Irish ex-servicemen, post-war reconstruction and the Empire Settlement Act

Abstract

This essay considers Irish participation in schemes for empire settlement, and its place in broader visions for reconstruction based on wartime promises and pledges. With Southern Irish independence in 1922, Irish ex-servicemen were subsequently excluded from reconstructive activities as it concerned emigration, and this became a key advocacy point for Legion activity in Ireland. The history of Empire Settlement in the Free State reveals the tensions that existed between moral and financial interest set against a backdrop of progressive separation of Irish national destinies from the U.K. and its Empire.