https://books.google.com/books?id=Nc4FBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA54 pp.54–55] It was after the 1910 election and the Parliament Act 1911 that the Asquith ministry returned to the issue with the Third Home Rule Bill.Morton 2014 [https://books.google.com/books?id=Nc4FBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA55 pp.55–59] Conor Mulvagh suggests the 1907 bill's failure fed into a current of disillusion and malaise in the IPP that opened the way for more advanced nationalist alternatives like Sinn Féin. William O'Brien wrote in 1923, "It is now obvious enough that, had the Irish Council Bill been allowed to pass, the Partition of Ireland would never have been heard of."{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/irishrevolutionh00obriuoft#page/35 |title=Introduction; X |pages=35–36 |last=O'Brien|first=William|year=1923|work=The Irish Revolution and how it came about |location=London |publisher=Allen & Unwin |access-date=24 November 2017}} The Spectator countered that unionists would never have been reconciled to the 1907 scheme.

The Irish Council was to have 107 members, with a term of office of three yearsIrish Council Bill, Second Schedule (3) (four years for the initial CouncilIrish Council Bill, §26(5)):

• 82 members elected under the same franchise as the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898,Irish Council Bill, §1(1) which applied to most men and some women.Hepburn p.487 The 82 constituencies were based on the 103 Irish Westminster constituencies, except that county borough boundaries took priority over parliamentary borough boundaries, and constituencies with small populations were merged.Irish Council Bill, §1(1) and First Schedule
• 24 members appointed, in the first instance, by the King and, subsequently, by the Lord LieutenantIrish Council Bill, §1(2)
• The Under-Secretary was an ex-officio member
• The Chief Secretary was not a member but had the right to attend and speak at proceedings.Irish Council Bill, §1(5)

The departments of the Irish administration to be transferred to the control of the council were:Irish Council Bill, §2(2)(a)

• Local Government Board for Ireland
• Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland
• Congested Districts Board for Ireland
• Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland
• Inspector of Reformatory and Industrial Schools
• Registrar-General
• Commissioners of National Education in Ireland
• Intermediate Education Board for Ireland
• Estates Commissioners (a function of the Irish Land Commission as successor to the Encumbered Estates' Court)

The possibility was provided for future transfer of authority for:Irish Council Bill, §2(3) and Third Schedule

• Loan Fund Board
• Royal Irish Academy of Music
• Irish National Gallery
• Royal Hibernian Academy
• Commissioner of Valuation and Boundary Surveyor
• Commissioners of Education in Ireland (for endowed schools)
• Commissioners of Irish Lights
• Inspectors of Lunatic Asylums

The council would also have some financial powers, with a separate "Irish Treasury" and "Irish Fund".Irish Council Bill, Part II Joseph V. O'Brien describes these as "paltry".

The bill would also have abolished the prohibition on Roman Catholics serving as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.Irish Council Bill, §15{{#tag:ref|This abolition was ultimately effected by the Government of Ireland Act 1920.{{cite web|url=http://www.bailii.org/nie/legis/num_act/1920/192000067.html#LORD_LIEUTENANT.|title=Government of Ireland Act 1920|date=23 December 1920|page=§37(1)|no-pp=y|access-date=24 November 2017}}|group="n"}}

{{reflist|group="n"}}

;Primary:

• Hansard: [https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/bills/irish-council-bill "Irish Council Bill" index] and [https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/bills/irish-councils-bill "Irish Councils Bill" index]
• {{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/op1255143-1001 |title=[Bill 182] Irish Council Bill |year=1907 |series=Parliamentary Papers |volume=Session 1907, Vol. II |pages=481 }}

;Secondary:

• {{cite journal|last=Campbell|first=Fergus|date=September 2007|title=Who Ruled Ireland? The Irish Administration, 1879–1914 |jstor=20175114|journal=The Historical Journal|publisher=Cambridge University Press|volume=50|issue=3|pages=623–644|doi=10.1017/S0018246X07006280 |s2cid=162546437 }}
• {{cite journal|last=Hepburn|first=A. C.|date=September 1971|title=The Irish Council Bill and the Fall of Sir Antony MacDonnell, 1906–7 |jstor=30005305|journal=Irish Historical Studies|publisher=Cambridge University Press|volume=17|issue=68|pages=470–498|doi=10.1017/S0021121400111629 |s2cid=191738907 }}
• {{cite journal|last=Jalland|first=Patricia|author-link=Pat Jalland|date=June 1976|title=A Liberal Chief Secretary and the Irish Question: Augustine Birrell, 1907–1914|jstor=2638571|journal=The Historical Journal|publisher=Cambridge University Press|volume=19|issue=2|pages=421–451|doi=10.1017/S0018246X00010232 |s2cid=159970678 }}
• {{cite book |last=Morton|first=Grenfell |title=Home Rule and the Irish Question |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nc4FBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA51 |access-date=22 November 2017 |date=15 July 2014 |orig-year=1980 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781317881094 }}

{{reflist}}

Category:1907 in British law

Category:Proposed laws of Ireland

Category:Home rule in Ireland

Category:1907 in Ireland

Category:Proposed laws of the United Kingdom