At its foundation in December 1922, the Irish Free State was, in accordance with its constitution, governed under a form of constitutional monarchy. The state was a Dominion, with the same monarch as the United Kingdom and other states within the British Commonwealth. The monarch exercised a number of important duties, including appointing the cabinet, dissolving the legislature and promulgating laws. Nonetheless, by convention the monarch's role was largely ceremonial and exercised on his behalf by his official representative, the governor-general, who himself acted on the advice of elected officials.
The passage of the Statute of Westminster in 1931 granted the Irish Free State the ability to amend its own constitution,[1][2] and the 1932 Irish general election brought the republicanFianna Fáil party to power. Over the next several years, the Irish government began reducing the visibility and formal role of the monarch and governor-general; in the wake of the abdication of Edward VIII in 1936, the government amended the constitution to remove all of the monarch's domestic duties and reduce his role in foreign affairs to a "symbol of cooperation" with other Commonwealth nations. This ambiguous role for the monarch continued after a new Irish constitution, which transformed the Irish Free State into a successor state called Éire or Ireland, came into effect in 1937, and only ended in 1949 with the implementation of the Republic of Ireland Act.
Background
Oath of Allegiance
I... do solemnly swear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the Irish Free State as by law established, and that I will be faithful to His Majesty King George V, his heirs and successors by law in virtue of the common citizenship of Ireland with Great Britain and her adherence to and membership of the group of nations forming the British Commonwealth of nations.
The Treaty was immensely controversial. The disestablishment of the Irish Republic declared in 1919, the imposition of even a constitutional monarchy, and the continued ties to Great Britain were particularly contentious for many Irish nationalists.[4] Even the Treaty's supporters viewed it as a compromise imposed on the Irish by their inability to fully defeat the British: Michael Collins, the republican leader who had led the Irish negotiating team, argued that it gave "not the ultimate freedom that all nations aspire and develop, but the freedom to achieve freedom."
The Treaty was narrowly approved by the Second Dáil, the Republic's parliament, and Éamon de Valera, who had been serving as the rebel regime's head of state, resigned in protest.[5] Pro-Treaty forces won the ensuing election and civil war, and the Free State's new constitution incorporated the monarchial elements mandated by the Treaty.
Under the original constitution of the Irish Free State in 1922, the monarch had a number of formal duties:
Executive authority: The executive authority of the state was formally vested in the monarch but exercised by the governor-general on the advice of the Executive Council.
Appointment of the cabinet: The President of the Executive Council (prime minister) was appointed by governor-general after being selected by Dáil Éireann (the lower house of parliament). The remaining ministers were appointed on the nomination of the president, subject to a vote of consent in the Dáil.
Convention and dissolution of the legislature: The governor-general, on behalf of the monarch, convened and dissolved the Oireachtas on the advice of the Executive Council.
Signing bills into law: The monarch was formally, along with the Dáil and the Senate, one of three tiers of the Oireachtas. No bill could become law until it received the Royal Assent, which was given by the governor-general on behalf of the monarch. The governor-general theoretically had the right to veto a bill or reserve it "for the signification of the King's pleasure", in effect postponing a decision on whether or not to enact the bill, for a maximum of one year. However neither of these two actions was ever taken.
Appointment of judges: All judges were appointed by the governor-general, on the advice of the Executive Council.
Representing the state in foreign affairs: The monarch accredited ambassadors and received the letters of credence of foreign diplomats; ministers signed international treaties in his name. The role of the monarch in the Free State's foreign affairs was the only function retained by him after the constitutional changes of 1936.
In 1931, the Statute of Westminster was passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, granting expanded sovereignty to the Dominions; in the case of the Irish Free State, this included the freedom to amend its own constitution without British approval. The Irish elections the next year were won by Fianna Fáil, a party formed primarily by those opposed to the Treaty and led by de Valera, who came into power with a programme that aimed to reduce the role of the monarchy. The Oath of Allegience was abolished. Domhnall Ua Buachalla, a republican and former Fianna Fáil TD, was appointed governor-general in late 1932; on his government's advice, he withdrew from all public and ceremonial roles, performing in a perfunctory manner the minimum duties required by the Constitution. No treaties requiring the assent of the king as head of state were signed from 1931 to 1937. Two methods were used to circumvent this: bilateral treaties were concluded at government rather than head-of-state level; for multilateral treaties, the Free State chose not to enrol at inauguration via the king's signature, but instead to accede a few months later via the signature of the Minister for External Affairs.[6]
In 1936, when legislative action was necessary to give legal effect to the abdication of Edward VIII, de Valera's government carried out a major revision of the constitution aimed at all but eliminating the role of the monarch in the Irish state. The Oireachtas passed the Constitution (Amendment No. 27) Act 1936, which removed all explicit reference to the monarch from the constitution, abolished the office of governor-general, and distributed the monarch's former functions amongst various other organs of government.
However, the amendment also introduced a provision making it possible for the Dáil to pass a statute law allowing the government to "avail of" any "constitutional organ" also used by other members of the British Commonwealth for the "appointment of diplomatic and consular agents and the conclusion of international agreements." A law implementing this provision, the Executive Authority (External Relations) Act 1936, was passed at the same time; it created a new role for the king as the "symbol of [the] co-operation" of the Irish Free state with the other states of the British Commonwealth, and in that capacity alone granted him authority to act on behalf of the Irish government with respect to the appointment of diplomatic and consular representatives and the conclusion of international agreements, although only when advised by the cabinet so to do.
Thus, for the remaining year of the Irish Free State's existence, the king's role was restricted to diplomatic and foreign affairs, a standard head of state role. This arrangement continued after the 1937 Constitution of Ireland transformed the Irish Free State into a successor state called Éire or Ireland, despite the fact that the new constitution also created the office of the President of Ireland, a figure who would normally play that role. With the coming into force of the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 on 18 April 1949, the duties formerly exercised by the monarch were transferred to the president, at which time Ireland also ceased to be a member of the British Commonwealth.
Monarchical title
Royal arms used by George V, Edward VIII and George VI.
The monarch's title during this period was:
6 December 1922 – 13 May 1927 – By the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas King, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India
13 May 1927 – 29 December 1937 – By the Grace of God, of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas King, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India
↑ Stewart, Robert B. (1938). "Treaty-Making Procedure in the British Dominions". The American Journal of International Law. 32 (3): 467–487: 480–485. doi:10.2307/2191164. ISSN0002-9300. JSTOR138434.
The Statute of Westminster 1931 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that sets the basis for the relationship between the Commonwealth realms and the Crown.
Éamon de Valera was a prominent statesman and political leader in 20th-century Ireland, serving several terms as head of government and head of state, with a prominent role introducing the Constitution of Ireland.
The Irish Free State was a state established in 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. That treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between the forces of the Irish Republic, the Irish Republican Army (IRA), and British Crown forces.
William Thomas Cosgrave was an Irish Fine Gael politician who served as President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State from 1922 to 1932, Leader of the Opposition in both the Free State and Ireland from 1932 to 1944, Leader of Fine Gael from 1934 to 1944, founder and leader of Fine Gael's predecessor, Cumann na nGaedheal, from 1923 to 1933, Chairman of the Provisional Government from August 1922 to December 1922, President of Dáil Éireann from September 1922 to December 1922, Minister for Finance from 1922 to 1923 and Minister for Local Government from 1919 to 1922. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1921 to 1944. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) for the North Kilkenny constituency from 1918 to 1922.
The Governor-General of the Irish Free State was the official representative of the sovereign of the Irish Free State from 1922 to 1936. By convention, the office was largely ceremonial. Nonetheless, it was controversial, as many Irish Nationalists regarded the existence of the office as offensive to republican principles and a symbol of continued British involvement in Irish affairs, despite the Governor-General having no connection to the British Government after 1931. For this reason, the office's role was diminished over time by the Irish Government.
The Constitution of the Irish Free State was adopted by Act of Dáil Éireann sitting as a constituent assembly on 25 October 1922. In accordance with Article 83 of the Constitution, the Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922 of the British Parliament, which came into effect upon receiving the royal assent on 5 December 1922, provided that the Constitution would come into effect upon the issue of a Royal Proclamation, which was done on 6 December 1922. In 1937 the Constitution of the Irish Free State was replaced by the modern Constitution of Ireland following a referendum.
The Republic of Ireland Act 1948 is an Act of the Oireachtas which declared that Ireland may be officially described as the Republic of Ireland, and vested in the President of Ireland the power to exercise the executive authority of the state in its external relations, on the advice of the Government of Ireland. The Act was signed into law on 21 December 1948 and came into force on 18 April 1949, Easter Monday, the 33rd anniversary of the beginning of the Easter Rising.
The Executive Authority Act 1936 was an Act of the Oireachtas. The Act, which was signed into law on 12 December 1936, was one of two passed hurriedly in the aftermath of the Edward VIII abdication crisis to sharply reduce the role of the Crown. It is also sometimes referred to as the External Relations Act.
The Government of the 9th Dáil was successively the 8th Executive Council of the Irish Free State and the 1st Government of Ireland. They were led by Éamon de Valera, first as President of the Executive Council and then as Taoiseach. It was formed after the 1937 general election held on 1 July, the same day the new Constitution of Ireland was approved in a plebiscite. Fianna Fáil were continuing in office as a single-party government as they had since the 1932 general election.
The Government of the 8th Dáil or the 7th Executive Council was the Executive Council of the Irish Free State formed after the general election held on 24 January 1933. It was led by Fianna Fáil leader Éamon de Valera as President of the Executive Council, who had first taken office in the Irish Free State after the 1932 general election. De Valera had previously served as President of Dáil Éireann, or President of the Republic, from April 1919 to January 1922 during the revolutionary period of the Irish Republic.
There were two Governments of the 6th Dáil, which was elected at the September 1927 general election held on 15 September 1927. The 4th Executive Council and the 5th Executive Council were both minority governments of Cumann na nGaedheal led by W. T. Cosgrave as President of the Executive Council.
The Great Seal of the Irish Free State is either of two seals affixed to certain classes of official documents of the Irish Free State :
The Executive Council was the cabinet and de facto executive branch of government of the 1922–1937 Irish Free State. Formally, executive power was vested in the Governor-General on behalf of the King. In practice, however, it was the Council that governed, since the Governor-General was bound to act on its advice. The Executive Council included a prime minister called the President of the Executive Council and a deputy prime minister called the Vice-President. A member of the Council was called an executive minister, as distinct from an extern minister who had charge of a department without being in the Council.
The Oireachtas of the Irish Free State was the legislature of the Irish Free State from 1922 until 1937. It was established by the 1922 Constitution of Ireland which was based from the Anglo-Irish Treaty. It was the first independent Irish Parliament officially recognised outside Ireland since the historic Parliament of Ireland which was abolished with the Acts of Union 1800.
During the period from December 1936 to April 1949, some commentators consider that it was unclear whether the Irish state was a republic or a form of constitutional monarchy and whether its head of state was the President of Ireland or King George VI. The exact constitutional status of the state during this period has been a matter of scholarly and political dispute. The Oireachtas removed all references to the monarch in an amendment to the constitution in 1936, but under statute law the UK's monarch continued to play a role in foreign relations, though always on the advice of the Irish Government. The state did not officially describe itself as the Republic of Ireland until 1949, when it passed legislation giving itself that description.
The Constitution Act 1936 was an amendment to the Constitution of the Irish Free State that removed all reference to the King, to the office of Governor-General, and almost completely eliminated the King's constitutional role in the state. Under the Act most of the functions previously performed by the King and his Governor-General were transferred to various other organs of the Irish government. The only role retained by the King was as representative of the state in foreign affairs. The amendment passed through the Oireachtas at the same time as the External Relations Act, becoming law on 11 December 1936. Its long title was:
An Act to effect certain amendments of the Constitution in relation to the executive authority and power and in relation to the performance of certain executive functions.
The current Constitution of Ireland came into effect on 29 December 1937, repealing and replacing the Constitution of the Irish Free State, having been approved in a national plebiscite on 1 July 1937 with the support of 56.5% of voters in the then Irish Free State. The Constitution was closely associated with Éamon de Valera, the President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State at the time of its approval.
The granting, reserving or withholding of the Royal Assent was one of the key roles, and potentially one of the key powers, possessed by the Governor-General of the Irish Free State. Until it was granted, no bill passed by the Oireachtas could complete its passage of enactment and become law.
Ireland has no formal honours system. Proposals to introduce one have been made by various groups at different times. The Order of St. Patrick, established by the British monarchy in the Kingdom of Ireland in 1783, has been in abeyance for decades. The Constitution mandates that "Titles of nobility shall not be conferred by the State."
External association was a hypothetical relationship between Ireland and the Commonwealth of Nations proposed by Éamon de Valera in 1921–22, whereby Ireland would be a sovereign state associated with, but not a member of, the Commonwealth; the British monarch would be head of the association, but not head of state of Ireland. De Valera proposed external association as a compromise between isolationist Irish republicanism on the one hand and Dominion status on the other. Whereas a full republic could not be a member of the Commonwealth until the London Declaration of 1949, a Dominion could not be fully independent until the Statute of Westminster 1931.
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