In 1931, with the passage of theStatute of Westminster, theParliament of the United Kingdom relinquished nearly all of its remaining authority to legislate for the Irish Free State and the other dominions. This granted the Free State internationally recognised independence.
In the first months of the Irish Free State, theIrish Civil War was waged between the newly establishedNational Army and theAnti-Treaty IRA, which refused to recognise the state. The Civil War ended in victory for the government forces, with its opponents dumping their arms in May 1923. The Anti-Treaty political party,Sinn Féin, refused to take its seats in the Dáil, leaving the relatively smallLabour Party as the only opposition party. In 1926, when Sinn Féin presidentÉamon de Valera failed to have this policy reversed, he resigned from Sinn Féin and led most of its membership into a new party,Fianna Fáil, which entered the Dáil following the1927 general election. It formed the government after the1932 general election, when it became the largest party.
De Valera abolished the oath of allegiance and embarked onan economic war with the UK. In 1937, he drafted a newconstitution, which was adopted by aplebiscite in July of that year. The Irish Free State came to an end with the coming into force of the new constitution on 29 December 1937, whenthe state took the name "Ireland".
TheEaster Rising of 1916 and its aftermath caused a profound shift in public opinion towardsthe republican cause in Ireland.[6] In theDecember 1918 General Election, the republicanSinn Féin party won a large majority of the Irish seats in the British parliament: 73 of the 105 constituencies returned Sinn Féin members (25 uncontested).[7] The elected Sinn Féin MPs, rather than take their seats at Westminster, set up their own assembly, known asDáil Éireann (Assembly of Ireland). It affirmed the formation of an Irish Republic and passed aDeclaration of Independence.[8] The subsequentWar of Independence, fought between the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and British security forces, continued until July 1921 when a truce came into force. By this time theParliament of Northern Ireland had opened, established under theGovernment of Ireland Act 1920, presenting the republican movement with afait accompli and guaranteeing the British presence in Ireland.[9] In October negotiations opened in London between members of the British government and members of the Dáil, culminating in the signing of theAnglo-Irish Treaty on 6 December 1921.[10]
The Treaty allowed for the creation of a separate state to be known as the Irish Free State, with dominion status, within the then British Empire — a status equivalent to Canada.[10] The Parliament of Northern Ireland could, by presenting an address to the King, opt not to be included in the Irish Free State, in which case aBoundary Commission would be established to determine where the boundary between them should lie.[11][12] Members of the parliament of the Free State would be required to take anoath of allegiance to the Constitution of the Free State and to declare that they would be "faithful" to the king (a modification of the oath taken in other dominions).[10]
Executive authority was vested in the King, with the Governor-General as his viceregal representative. He appointed a cabinet called theExecutive Council to "aid and advise" him. The Executive Council was presided over by a prime minister called thePresident of the Executive Council. In practice, most of the real power was exercised by the Executive Council, as the Governor-General was almost always bound to act on the advice of the Executive Council.
The office of Governor-General of the Irish Free State replaced the previousLord Lieutenant, who had headed English and British administrations in Ireland since the Middle Ages. Governors-General were appointed by the King initially on the advice of the British Government, but with the consent of the Irish Government. From 1927, the Irish Government alone had the power to advise the King whom to appoint.
As with all dominions, provision was made for an Oath of Allegiance. Within dominions, such oaths were taken by parliamentarians personally towards the monarch. TheIrish Oath of Allegiance was fundamentally different. It had two elements; the first, anoath to the Free State, as by law established, the second part a promise offidelity, to His Majesty, King George V, his heirs and successors. That second fidelity element, however, was qualified in two ways. It was to the Kingin Ireland, not specifically to the King of the United Kingdom. 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 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 theIrish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), of which he was the secret head. In its structure, it was also partially based on the form and structure used for 'Dominion status'.[19]
Although 'a new departure', and notably indirect in its reference to the monarchy, it was criticised by nationalists and republicans for making any reference to the Crown, the claim being that itwas a direct oath to the Crown, a fact arguably incorrect by an examination of its wording, but in 1922 Ireland and beyond, many argued that the fact remained that as a dominion the King (and therefore the British) was stillhead of state and that was the practical reality that influenced public debate on the issue. The Free State was not a republic. The Oath became a key issue in the resultingIrish Civil War that divided the pro and anti-treaty sides in 1922–23.
Funeral procession of Michael Collins, Dublin, 1922
The compromises contained in the agreement caused the civil war in the 26 counties in June 1922 – April 1923, in which the pro-TreatyProvisional Government defeated the anti-Treaty Republican forces. The latter were led, nominally, byÉamon de Valera, who had resigned as President of the Republic on the treaty's ratification. His resignation outraged some of his own supporters, notablySeán T. O'Kelly, the main Sinn Féin organiser. On resigning, he then sought re-election but was defeated two days later on a vote of 60–58. The pro-Treaty Arthur Griffith followed as President of the Irish Republic. Michael Collins was chosen at a meeting of the members elected to sit in theHouse of Commons of Southern Ireland (a body set up under the Government of Ireland Act 1920) to becomeChairman of the Provisional Government of the Irish Free State in accordance with the Treaty. Thegeneral election in June gave overwhelming support for the pro-Treaty parties.W. T. Cosgrave's Crown-appointed Provisional Government effectively subsumed Griffith's republican administration with the death of both Collins and Griffith in August 1922.[20]
Michael Collins described the Treaty as "the freedom to achieve freedom". In practice, the Treaty offered most of the symbols and powers of independence. These included a functioning, if disputed,parliamentary democracy with its own executive, judiciary and written constitution which could be changed by the Oireachtas. Although anIrish republic had not been on offer, the Treaty still afforded Ireland more internal independence than it had possessed in over 400 years, and far more autonomy than had ever been hoped for by those who had advocated forHome Rule.[21]
However, a number of conditions existed:
The King remained Kingin Ireland;
Britain retained the so-called strategicTreaty Ports on Ireland's south and north-west coasts which were to remain occupied by theRoyal Navy;
Prior to the passage of theStatute of Westminster, the UK government continued to have a role in Irish governance. Officially the viceregal representative of the King, the Governor-General also received instructions from the British Government on his use of theRoyal 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 (vetoed). Theletters patent to the first Governor-General,Tim Healy, explicitly named Bills that were to be rejected if passed by the Dáil and Seanad, such as any attempt to abolish the Oath. No such Bills were ever introduced.
Poster promoting Irish Free State farm goods for breakfast to Canadians ("Irish Free State butter, eggs and bacon for our breakfasts")
As with the other dominions, the Irish Free State had a status of association with the UK rather than being completely legally independent from it. However, the meaning of 'Dominion status' changed radically during the 1920s, starting with theChanak crisis in 1922 and quickly followed by the directly negotiatedHalibut Treaty of 1923. The1926 Imperial Conference declared the equality [including the UK] of all member states of the Commonwealth. The Conference also led to a reform of the King's title, given effect by theRoyal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927, which changed the King's royal title so that it took account of the fact that there was no longer aUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The King adopted the following style by which he would be known in all of his empire:By the Grace of God, of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas King, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India. That was the King's title in Ireland just as elsewhere in the British Empire.[22]
In the conduct of external relations, the Free State tried to push the boundaries of its status as a Dominion. It 'accepted' credentials from international ambassadors to Ireland, something no other dominion up to then had done. It registered the treaty with theLeague of Nations as an international document, over the objections of the United Kingdom, which saw it as a mereinternal document between a dominion and the United Kingdom. Entitlement of citizenship of the Irish Free State was defined in the Irish Free State Constitution, but the status of that citizenship was contentious. One of the first projects of the Irish Free State was the design and production of theGreat Seal of Saorstát Éireann which was carried out on behalf of the Government byHugh Kennedy.
The Statute of Westminster of 1931, embodying a decision of an Imperial Conference, enabled each dominion to enact new legislation and change any extant legislation, without resorting to the U.K. Parliament (or any Crown intermediary). Extant legislation includes any and all Dominion legislation enacted prior to the Statute of Westminster. It also removed Westminster's authority to legislate for the Dominions, except by the express request and consent of the relevant Dominion's parliament. This change made the dominions, including the Irish Free State,de jure independent nations—thus fulfilling Collins' vision of having "the freedom to achieve freedom".
The Free State symbolically marked these changes in two mould-breaking moves soon after winning internationally recognised independence:
It sought, and got, the King's acceptance to have an Irish minister, to the complete exclusion of British ministers, formally advise the King in the exercise of his powers and functions as King in the Irish Free State. This gave the President of the Executive Council the right to directly advise the King in his capacity as His Majesty's Irish Prime Minister. Two examples of this are the signing of a treaty between the Irish Free State and thePortuguese Republic in 1931, and the act recognising theabdication ofKing Edward VIII in 1936 separately from the recognition by the British Parliament.
The unprecedented replacement of the use of theGreat Seal of the Realm and its replacement by the Great Seal of Saorstát Éireann, which the king awarded to the Irish Free State in 1931. (The Irish Seal consisted of a picture of King George V enthroned on one side, with the Irish state harp and the wordsSaorstát Éireann on the reverse. It is now on display in the Irish National Museum,Collins Barracks in Dublin.)
When Éamon 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".
The Statute of Westminster allowed de Valera, on becoming President of the Executive Council (February 1932), to go even further. With no ensuing restrictions on his policies, he abolished the Oath of Allegiance (which Cosgrave intended to do had he won the1932 general election), theSeanad, university representation in the Dáil, and appeals to theJudicial Committee of the Privy Council.
One major policy error occurred in 1936 when he attempted to use theabdication of King Edward VIII to abolish the Crown and Governor-General in the Free State with the "Constitution (Amendment No. 27) Act". He was advised by senior law officers and other constitutional experts that, as the Crown and Governor-Generalship existed separately from the constitution in a vast number of acts, charters, orders-in-council, and letters patent, they both still existed. A second bill, the "Executive Powers (Consequential Provisions) Act, 1937" was quickly introduced to repeal the necessary elements. De Valera retroactively dated the second act back to December 1936.
The new state continued to use thePound sterling from its inception; there is no reference in the Treaty or in either of the enabling Acts to currency.[23] Nonetheless, and within a few years, the Dáil passed the Coinage Act, 1926 (which provided for aSaorstát [Free State] coinage) and the Currency Act, 1927 (which providedinter alia for banknotes of theSaorstát pound). The new Saorstát pound was defined by the 1927 Act to have exactly the same weight and fineness of gold as was thesovereign at the time, making the new currencypegged at 1:1 with sterling. The State circulated its new national coinage in December 1928, markedSaorstát Éireann and anational series of banknotes. British coinage remained acceptable in the Free State at an equal rate. In 1937, when the Free State was superseded by Ireland (Éire), the pound became known as the "Irish pound" and the coins were markedÉire as from 1939.
No coins dated 1938 were struck for circulation in Ireland, but the 1938 1 Penny and Half Crown exists aspattern coins.
Ireland joined the League of Nations on 10 September 1923.[24] It would also participate in the Olympics sending its first team to the 1924 Summer Olympics held in Paris.[25] They would send further teams to the1928 Summer Olympics and the1932 Summer Olympics.[26]
According to Gerard Keown, by 1932 much had been achieved in the quest for an independent foreign policy.[27]
The Irish Free State was an established element in the European system and a member of the League of Nations. It had blazed a trail in asserting the rights of the dominions to their own foreign policy, in the process establishing full diplomatic relations with the United States, France, Belgium, Germany, and the Holy See. It was concluding its own political and commercial treaties and using the apparatus of international relations to pursue its interests. It had received the accolade of election to a non-permanent seat on the council of the League of Nations and asserted its full equality with Britain and the other dominions within the Commonwealth.
By contrast, the military was drastically reduced in size and scope, with its budget cut by 82% from 1924 to 1929. The active duty forces were reduced from 28,000 men to 7,000. Co-operation with London was minimal.[28][29]
According to one report, in 1924, shortly after the Free State's establishment, the new dominion had the "lowest birth-rate in the world". The report noted that amongst countries for which statistics were available (Ceylon, Chile,Japan, Spain,South Africa, the Netherlands, Canada,Germany, Australia, the United States, Britain, New Zealand, Finland, and the Irish Free State), Ceylon had the highest birth rate at 40.8 per 1,000 while the Irish Free State had a birth rate of just 18.6 per 1,000.[30]
Irish society during this period was extremely Roman Catholic, with Roman Catholic thinkers promoting anti-capitalist, anti-communist, anti-Protestant, anti-Masonic, and antisemitic views in Irish society.[citation needed] Through the works of priests such asEdward Cahill,Richard Devane, andDenis Fahey, Irish society saw capitalism, individualism, communism, private banking, the promotion of alcohol, contraceptives, divorce, and abortion as the pursuits of the old 'Protestant-elite' and Jews, with their efforts combined through theFreemasons. Denis Fahey described Ireland as "the third most Masonic country in the world" and saw this alleged order as contrary to the creation of an independent Irish State.[31]
In 1937, the Fianna Fáil government presented a draft of an entirely new Constitution to Dáil Éireann. An amended version of the draft document was subsequently approved by the Dáil. Aplebiscite was held on 1 July 1937, which was the same day as the1937 general election, when a relatively narrow majority approved it. The newConstitution of Ireland (Bunreacht na hÉireann) repealed the 1922 Constitution, and came into effect on 29 December 1937.[32]
The state was named Ireland (Éire in theIrish language), and a new office ofPresident of Ireland was instituted in place of the Governor-General of the Irish Free State. The new constitution claimed jurisdiction over all of Ireland while recognising that legislation would not apply in Northern Ireland (seeArticles 2 and 3). Articles 2 and 3 werereworded in 1998 to remove jurisdictional claim over the entire island and to recognise that "a united Ireland shall be brought about only by peaceful means with the consent of a majority of the people, democratically expressed, in both jurisdictions in the island".
With regard to religion, a section of Article 44 included the following:
Following a referendum, this section wasremoved in 1973. After the setting up of the Free State in 1923, unionism in the south largely came to an end.
The 1937 Constitution saw a notable ideological slant to the changes in the framework of the State in such a way as to create one that appeared to be distinctly Irish. This was done by implementingcorporatist policies (based on the concepts of the RomanCatholic Church, as Catholicism was perceived to be deeply embedded with the perception of Irish identity). A clear example of this is the model of the reconstitutedSeanad Éireann (the Senate), which operates based on a system of vocational panels, along with a list of appointed nominating industry bodies, a corporatist concept (seen inPope Pius XI's 1931 encyclicalQuadragesimo anno). Furthermore, Ireland's main political parties, Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Labour, all had an inherently corporatist outlook.[33][34][35][36][37][38] The government was the subject of intense lobbying by leading Church figures throughout the 1930s in calling for reform of the State's framework. Much of this was reflected in the new 1937 Constitution.[39]
^TheUnited Kingdom and the Irish Free State considered each other states with equal status within the British Empire. However, for other sovereign states (theUnited States,France,Brazil,Japan,Ethiopia, etc) and the international community as a whole (i.eLeague of Nations), the term Dominion was very ambiguous. At the time of the founding of the League of Nations in 1924, the League Covenant made provision for the admission of any "fully self-governing state, Dominion, or Colony", the implication being that "Dominion status was something between that of a colony and a state"
^With theStatute of Westminster 1931 the ambiguity is dispelled for the international community with three British Dominions (Irish Free State,Canada andUnion of South Africa), being recognized as sovereign states in their own right. Unlike what happened in Australia in 1942 and New Zealand in 1947, the whole statute was applied to the Dominion of Canada, the Irish Free State, and the Union of South Africa without the need for any acts of ratification.
^Whether the Treaty, or theIrish Free State (Agreement) Act 1922 which gave it force of law, had the legal effect under United Kingdom law of making Northern Ireland a part of the Irish Free State for one or two days is a point legal writers have disagreed on. One writer has argued that the terms of the Treaty legally applied only to the 26 counties, and the government of the Irish Free State never had any powers — even in principle—in Northern Ireland.[17] Another writer has argued that on the day it was established the jurisdiction of the Free State was the island of Ireland.[18] A 1933 court decision in Ireland took the latter view.[18] Thede facto position was that Northern Ireland was treated as at all times being within the United Kingdom.
^Officially adopted in July 1926.O'Day, Alan (1987). Alan O'Day (ed.).Reactions to Irish nationalism. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 17.ISBN978-0-907628-85-9.Archived from the original on 14 April 2016. Retrieved28 April 2011.
^"1926 Census Vol.3 Table 1A"(PDF). Central Statistics Office. p. 1.Archived(PDF) from the original on 20 October 2019. Retrieved3 March 2020. (1861–1926)
^"Census of Population 1936"(PDF). Dublin: The Stationery Office. 1938. p. 2.Archived(PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved10 September 2022.
^Martin, Ged (1999)."The Origins of Partition". In Anderson, Malcolm; Bort, Eberhard (eds.).The Irish Border: History, Politics, Culture. Liverpool University Press. p. 68.ISBN0853239517.Archived from the original on 29 January 2017. Retrieved8 September 2015.It is certainly true that the Treaty went through the motions of including Northern Ireland within the Irish Free State while offering it the provision to opt out
^Fanning, Ronan (2013).Fatal Path: British Government and Irish Revolution 1910-1922. London: Faber and Faber. p. 342.ISBN978-0-571-29739-9.
^Morgan, Austen (2000).The Belfast Agreement: A Practical Legal Analysis(PDF). The Belfast Press. pp. 66, 68. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 26 September 2015.it was legally clear that the treaty, and the associated provisional parliament and government, applied only to the 26 counties...[Article 11] implied politically – but not legally – that the Irish Free State had some right to Northern Ireland. But partition was acknowledged expressly in the treaty...following the text of article 12, [the address] requested that the powers of the parliament and government of the Irish Free State should no longer extend to Northern Ireland. This does not mean they had so extended on 6 December 1922.
^abHarvey, Alison (March 2020)."A Legal Analysis of Incorporating Into UK Law the Birthright Commitment under the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement 1998"(PDF). Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission and the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. para. 91.Archived(PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved7 February 2022.The jurisdiction of the Free State was the island of Ireland. The Northern Ireland Parliament gave notice, as it was entitled to do, that it did not wish to come under the jurisdiction of the Free State. InRe Logue [1933] 67 ILTR 253 it was held that, because the notice took effect after the Constitution of the Irish Free State (Saorstát Eireann) had come into operation, most of those domiciled in Northern Ireland had become Irish citizens under Article 3 of the Constitution of the Irish Free State (Saorstát Éireann).
^Michael Hopkinson,Green Against Green–The Irish Civil War: A History of the Irish Civil War, 1922–1923 (Gill & Macmillan, 2004)online.
^Michael Gallagher, "The changing constitution." inPolitics in the Republic of Ireland (Routledge, 2009) pp.94-130.
^Long after the Irish Free State had ceased to exist, whenElizabeth II ascended the Throne, theRoyal Titles Act 1953[1]Archived 30 June 2013 at theWayback Machine was passed, as were other Acts concerning her Style in other parts of the Empire. Until then the British monarch had only one style. The King was never simply the "King of Ireland" or the "King of the Irish Free State".
^Except perhaps by inference: the Treaty assigned to the Irish Free State the same status in the Empire as Canada and the latter had already [1851—59]replaced the British Pound (with the Canadian Dollar).
^See Donal K. Coffey,Drafting the Irish Constitution, 1935–1937: Transnational Influences in Interwar Europe (Springer, 2018)online.
^Adshead, Maura (2003).Ireland as a Catholic Corporatist State: A Historical Institutional Analysis of Healthcare in Ireland. Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Limerick.ISBN978-1-874653-74-5.
^McGinley, Jack (2000).Neo-corporatism, New Realism and Social Partnership in Ireland 1970–1999. Trinity College.
^Allen, Kieran (1995).Fianna Fail and Irish Labour Party: From Populism to Corporatism. Pluto Press.
^Tovey, Hilary; Share, Perry (2003).A Sociology of Ireland. Gill & Macmillan Ltd.ISBN978-0-7171-3501-1.
^Moylan, M. T. C. (1983).Corporatist Developments in Ireland.
^Morrissey, Thomas; Morrissey, Thomas J. (2021).The Ireland of Edward Cahill SJ 1868–1941: A Secular or a Christian State?. Messenger Publications.ISBN978-1-78812-430-0.
Coogan, Tim Pat (1990).Michael Collins. Hutchinson.ISBN0-09-174106-8.
Corcoran, Donal. "Public policy in an emerging state: The Irish Free State 1922-25."Irish Journal of Public Policy 1.1 (2009).online
Dwyer, T. Ryle (2006).Big Fellow, Long Fellow: A Joint Biography of Collins and De Valera. Gill Books.ISBN0717140849. excerpt and text search
Dwyer, T. Ryle (1982).De Valera's Finest Hour 1932–59.
Fanning, Ronan.Éamon de Valera: A Will to Power (2016)
Foster, R. F.Modern Ireland, 1600-1972 (1989)online
Girvin, Brian. "Beyond Revisionism? Some Recent Contributions to the Study of Modern Ireland."The English Historical Review 124#506, 2009, pp. 94–107.online
Keown, Gerard.First of the Small Nations: The Beginnings of Irish Foreign Policy in the Inter-war Years, 1919-1932 (Oxford University Press, 2016).online
Kissane, Bill. "Eamon De Valera and the Survival of Democracy in Inter-War Ireland".Journal of Contemporary History (2007). 42 (2): 213–226.online
Lee, J. J.Ireland, 1912-1985: politics and society (Cambridge University Press, 1989)online.
† 1922 marks the secession of the majority of Ireland from the United Kingdom rather than the creation of a new state. Official name was changed in 1927.
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