Due to the low turnout of members attending, the parliament was adjourned sine die and was later officially disbanded by the Irish Free State (Agreement) Act 1922.

The cause was then pursued by Charles Stewart Parnell and two attempts were made by Liberal ministries under British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone to enact home rule bills, accompanied by a revival of Ulster's Orange Order to resist any form of Home Rule.

[9] However, with the outbreak of the First World War, it was decided that the bill's implementation should be suspended, leading to the passing of the Suspensory Act 1914, which was presented for Royal Assent simultaneously with both the Home Rule Bill and the Welsh Church Act 1914, and ensured that Home Rule would be postponed for the duration of the conflict[10] and would not come into operation until the end of the war.

[11] Initially the suspension was not considered an issue by Nationalists, who believed a form of independent self-government had finally been granted.

Starting in September 1919, with the Government, now led by David Lloyd George, committed under all circumstances to implementing Home Rule, the British cabinet's Committee for Ireland, under the chairmanship of former Ulster Unionist Party leader Walter Long, pushed for a radical new idea.

[17] The Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed in London on 6 December 1921 by representatives of the British Government and envoys of the Irish Republic who claimed plenipotentiary status.

A meeting in the Mansion House was convened on 14 January 1922 by Arthur Griffith as Chairman of the Irish Delegation of Plenipotentiaries[18][failed verification] (who had signed the Anglo-Irish Treaty) of "members of the Parliament elected for constituencies in Southern Ireland".

[19] The meeting was attended by 64 pro-Treaty Sinn Féin TDs and four Unionist MPs from the University of Dublin; it elected Alderman Liam de Róiste, one of the representatives of Cork Borough, as chairman (although at this time Eoin MacNeill was Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann),[20] duly ratified the Treaty and nominated Michael Collins for appointment as Chairman of the Provisional Government.

[21] Collins was installed in his post by the Lord Lieutenant in Dublin Castle on 16 January 1922 and formed the Provisional Government of Ireland.

The bill stipulated that the membership be composed of:[23] In practice, however, only forty senators were selected, as the labour movement, the Catholic Church and the county councils (controlled by Sinn Féin) refused to co-operate.

The Senate assembled three times,[26] though its chairman, Sir John Ross, the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, was too ill to attend.

On 21 June 1921, the week before its first meeting, the Senate sent a petition to David Lloyd George, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, arguing for more powers for the Parliament, and stating it would not serve in the event that the elected lower house was replaced by a body appointed by the Lord Lieutenant.

On 6 December 1922, the Constitution of the Irish Free State came into force and Southern Ireland ceased to form part of the United Kingdom.