Irish exclusion from conscription is ‘a national disgrace’

Westminster, 5 January 1916 - The decision by the British Cabinet to exclude Ireland from compulsory military service that is to be applied across Britain has been bitterly condemned by Unionists.

A meeting of Unionist MPs in the House of Commons was chaired by Sir Edward Carson and passed a motion saying that the exclusion of Ireland was ‘an insult and humiliation to the loyal and patriotic population of the country, and an abandonment of the principle of equality of sacrifice in time of war on the part of His Majesty’s subjects in the United Kingdom’.

The Executive Committee of the Irish Unionist Alliance had earlier unanimously adopted a motion claiming that any decision to exclude Ireland from conscription would be ‘a national disgrace’.

The Irish Unionist Alliance went on to say that there should be no differentiation between Ireland and any other part of the United Kingdom is this matter.

Initial drafts of the Military Service Bill had included Ireland but were met with extensive lobbying by the Irish Parliamentary Party, which has repeatedly confirmed its absolute rejection of conscription.

Ultimately, the arguments of Mr. Redmond and his colleagues swayed the government to exclude Ireland from the Bill.

[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.]