Leinster house, a majestic mansion with a view over Merrion Square was originally known as Kildare house. It was originally commissioned by James Fitzgerald who set out to create the stateliest of Dublin Georgian mansions to reflect his eminent position in Irish society. When he became Duke of Leinster in 1776, the house was renamed Leinster house. The entire building was acquired by the state in 1924.

The first meeting of Dail Eireann (An Chead Dail) was held on 21st of January 1919 in the round room of the mansion house, the residence of the Lord Mayor in Dublin. Being the first and highly symbolic meeting, the proceedings were conducted for the only time, entirely in the Irish language except for the previously drafted declarations that were repeated in other languages as well. The Dail elected Cathal Brugha as its ceann camhairle (chairman or speaker).

A number of short documents were then adopted, one of which was the declaration of Independence which asserted that the Dail was a parliament of a sovereign state called the “Irish Republic”. The establishment of the first Dail occurred on the same day as the outbreak of the Irish war of Independence. I recently went to the Dail to meet Chris Andrews TD who had very kindly arranged for me to have a guided tour. Shay Mulhall gave me the grand tour. First stop was the round room where I sat and watched a Dail debate between An Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, and Labour and Fine Gael ministers. This was a completely different experience to watching it on TV.

Then we walked along the corridors where portraits of all the previous Taoiseach lined the walls. We passed several rooms and Shay explained the reason for so many rooms which are now used for offices was because when James Fitzgerald’s wife died, he married the governess and had twenty two children.

Then we were shown the fabulous portrait of Constance Markievicz. She must have been a great woman as the Dail made her the first female Member of the British Parliament. Soon after that, she was appointed Minister for Labour, making her the first female cabinet minister in Western Europe. Women only won the right to vote in 1918 and even then only females over the age of thirty were trusted with it. She was still a member of the Dail in 1927 when she died in St. Patrick Dunns hospital.

If you would like to visit Leinster house to experience some of this wonderful history for yourself, the first thing you have to do is to contact your local TD. He will then check with head usher Noel Kelly who will book you in. The tour can take from between 15 minutes to 45 minutes. It depends on the size of the group. I would highly recommend it.