Irish Groups With Views On Home Rule

1. What views did different groups in Ireland have on the issue of Home Rule in the period 1909 – 1914? How did they respond to the introduction of the Third Home Rule Bill in the British Parliament up to the end of 1914? Begin by planning your essay. Your essay should include: An Introduction – an opening statement of two or three sentences that clearly states what the essay is about. A Main Body – a series of sequenced and structured paragraphs, each containing generalisations and supporting evidence. A Conclusion – a brief statement that sums up your answer to both parts of the essay question. The ideas below will help you, but you must add your own knowledge as well. Irish Parliamentary Party Ulster Unionist Party Creation of Paramilitaries Solemn League & Covenant Irish Groups With Views On Home Rule Responses To The Third Home Rule Bill Irish Catholics Irish Protestants Arms Smuggling

2. The I.P.P. wanted Home Rule. They were prepared to support the Liberal Party in the Westminster Parliament and give them the balance of power in British politics in order to secure Home Rule. However most supporters of the I.P.P. were not prepared to use violence. The U.U.P. was formed because Protestants feared that Home Rule would mean an end to their ruling place in society and would lead to a fall in their living standards. They feared that, as a Protestant minority, the Catholic Church would repress them. As a minority party, they exerted their power by voting with the Conservative Party, who were also anti-Home Rule. Irish Parliamentary Party Ulster Unionist Party Irish Groups With Views On Home Rule Irish Catholics Irish Protestants Irish Nationalists wanted an independent Ireland, separate from the British Empire. However, not all of them supported Republican extremists who were prepared to use violence to achieve independence. Many of them looked to Charles Parnell as the uncrowned King of Ireland, until his affair with a married woman led to his fall from grace. The division in Ireland was not solely religious, it was also political. So there were examples of Protestants who wanted independence for Ireland e.g. Wolfe Tone of the United Irishmen. However, most Protestants feared that Home Rule would lead to repression, since they were a minority in the country.

3. The Ulster Volunteers were set up because some Protestants were prepared to use violence to stop Home Rule. They were a group of approx 10,000 men, who undertook military training. The Irish Volunteers were formed to They wanted to “secure and maintain the rights and liberties common to all people of Ireland”. Within a year approx 180,000 had joined this group. Ulster Unionists held demonstrations under the banner “Ulster will fight and Ulster will be right” because they believed that Home Rule meant Rome Rule. They wanted to escape domination by the Catholic Church, and to preserve their links with Britain, on which Ulster relied economically. They therefore organised the 1912 Solemn League & Covenant, in which 470,000 signatories pledged to oppose Home Rule. Creation of Paramilitaries Solemn League & Covenant Responses To The Third Home Rule Bill Arms Smuggling The Ulster Volunteers initially trained with wooden guns, but they were armed with German guns after the 1914 Larne Gun Running Incident. Like the Ulster Volunteers, the Irish Volunteers were equipped with German weapons after the 1914 Howth Gun Running Incident.

4. There were opposing groups concerning Home Rule in this period which created a division between those who wanted to sever ties with Westminster and those who wanted to retain links with Britain. These groups were motivated by self interests such as the desire for independence and the desire to maintain power as a minority group. These groups responded to the issue of Home Rule in a variety of ways, however, perhaps most important was the creation of paramilitary groups.

5. The Irish Parliamentary Party was supportive of Home Rule because their goal was to create an independent Ireland. The I.P.P. saw an opportunity to achieve Home Rule in the Westminster Parliament, since the Liberal Party needed the support of another Party in order to gain a majority. The I.P.P therefore offered their support in return for the installation of Home Rule.

6. The U.U.P formed to oppose Home Rule because they thought that if the Protestant Unionists lost their ruling position there would be a fall in their living standards. The Protestant minority feared that the Catholic Church would repress them, and since they were a minority it was necessary for them to lend their support to the larger Conservative Party in Westminster, who shared their concerns about Home Rule. While the U.U.P. maintained a presence as a political party, those who opposed Home Rule were also represented by the Ulster Unionist Council. Led by Edward Carson this group opposed Home Rule outside the Parliamentary world.

7. Both the I.P.P and Irish Nationalists wanted an independent Ireland free from the British Crown. However, in comparison to the I.P.P. many Irish Nationalists did not feel that Home Rule went far enough because it included the terms of Partition and the Oath of Allegiance. In addition, not all Irish Nationalists supported extremist groups who were prepared to use violence to get Home Rule because not everyone believed that a blood sacrifice was necessary for the sake of independence.

8. The vast majority of Protestants in Ireland wanted to maintain allegiance with the Crown because they believed that Ireland would not be able to cope with Catholics in charge and that Home Rule meant Rome Rule. However, in actuality the division in Ireland was really political rather than entirely religious and there were therefore exceptions such as Wolfe Tone, who was a Protestant from the North who believed that Ireland should be an independent country.

9. The fears of the Ulster Unionists concerning Home Rule were sufficient to motivate them to set up the Ulster Volunteers paramilitary group, which numbered more than 10,000. As a result of the April 1914 Larne Gun Running Incident, these paramilitaries were armed with German guns and ammunition. Conversely, the supporters of Home Rule set up the Irish Volunteers, with the aim of securing the rights and liberties of all Irish people. In a similar way to the Ulster Volunteers, they were also armed with German weapons by July 1914 as a result of the Howth Gun Running incident. The desire for Home Rule was so strong that within a year, 180,000 people had joined this group. However, an even more extreme group than the Irish Volunteers was James Connolly’s Citizens Army, who wanted to link Nationalism and Socialism in order to support the working Irish man.

10. The Ulster Unionists held demonstrations under the banner “Ulster will fight and Ulster will be right” because they feared that, in their own words, “Home Rule would mean Rome Rule”. They were concerned about how the Catholic Church might dominate them as a minority group, however, it was possibly even more important that the Ulster economy relied on trade with Britain and that they needed to maintain that link in order to stay prosperous. As a result of this consideration, they organised the 1912 Solemn League and Covenant. It can be argued that Unionist support for this petition was considerable, since 470,000 people signed their pledge to resist Home Rule.

11. Further complications concerning the issue of Home Rule were apparent in the Curragh Mutiny. The brigade at the Curragh was ordered to search Ulster Volunteer ammunition depots, however, since many of the officers sympathised with the Unionists’ cause and did not support Home Rule they refused to carry out the order. The fact that the British government was forced to back down over this issue, and no searches were ever ordered, is evidence that the Unionist cause was extremely strong.

12. So it can be seen that there were opposing groups concerning Home Rule in this period, some wanting to sever ties with Westminster, while others wanted to retain links with Britain. These groups were motivated by mutually exclusive self interests such as the desire for independence and the desire to maintain power as a minority group. These groups responded to the issue of Home Rule in a variety of ways, however, perhaps most important was the creation of paramilitary groups. Although the outbreak of World War I took the Third Home Rule Bill off the table, these paramilitaries did not cease their fight and they continued to be a catalyst for conflict in the following years.