Redmond says ‘No’ to conscription for Ireland

London, 9 June 1915 - Rumours that compulsory military service is to be introduced across the United Kingdom were considered at length at the Irish Parliamentary Party meeting in the House of Commons in London yesterday.

The meeting - presided over by party leader John Redmond - saw unanimous support for a motion proposed by John Dillon. That motion made clear that the Irish Parliamentary Party was ‘opposed to compulsory military service’ and that any attempt to introduce it would be met with ‘our vigorous resistance'.

The motion also argued that the existing system of voluntary recruitment had produced magnificent results and that any attempt to undermine it was ‘scandalous and treacherous'.

[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.]