Parliament of the United Kingdom |
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| Long title | An Act to recognise and declare the constitutional position as to the part of Ireland heretofore known as Eire, and to make provision as to the name by which it may be known and the manner in which the law is to apply in relation to it; to declare and affirm the constitutional position and the territorial integrity of Northern Ireland and to amend, as respects the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the law relating to the qualifications of electors in constituencies in Northern Ireland; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid. |
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| Statute book chapter | 12, 13 & 14 Geo. 6 c. 41 |
| Introduced by | Clement Attlee |
| Territorial extent | England and Wales; Scotland; Northern Ireland |
| Dates | |
| Royal Assent | 2 June 1949 |
| Commencement | 18 April 1949 |
| Other legislation | |
| Amendments | Representation of the People Act 1949 Diplomatic Privileges Act 1964 Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973 British Nationality Act 1981 |
| Status: Amended | |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
| Official text of the statute as amended and in force today within the United Kingdom, from the UK Statute Law Database | |
The Ireland Act 1949 is a British Act of Parliament that was intended to deal with the consequences of the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 as passed by the Irish parliament (Oireachtas). The Act is still largely in force but has been amended.
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Following the secession of most of Ireland from the United Kingdom in 1922, the then created Irish Free State remained (for the purposes of British law)[1] a dominion of the British Empire and thus its people remained as British subjects with the right to live and work in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in the Empire. The British monarch, as King in Ireland, continued to be head of state until the Statute of Westminster, 1931 granted the Irish Free State equal status with the United Kingdom and thereafter Ireland had its own monarchy in personal union with Britain and the other Dominions of the British Commonwealth (albeit with no distinct title, having the same title throughout the British Empire).[2] However, by 1936, systematic attempts to remove references to the monarch from Irish constitutional law meant that the only functions remaining to the Crown were:
This status quo remained, with Ireland participating little in the British Commonwealth and Éamon de Valera remarking in 1945 that "we are a republic" in reply to the question if he planned to declare Ireland as a republic. Then somewhat unexpectedly in 1948, during a visit to Canada, Taoiseach John A. Costello announced that Ireland was to be declared a republic. The subsequent Irish legislation, the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 provided for the abolition of the last remaining functions of the King in relation to Ireland and provided that the President of Ireland may instead exercise these functions in the King's place. When the Act came into force on 18 April 1949, it effectively ended Ireland's status as a British dominion. As a consequence of this, it also had the effect of ending Ireland's membership of the British Commonwealth of Nations and the existing basis upon which Ireland and its citizens were treated in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries as "British subjects", not foreigners.
The Act's long title summarises the Act's several purposes:
An Act to recognise and declare the constitutional position as to the part of Ireland heretofore known as Eire, and to make provision as to the name by which it may be known and the manner in which the law is to apply in relation to it; to declare and affirm the constitutional position and the territorial integrity of Northern Ireland and to amend, as respects the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the law relating to the qualifications of electors in constituencies in Northern Ireland; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.
The effects of the Acts various subsections are as follows:
The Act made no change to Northern Ireland’s name. However, earlier drafts of the Bill had included a provision changing Northern Ireland’s name to "Ulster".[3]
The Act created outrage in Ireland because its provisions guaranteed that partition (i.e. the status of Northern Ireland as a part of the UK) would continue unless the Northern Ireland parliament chose otherwise.[4] Because Northern Ireland had a unionist majority, the guarantee that Northern Ireland would remain part of the UK unless the Belfast parliament resolved otherwise copper-fastened the so-called "unionist veto" in British law. The Irish parliament called for a Protest Against Partition[5] as a result. This was the first and last cross-party declaration against partition by the Irish parliament. The revival of an Irish Republican Army in the early 1950s has been attributed by Irish journalist and popular historian Tim Pat Coogan to the strength of popular feeling among nationalists on both sides of the border against the Act.
Before the final Act was published, speculation that the legislation would change the name of "Northern Ireland" to "Ulster" was also the subject of adverse reaction from Nationalist politicians in Northern Ireland and from the Minister for Foreign Affairs in Ireland.[6]
In general, a person born in what became the Republic of Ireland while it was still part of the United Kingdom before 6 December 1922 was not granted Citizenship of the UK & Colonies by the British Nationality Act 1948 unless such a person had a UK & Colonies born father (based on 1949 frontiers).
In order to acquire Citizenship of the UK and Colonies such persons were expected to reside in the United Kingdom or a Crown Colony and acquire UK citizenship by registration or declaration.
Section 5 of the Ireland Act provided for acquisition of UK citizenship by some British subjects who had left what became the Republic of Ireland before it ceased to be part of the United Kingdom. Such persons generally became British citizens on 1 January 1983. See History of British nationality law
Persons not qualifying for this concession were nevertheless able to reclaim their British subject status under section 2 of the 1948 Act. This was later re-enacted as section 31 of the British Nationality Act 1981 and remains in effect as of 2006.
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