Ireland to get two home rule parliaments
A ‘freakish constitution.. that nobody wants’
London, 11 December 1919 - After a home rule campaign that has been running since the 1870s, it appears that Ireland is to get not one, but two parliaments of its own, one for Ulster and one for the rest of the island.
This is according to the proposals currently being discussed by a special cabinet committee. They are yet to be presented to the House of Commons but much of the detail is already known and has been circulating widely in the press.
A Supreme Council, presided over by the Lord Lieutenant or the Chief Secretary, will be established comprising members from the two parliaments. The control of the police will be vested in the Council, which may also have control over customs, though it is believed that this has not been settled upon. Naval and military affairs will meanwhile remain the responsibility of the Westminster parliament.
It is understood that the measures provided will secure the approval of Ulster unionists. Sinn Féin will, in contrast, likely refuse to accept the measure and may advise the Irish people not to take part in any elections held under it.
The Irish Independent has today described the proposals as a ‘freakish constitution suitable only for exhibition in the museums of the world.’ The paper continued that a ‘little island of less than four and a half millions of a population is to be given two parliaments – an arrangement which nobody wants.’
Earlier this week, the Prime Minister David Lloyd George, raised expectations that a proposal to break the Irish constitutional impasse was pending when he delivered a speech at the Manchester Reform Club, saying: ‘I hope to make a real contribution towards settling that most baffling of problems’.
[Editor's note: This is an article from Century Ireland, a fortnightly online newspaper, written from the perspective of a journalist 100 years ago, based on news reports of the time.]
