Ireland: The Politics of Independence, 1922–49 Also by Mike Cronin SPORT AND NATIONALISM IN IRELAND: Gaelic Games, Soccer and Irish Identity since 1884 THE BLUESHIRTS AND IRISH POLITICS THE FAILURE OF BRITISH FASCISM: The Far Right and the Fight for Political Recognition (editor) Also by John M. Regan THE IRISH COUNTER-REVOLUTION 1921–36: Treatyite Politics and Settlement in Independent Ireland Ireland: The Politics of Independence, 1922–49 Edited by Mike Cronin Senior Research Fellow De Montfort University Leicester and John M. Regan Research Fellow Wolfson College Oxford First published in Great Britain 2000 by MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world Acatalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978-0-333-72051-6 ISBN 978-0-230-53569-5 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230535695 First published in the United States of America 2000 by ST. MARTIN’S PRESS, INC., Scholarly and Reference Division, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 ISBN 978-0-333-72051-6 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ireland : the politics of independence, 1922–49 / edited by Mike Cronin and John M. Regan. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Ireland—Politics and government—1922–1949. I. Cronin, Mike. II. Regan, John (John M.) DA963.I735 1999 641.5082'2—dc21 99–40610 CIP Selection, editorial matter and Chapter 1 ©Mike Cronin and John M. Regan 2000 Chapter 3 ©John M. Regan 2000 Chapter 8 ©Mike Cronin 2000 Chapters 2, 4–7, 9–10 ©Macmillan Press Ltd 2000 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2000 978-0-333-72050-9 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P0LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00 Contents Abbreviations vii Notes on the Contributors viii 1 Introduction: Ireland and the Politics of Independence 1922–49, New Perspectives and Re-considerations 1 John M. Regan and Mike Cronin 2 Ireland’s Last Home Rule Generation: The Decline of Constitutional Nationalism in Ireland, 1916–30 13 Senia Paseta 3 The Politics of Utopia: Party Organisation, Executive Autonomy and the New Administration 32 John M. Regan 4 The Enigma of Fianna Fáil: Party Strategy, Social Classes and the Politics of Hegemony 67 Richard Dunphy 5 Socialist Republicanism in Independent Ireland, 1922–49 84 Richard English 6 The Unpopular Front: Catholic Revival and Irish Cultural Identity, 1932–48 98 Susannah Riordan 7 Social Catholicism and the Social Question in Independent Ireland: The Challenge to the Fiscal System 121 Finín O’ Driscoll 8 Golden Dreams, Harsh Realities: Economics and Informal Empire in the Irish Free State 144 Mike Cronin 9 New Ireland, Old Empire and the Outside World, 1922–49: The Strange Evolution of a ‘Dictionary Republic’ 164 Donal Lowry v vi Contents 10 Trinity College Dublin and the New Political Order 217 Pauric Dempsey Index 233 Abbreviations BL British Library CAI Cork Archive Institute NAI National Archive of Ireland, Dublin NLI National Library of Ireland, Dublin PRO Public Record Office, Kew TCDL Trinity College Dublin Library UCDA University College Dublin Archives vii This page intentionally left blank Notes on the Contributors Mike Cronin is Senior Research Fellow in History at De Montfort University, Leicester. He is the author of The Blueshirts and Irish Politics (Four Courts Press, 1997), Sport and Nationalism in Ireland: Gaelic Games, Soccer and Identity (Four Courts Press, 1999) and editor of The Failure of British Fascism. The Far Right and the Fight for Political Recognition (Macmillan, 1996). Pauric Dempseyis a doctoral student in the School of Modern History, Queen’s University, Belfast, and researcher with the Dictionary of Irish Biographybased at the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin. Richard Dunphy is Senior Lecturer in Political Science and Social Policy at the University of Dundee. He is the author of The Making of Fianna Fail Power in Ireland (Oxford University Press, 1995) and has published widely in edited volumes and academic journals on Irish and European political culture. Richard English is Reader in Politics at Queen’s University, Belfast. He is the author of Radicals and the Republic: Socialist Republicanism in the Irish Free State 1925–37 (Oxford University Press, 1995) and of Ernie O’Malley: IRA Intellectual(Oxford University Press, 1998). Donal Lowry is Senior Lecturer in History at Oxford Brookes University. He has published widely on aspects of the connections between Ireland and the British Empire. He is the editor of The South African War(Manchester University Press, 1999). Finín O’ Driscoll studied history at University College Cork and is a doctoral student at Wolfson College, Cambridge. Senia Paseta is a Fellow of St Hughes College, Oxford. She was for- mally the Irish Government Senior Scholar at Hertford College, Oxford, and a Junior Research Fellow at Merton College, Oxford. She has written Before the Revolution: Nationalism, Social Change and Ireland’s Catholic Élite 1879–1992(Cork University Press, 1999). John M. Regan is a Research Fellow at Wolfson College, Oxford. He was formally the Irish Government Senior Scholar at Hertford College, Oxford, and a holder of a British Academy post-doctoral fellow at ix