Editing Democratic Programme (section)

==The Programme's Vision==
The Programme was published and approved by the [[First Dáil]] on the same day as the declaration of the [[Irish Republic]], and by chance the same day as the outbreak of the [[Irish War of Independence]] . The programme outlined a socialist policy which included: the public ownership of the means of production, natural resources and "wealth"; state provision of education for children and care for the elderly; ensuring that children receive food; promotion of industrial development as well as the [[exploitation of natural resources]].<ref>[[s:Democratic Programme]]</ref> [[Labour Party (Ireland)|The Labour Party]] inserted a clause that private property was to be subordinate "to the public right and welfare." 

The First Dáil subsequently issued "decrees" on many matters, but none of these were based on the Programme. There was no money to put the plans into effect. The war launched by Sinn Féin led to "British sanctions in the form of withdrawal of grants... inhibiting financial autonomy. The Minister for Finance, Michael Collins, found it impossible to introduce a system of income tax and the Dáil itself never advocated that the Irish should stop paying tax or indeed land annuities to the British."<ref>[[Diarmaid Ferriter|D. Ferriter]], The transformation of Ireland 1900-2000 (Profile Books 2004) pp196-197.</ref> Of amounts raised abroad, by far the greatest share went to "world propaganda", and not towards social issues, according to the May 1921 Dáil statement.<ref>[http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/DT/D.F.C.192105100047.html Finance report and debate of 10 May 1921] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071119185346/http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/DT/D.F.C.192105100047.html |date=19 November 2007 }}</ref>