Liam's Irish Traditional Music - Irelands culture and tradition

On 21 January 1919 Sinn Féin MPs met in Dublin. They formally declared that they were opening a new parliament for Ireland, which was to be based in Dublin and not at Westminster. This new parliament was to be called Dáil Eireann, which in English means the Assembly of Ireland. The' members of this assembly were to be known as Teachtai, or deputies. In view of the large number of seats gained by Sinn Féin in the 1918 election, they felt justified in stating that the' government of Ireland was to be republican.

Eamon de Valera was elected President of Dáil Eireann while he was still M prison in England. In February 1919 he was smuggled out of prison, and in June he went to America to raise funds. Arthur Griffith took the place of President of the Dáil in de Valera's absence. In Ireland, the IRA (formerly the IRB, until Easter 1916), under the leadership of Michael Collins, began to reorganize the republican campaign.

The republicans decided that if they were to win independence, they would have to take it for themselves. In August 1919, the Dill and the IRA took a new oath, which bound them to defend the Irish Republic against attack, and by September undeclared war was raging between the IRA and the British government.