Prior to the
1885 general election, the city was the undivided two-member
Dublin City constituency. Under the
Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, Dublin was divided into four divisions:
College Green, Dublin Harbour,
St Stephen's Green and
St Patrick's. Dublin Harbour was a very heavily Nationalist area. The Irish Parliamentary Party only lost political control of the constituency in 1918. Under the
Redistribution of Seats (Ireland) Act 1918, the city was allocated seven seats: in addition to the four existing constituencies, the new divisions were
Clontarf,
St James's and
St Michan's.
Sinn Féin used the
1918 general election to elect members of
Dáil Éireann, inviting all those elected in Ireland to sit as a
Teachta Dála (known in English as a Deputy) in the Dáil, although only the Sinn Féin members attended.
Philip Shanahan, who had participated in the
Easter Rising defeated the incumbent MP,
Alfie Byrne, a formidable politician who would play a prominent role in Dublin and Irish politics for almost half a century. Shanahan sat as a member of the
First Dáil. Under the
Government of Ireland Act 1920, the area was combined with the College Green Division to form
Dublin Mid, a 4-seat constituency for the
Southern Ireland House of Commons and a single constituency at Westminster. At the
1921 election for the Southern Ireland House of Commons, the four seats were won uncontested by Sinn Féin, who treated it as part of the election to the
Second Dáil. Philip Shanahan was one of the four TDs for Dublin Mid. Under s. 1(4) of the
Irish Free State (Agreement) Act 1922, no writ was to be issued "for a constituency in Ireland other than a constituency in Northern Ireland". Therefore, no vote was held in Dublin Mid at the
1922 United Kingdom general election on 15 November 1922, shortly before the
Irish Free State left the
United Kingdom on 6 December 1922. ==Members of Parliament==