Independence Demanded
Inghinidhe na hÉireann has declared that the restoration of an Irish legislature under Home Rule would not satisfy its political programme. The women’s organisation established under Maud Gonne’s leadership seeks the complete independence of Ireland rather than limited self-government within the United Kingdom. Its members argue that an Irish parliament remaining subject to Westminster and the Crown would leave the central question of national sovereignty unresolved. The declaration places the Daughters of Ireland firmly within advanced nationalism and separates the new movement from the constitutional programme pursued by John Redmond and the reunited Irish Parliamentary Party.