Irish Government Bill 1886

From Free net encyclopedia

Ireland's first Home Rule Bill was introduced on 8 April 1886 by Liberal Prime Minister William Gladstone. This bill, like his Irish Land Act 1870, was very much his own and had not been thought out in a Cabinet meeting. Its main points were:

• A parliament would be established, consisting of 103 peers elected for a ten year term, while there would be 204 MPs in the lower house.
• All Irish peers and MPs would be excluded from Westminster altogether.
• Britain would still retain control over a range of issues including peace, war, defence, treaties with foreign states, trade and coinage.
• Ulster was considered a part of Ireland and would have a minority voice in the parliament.
• Britain would retain control of the Royal Irish Constabulary until it deemed it safe for control to pass to Dublin.

When the bill was introduced Charles Stewart Parnell had mixed reactions, he said that it had great faults but was prepared to vote for it. In his famous Irish Home Rule speech, Gladstone beseeched parliament to pass the Bill and grant Home Rule to Ireland in honour rather than being compelled to one day in humiliation.

The vote took place after two months of debating and, on 8 June 1886, 341 voted against it (including 93 Liberals) while 311 voted for it. Parliament was dissolved on 26 June and the UK general election, 1886 was called.

See also

• Charles Stewart Parnell
• Irish Home Rule Bill 1893 (Second Irish Home Rule Bill)
• Government of Ireland Act 1914 (Third Irish Home Rule Bill)
• Government of Ireland Act 1920 (Fourth Irish Home Rule Bill)
• History of Ireland (1801–1922)

Further reading

• Robert Kee, The Green Flag: A History of Irish Nationalism
  (2000 edition, first published 1972), ISBN 0140291652.
• Alvin Jackson, HOME RULE, an Irish History 1800-2000, (2003),
  ISBN 0 75381 767 5.
• Thomas Hennessey, Dividing Ireland, World War 1 and Partition, 1998,
  ISBN 0-415-17420-1.