By: Piper Davenport

Beginning in 1919, one year following the end of the Great War, the Irish Republican Army declared war on Great Britain seeking its independence and sparking the Anglo-Irish War. The Irish Revolutionary Dáil works as a small collective to support the war efforts in the face of food shortages and impending British attacks. What is most striking about these individuals is their single minded motivation to gain independence which allows them to pass multiple different directives simultaneously. Their plans are enhanced through mutual collaboration and open minded debate. When disagreement arises it is handled with efficiency, a cornerstone of their conversations as though they fear that disaster is imminent.

To solve the issue of food shortages the committee unanimously passed a directive entitled: Fishy Business. This directive allocated £33,300,000 to build 333 new fisheries, each being allotted 500 acres. The Ministry of Fisheries set aside 150,000,000 pounds of fish per year to be bought and consumed by the Irish people and left the remaining 6/7 to be used for trade. The following year, 1920, Sean Etchinham proposed, and again passed unanimously, a follow up directive which moved the profits of the new fisheries to other branches of government as needed to support the war effort. This directive renames the Ministry of Fisheries to include “Food Trade”; the last clause also empowers Etchingham to control the new body. There was relatively little debate on the passing of either directive though another delegate made a friendly amendment which denationalized the fisheries after the war, thus stimulating the new economy and ending the government monopoly over fishing.

Another directive passed concurrently with Fishy Business +, the second iteration of the aforementioned directive, was the Directive for Local Government. A short directive that passed unanimously, Local Government empowered town leaders to decide certain aspects of the domestic economy, subsequently relieving the IRA of a significant portion of its workload.

 A busy year for the revolution, 1920, the committee was made aware of a failed assasination attempt on the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Recognising their delicate position with Northern Ireland the Dáil decided it was pertinent that they release a press statement clarifying that though they can understand the passions of their citizens the attack was in no way condoned by the Irish government. In the statement penned by Laurnece Ginnell the Dáil made their position clear, both on the British and violence of the assassins clear, stating that, “We are above the petty squabbles of the British-- the politicking, the obscenity, and the complete incompetence of their parliamentary process-- as well as their prolificacy of their political terror regime,” (Press Release #3). 

The looming threat of an attack of the British Navy, notably one of the strongest in the world, colored much of the debate of committee sessions. The conclusion arrived at by the delegates can be summarized by George Plunketts ironic rhyme that “‘We are never going to win this war outright, we just need to wear down their resources so that they are unable to justify the cost of the fight’”. To follow through on this plan the delegates resolved to invest in a Navy composed of majority small fast ships to protect the fisheries, and quickly move people around the island, as well as some coastal batteries. Both will be used for solely defensive maneuvers as the Irish forces move their characteristic guerrilla warfare onto the open water. In addition to naval maneuvers there was expressed interest, and debate over, investing in either submarines or land artillery which has been a proven success. The war is quickly changing and in their typical fashion the Dáil must work with efficiency to outlast the British forces.