TheIrish Race Conventions were a disconnected series ofconventions held byIrish nationalists. The majority were held in the United States and supported byIrish-American organisations, but others were held in Australia, Argentina, and France. Most related to theIrish Home Rule movement, but the two most recent conventions – in 1947 and 1994 – dealt with issues relating toNorthern Ireland.
In 1880,Charles Stewart Parnell had visited Chicago and the American branch of theIrish National Land League was established there. The first Irish Race Convention was held on 30 November – 2 December 1881, following aClan na Gael convention in August. It covered the recent emerging links between the more violent groups, such as theFenians, theLand League and the growingIrish Home Rule movement that was led by Parnell.[1] Organised byJohn F. Finerty, and attended by Home Rule MPsT. P. O'Connor andTim Healy, the convention's Home Rule Fund had soon raised $500,000.[2]
John Finerty listed a convention at Philadelphia, where the main business was establishing local branches of the American branch of the Irish National League.[3] Alexander Sullivan of Chicago was elected President, and Finerty was elected that year for the predominantly IrishIllinois's 2nd congressional district.
By 1896, two Home Rule Bills had been defeated in theLondon parliament, and the Home Rule movement had split over its support for Parnell. AConservative andLiberal Unionist coalition was in power, both being firmly opposed to Home Rule. The main purpose of the convention was to try to re-unite theRedmond andDillon factions that had divided theIrish Parliamentary Party in 1890.[4]
Archbishop Walsh ofToronto had said: "Let a great National Convention be held in Dublin, composed of chosen representatives of the clergy and people of Ireland and of an advisory representation of the Irish race abroad."John Dillon on behalf of the INF replied: "That this party approves of the suggestion made by the Archbishop of Toronto in favour of a National Convention representative of the Irish race throughout the world."[5]
Pope Leo XIII sent a blessing inLatin: "Sanctissimus, bonum spirituale et temporale Hibernorum exoptans, finem dissensionum precatur".[6] The convention thanked him profusely: "The Irish Race Convention begs to express its profound gratitude to the Holy Father (i.e., the Pope) for his most kind and salutary message, which all the delegates receive as a signal favour, and as the happiest augury of peace."
A number of practical resolutions followed, primarily on the progress ofland ownership reform. Eventually the Irish Parliamentary Party did reunite in 1900, chaired by Redmond, and achieved the enactment of theHome Rule Act 1914, but this was suspended for the duration of the First World War.
The Chairman of the 1916 convention wasJohn W. Goff.[7] Comprising 2,300 delegates at theHotel Astor, was held six weeks before theEaster Rising, and considered the division between the Home Rule parties and the more militant nationalists. The Rising would be supported by Clan na Gael, but other members remained hopeful that the1914 Home Rule Act, which had been passed but suspended during World War I, might work.[8]
A majority at the convention supported the American policy ofneutrality during the war, and were opposed to any alliance with Britain.Woodrow Wilson won the1916 United States presidential election with help from Irish-Americans and his campaign slogan: "He kept us out of War".
An important result was the formation of the "Friends of Irish Freedom" that worked as a co-ordinating body to support: "... the independence of Ireland, the industrial development of Ireland, the use and sale of Irish products, and to revive Irish culture."
Held on 18–19 May, and organised by the Friends for Irish Freedom, this convention looked forward to the end of the world war, in which America was now an ally of Britain.[9] The convention therefore had the difficult task of steering between its support for militant groups such asSinn Féin, which was opposed toBritish rule in Ireland, and proclaiming the loyalty of Irish-Americans to the USA. America had enactedconscription in 1917, but the IrishConscription Crisis of 1918 had recently arisen, unifying most nationalist parties in Ireland.
In America, theHindu German Conspiracy Trial had just ended, revealing the link between Clan na Gael and the defendants. Public relations and selecting the convention chairman were therefore unusually important. This also caused an immediate division betweenJohn Devoy, who proposed the moderate Father Hurton, being mindful of the "hostile press", andHanna Sheehy-Skeffington andJim Larkin who proposed the more combativeJohn Forrest Kelly.[10] The convention ended with an address byJudge Goff to President Wilson, which was considered to be mild and conciliatory: "to take such measures as are best calculated to bring about the independence of Ireland".
Joseph McGarrity helped organize this convention which was held on 22–23 February, with over 5,000 delegates.[11] The convention discussed the success ofSinn Féin in the1918 general election, the declaration in January of theIrish Republic in Dublin, and the hope that America would support Irish participation at the forthcomingParis peace conference. The principle ofself-determination at article 5 in Wilson'sFourteen Points was expected to apply to Ireland. Much mention was made of the bravery of the"Fighting 69th" in the war. The hero of the hour was the American-born Irish republican leaderÉamon de Valera.
The convention appointed the American Commission on Irish Independence to go to Europe to lobby and secure a hearing at the peace conference for Irelands case for independence; its members wereFrank P. Walsh,Edward Fitzsimmons Dunne, andMichael J. Ryan.[12][13] In the event, Irish participation at Paris was excluded, Woodrow Wilson refused his support, and in retaliation Irish pressure groups refused to vote as usual for theDemocratic Party in the1920 United States presidential election, partially causingHarding's victory.
A fund-raising drive by the Friends of Irish Freedom (FOIF) to sell bonds issued by the Irish Republic eventually raised over $5m., but disputes arose over the management of the money. The FOIF was led by John Devoy andJudge Cohalan (a judge of theNew York Supreme Court), and believed that a sophisticated and conciliatory approach would ensure the best diplomatic support for Ireland at the Paris conference. De Valera and other Irish delegates expected the FOIF to demand and secure immediate recognition by the USA of the Irish Republic. A division on policy arose, Sinn Féin tried unsuccessfully to reform the FOIF and severed mutual links in October 1920.
In turn, the FOIF PresidentBishop Gallagher called de Valera a "foreign potentate", andBishop Turner referred to him as the "Pancho Villa of Ireland".[14] Membership of the FOIF soon declined from over 100,000 to less than 20,000.
Held on 3 November 1919, this firstAustralian convention was chaired byThomas Ryan KC, the Labor partyPremier of Queensland.Archbishop Mannix read out messages he had exchanged withArthur Griffith, and supported the Irish claim to sovereignty.Archbishop Redwood ofNew Zealand also attended.Monsignor Curran estimated that 1,000 delegates were present, and that the Irish "block vote" was then about 23% of the electorate.[15]
In 1921,Laurence Ginnell was sent to organise a smaller convention in Buenos Aires,Argentina. The effect was to link up with the expatriate Irish there, and to demonstrate the world-wide scope of the nationalist movement.[16]
In January 1922, the convention had to consider theAnglo-Irish Treaty that had just been ratified and which divided nationalist opinion. It was held in Paris to emphasise Ireland's emerging status as an independent state to the rest of Europe. The proposedIrish Free State was to be created in December 1922.[17][18]The body organising the convention was namedFine Ghaedheal (Irish for 'Family of theGael')[19] which was to be made permanent and to be funded by theformative Irish government.
The Irish delegation was supposed to represent "the Irish people", but this comprised senior members of Sinn Féin who were for and against the treaty. Debate on the treaty turned on the definition of whether or not the treaty embodied Ireland's "full" right to independence. Those against the treaty said not; those in favour said it was a significant step towards full independence.[20]
The Chair, Rev. Dr. O'Reilly was perplexed: "... at first he had not been able to understand how the word 'full' could be political, but he had now been enlightened by the speeches ofMr. de Valera's supporters." The Very Rev. T. J. Shanley said that Americans would still continue to help Ireland, and that: "... I am going back to America for one purpose and one alone, to go on the public platform to ask for money – and I'm going to get it – for guns and munitions to send to the men in Ireland who are prepared to carry out that fight for Ireland's absolute independence (Applause)."[21]
The outcome was a rare moral victory for de Valera's anti-treaty followers; the seven-men executive committee had four of his nominees, while the pro-treaty side only had one of its candidates elected,Eoin MacNeill.[22]
MacNeill deplored that: "... the undertaking obtained from Mr. de Valera that party politics should not be introduced into the Congress, and that its funds and machinery would not be applied to party purposes has already been violated in one important particular, and that the undertaking in which Mr. de Valera and his nominees went to Paris as part of the official Irish Delegation was violated by them."[23]
In March 1922, de Valera proposed that theSecond Dáil provide a £5000 loan to Fine Ghaedheal.[24] A Dáilspecial committee considered the matter and reported in June, recommending a loan.[25] The Dáil voted to accept the report without the loan.[25]
By this stage theIrish Free State was effectively a republic, and had remainedneutral in World War II. The main issue in 1947 was to end thepartition of Ireland.[26][27]
America was supporting Britain through theMarshall Aid plan, and the solution was to make this aid conditional upon the end of partition.CongressmanJohn E. Fogarty was the main mover. On 29 March 1950, he proposed theFogarty Resolution as a part of the Marshall Plan Foreign Aid Bill, arguing thatNorthern Ireland was costing Britain $150,000,000 annually, and that American financial support for Britain was thereby prolonging the partition of Ireland. On 27 September 1951, Fogarty's resolution was defeated inCongress by 206 votes to 139, with 83 abstaining – a factor that swung some votes against his motion was that Ireland had remained neutral during World War II.[28]
The Irish Race Convention that was held at the Jacob Javits Center in New York on June 11, 1994 was initially conceived by Gerry McGeough, an Irish Republican from Co Tyrone.McGeough, who had been extradited from Germany to the United States in May 1992 on foot of charges from 1982 relating to the procurement of weapons for use by the IRA against the British in the North of Ireland, had been released on bail within weeks of his arrival in the US and immediately set about speaking and organizing on behalf of the Irish Republican cause among Irish-Americans. He joined the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) at this time and worked closely on Irish and Catholic issues with many of its prominent members, including Vic Sackett from Long Island.The plans for an Irish Race Convention in the tradition of those that had taken place over the previous generations, began to fully crystalize in the summer of 1993 and an umbrella group, the Irish American Movement (IAM) was formed.The IAM’s primary role was to facilitate meetings involving a wide spectrum of Irish-American organizations as well as plan and fundraise for the Convention itself.On September 15 of that year, McGeough and New York-based Catholic activist Kathleen O’Callaghan arranged for a special Mass to be said in St Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan for the intentions of Irish Unity. More than 2,000 people packed into the cathedral for the occasion, which was seen as a preliminary move ahead of the actual Convention and the huge turnout indicative of the growing interest in the event. (Citation: Irish Echo)Over the coming months, the IAM continued to organize and prepare a program of events for the Convention. Delegates from numerous countries with significant Irish populations, including Argentina and Australia were invited to participate.The IAM drew up a resolution, which was to be passed at the Convention, fixed for June 11, 1994. The wording of the resolution was as follows:"We, the children of the Irish Diaspora, demand that Britain set a date for withdrawal from our ancestral homeland so that Ireland may exercise its right to be a sovereign and independent nation."The intention of the resolution was that once passed it would be presented as a joint aspiration of all Irish-American organizations under the auspices of the IAM to political candidates in U.S. elections for their endorsement in exchange for political support.Several prominent American Congressmen from both the Republican and Democratic parties pledged to attend the Convention.On Easter Monday, April 4, 1994, Gerry McGeough began a three year prison sentence for the earlier weapons charges and was no longer directly involved in the preparations for the Convention.By this time, however, a strong committee had been formed, which, under the guidance of Vic Sackett brought the Convention to fruition.In recognition of the event, New York City designated June 11 as Irish Race Convention Day.
Executive Committee and Dedication[1]
Irish Echo Article April 1994https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=2&ik=aa14da0d6b&attid=0.1&permmsgid=msg-a:r-4225797634069041231&view=att&disp=safe&realattid=f_lx6cqsq40
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