The First Dail
(Click for high res)
Members of Dáil Éireann, which met for the first time on 21 January 1919 in Mansion House in Dublin. International recognition wasn’t easy to win however
Labour Party leader Tom Johnson and Cathal O’Shannon (ITGWU – forerunner of SIPTU) who had voluntarily stood aside during the elections, travelled to the first post-war meeting of the Socialist International in Berne, Switzerland, in January 1919 and made the case for recognition of Irish independence. Following success at Berne, Cathal O’Shannon attended the Trade Union International in Amsterdam in April 1919, where a motion was passed endorsing Irish independence.
The Socialist International and the Trade Union International thus became the first international organisations to endorse Irish independence and recognise the Irish state.
While 73 constituencies were represented 4 of the soon to be TD’s (Arthur Griffith, Eamon DeValera, Liam Mellows and Eoin MacNeill) were elected for 2 constituencies, so there are 69 people on the poster. Double jobbing eh? Twenty-four TDs attended the First Dáil meeting. The remaining were on the run, imprisoned or the one of the 32 MP’s (6 Home rulers, the rest differing types of unionist) who choose not to support the Dail
