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TheDublin Castle administration was the central executive government ofIreland underEnglish, and laterBritish, rule from the Middle Ages until the creation of theIrish Free State in 1922. The name comes fromDublin Castle, which served as the administrative and ceremonial heart of British authority in Ireland.[1] "Dublin Castle" is usedmetonymically to describe British rule in Ireland, particularly the executive and civil service that governed through theLord Lieutenant of Ireland and senior officials such as theChief Secretary for Ireland andUnder-Secretary for Ireland.
The administration operated alongside theParliament of Ireland (which existed until 1801) and thePrivy Council of Ireland, implementing policies and managing patronage, taxation, and the civil service. Over time, theChief Secretary for Ireland became the key political manager, while the Lord Lieutenant largely served a ceremonial and representative role.[2]
The head of the administration orChief governor of Ireland was variously known as thejusticiar, theLord Deputy, from the seventeenth century theLord Lieutenant of Ireland, and later theViceroy. Before 1707, he represented the government of theKingdom of England, then that of theKingdom of Great Britain, and finally from 1801 that of theUnited Kingdom. He was also the personal representative in Ireland of the monarch. When the chief governor was absent in England, his authority was exercised by threeLords Justices.
By the nineteenth century, the Lord Lieutenant was declining in importance by comparison with his chief aide, theChief Secretary for Ireland: the British cabinet would invariably include the Chief Secretary, but only sometimes the Lord Lieutenant.
TheGovernment of Ireland Act 1920 gave the Lord Lieutenant a new role, that of the Crown's representative in the two new IrishUK regions ofNorthern Ireland andSouthern Ireland. However, theIrish War of Independence and subsequentCivil War meant that Southern Ireland's institutions never came into operation and Northern Ireland's institutions were not established until 1921. Upon the independence of theIrish Free State from the United Kingdom in 1922, the Lord Lieutenancy was abolished, with its functions being transferred to the two new offices ofGovernor-General of the Irish Free State andGovernor of Northern Ireland respectively.
Other major officers in the Dublin Castle administration included theChief Secretary for Ireland, theUnder-Secretary, theLord Chancellor of Ireland, theAttorney-General for Ireland (briefly replaced under the Government of Ireland Act by the Attorney-General for Southern Ireland), and theSolicitor-General for Ireland. All of these posts were abolished in 1922. The Chief Secretary's office evolved into the administrative basis for the newPresident of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State, effectively the prime minister, with the Under Secretary's administrative role becoming that of the new chief civil servant in theIrish Government, the Secretary to theExecutive Council.
Just as theCivil Service ("His Majesty's Home Civil Service") evolved from the officials of the various government departments aroundWhitehall in London, so the corresponding officials in Dublin evolved into the Irish civil service. The Irish Office in London[citation needed] was the part of the British civil service which liaised with Dublin Castle, just as theColonial Office liaised withcolonial governments. After thePartition of Ireland, most Irish civil servants transferred to either theCivil Service of the Irish Free State or theCivil Service of Northern Ireland. Those based in the Free State who were unsympathetic to the new regime were allowed to retire early on reduced pension.
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