1918 United Kingdom general election in Ireland in the context of "First Dáil"

Dáil Éireann (English: Assembly of Ireland), also called the Revolutionary Dáil, was the revolutionary, unicameral parliament of the Irish Republic from 1919 to 1922. The Dáil was first formed on 21 January 1919 in Dublin by 69 Sinn Féin MPs elected in the 1918 United Kingdom general election, who had won 73 seats of the 105 seats in Ireland, with four party candidates (Arthur Griffith, Éamon de Valera, Eoin MacNeill and Liam Mellows) elected for two constituencies. Their manifesto refused to recognise the British parliament at Westminster and instead established an independent legislature in Dublin. The convention of the First Dáil coincided with the beginning of the War of Independence.

The First Dáil was replaced by the Second Dáil in 1921. Both of these Dála existed under the proclaimed Irish Republic; it was the Second Dáil which narrowly ratified the Anglo-Irish Treaty. The status of the Third Dáil of 1922–1923 was different as it was also recognised by the British. It was elected under the terms of the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty as a provisional parliament to pave the way for the creation of an independent Irish state. With the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922, a new parliament called the Oireachtas was established, of which Dáil Éireann became the lower house.

Kilkenny City was an Irish borough constituency in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, returning one Member of Parliament (MP). It was an original constituency represented in Parliament when the Union of Great Britain and Ireland took effect on 1 January 1801, and remained in existence until its abolition at the 1918 general election.

Sinn Féin's manifesto for the 1918 general election was strongly separatist, continuing the party's policy of abstaining from the British parliament when elected and now pledging to create a new constituent assembly to establish the Irish Republic. After the party's reform in 1917, it campaigned against conscription in Ireland. Following the armistice of 11 November 1918, the British government called a general election for 14 December, in which Sinn Féin won 73 out of 105 seats in Ireland.