United Irish League

United Irish League (UIL), founded in 1898 by William O'Brien to agitate for the redistribution of the western grass ranches to small farmers. It was instrumental in reuniting the Nationalist Party in 1900, after which it became a constituency and fund‐raising organization. O'Brien lost control of the UIL after 1903, and soon opposed it bitterly. In later years it was propped up by the Ancient Order of Hibernians, but contracted sharply after 1916; the Dublin offices closed in 1920. In Great Britain the Irish National League was renamed the United Irish League of Great Britain in 1900 under T. P. O'Connor, who delivered its remaining membership to the Labour Party after 1921.

The land question was the UIL's strength and its weakness. Its inability to take up other issues was symptomatic of the Nationalist Party's failure to prevent the development of cultural nationalism into a hostile political force between 1900 and 1916. This became crucial once land tenure ceased to be a unifying issue. The UIL could still be militant in eastern Connacht, especially during 1898–1901 and 1906–9 (see ranch war), where the letting of large grass ranches to graziers on short tenancies stood in contrast to the position of the established tenants, often on poorer holdings of uneconomic size. But in other parts of the country, following the 1903 Land Act, large graziers might be active Nationalists themselves, and hold office in the league.

O'Brien intended that the UIL should reflect the voice of the greass roots, with a system of graded elections from local to national level, and a National Directory independent of the party, unlike the constituency organizations of the 1880s and 1890s. In practice the UIL soon fell under party control, with Redmond as president from 1900, Joe Devlin as general secretary from 1905, and party loyalists dominating the National Directory. Parliamentary candidates were selected by constituency conventions made up of clergy and local bodies, but they were chaired by a headquarters nominee who was in practice able in most cases to deliver the party's preferred candidate. After 1914 the convention system withered away, along with the party's support.

Bibliography

Bew, Paul , Conflict & Conciliation in Ireland, 1890–1910 (1987)
Lyons, F. S. L. The Irish Parliamentary Party, 1890–1910 (1951)

A. C. Hepburn