
The Irish Free State (Irish language: ''Saorstát Éireann'') was (1922–1937) the name of the state comprising the 26 of Ireland's 32 counties which were separated from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland under the Irish Free State Agreement (or Anglo-Irish Treaty) signed by British and Irish Republic representatives in London on December 6, 1921. The Irish Free State came into being in December 1922, replacing two co-existing but nominally rival states, the ''de jure'' Southern Ireland, which had been created by the Government of Ireland Act 1920 and which from January 1922 had been governed by a Provisional Government of Ireland under Michael Collins (Irish leader) and the ''de facto'' Irish Republic under the President of Dáil Éireann, Arthur Griffith, which had been created by Dáil Éireann in 1919. (In August 1922, both states in effect merged with the deaths of their leaders; both posts came to be held simultaneously by W.T. Cosgrave.) ==The historic background== The Easter Rising of 1916, and in particular the decision of the British military authorities to execute many of its leaders after courts martial generated sympathy for the republican cause in Ireland. But, crucially, it was the republicans and some independent Nationalists who led opposition to the idea of compulsory military service for Irish men in the conscription crisis of early 1918. The crisis saw the Irish Parliamentary Party, who supported the Allied cause in the Great War in response to the passing of the final Third Home Rule Act 1914, become discredited and the result was that in the Irish (UK) general election, 1918 the majority of Irish seats in the Westminster parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland were won (mainly unopposed without contests) by Sinn Féin, a previously non-violent monarchist party founded by Arthur Griffith in 1905, that under Eamon de Valera's leadership from 1917 had campaigned aggressively for an Irish republic. In January 1919, Sinn Féin MPs (or TD (parliament) as they became known, from the Irish language ''Teachta Dála'') refusing to sit at British House of Commons, assembled in Dublin and formed a single chamber Irish parliament called Dáil Éireann (Assembly of Ireland). It affirmed the creation of an Irish Republic and passed a Declaration of Independence. However only the Soviet Union recognised the Irish Republic internationally, although it was accepted by the overwhelming majority of Irish people. (Recent calculations of Sinn Féin support in 1918, based on ''actual'' electoral battles at national and local level puts party support at in the region of 45–48%, largely because many of their seats were won without being contested). The Anglo-Irish War was fought between the army of the "Republic", the Irish Republican Army (known now as the "Old IRA" to distinguish it from later claimants to the title) and the British Army of the United Kingdom of which Ireland was still nominally part. In 1921, a truce was declared, and at the end of the year, negotiations were opened, under British Prime Minister David Lloyd George and Arthur Griffith, who headed the Irish Republic's delegation. In reality, that these negotiations would produce a form of Irish government short of the independence wished for by republicans was not in doubt. Britain could not offer a republican form of government without losing prestige and risking demands for something similar throughout the Empire. Furthermore, as one of the negotiators, Michael Collins (Irish leader), later admitted (and he was in a position to know, given his role in the independence war), the IRA at the time of the Truce was weeks, if not days, from collapse, with a chronic shortage of ammunition. "Frankly, we thought they were mad", Collins said of the sudden British offer of a truce, although it was unlikely they would not have continued in one form or another, given the level of public support. The President of the Irish Republic, Eamon de Valera, himself realised that a republic was not on offer. He decided not to be a part of the treaty delegation and so be tainted with what some more militant republicans were bound to call a "sell out". As expected, the Anglo-Irish Treaty explicitly ruled out a republic. What it offered was dominion status, as a state of the British Commonwealth (now called the Commonwealth of Nations), equal to Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Though less than expected by the Sinn Féin leadership of 1919–1922, it was substantially more than the initial form of home rule within the United Kingdom sought by Charles Stewart Parnell from 1880 and a serious advancement on the final Third Home Rule Act 1914 which the Irish nationalist leader John Redmond had achieved through democratic parliamentary proceedings. ==The governmental and constitutional structures of the Irish Free State== The structures of the new Irish Free State were laid out in the Treaty and in the ''Constitution of the Irish Free State Act''. It provided for a constitutional monarchy, with a three tier parliament, called the Oireachtas Éireann, made up of the King and two houses, Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann (Irish Free State) (the Irish Senate). Executive authority was vested in the King, and exercised by a cabinet called the Executive Council of the Irish Free State, presided over by a prime minister called the President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State. ===The Representative of the Crown=== The King in Ireland was represented by a Governor-General of the Irish Free State, The office replaced the previous Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, who had headed English and British administrations in Ireland since the Middle Ages. ===The Oath of Allegiance=== As with all dominions, provision was made for an Oath of Allegiance. Within dominions, such oaths were taken by parliamentarians personally towards the monarch. The Oath of Allegiance (Ireland) was fundamentally different. It had two elements; the first, an ''oath to the Free State, as by law established'', the second part a promise of ''fidelity, to His Majesty, King George V, his heirs and successors''. That second fidelity element, however, was qualified in two ways. It was to the King ''in'' Ireland, not specifically to the British King. Secondly, it was to the King explicitly in his role as part of the Treaty settlement, not in terms of pre-1922 British rule. The Oath itself came from a combination of three sources, and was largely the work of Michael Collins (Irish leader) in the Treaty negotiations. It came in part from a draft oath suggested prior to the negotiations by President de Valera. Other sections were taken by Collins directly from the Oath of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, of which he was the secret head. In its structure, it was also partially based on the form and structure used in the Dominion of Canada. Though controversially moderate by other dominion standards, and notably indirect in its reference to the monarchy (and hence widely criticised by unionists and other dominions), it was criticised by nationalists and republicans for making any reference to the Crown, the claim being that it ''was'' a direct oath to the Crown, a fact demonstably incorrect by an examination of its wording. But in 1922 Ireland and beyond, it was the perception, not the reality, that influenced public debate on the issue. Had its original author, Michael Collins, survived, he might have been able to clarify its ''actual'' meaning, but with his assassination in 1922, no major negotiator to the Oath's creation on the Irish side was still alive, available or pro-Treaty. (The leader of the Irish delegation, Arthur Griffith had also died in August 1922). The Oath became a key issue in the resulting Irish Civil War that divided the pro- and anti-treaty sides in 1922–23. ==Northern Ireland== The Treaty provided for an all-Ireland thirty-two county state, subject to the proviso that the six Northern Ireland counties, which had their own government under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, could formally opt out of the Free State, which they duly did. (Had it remained, Northern Ireland would have been a self-governing province of the Irish Free State, with its own parliament and government as before.) Northern Ireland thus remained part of the renamed United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The Treaty also allowed Britain to retain naval use of four Free State ports. ==The Irish Civil War== The compromises contained in the agreement caused the Irish Civil War in the 26 counties in June 1922-April 1923, in which Michael Collins (Irish leader)'s pro-Treaty "Free Staters" defeated the anti-Treaty Republicans led by Eamon de Valera, who had resigned as president of the Republic on the treaty's ratification, to the fury of some of his own supporters, notably Sean T. O'Kelly. On resigning, he then sought re-election in an attempt to wreck the treaty. However his ploy failed as the electorate voted for pro-treaty candidates. Arthur Griffith became President. Michael Collins (Irish leader) was chosen by the House of Commons of Southern Ireland (a body set up under the Government of Ireland Act 1920 and to which the Provisional Government was nominally answerable) to become Provisional Prime Minister. As both the House of Commons and the Dáil had almost identical members, it was academic which body was meeting. Griffith's republican administration and Collins' Crown-appointed government merged with the deaths of both men, their respective offices being held by the same man, W.T. Cosgrave. =="Freedom to achieve freedom"== [[Image:Irish farthing coin (obverse).png|thumb|250px|The Irish Free State made several steps on increasing its independence including Irish coinage and Irish banknotes issue from late 1928, this is a Irish farthing coin from 1936 showing the obverse.]] ===Governance=== Two political Parties governed the Irish Free State between 1922 and 1937. * Cumann na nGaedheal under W.T. Cosgrave (1922-32) * Fianna Fáil under Eamon de Valera (1932-37) ===Constitutional evolution=== Michael Collins described the Treaty as 'the freedom to achieve freedom'. In practice, the Treaty offered most of the symbols, powers and functions of independence, including a functioning parliamentary democracy, executive, judiciary, a written constitution which could be changed by the Free State, etc. However, in theory, a number of limits existed: * The British king remained king ''in'' Ireland; * The British Government had a continued role in Irish governance. Officially the representative of the King, the Governor-General also received instructions from the British Government on his use of the Royal Assent, namely a Bill passed by the Dáil and Seanad could be Granted Assent (signed into law), Withheld (not signed, pending later approval) or Denied (''i.e.'', vetoed). Letters patent to the first Governor-General Timothy Michael Healy had named Bills that if passed were to be blocked, namely an attempt to abolish the Oath, etc. In reality no such Bills were ever introduced, so the issue never arose. * The Irish Free State, like all Dominions, had an inferior status to the United Kingdom, which meant, in theory, it could not have its own citizenship (merely a shared Commonwealth citizenship), could not have direct access to the monarch except through a ''British'' minister, and had to use the British state's Great Seal of the Realm on all of its state documents, again symbolising its inferior status to Britain within the Commonwealth. All this changed in the 1920s. A reform of the King's title, under a Commonwealth Conference decision and given effect by the ''Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927'', changed the King's role in each dominion. No more was he King ''in'' Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, etc. Instead he became King ''of'' Ireland, Australia, etc. So from that change, embodied in the Royal Titles Act, the ''British'' king had no role whatsoever in each dominion. His only role was as each dominion's ''own'' king, advised in each dominion's affairs by the dominion, ''not'' by Britain. Furthermore, the British government lost any role in either the selection of a governor-general or in advising him. In this manner Britain lost the ability to influence internal dominion legislation. The Free State went further. It 'accepted' credentials from international ambassadors to Ireland, something no other dominion up to then had done. It registered the treaty with the League of Nations as an international document, to the fury of Britain who saw it as a mere ''internal'' document between a dominion and Britain. Most dramatically of all, the Statute of Westminster 1931, again embodying a decision of a Commonwealth Conference, enabled each dominion to enact any legislation to change any legislation, without any role for the British parliament which may have enacted the original legislation in the past. Ireland symbolically marked these changes in two mould-breaking moves. * It sought, and got the King's acceptance, to have an Irish minister, with the complete exclusion of British ministers, formally advising the king as ''King of Ireland'' in the exercise of his Irish powers and functions (''e.g.'', the signing of a Treaty between the Irish Free State and the Portugal in 1931); * The unprecedented abandonment of the use of the British Great Seal of the Realm and its replacement by the Great Seal of the Irish Free State, which the King awarded to his Irish Kingdom as King of Ireland, again in 1931. (The Irish Seal consisted of a picture of 'King George V of Ireland' enthroned on one side, with the Irish state Harp and the words ''Saorstát Éireann'' (Gaelic for Irish Free State) on the reverse. It is now on display in the Irish National Museum, Collins Barracks in Dublin.) When Eamon de Valera became President of the Executive Council (prime minister) in 1932 he described Cosgrave's ministers' achievements simply. Having read the files, he told his son, Vivion, "they were magnificent, son." (All that remained was British control of a number of ports in the Irish Free State, called the ''Treaty Ports''. However that was an issue not of constitutional law but technical requirements in the Treaty which could be and were renegotiated in 1938 to Ireland's satisfaction.) That freedom allowed de Valera, on becoming President of the Executive Council (February 1932) to go even further. With no British restrictions on his policies, he abolished the Oath of Allegiance (Ireland) (which Cosgrave intended to do had he won the 1932 general election), the Senate, university representation in the Dáil, appeals to the Privy Council. His one major error occurred in 1936 when, in a rush to use the abdication of Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, he tried to abolish the crown and governor-general with the Constitution (Amendment No.27 Act), only to be told by senior law officers and others that, as the crown & governor-generalship existed separately from the constitution in a vast number of Acts, Charters, Orders-in-Council, and Letters Patent, they both still existed. He had to rush through a second Bill, The Executive Powers (Consequential Provisions) Act, 1937 to repeal all the elements he had forgotten. He retrospectively dated the second Act's effect back to December 1936. ==The aftermath of the Irish Free State== In 1937, Eamon de Valera replaced the 1922 constitution of Michael Collins (Irish leader) with his own, renamed the Irish Free State Éire, and created a new 'president of Ireland' in place of the Governor-General of the Irish Free State. His constitution, reflecting the 1930s preoccupation with faith and fatherland, claimed jurisdiction over all of Ireland while recognising the reality of the British presence in the northeast (see Articles 2 and 3 of the Irish Constitution). It also provided for a special position for the Roman Catholic Church, while also recognising the existence and rights of other faiths, specifically the minority Anglican Church of Ireland and the Jewish Congregation in Ireland. (This article was repealed in 1972, and Articles 2 and 3 were reworded in 1999.) It was left to the initiative of de Valera's successors in government (1948). John A. Costello of the (pro-treaty) Fine Gael party to achieve the country's formal transformation into the Republic of Ireland. A tiny minority of Irish people, usually attached to small parties like Sinn Féin and Republican Sinn Féin, denied the right of the twenty-six county state to use the name 'republic', referring to the twenty-six county state as the 'Free State', its citizens 'Free Staters' and its government the "Free State" or "Dublin" Government. Though with Sinn Féin's entry in the Republic's Dáil Éireann (where they won 5 seats out of 166 in the 2002 general election) and the Northern Ireland Executive (where they had 2 ministries), the odds are that the number of those who refuse to accept the legitimacy of the Irish Free State/Éire/Republic of Ireland, which is already very small, will decline further. ==Additional reading== * Tim Pat Coogan, ''Eamon de Valera'' (ISBN 009175030X) * Tim Pat Coogan, ''Michael Collins'' (ISBN 0091741068) * Lord Longford, ''Peace by Ordeal'' (''Universally regarded by all sides as THE definitive account of the Treaty negotiations. Though long out of print, it is available in libraries'') * Dorothy McCardle, ''The Irish Republic'' (no ISBN details available. May be out of print. A classic 'old-style' republican analysis published in the 1960s with a pro-de Valera slant) History of the Republic of IrelandGovernment in the Irish Free State Former monarchiesFormer countries
Unfortunately you are wrong, Mav, but it is an easy mistake to make. The constitutional twists and turns of 1921-22 are complicated and sometimes hard to follow. Basically, the Anglo-Irish Treaty received two ratifications, by Dáil Éireann in December 1921, validating it in the eyes of the Irish Republic, and in January 1922 by the House of Commons of Southern Ireland, validating it according to British constitutional theory which regarded the HofC of SI as the legitimate parliament of 'Southern Ireland' created under the British Government of Ireland Act,1920. It is this latter ratification that you are mixing up with the beginning of the third state, the Irish Free State. Before the new state could come into being, a new constitution needed to be drafted and passed by both Dáil Éireann (validating it in Irish constitutional theory) and by the British Parliament, validating it in British constitutional theory. In the interregnum between the ratifications of Dec/Jan and the coming into force of the new state in December 1922, two governments existed governing nominally rival states. When de Valera resigned as President of the Irish Republic. he was replaced by Arthur Griffith, who used a different title President of Dáil Éireann.Michael Collins (Irish leader) was his Minister for Finance. Simultaneously Collins was made head of a Provisional Government nominally answerable to the HofC of SI. The Provisional Govt. then dissolved the HofC of SI and held elections for a new parliament ( I have a copy of that dissolution in front of me on my desk because I was writing about it only last night), which in republican theory became the Third Dáil (also a Constituent Assembly), in British theory was a new House of Commons of Southern Ireland, and which history to limit confusion also calls the Provisional Parliament. Both Griffith's and Collins' jobs merged in August 1922 when both men died, under W.T. Cosgrave. The Irish Free State only ''formally'' came into being, superceding the Irish Republic and Southern Ireland (and their respective parliaments!) through * the coming into force of the 1922 Constitution (which was passed by the Dáil while receiving the Royal Assent in the UK) * the issuing of Letters Patent from the King creating the post of Governor-General of the Irish Free State and appointing Timothy Michael Healy to the post. It is possible some history books or web pages somewhere have the wrong date; as you can see, it is extremely complicated and easily mixed up, but the correct answer is shown in, among other places, copies of the parliamentary debates of the period, where the Irish Free State is recorded as beginning in December 1922, not January 1922, which is when Collins formed the Provisional Government ''pending'' the creation of the IFS. Collins was usually described as ''President of the Provisional Government'', while W.T. Cosgrave is generally described as the first IFS premier, with the formal title President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State. Who said history is easy!!! (And I have to make my living researching this stuff!!!) :-) User:Jtdirl 19:11 Jan 15, 2003 (UTC) I've just come across the details of how the Provisional Government was to be constituted, as laid down in the Anglo-Irish Treaty. Section 17 stated: :''By way of provisional arrangement for the administration of Southern Ireland during the interval which must elapse between the date hereof [December 1922] and the constitution of a Parliament and Government of the Irish Free State in accordance therewith, steps shall be taken torthwith for summoning a meeting of members of Parliament eelcted for constituencies in Southern Ireland since the passing of the Government of Ireland Act, 1920, and for constituting a provisional Government, and the British Government shall take the steps necessary to transfer to such provisional Government the powers and machinery requisite for the discharge of its duties, provided that every member of such provisional Government shall have signified in writing his or her acceptance of this instrument. But this arrangement shall not continue in force beyond the expiration of twelve months from the dats hereof.'' Article 77 of the Transitory Provisions of the Constitution stated: :''Every existing officer of the Provisional Government at the date of the coming into force of this Constitution (not being an officer whose servuces had been lent by the British Government to the Provisional Government) shall on that date be transferred to and become an officer of the Irish Free State (Saorstát Éireann), and shall hold office by a tenure corresponding to his previous tenure.'' As my old latin my put it, QED. :-) User:Jtdirl 20:20 Jan 15, 2003 (UTC) Is it not putting it a bit strongly to say the Irish Republic was in de facto existence? Afterall, its write certainly did not run in all the island? I understand the point that is being made and certainly "South Ireland" was nowhere to be seen (though was the provisional government really the provisional government of that body as opposed to the provisional government of SE?). And, in any case "Southern Ireland" was not a state, but an integral part of the UK? A. == Euro == Shouldn't the currency be changed to euro? : this is an article on a historic country that has not existed since 1937 User:Djegan 23:28, 23 Feb 2005 (UTC) ==NPOV== I don't know anything about Ireland except what I have read in this encyclopedia, but I feel the authors use of italics and puctuation in sentences like "Recent calculations of Sinn Féin support in 1918, based on ''actual'' electoral battles at national and local level puts party support at in the region of 45–48%, less than a majority!" or "Had its original author, Michael Collins, survived, he might have been able to clarify its ''actual'' meaning..." and his or her parenthetical aside in the sentance "Furthermore, as one of the negotiators, Michael Collins, later admitted (and he was in a position to know, given his role in the independence war), the IRA at the time of the Truce was weeks..." introduces too much of an editorial nature into the article. While all these things might very well be true, the style seems slanted to me. - 133.6.156.69 Anonymous user. No one seems to actually disagree with you so instead of putting a NPOV warning at the start of the article please go and fix the wording yourself if you feel it should be more neutral. The motto on Wikipedia is Be bold! Also, please put your messages at the bottom of this talkpage instead of the top. Most users will look straight at the bottom so they might miss your messages. User:Iota 20:11, 22 Mar 2005 (UTC)
{| width="95%" align="center" class="toccolours" |- | style="background-color: #ccccff;" align="center"|''Irish Free State''
(1922-1937) | |-
| align="center" | Anglo-Irish Treaty | Irish Provisional Government | Constitution of the Irish Free State | Statute of Westminster | Great Seal of the Irish Free State | Monarchy in the Irish Free State |- |
|- | align="center" | ''Executive''
King of Ireland | Governor-General of the Irish Free State | President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State | Vice-President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State | Executive Council of the Irish Free State | Extern Minister | Ministers and Secretaries Act |- |
|- | align="center" | ''Legislative:
Oireachtas of the Irish Free State ''(made up of the King, Dáil Éireann (Irish Free State) & Seanad Éireann (Irish Free State))'' |
Royal Assent in the Irish Free State | Ceann Comhairle | Cathaoirleach | Oath of Allegiance (Ireland) |- |
|- | align="center" | ''Judiciary''
Irish Free State Supreme Court | Irish Free State High Court | Chief Justice of the Irish Free State | Courts of Justice Act, 1924 |- |
|- | align="center" | Other topics: ''General elections: Irish general election, 1922 | Irish general election, 1923 | Irish general election, 1927 (June) | Irish general election, 1927 (September) Irish general election, 1932 | Irish general election, 1933 | Irish general election, 1937''
''See also: External Relations Act | Executive Authority (Consequential Provisions) Act | Constitution (Amendment No. 27) Act'' |}
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Irish_Free_State_Supreme_Court
Irish Free State
The Irish Free State (Irish language: ''Saorstát Éireann'') was (1922–1937) the name of the state comprising the 26 of Ireland's 32 counties which were separated from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland under the Irish Free State Agreement (or Anglo-Irish Treaty) signed by British and Irish Republic representatives in London on December 6, 1921. The Irish Free State came into being in December 1922, replacing two co-existing but nominally rival states, the ''de jure'' Southern Ireland, which had been created by the Government of Ireland Act 1920 and which from January 1922 had been governed by a Provisional Government of Ireland under Michael Collins (Irish leader) and the ''de facto'' Irish Republic under the President of Dáil Éireann, Arthur Griffith, which had been created by Dáil Éireann in 1919. (In August 1922, both states in effect merged with the deaths of their leaders; both posts came to be held simultaneously by W.T. Cosgrave.) ==The historic background== The Easter Rising of 1916, and in particular the decision of the British military authorities to execute many of its leaders after courts martial generated sympathy for the republican cause in Ireland. But, crucially, it was the republicans and some independent Nationalists who led opposition to the idea of compulsory military service for Irish men in the conscription crisis of early 1918. The crisis saw the Irish Parliamentary Party, who supported the Allied cause in the Great War in response to the passing of the final Third Home Rule Act 1914, become discredited and the result was that in the Irish (UK) general election, 1918 the majority of Irish seats in the Westminster parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland were won (mainly unopposed without contests) by Sinn Féin, a previously non-violent monarchist party founded by Arthur Griffith in 1905, that under Eamon de Valera's leadership from 1917 had campaigned aggressively for an Irish republic. In January 1919, Sinn Féin MPs (or TD (parliament) as they became known, from the Irish language ''Teachta Dála'') refusing to sit at British House of Commons, assembled in Dublin and formed a single chamber Irish parliament called Dáil Éireann (Assembly of Ireland). It affirmed the creation of an Irish Republic and passed a Declaration of Independence. However only the Soviet Union recognised the Irish Republic internationally, although it was accepted by the overwhelming majority of Irish people. (Recent calculations of Sinn Féin support in 1918, based on ''actual'' electoral battles at national and local level puts party support at in the region of 45–48%, largely because many of their seats were won without being contested). The Anglo-Irish War was fought between the army of the "Republic", the Irish Republican Army (known now as the "Old IRA" to distinguish it from later claimants to the title) and the British Army of the United Kingdom of which Ireland was still nominally part. In 1921, a truce was declared, and at the end of the year, negotiations were opened, under British Prime Minister David Lloyd George and Arthur Griffith, who headed the Irish Republic's delegation. In reality, that these negotiations would produce a form of Irish government short of the independence wished for by republicans was not in doubt. Britain could not offer a republican form of government without losing prestige and risking demands for something similar throughout the Empire. Furthermore, as one of the negotiators, Michael Collins (Irish leader), later admitted (and he was in a position to know, given his role in the independence war), the IRA at the time of the Truce was weeks, if not days, from collapse, with a chronic shortage of ammunition. "Frankly, we thought they were mad", Collins said of the sudden British offer of a truce, although it was unlikely they would not have continued in one form or another, given the level of public support. The President of the Irish Republic, Eamon de Valera, himself realised that a republic was not on offer. He decided not to be a part of the treaty delegation and so be tainted with what some more militant republicans were bound to call a "sell out". As expected, the Anglo-Irish Treaty explicitly ruled out a republic. What it offered was dominion status, as a state of the British Commonwealth (now called the Commonwealth of Nations), equal to Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Though less than expected by the Sinn Féin leadership of 1919–1922, it was substantially more than the initial form of home rule within the United Kingdom sought by Charles Stewart Parnell from 1880 and a serious advancement on the final Third Home Rule Act 1914 which the Irish nationalist leader John Redmond had achieved through democratic parliamentary proceedings. ==The governmental and constitutional structures of the Irish Free State== The structures of the new Irish Free State were laid out in the Treaty and in the ''Constitution of the Irish Free State Act''. It provided for a constitutional monarchy, with a three tier parliament, called the Oireachtas Éireann, made up of the King and two houses, Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann (Irish Free State) (the Irish Senate). Executive authority was vested in the King, and exercised by a cabinet called the Executive Council of the Irish Free State, presided over by a prime minister called the President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State. ===The Representative of the Crown=== The King in Ireland was represented by a Governor-General of the Irish Free State, The office replaced the previous Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, who had headed English and British administrations in Ireland since the Middle Ages. ===The Oath of Allegiance=== As with all dominions, provision was made for an Oath of Allegiance. Within dominions, such oaths were taken by parliamentarians personally towards the monarch. The Oath of Allegiance (Ireland) was fundamentally different. It had two elements; the first, an ''oath to the Free State, as by law established'', the second part a promise of ''fidelity, to His Majesty, King George V, his heirs and successors''. That second fidelity element, however, was qualified in two ways. It was to the King ''in'' Ireland, not specifically to the British King. Secondly, it was to the King explicitly in his role as part of the Treaty settlement, not in terms of pre-1922 British rule. The Oath itself came from a combination of three sources, and was largely the work of Michael Collins (Irish leader) in the Treaty negotiations. It came in part from a draft oath suggested prior to the negotiations by President de Valera. Other sections were taken by Collins directly from the Oath of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, of which he was the secret head. In its structure, it was also partially based on the form and structure used in the Dominion of Canada. Though controversially moderate by other dominion standards, and notably indirect in its reference to the monarchy (and hence widely criticised by unionists and other dominions), it was criticised by nationalists and republicans for making any reference to the Crown, the claim being that it ''was'' a direct oath to the Crown, a fact demonstably incorrect by an examination of its wording. But in 1922 Ireland and beyond, it was the perception, not the reality, that influenced public debate on the issue. Had its original author, Michael Collins, survived, he might have been able to clarify its ''actual'' meaning, but with his assassination in 1922, no major negotiator to the Oath's creation on the Irish side was still alive, available or pro-Treaty. (The leader of the Irish delegation, Arthur Griffith had also died in August 1922). The Oath became a key issue in the resulting Irish Civil War that divided the pro- and anti-treaty sides in 1922–23. ==Northern Ireland== The Treaty provided for an all-Ireland thirty-two county state, subject to the proviso that the six Northern Ireland counties, which had their own government under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, could formally opt out of the Free State, which they duly did. (Had it remained, Northern Ireland would have been a self-governing province of the Irish Free State, with its own parliament and government as before.) Northern Ireland thus remained part of the renamed United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The Treaty also allowed Britain to retain naval use of four Free State ports. ==The Irish Civil War== The compromises contained in the agreement caused the Irish Civil War in the 26 counties in June 1922-April 1923, in which Michael Collins (Irish leader)'s pro-Treaty "Free Staters" defeated the anti-Treaty Republicans led by Eamon de Valera, who had resigned as president of the Republic on the treaty's ratification, to the fury of some of his own supporters, notably Sean T. O'Kelly. On resigning, he then sought re-election in an attempt to wreck the treaty. However his ploy failed as the electorate voted for pro-treaty candidates. Arthur Griffith became President. Michael Collins (Irish leader) was chosen by the House of Commons of Southern Ireland (a body set up under the Government of Ireland Act 1920 and to which the Provisional Government was nominally answerable) to become Provisional Prime Minister. As both the House of Commons and the Dáil had almost identical members, it was academic which body was meeting. Griffith's republican administration and Collins' Crown-appointed government merged with the deaths of both men, their respective offices being held by the same man, W.T. Cosgrave. =="Freedom to achieve freedom"== [[Image:Irish farthing coin (obverse).png|thumb|250px|The Irish Free State made several steps on increasing its independence including Irish coinage and Irish banknotes issue from late 1928, this is a Irish farthing coin from 1936 showing the obverse.]] ===Governance=== Two political Parties governed the Irish Free State between 1922 and 1937. * Cumann na nGaedheal under W.T. Cosgrave (1922-32) * Fianna Fáil under Eamon de Valera (1932-37) ===Constitutional evolution=== Michael Collins described the Treaty as 'the freedom to achieve freedom'. In practice, the Treaty offered most of the symbols, powers and functions of independence, including a functioning parliamentary democracy, executive, judiciary, a written constitution which could be changed by the Free State, etc. However, in theory, a number of limits existed: * The British king remained king ''in'' Ireland; * The British Government had a continued role in Irish governance. Officially the representative of the King, the Governor-General also received instructions from the British Government on his use of the Royal Assent, namely a Bill passed by the Dáil and Seanad could be Granted Assent (signed into law), Withheld (not signed, pending later approval) or Denied (''i.e.'', vetoed). Letters patent to the first Governor-General Timothy Michael Healy had named Bills that if passed were to be blocked, namely an attempt to abolish the Oath, etc. In reality no such Bills were ever introduced, so the issue never arose. * The Irish Free State, like all Dominions, had an inferior status to the United Kingdom, which meant, in theory, it could not have its own citizenship (merely a shared Commonwealth citizenship), could not have direct access to the monarch except through a ''British'' minister, and had to use the British state's Great Seal of the Realm on all of its state documents, again symbolising its inferior status to Britain within the Commonwealth. All this changed in the 1920s. A reform of the King's title, under a Commonwealth Conference decision and given effect by the ''Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927'', changed the King's role in each dominion. No more was he King ''in'' Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, etc. Instead he became King ''of'' Ireland, Australia, etc. So from that change, embodied in the Royal Titles Act, the ''British'' king had no role whatsoever in each dominion. His only role was as each dominion's ''own'' king, advised in each dominion's affairs by the dominion, ''not'' by Britain. Furthermore, the British government lost any role in either the selection of a governor-general or in advising him. In this manner Britain lost the ability to influence internal dominion legislation. The Free State went further. It 'accepted' credentials from international ambassadors to Ireland, something no other dominion up to then had done. It registered the treaty with the League of Nations as an international document, to the fury of Britain who saw it as a mere ''internal'' document between a dominion and Britain. Most dramatically of all, the Statute of Westminster 1931, again embodying a decision of a Commonwealth Conference, enabled each dominion to enact any legislation to change any legislation, without any role for the British parliament which may have enacted the original legislation in the past. Ireland symbolically marked these changes in two mould-breaking moves. * It sought, and got the King's acceptance, to have an Irish minister, with the complete exclusion of British ministers, formally advising the king as ''King of Ireland'' in the exercise of his Irish powers and functions (''e.g.'', the signing of a Treaty between the Irish Free State and the Portugal in 1931); * The unprecedented abandonment of the use of the British Great Seal of the Realm and its replacement by the Great Seal of the Irish Free State, which the King awarded to his Irish Kingdom as King of Ireland, again in 1931. (The Irish Seal consisted of a picture of 'King George V of Ireland' enthroned on one side, with the Irish state Harp and the words ''Saorstát Éireann'' (Gaelic for Irish Free State) on the reverse. It is now on display in the Irish National Museum, Collins Barracks in Dublin.) When Eamon de Valera became President of the Executive Council (prime minister) in 1932 he described Cosgrave's ministers' achievements simply. Having read the files, he told his son, Vivion, "they were magnificent, son." (All that remained was British control of a number of ports in the Irish Free State, called the ''Treaty Ports''. However that was an issue not of constitutional law but technical requirements in the Treaty which could be and were renegotiated in 1938 to Ireland's satisfaction.) That freedom allowed de Valera, on becoming President of the Executive Council (February 1932) to go even further. With no British restrictions on his policies, he abolished the Oath of Allegiance (Ireland) (which Cosgrave intended to do had he won the 1932 general election), the Senate, university representation in the Dáil, appeals to the Privy Council. His one major error occurred in 1936 when, in a rush to use the abdication of Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, he tried to abolish the crown and governor-general with the Constitution (Amendment No.27 Act), only to be told by senior law officers and others that, as the crown & governor-generalship existed separately from the constitution in a vast number of Acts, Charters, Orders-in-Council, and Letters Patent, they both still existed. He had to rush through a second Bill, The Executive Powers (Consequential Provisions) Act, 1937 to repeal all the elements he had forgotten. He retrospectively dated the second Act's effect back to December 1936. ==The aftermath of the Irish Free State== In 1937, Eamon de Valera replaced the 1922 constitution of Michael Collins (Irish leader) with his own, renamed the Irish Free State Éire, and created a new 'president of Ireland' in place of the Governor-General of the Irish Free State. His constitution, reflecting the 1930s preoccupation with faith and fatherland, claimed jurisdiction over all of Ireland while recognising the reality of the British presence in the northeast (see Articles 2 and 3 of the Irish Constitution). It also provided for a special position for the Roman Catholic Church, while also recognising the existence and rights of other faiths, specifically the minority Anglican Church of Ireland and the Jewish Congregation in Ireland. (This article was repealed in 1972, and Articles 2 and 3 were reworded in 1999.) It was left to the initiative of de Valera's successors in government (1948). John A. Costello of the (pro-treaty) Fine Gael party to achieve the country's formal transformation into the Republic of Ireland. A tiny minority of Irish people, usually attached to small parties like Sinn Féin and Republican Sinn Féin, denied the right of the twenty-six county state to use the name 'republic', referring to the twenty-six county state as the 'Free State', its citizens 'Free Staters' and its government the "Free State" or "Dublin" Government. Though with Sinn Féin's entry in the Republic's Dáil Éireann (where they won 5 seats out of 166 in the 2002 general election) and the Northern Ireland Executive (where they had 2 ministries), the odds are that the number of those who refuse to accept the legitimacy of the Irish Free State/Éire/Republic of Ireland, which is already very small, will decline further. ==Additional reading== * Tim Pat Coogan, ''Eamon de Valera'' (ISBN 009175030X) * Tim Pat Coogan, ''Michael Collins'' (ISBN 0091741068) * Lord Longford, ''Peace by Ordeal'' (''Universally regarded by all sides as THE definitive account of the Treaty negotiations. Though long out of print, it is available in libraries'') * Dorothy McCardle, ''The Irish Republic'' (no ISBN details available. May be out of print. A classic 'old-style' republican analysis published in the 1960s with a pro-de Valera slant) History of the Republic of IrelandGovernment in the Irish Free State Former monarchiesFormer countries
Irish Free State
Unfortunately you are wrong, Mav, but it is an easy mistake to make. The constitutional twists and turns of 1921-22 are complicated and sometimes hard to follow. Basically, the Anglo-Irish Treaty received two ratifications, by Dáil Éireann in December 1921, validating it in the eyes of the Irish Republic, and in January 1922 by the House of Commons of Southern Ireland, validating it according to British constitutional theory which regarded the HofC of SI as the legitimate parliament of 'Southern Ireland' created under the British Government of Ireland Act,1920. It is this latter ratification that you are mixing up with the beginning of the third state, the Irish Free State. Before the new state could come into being, a new constitution needed to be drafted and passed by both Dáil Éireann (validating it in Irish constitutional theory) and by the British Parliament, validating it in British constitutional theory. In the interregnum between the ratifications of Dec/Jan and the coming into force of the new state in December 1922, two governments existed governing nominally rival states. When de Valera resigned as President of the Irish Republic. he was replaced by Arthur Griffith, who used a different title President of Dáil Éireann.Michael Collins (Irish leader) was his Minister for Finance. Simultaneously Collins was made head of a Provisional Government nominally answerable to the HofC of SI. The Provisional Govt. then dissolved the HofC of SI and held elections for a new parliament ( I have a copy of that dissolution in front of me on my desk because I was writing about it only last night), which in republican theory became the Third Dáil (also a Constituent Assembly), in British theory was a new House of Commons of Southern Ireland, and which history to limit confusion also calls the Provisional Parliament. Both Griffith's and Collins' jobs merged in August 1922 when both men died, under W.T. Cosgrave. The Irish Free State only ''formally'' came into being, superceding the Irish Republic and Southern Ireland (and their respective parliaments!) through * the coming into force of the 1922 Constitution (which was passed by the Dáil while receiving the Royal Assent in the UK) * the issuing of Letters Patent from the King creating the post of Governor-General of the Irish Free State and appointing Timothy Michael Healy to the post. It is possible some history books or web pages somewhere have the wrong date; as you can see, it is extremely complicated and easily mixed up, but the correct answer is shown in, among other places, copies of the parliamentary debates of the period, where the Irish Free State is recorded as beginning in December 1922, not January 1922, which is when Collins formed the Provisional Government ''pending'' the creation of the IFS. Collins was usually described as ''President of the Provisional Government'', while W.T. Cosgrave is generally described as the first IFS premier, with the formal title President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State. Who said history is easy!!! (And I have to make my living researching this stuff!!!) :-) User:Jtdirl 19:11 Jan 15, 2003 (UTC) I've just come across the details of how the Provisional Government was to be constituted, as laid down in the Anglo-Irish Treaty. Section 17 stated: :''By way of provisional arrangement for the administration of Southern Ireland during the interval which must elapse between the date hereof [December 1922] and the constitution of a Parliament and Government of the Irish Free State in accordance therewith, steps shall be taken torthwith for summoning a meeting of members of Parliament eelcted for constituencies in Southern Ireland since the passing of the Government of Ireland Act, 1920, and for constituting a provisional Government, and the British Government shall take the steps necessary to transfer to such provisional Government the powers and machinery requisite for the discharge of its duties, provided that every member of such provisional Government shall have signified in writing his or her acceptance of this instrument. But this arrangement shall not continue in force beyond the expiration of twelve months from the dats hereof.'' Article 77 of the Transitory Provisions of the Constitution stated: :''Every existing officer of the Provisional Government at the date of the coming into force of this Constitution (not being an officer whose servuces had been lent by the British Government to the Provisional Government) shall on that date be transferred to and become an officer of the Irish Free State (Saorstát Éireann), and shall hold office by a tenure corresponding to his previous tenure.'' As my old latin my put it, QED. :-) User:Jtdirl 20:20 Jan 15, 2003 (UTC) Is it not putting it a bit strongly to say the Irish Republic was in de facto existence? Afterall, its write certainly did not run in all the island? I understand the point that is being made and certainly "South Ireland" was nowhere to be seen (though was the provisional government really the provisional government of that body as opposed to the provisional government of SE?). And, in any case "Southern Ireland" was not a state, but an integral part of the UK? A. == Euro == Shouldn't the currency be changed to euro? : this is an article on a historic country that has not existed since 1937 User:Djegan 23:28, 23 Feb 2005 (UTC) ==NPOV== I don't know anything about Ireland except what I have read in this encyclopedia, but I feel the authors use of italics and puctuation in sentences like "Recent calculations of Sinn Féin support in 1918, based on ''actual'' electoral battles at national and local level puts party support at in the region of 45–48%, less than a majority!" or "Had its original author, Michael Collins, survived, he might have been able to clarify its ''actual'' meaning..." and his or her parenthetical aside in the sentance "Furthermore, as one of the negotiators, Michael Collins, later admitted (and he was in a position to know, given his role in the independence war), the IRA at the time of the Truce was weeks..." introduces too much of an editorial nature into the article. While all these things might very well be true, the style seems slanted to me. - 133.6.156.69 Anonymous user. No one seems to actually disagree with you so instead of putting a NPOV warning at the start of the article please go and fix the wording yourself if you feel it should be more neutral. The motto on Wikipedia is Be bold! Also, please put your messages at the bottom of this talkpage instead of the top. Most users will look straight at the bottom so they might miss your messages. User:Iota 20:11, 22 Mar 2005 (UTC)
Irish Free State
{| width="95%" align="center" class="toccolours" |- | style="background-color: #ccccff;" align="center"|''Irish Free State''
(1922-1937) | |-
| align="center" | Anglo-Irish Treaty | Irish Provisional Government | Constitution of the Irish Free State | Statute of Westminster | Great Seal of the Irish Free State | Monarchy in the Irish Free State |- |
|- | align="center" | ''Executive''
King of Ireland | Governor-General of the Irish Free State | President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State | Vice-President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State | Executive Council of the Irish Free State | Extern Minister | Ministers and Secretaries Act |- |
|- | align="center" | ''Legislative:
Oireachtas of the Irish Free State ''(made up of the King, Dáil Éireann (Irish Free State) & Seanad Éireann (Irish Free State))'' |
Royal Assent in the Irish Free State | Ceann Comhairle | Cathaoirleach | Oath of Allegiance (Ireland) |- |
|- | align="center" | ''Judiciary''
Irish Free State Supreme Court | Irish Free State High Court | Chief Justice of the Irish Free State | Courts of Justice Act, 1924 |- |
|- | align="center" | Other topics: ''General elections: Irish general election, 1922 | Irish general election, 1923 | Irish general election, 1927 (June) | Irish general election, 1927 (September) Irish general election, 1932 | Irish general election, 1933 | Irish general election, 1937''
''See also: External Relations Act | Executive Authority (Consequential Provisions) Act | Constitution (Amendment No. 27) Act'' |}
See other meanings of words starting from letter:
I
IA | IB | IC | ID | IE | IF | IG | IH | IJ | IK | IL | IM | IN | IO | IP | IR | IS | IT | IU | IW | IX | IY | IZ |Words begining with Irish_Free_State:
Irish_Free_State
Irish_Free_State
Irish_Free_State
Irish_Free_State_Constitution
Irish_Free_State_Constitution
Irish_Free_State_infobox
Irish_Free_State_infobox
Irish_Free_State_Supreme_Court
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