The quest for sovereignty in Ireland

A weak and dependent economy blocked from economic development

Éamon de Valera (1882-1975).  Commander in Easter Rising of 1916, President of Sinn Féin, leader of Anti-Treaty faction, founder of Fianna Fáil, principal author of Constitution of 1937, head of state during the Fianna Fáil government of Irish Free State/Ireland, President of Ireland (ceremonial, honorific office) from 1957 to 1973.  (Source: Wikipedia)

     As I reviewed in my commentary on “The creation of the Irish Free State” of November 10, the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 2022 created the Irish Free State as a dominion in the British Empire.  And it partitioned the island, permitting six counties in the northeast to form a separate state of Northen Island.  The 2022 Treaty provoked division in Sinn Féin, the principal political party which had emerged with great force as a revolutionary, republican, and anti-imperialist party in the period 1916 to 1921.  The pro-Treaty Sinn Féin were able to prevail over the anti-Treaty Sinn Féin in the debates in the Dáil of Ireland in January 2022; in…