L.O . / 770 National University of Ireland St. Patrick's College, Maynooth LAND PURCHASE POLICY IN IRELAND, 1917-23: From the Irish convention to the 1923 land act by JOSEPH THOMAS SHEEHAN B.A. THESIS FOR THE DEGREE OF M.A. DEPARTMENT OF MODERN HISTORY, ST. PATRICK'S COLLEGE, MAYNOOTH HEAD OF DEPARTMENT : Professor R.V. Comerford Supervisor of Research : Professor R.V. Comerford August 1993. When the Irish convention met in 1917. it set im a land purchase sub­ committee under the chairmanship of Lord Anthony McDonnell. Having examined the financial arrangements of previous legislation, as outlined in Chapter One. it came to the conclusion that these acts had failed, to complete lands purchase because the interest rates of the land stock used were set too Low. The committee then drew up a plan for the completion of land purchase, which involved three basic principles, described in Chapter Two. All tenanted holdings were to be automatica 1 ly vested, in the tenants, if thev did not require modification. All untenanted land in congested districts was to vest in the CDB, for the relief of congestion, and an automatic method of fixing the price of land, was included to expedite the process. These proposals were included in the 1920 land bill which never became law. Meanwhile, agrarian unrest had become widespread, in the west after 1918. Chapter Three explains how the Dai 1 was forced to intervene, and. hew the Land Bank and. the Land. Settlement Commission did some useful short term work . but thev had limited resources and had little long, term effectiveness. Chapter Four details how the Free State government signed an agreement in February 1923, which settled the questions of liabilities for annuities, ■ excess stock and. bonus. It also included a promise bv the British to guarantee new Free State land stock- on condition tha.t thev approved the legislation. Patrick Hogan. Minister for Agriculture, realised the political danger and. told, a land lord-tenant conference that this credit was been given without anv conditions, so the agreement had to be kept a secret. Chapter Five relates the process bv which the 1923 land, bill was formulated, by Hogan, It adopted the basic principles of the Irish convention's proposals, although the details were altered, considerably.. The 1923 bill was not as generous to the landlords, but it was more generous than some would, have wished. The 1923 land act, as it became, wa.s the act that completed land purchase, and. finally removed, the landlord from Ireland. TABLE OF CONTENTS Pacte Acknowledgements : v . Abbreviations: vii. Introduction: 1. Chapter One: 17. The land purchase sub-committee of the Irish convention. The problems of pending and completed sales. Chapter Two: 45. The land purchase sub-committee of the Irish convention. The completion of land purchase. Chapter Three: 77. Land purchase, 1919-21. The land policies of Dail Eireann. Chapter Four: 92. Transfer and takeover. The administration of land purchase in the Free State. Chapter Five: 111. The 1923 land act. Conclusion: 141. Notes to Introduction: 152. Notes to Chapter One: 153. Notes to Chapter Two: 155. Notes to Chapter Three: 157 . Notes to Chapter Four: 159. Notes to Chapter Five: 161. Notes to Conclusion: 163 . Bibliography: 164. i i i TO MY PARENTS iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The writing of a thesis brings one on a rapid learning curve as to the possibilities and the practicalities of historical research. In my case, no one has contributed more to this process than Professor R.V. Comerford, whom I have been very fortunate to have had as my supervisor. That he should have guided my efforts with accomplished skill was only to be expected, but that he should have also done so with genuine interest and encouragement, not to mention patience, was a source of immense benefit to a student who was all too often unsure of himself. The Department of History, St. Patrick's College, Maynooth, must be one of the most congenial atmospheres for work that could possibly be found. From the time I was a first year undergraduate to the present day, I have always been made to feel welcome by its staff. From my fellow postgraduate students, I have received nothing but friendship, encouragement and plenty of sound advice. I have been treated with unfailing courtesy in any library or archive in which I have studied; the principal ones being the National Archives, the National Library and the John Paul II Library. Man does not live by history alone, and I owe a great deal to my friends at home, in Dublin, and here in Maynooth. My family deserve a special mention. Marelen has read v this thesis in full, and any errors of grammar or abuses of style are entirely due to my own stubbornness. Marelen and Mel have provided me with sustenance, both literally and methaphorically, ever since I came to Maynooth five years ago, but especially over the last three months. Finally, I come to my parents. I can do nothing more than dedicate this work to them. It is a poor repayment, but I hope that they will accept it in the spirit in which it is offered. To all of the above, and to those whom I may have inadvertently neglected, I offer my very sincere gratitude. v i Abbreviations N.A. National Archives, Dublin I.e.P. Irish convenion papers, 1917-18, Papers of Erskine Childers I.C. Irish convention series, [Numbering of papers considered by convention; for internal use only] v i i INTRODUCTION In 1868, there was great uncertainty in British political circles. The parliamentary reform act that had been passed the previous year had greatly increased the size of the electorate and had —alteredthe shapeofmany constituencies, so that no one could predict how this new electorate would vote. This reform act had been the product of an unusual alliance between the Conservatives, who were in a minority position in the house of commons, and the more radical elements of the Liberal Party. Once reform had been passed, this alliance was unlikely to last very long, but Gladstone, as leader of the Liberals, could not afford to take that chance. He needed to find a truly 'liberal' issue that would crystallise the division between Liberals and Conservatives, and bring the radicals back on side. The issue he picked on was the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland. Having first brought down the government on a parliamentary vote on the issue, he proceeded to turn disestablishment into his 'single issue' for the triumphant general election campaign of that year. On election, Gladstone succeeded in having the Irish Church Act, 1869, passed by parliament. This act, which disestablished the Church of Ireland and severed all legal connections between church and state in Ireland, was rightly regarded as a landmark in the constitutional history of both 1 Britain and Ireland. Although disestablishment was the main principle of the act and disendowment of church property the part that most attracted public attention, there is another reason why this act is deserving of an honoured place in Irish history. In fact, it was an almost unintended byproduct of the act that was to have the most far-reaching effects for the future. The act stipulated that tenants of church lands were to be given the option of purchasing their holdings from the Church Temporalities Commission, which had taken control of those lands that were no longer used directly by the church. By 1880, over 6,600 tenants had taken advantage of this opportunity, paying a quarter of the price in cash immediately, and paying the rest of the purchase money at an annual rate of 4%.'*' While the details and the numbers availing of this offer may seem insignificant, the principle involved certainly ***does not. This was the principle of peasant proprietorship. In 1870, Gladstone returned to his 'mission to pacify Ireland' and turned his attention to the problems arising from the Irish system of land tenure. Deasy's act of 1860 had declared that the legal relationship between landlord and tenant went no deeper than that of parties to a contract of land use in return for rent. This classically free market doctrine left the tenant without any rights to his holding and made eviction a much simpler procedure for the landlord. In trying to redress the balance, Gladstone had to tread warily, as there were many landowners in Britain who feared that any radical alteration in Irish land law might 2 subsequently be transported across the Irish Sea. The Ulster custom, also known as tenant right or free sale, was to be given full legal standing in those areas where it was already in operation. Tenants evicted for reasons other than for non-payment of rent, were to be compensated for disturbance of occupancy while, all evicted tenants were to receive compensation for improvements that had been made on their holdings. This was a tacit admission that the tenant did indeed have a legal interest in his holding. As with the Irish church act, the provisions for land purchase were but a minor part of the act. The Bright clause allowed tenants to borrow two thirds of the price, which was to be repaid over 35 years at 5%. While only 877 tenants purchased their land under this act, the political acceptability of peasant proprietorship was being consolidated. 2 Drafting inadequacies and hostile interpretation by the courts meant that, in practical terms, the 1870 act was a failure. When the country was at the height of the land war a decade later, Gladstone responded with, in addition to coercion, a much bolder piece of legislation.