Constitution of the Irish Free State

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The constitution of the Irish Free State , which was established in December 1922 , was its legal basis.

Emergence

The Constitution of the Free State was drafted by a committee headed by Michael Collins , which also included James McNeill , the 2nd Governor General . The system of government was modeled on the system of the British Parliament ( parliamentary democracy ).

The Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 6, 1921 set the framework for the constitution. Important, controversial points were that the oath of allegiance was to be taken on the British king and a governor general should be installed as the king's representative.

The constitution was ratified by two sides:

In Great Britain , the constitution was ratified as a bill by the lower and upper houses and approved by the king. In British political history, the constitution was drawn up under the chairman of the Irish Provisional Government, Michael Collins, who was elected by the House of Commons in Southern Ireland. The House of Commons of Southern Ireland was the rightful power to ratify this constitution - which it did in January 1922, as it was officially elected by the Government of Ireland Act in 1920 .

On the Irish side, the main force that ratified the constitution was Dáil Éireann (Third Dáil) - the revolutionary parliament that the British never officially recognized. The Dáil ratified this treaty in December 1921. In fact, the two Irish parliaments that ratified the constitution (the Dáil and the South Irish House of Commons) were almost identical: 124 members of the Dáil sat in the Dáil, and another 4 were added to the South Irish House of Commons.

Content of the constitution

The central points of the constitution were:

  • If the Constitution and the Anglo-Irish Treaty contradict each other on any point, the statements in the Constitution will be void. (Introduction, 2nd paragraph)
  • Belonging to the Commonwealth of Nations (Article 1)
  • Power comes from the people (Article 2)
  • Irish language becomes national language (Article 4)
  • Habeas Corpus (Article 6)
  • No preference for one religion and freedom of assembly and religion (Article 8)
  • The Parliament ( Oireachtas ) consists of the King, the House of Commons ( Dáil Éireann ) and the House of Lords ( Seanad Éireann ) (Article 12)
  • Women's suffrage (Article 14)
  • An oath of allegiance to the Free State and conscientiousness to the King of Britain (Article 17)
  • Proportional representation (Article 26)
  • Bills approved by the lower and upper houses can get royal approval, refused or postponed (Article 41)
  • The right to build and maintain an armed army (Article 46)
  • Within 8 years the sole power to make changes rests with the Oireachtas. Thereafter, this is passed on to the population by referendum (Article 50)
  • Executive power rests with the king (Article 51)
  • The cabinet is called the Executive Council (Article 51)
  • The Prime Minister is named President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State (Article 52)
  • The representative of the Crown is the Governor General (Article 60)
  • Creation of the office of auditor (Article 62)
  • Creation of a new judicial system (Article 64)

The constitution was later thoroughly revised and reformed. The most far-reaching change was the abolition

  • the fact that in the event of any conflict between the Anglo-Irish Treaty and the Constitution, the items in the Constitution will be void
  • of the oath of allegiance
  • of the Governor General
  • of the Senate

Other changes were

  • the increase to 16 years in which the Oireachtas is solely responsible for constitutional amendments
  • Limitation of rights under Article 2
  • Abolition of the right to submit a petition by the people to submit a legislative proposal.

abolition

By 1936 the constitution had been amended to such an extent that it quickly became clear that a new constitution was needed. In 1936 the chairman of the executive council Eamon de Valera commissioned John Hearne to reformulate the constitution. In July 1936, de Valera informed King Edward VIII of the new (still valid) constitution, also called Bunreacht na hÉireann . This was confirmed by referendum on July 1, 1937 and came into force on December 29 of the same year.

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