ABSTRACT
The map of Europe changed radically in the first quarter of the twentieth century. The Union of Great Britain and Ireland ceased though in the process Ireland was itself divided. At the turn of the century, a Conservative government could reject even the notion of Home Rule with equanimity and continue on a course designed to give Ireland equality of status within the United Kingdom. An Irish Local Government Act, 1898 gave Ireland a structure of county councils, and urban and rural district councils, little different from that operating across the Irish Sea. The 1903 Land Act greatly increased the funds available for land purchase and, with the help of further legislation, there was substantial transfer of land to tenants: almost two-thirds by 1917. The United Kingdom government was supposed to be continuing as before, with administration centered on Dublin Castle. At the same time, the Dail of the Irish Republic, with de Valera as president, operated an administration.
