Finna Fail Governments From 1932-1959

Fianna Fail or the Republican Party was established on March 23, 1926. It adopted its name on April 2 of the same year. Its founder Eamon de Valera had served as Prime Minister & President of the Dail Eireann (April 1919 – August 1921) and President of the Republic (August 1921 – January 1922). His resignation was precipitated by his disagreement with Sinn Fein regarding elements of Anglo-Irish Treaty that created the Irish Free State. He led anti-treaty Sinn Fein during the ensuing Irish Civil War (1922-1923). He left Sinn Fein and formed Fianna Fail which although anti treaty adopted a more pragmatic approach to republic efforts rather than simply ignore the real progress already made.

Fianna Fail literally means Warriors of Ireland. The new party was more than a spin off of Sinn Fein. It was a pragmatic application of the process of democracy. It was more an evolution than a revolution. A main philosophical disagreement between the two parties was the Oath of Allegiance and how to address its application and removal. In the 1927, elections Fianna Fail out polled Sinn Fein to become the main opposition in the Dail. In 1932 De Valera’s party won 77 seats to become majority.  De Valera adopted a protectionist economic policy and expanded social welfare provisions which won him the support of the Labour Party. Fianna Fail announced its intention to pursue a republican agenda, remove the Oath of Allegiance from the Free State Constitution and eliminate the position of Governor General. The Fianna Fail platform advocated; the cessation of appeal from Irish Courts of Law to the British Privy Council, ending partition, regaining control of Irish ports and the promotion of rapid industrialization. De Valera’s party had been vaguely connected to the IRA violence of the post Civil War and now intentionally distanced themselves from the revolutionary cloak in favor of a clearly more democratic agenda.  

When De Valera took control of the Dail he immediately introduced a bill to remove the Oath of Allegiance and to remove the right of appeal to the British Privy Council. After the largely Cosgravian Senate’s veto expired, both issues became law. The office of Governor General was pragmatically ignored into non existence.

From the time Fianna Fail took control of the Dail, the land annuity payments to Britain were discontinued. These funds were the result of the Land Act. The annuity was the payment of tenant farmers for land purchases guaranteed by the British government.