The Irish Parliamentary Party was for the first time confronted with double opponents from both Unionists and Sinn Féin (the Irish Labour Party agreed to abstain so as not to complicate matters for Sinn Féin by introducing socialist proposals).
Twenty-seven of the newly elected Sinn Féin MPs assembled in Dublin on 21 January 1919 and formed an independent Irish parliament, or First Dáil Èireann of the thirty-two counties.