The Proclamation of the Republic, also known as the 1916 Proclamation or Easter Proclamation, was a document issued by the Irish Volunteers and Irish Citizen Army during the Easter Rising in Ireland, which began on 24 April 1916. In it the Provisional Government of the Irish Republic, proclaimed Irish independence from Britain.
The reading of the proclamation by Patrick Pearse outside the General Post Office (GPO) in Sackville Street (now called O'Connell Street), Dublin's main thoroughfare, marked the beginning of the Rising. The proclamation was modelled on a similar independence proclamation issued during the 1803 rebellion by Irish rebel Robert Emmet.
All of those who signed the document were execucted by British forces after the 1916 Easter Rising.
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THE FIRST DAIL 1919
The Democratic Programme was a declaration of economic and social principles adopted by the First Dáil at its first meeting on 21 January 1919. The primary purpose of the programme was to espouse certain values of socialism. A text of the programme was first adopted in Irish, and then in English. Its official Irish title was Clár Oibre Poblacánaighe.
WE DECLARE in the words of the Irish Republican Proclamation the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland, and to the unfettered control of Irish destinies to be in- defeasible, and in the language of our first President. Pádraig Mac Phiarais, we declare that the Nation’s sovereignty extends not only to all men and women of the Nation, but to all its material possessions, the Nation’s soil and all its resources, all the wealth and all the wealth-producing processes within the Nation, and with him we reaffirm that all right to private property must be subordinated to the public right and welfare.
We declare that we desire our country to be ruled in accordance with the principles of Liberty, Equality, and Justice for all, which alone can secure permanence of Government in the willing adhesion of the people.
We affirm the duty of every man and woman to give allegiance and service to the Commonwealth, and declare it is the duty of the Nation to assure that every citizen shall have opportunity to spend his or her strength and faculties in the service of the people. In return for willing service, we, in the name of the Republic, declare the right of every citizen to an adequate share of the produce of the Nation’s labour.
It shall be the first duty of the Government of the Republic to make provision for the physical, mental and spiritual well-being of the children, to secure that no child shall suffer hunger or cold from lack of food, clothing, or shelter, but that all shall be provided with the means and facilities requisite for their proper edu- cation and training as Citizens of a Free and Gaelic Ireland.
The Irish Republic fully realises the necessity of abolishing the present odious, degrading and foreign Poor Law System, substituting therefor a sympathetic native scheme for the care of the Nation’s aged and infirm, who shall not be regarded as a burden, but rather entitled to the Nation’s gratitude and consideration. Likewise it shall be the duty of the Republic to take such measures as will safeguard the health of the people and ensure the physical as well as the moral well-being of the Nation.
It shall be our duty to promote the development of the Nation’s resources, to increase the productivity of its soil, to exploit its mineral deposits, peat bogs, and fisheries, its waterways and harbours, in the interests and for the benefit of the Irish people.
It shall be the duty of the Republic to adopt all measures necessary for the recreation and invigoration of our Industries, and to ensure their being developed on the most beneficial and progressive co- operative and industrial lines. With the adoption of an extensive Irish Consular Service, trade with foreign Nations shall be revived on terms of mutual advantage and goodwill, and while undertaking the organisation of the Nation’s trade, import and export, it shall be the duty of the Republic to prevent the shipment from Ireland of food and other necessaries until the wants of the Irish people are fully satisfied and the future provided for.
It shall also devolve upon the National Government to seek co-operation of the Governments of other countries in determining a standard of Social and Industrial Legislation with a view to a general and lasting improvement in the conditions under which the working classes live and labour.
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A SHORT HISTORY OF SINN FÉIN
Modern Irish Republicans trace their political origins to the movement of the United Irishmen of the 1790s. They took their inspiration from the French Revolution and fought for the breaking of the political connection between Ireland and Britain, believing that only an independent Ireland could guarantee equality and prosperity for the Irish people.
Most of the leading figures of the United Irishmen were Presbyterians and Protestants and a key part of their programme was unity between Irish people
of all religions and none in the cause of liberty. Their rebellion in 1798 was ruthlessly suppressed, but their ideas continued to inspire Irish nationalists for over a century and a half.
The separatist strand of Irish nationalism waxed and waned in the 19th Century, enjoying its biggest popular following in the Fenian movement in Ireland and the United States in the late 1850s and 1860s, but by the end of the century, the organized demand for complete separation was almost non-existent.
When Sinn Féin was founded in 1905, Ireland was part of the British Empire at the height of its power. Under the Sinn Féin banner various nationalist organisations came together and demanded the withdrawal of Irish MPs from the Westminister Parliament. This was a time of renewal and growth in Ireland as the Gaelic League, GAA, the Women’s Suffrage Movement and the Trade Union Movement forged a new national consciousness and a new self-confidence among the Irish people.
The Irish Volunteers were founded in 1913 and the Irish Republic was proclaimed in arms in Easter 1916. From 1917 the establishment of the Republic was Sinn Féin’s aim and in 1918 the Republic was endorsed by the vast majority of the electorate of Ireland. Dáil Éireann was established the following year.
The British Government’s response was war and a political plot to partition Ireland. Under the leadership of Sinn Féin the Irish People were united during the Black and Tan War and Ireland’s demand for independence was recognized throughout the world. But that leadership was divided when a section of it supported the Treaty of 1921. Partition, civil war and destruction followed.
The supporters of the Free State left Sinn Féin in 1922 to form Cumann na nGael. In 1926 de Valera left to form Fianna Fáil. Sinn Féin stood firm for the Republic from then until the 1950’s a period during which it was a small organization.
But in the 1950’s Republicanism was back in the public consciousness when it elected TDs and MPs on both sides of the Border. Sinn Féin was involved in forming the Civil Rights Movement in the late 1960’s and another split came in 1969. Sinn Féin stood shoulder to shoulder with the nationalist people of the Six Counties as they endured vicious repression from the British government’s forces, including internment without trial, Bloody Sunday, destruction on the streets and torture in the jails.
A strong party developed in the Six Counties from 1981 onwards and in election after election the Sinn Féin vote climbed higher. The 10 Republican hunger strikers who died that year began a new era. But more struggle and sacrifice was to come. Among the many people on all sides who died were members of Sinn Féin killed by loyalist paramilitaries under the direction of British crown forces.
As part of the development of the Party, the policy of abstention from Leinster House was ended in 1986. In 1992 the document Towards a Lasting Peace in Ireland was published and the Peace Process commenced.
Advancing the Peace Process has been a major priority for the party over the last decade and has involved members the length and breadth of Ireland. But we have also led the way in social and economic Campaigns locally and nationally including successful campaigns against the Nice and Lisbon Treaties, in support of workers rights, decent health services and job creation. We continue to work against the scourge of drugs and anti-social behavior and support many local campaigns such as Corrib gas. In 2009 the party launched a United Ireland taskforce to advance the campaign for Irish re-unification.
In recent years we have also undertaken a major reorganisation to build a modern party, which is fit for purpose. Over the last decade the party entered a period of rapid electoral growth, becoming the largest party in the Six Counties by 2009 and securing elected representatives throughout Ireland. Today Sinn Féin is the third largest party on the island with 14 TD's in Leinster House following the 2011 General Election.
BF.
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