Irish Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence (Irish: Forógra na Saoirse, French: Déclaration d'Indépendance) was a document adopted by Dáil Éireann, the revolutionary parliament of the Irish Republic, at its first meeting in the Mansion House, Dublin, on 21 January 1919. It followed from the Sinn Féin election manifesto of December 1918. Texts of the declaration were adopted in three languages: Irish, English and French.

The Irish Republic claimed jurisdiction over the whole island of Ireland. The declaration made no mention of the independence of the 32-county geographic island, just the independence of the 'Irish nation' or 'Irish people'. It was rivalled by the British administration of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, but as the Irish War of Independence went on it increased its legitimacy in the eyes of most Irish people. It was taken over by the Irish Free State in 1922, after the Anglo-Irish Treaty.

Under international law the declaration satisfied the principle of the "declarative theory of statehood", but in 1919 almost all states followed the "constitutive theory of statehood", and therefore did not recognise the Irish Republic.

By the Declaration of Independence the Dáil ratified the earlier Proclamation of the Irish Republic of Easter 1916. This proclamation had not been adopted by an elected body but merely by the Easter rebels claiming to act in the name of the Irish people. Unlike the proclamation, the Declaration of Independence was followed by the establishment of some de facto political organs. In its crucial line the declaration pronounced that:

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