Tipperary TD Mattie McGrath speaks at commemoration to mark 100th anniversary of First Dail

Tipperary TD Mattie McGrath spoke today at the commemoration to mark the centenary of the first day.

And he used the occasion to say that the present Dail has lost the nobility of its original vision and is little more than an exercise in rubber stamping the decisions of the Executive.

He said –  It is my great privilege to speak here today as we gather to celebrate and recall the first meeting of Dáil Eireann.

It is an even greater privilege for me to serve the people of Tipperary in Dáil Éireann 100 years on from the momentous events of Soloheadbeg which were so honourably commemorated yesterday.

It is indeed an honourable history, born of struggle and long endured sacrifice by countless people. It was a moment in which we chose to define ourselves by embracing an international, outward looking vision of democracy. We managed to do so while losing nothing of the distinctiveness and value of our Irish heritage.

As The Declaration of Independence (Forógra na Saoirse) adopted by Dáil Éireann at its first meeting made clear:  “We claim for our national independence the recognition and support of every free nation in the world, and we proclaim that independence to be a condition precedent to international peace hereafter.”

We know that the historical context of this declaration was the devastation of the First World War where the lives of millions had been annihilated and where it is estimated that at least 40,000 Irish soldiers lost their lives. Despite this catastrophe, our leaders at the time were men and women who were deeply confident and hopeful about the future. That was born from an intimate knowledge of the Irish people and the strength of their character.

That strength and that resilience are still there despite all of the trauma we as a people have endured. The dark tragedy of the Northern Conflict, the collapse of the economy and the ongoing scandal that is afflicting hundreds of thousands of families with respect to health and housing.

It is on occasions such as these that we need to reassess how much we have achieved in terms of the original and inspiring vision proclaimed during the exciting times of the First Dáil. Can we really say that the commitment to democracy is still as strong as it should be at institutional level?

It is hard to see how that can be the case when we have seen the abolition of local democratic structures such as Town and Borough Councils. These are not democratic luxuries unrelated to the high romanticism of our early history.

The First Dáil had a clear vision that the people were at the heart of the democratic process. We have certainly moved away from that in practice if not in theory. For all of our modern means of communication, a significant number of our citizens feel disconnected to the State, and unheard by those in power.

At the local level, contact is being made more difficult. While at the national level the perception is growing that the Dáil itself, more than 100 years later has lost the nobility of its original vision and is little more than an exercise in rubber stamping the decisions of the Executive.

Our Declaration of Independence, Forógra na Saoirse, makes it clear that:  “The elected Representatives of the Irish people alone have power to make laws binding on the people of Ireland, and that the Irish Parliament is the only Parliament to which that people will give its allegiance.” Even if that has been legitimately redefined with our accession to the European Union, there is still a sense in which that principle is being ignored or diminished. 

Our Parliament is too often cajoled or pushed, however diplomatically, into adopting positions formulated by international bodies or even other national parliaments that seem to pay little or no heed to democratic sovereignty or autonomy.

It is my hope that we never forget this most important point: we are the servants of the people.

Let us work to recapture some of the truly and authentically democratic spirit of that great and glorious First Dáil.