| Parliament of Southern Ireland Pairlimint Deiscirt na hÉireann |
|
|---|---|
| Type | |
| Type | Bicameral |
| Houses | Senate, House of Commons |
| Timeline | |
| Established | 1920 |
| Preceded by | Parliament of Ireland/ Parliament of the United Kingdom |
| Succeeded by | Oireachtas of the Irish Free State |
| Disbanded | 27 May 1922 |
| Members | 192 64 Senators 128 Members of Parliament (MPs) |
| Election | |
| House of Commons voting system | STV |
| House of Commons Last election | Irish elections, 1921 |
| Meeting place | |
| The Royal College of Science for Ireland Location for the first official meeting of both Houses. Now Irish Government Buildings |
|
| See also | |
| Parliament of Northern Ireland | |
The Parliament of Southern Ireland (Irish: Pairlimint Deiscirt na hÉireann) was a home rule legislature set up by the British Government during the Irish War of Independence under the Fourth Home Rule Bill. It was designed to legislate for Southern Ireland,[1] a political entity which was created by the British Government to solve the issue of rising Irish nationalism and the issue of partitionism, whilst retaining Ireland as part of the United Kingdom.
The Parliament was bicameral, consisting of a House of Commons (the lower house) with 128 seats and a Senate (the upper house) with 64 seats.[2] The Parliament as two houses sat only once, in the Royal College of Science for Ireland in Merrion Street. Due to the low turnout of members attending, the Parliament was adjourned sine die and was later officially disbanded by the Irish Free State (Agreement) Act 1922.
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Under the Act of Union 1800 the separate Kingdoms of Ireland and Great Britain were merged on 1 January 1801, to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.[3] Throughout the 19th century Irish opposition to the Union was strong, occasionally erupting in violent insurrection.[4]
In the 1870s the Home Rule League under Isaac Butt sought to achieve a modest form of self-government, known as Home Rule. This was considered far more acceptable and as Ireland would still remain part of the United Kingdom but would have limited self-government. The cause was then pursued by Charles Stewart Parnell and two attempts were made by Liberal ministries under British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone to enact home rule bills, accompanied by a revival of Ulster's Orange Order to resist any form of Home Rule.[5] The First Home Rule Bill was defeated in the Commons by 30 votes; while the second Second Home Rule Bill was passed, but then defeated in the Lords.
On 11 April 1912, the Prime Minister, H. H. Asquith, introduced the Third Home Rule Bill which allowed for more autonomy than its two predecessors has.[6] It was defeated twice, but after its defeat for the third time in the Lords the Government used the provisions of the Parliament Act 1911 to override the Lords and send it for Royal Assent, which was received and placed on the statute books on 18 September 1914.[7] However, with the outbreak of World War I it was decided that the bills implementation should be suspended, leading to the passing of the Suspensory Act 1914, which was presented for Royal Assent simultaneously with both the Home Rule Bill and the Welsh Church Act 1914, and ensured that Home Rule would be postponed for the duration of the conflict[8] and would not come into operation until the end of the war.[9] Initially the suspension was not considered an issue by Nationalists, who believed independent self-government had finally been granted and that the war was to be a short one.[10]
Two attempts were made by the H. H. Asquith to implement the Third Home Rule Act, during the war, first in May 1916 which failed on reaching agreement with Unionist Ulster, then again in 1917 with the calling of the Irish Convention chaired by Horace Plunkett. It consisted of Nationalist and Unionist respresentatives who, by April 1918, only succeeded in agreeing a report with an 'understanding' on recommendations for the establishment of self-government. Starting in September 1919, with the Government, now led by David Lloyd George, committed under all circumstances to implementing Home Rule, the British cabinet's Committee for Ireland, under the chairmanship of former Ulster Unionist Party leader Walter Long, pushed for a radical new idea. Long proposed the creation of two Irish home rule entities, Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland,[11] each with unicameral parliaments. An amendment to the bill in the House of Lords submitted by Geoffrey Browne, 3rd Baron Oranmore and Browne added a Senate for Southern Ireland, intended to bolster representation of the southern Unionist and Protestant minorities. The government opposed this on the grounds that it would weaken the function of the inter-parliament Council of Ireland, but it was passed, as was an amendment adding a Senate of Northern Ireland.[12][13]
The House of Commons of Southern Ireland as established under the original version Fourth Home Rule Bill was intended as the sole chamber of the Parliament however the final version of the bill established two chambers with the House of Commons as the lower house of the Parliament. It consisted of 128 members who were styled as being Members of Parliament and whose presiding officer was to be known as the Speaker of the House of Commons. The basic features of the House were constructed from those of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom which was structured in a similar manner. The voting method for the election of MPs was the Single transferable vote[14] with the bill prescribing 16 members being elected from multimember borough constituencies, 104 from multimember county constituencies and 8 being elected from graduates of Irish Universities, with all members having equal standing in the eyes of the House. The borough and county constituencies followed the same boundaries as those used from elections to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom but electing an increased number of members. The University seats were broken down into 4 for the University of Dublin and 4 for the National University of Ireland.
On 24 May 1921, elections were held for the House of Commons of Southern Ireland, simultaneously with elections for Northern Ireland, nominally under the single transferable vote. In reality however, no contests occurred as all 128 MPs were returned unopposed with Sinn Féin winning all 124 seats which made up the borough and county constituencies and the seats allocated to the National University of Ireland and Unionists the 4 seats for graduates of University of Dublin.[15] The Irish Republic chose to regard that election as elections to the Second Dáil. The 124 Sinn Féin candidates elected, plus the Sinn Féin members elected to the House of Commons of Northern Ireland elected at the same time, assembled as the Second Dáil.
| Southern Ireland general election, 1921 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Leader | No. of seats | % of seats | |
| Sinn Féin | Éamon de Valera | 124 (unopposed) | 96.9 | |
| Independent Unionist | 4 (unopposed) | 3.1 | ||
| Totals | 128 | 100 | ||
The Provisional Government of Southern Ireland was constituted on 14 January 1922 "at a meeting of members of the Parliament elected for constituencies in Southern Ireland". The meeting was not a meeting of the House of Commons of Southern Ireland rather, it was a meeting of the members elected to sit in the House of Commons of Southern Ireland. Notably, the meeting was convened by Arthur Griffith as "Chairman of the Irish Delegation of Plenipotentiaries"[16] (who had signed the Anglo-Irish Treaty) under the terms of the Treaty. Griffith's actions led to discussions between the Irish Treaty delegation and the British Government over who had authority to convene the 'meeting' as under the Fourth Home Rule Bill the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (then Viscount FitzAlan of Derwent) was the office-holder with the entitlement and power to convene a meeting of the House of Commons of Southern Ireland.
The Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed in London on 6 December 1921 by representatives of the British government and envoys of the proclaimed Irish Republic who claimed plenipotentiary status. In accordance with its terms the Anglo-Irish Treaty needed also to be ratified "at a meeting of members of the Parliament elected for constituencies in Southern Ireland" and the British Parliament, which has led it to sometimes erroneously be claimed that the House of Commons of Southern Ireland approved the Anglo-Irish Treaty.. The Dáil Éireann for the de facto Irish Republic also ratified the Treaty. The convening of the meeting of the members elected the House of Commons was called by Arthur Griffith as "Chairman of the Irish Delegation of Plenipotentiaries".[16] This led to discussions between the Irish Treaty delegation and the British Government over who had authority to convene the meeting. The relevant meeting, on 14 January 1922 in the Mansion House, was attended by 64 pro-Treaty TDs and 4 Unionist MPs from the University of Dublin; it duly ratified the Treaty, and nominated Michael Collins for appointment as Chairman of the Provisional Government.[17][18] The meeting itself however did not conform to the requirements the Government of Ireland Act specified for the House of Commons[19] with the House of Commons was to be summoned by the Lord Lieutenant, the ratification meeting was convened by Arthur Griffith as "Chairman of the Irish Delegation of Plenipotentiaries". Collins was installed in his post by the Lord Lieutenant in Dublin Castle on 16 January 1922.[17] The MPs in the Commons were also required to take the British Oath of Allegiance however, those at the ratification meeting took no Oath.
On 28 June 1921 the House of Commons, together with the appointed Senate, formally assembled in the Royal College of Science for Ireland, now Government Buildings, in Merrion Street, for a state opening by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Viscount FitzAlan of Derwent. In reality only four Unionist MPs attended. Having elected Gerald Fitzgibbon to be Speaker, the House adjourned sine die. This was the only formal meeting of the House.[20]
The Senate of Southern Ireland was the upper house of the Parliament of Southern Ireland established by the 1920 Fourth Home Rule Bill.[14] The Senate convened in 1921 but was boycotted by Irish nationalists. Fifteen members attended its first meeting,[21] and it only sat three times.
The Fourth Home Rule Bill provided for a Senate of 64 members. The composition was specified in the Second Schedule, and the mode and time of selection in the Fourth Schedule. The bill stipulated that the membership be composed of:[22]
In practice, however, only forty senators were selected, as the labour movement, the Catholic Church and the county councils (controlled by Sinn Féin) refused to cooperate. Of those elected many senators had participated in the Irish Convention of 1917–18.[24] Of the incomplete membership, not all attended its few sessions. Some were subsequently members of the Free State Seanad (upper house), either appointed by W. T. Cosgrave, President of the Executive Council, or elected by the members of the Dáil (lower house).
Donal O'Callaghan was Lord Mayor of Cork throughout the existence of the Senate, but was also returned for Cork Borough in the 1921 election to the House of Commons of Southern Ireland. Article 18(4) of the 1920 Act precluded anyone from sitting in both Houses at once; since O'Callaghan boycotted both, the question was moot in his case.
The Senate assembled three times[25] though its chairman, Sir John Ross, Lord Chancellor of Ireland was too ill to attend. Only 15 senators attended its first meeting. Since 124 of the 128 members of the House of Commons of Southern Ireland boycotted that chamber, the Parliament could not function. On 21 June 1921, the week before its first meeting, the Senate sent a petition to David Lloyd George, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, arguing for more powers for the Parliament, and stating it would not serve in the event that the elected lower house was replaced by a body appointed by the Lord Lieutenant.[26]
The Irish Free State (Agreement) Act 1922 was passed on 31 March 1922 by the British Parliament. It gave the force of law to the Anglo-Irish Treaty, which was scheduled to the Act.[27][28][29] Section 1(2) of the Act provided that for the purposes of giving effect to Article 17 of the Treaty the Parliament of Southern Ireland would be dissolved within four months from the passing of the Act.
On 27 May 1922 Viscount FitzAlan of Derwent, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, formally dissolved the Parliament of Southern Ireland and by proclamation called "a Parliament to be known as and styled the Provisional Parliament".[30] From that date, the Parliament of Southern Ireland ceased to exist. The abolition of the Parliament effectively ended Southern Ireland which was not a country however, it was not until the establishment of the Irish Free State on 6 December 1922 under the terms of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, that Southern Ireland formally ceased to exist.
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