Provisional Government of Southern Ireland
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The Provisional Government of Southern Ireland was the provisional government for the administration of Southern Ireland between 14 January 1922 and 6 December 1922. The government was effectively a transitional government for the period between the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty and the establishment of the Irish Free State.[1]
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[edit] Formation
The Provisional Government was constituted on 14 January 1922 “at a meeting of members of the Parliament elected for constituencies in Southern Ireland”. That meeting was not convened as a meeting of the House of Commons of Southern Ireland nor as a meeting of the Dáil. Instead, it was convened by Arthur Griffith as “Chairman of the Irish Delegation of Plenipotentiaries” (who had signed the Treaty) under the terms of the Treaty.[2] Notably it was not convened by Lord Fitzalan, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland who under the Government of Ireland Act 1920 was the office-holder with the entitlement to convene a meeting of the House of Commons of Southern Ireland.
In any event, at the “meeting” the Anglo Irish Agreement was ratified by the Irish side in accordance with the Treaty, the Provisional Government was elected and Michael Collins was appointed its Chairman. The Provisional Government took up Office two days later on 16 January 1922 and on the same day Chairman Collins took control of Dublin Castle from the British administration.
Notwithstanding its establishment in January 1922, the British Government had not formally transferred any powers to the Provisional Government. The British Government could only do so when the British Parliament had approved the Anglo-Irish Treaty. This was done on 29 March 1922 under the Irish Free State (Agreement) Act 1922 (12 & 13 Geo. 5. c.4.).[3] The following day by Order in Council a range of governmental powers were transferred to the Provisional Government by the British Government. The several members of the Provisional Government were accordingly re-appointed on that date and these appointments were formally announced in the Dublin Gazette a few days later.[4]
[edit] Accountability
There was never again “a meeting of members of the Parliament elected for constituencies in Southern Ireland” after 14 January 1922 and neither the Treaty nor the Irish Free State (Agreement) Act 1922 provided that the Provisional Government was or would be accountable to any such body. On 27 May 1922 Lord Fitzalan, in accordance with the Irish Free State (Agreement) Act 1922 formally dissolved the Parliament of Southern Ireland and by proclamation called “a Parliament to be known as and styled the Provisional Parliament”.[5] Under the terms of the Irish Free State (Agreement) Act 1922, the Provisional Government did become accountable to that Parliament. Therefore, between its formation on 14 January 1922 and 19 September 1922 (when the Provisional Parliament first met) it appears that the Provisional Government was responsible to no Parliament at all.[6] However, as its members were also members of the Republican Dáil and that Parliament did hold meetings during that period, to a degree the Provisional Government was in practice held accountable to that body. However the Dáil had no legitimacy in British law and under its own laws was the parliament to which another government was accountable – the Aireacht (Irish Republic Government).
[edit] Name of Provisional Government
The Provisional Government of Southern Ireland is sometimes referred to as having been the Provisional Government of Ireland but this is incorrect as its powers were restricted to Southern Ireland and indeed there was no state called Ireland until 1937. Nevertheless, the Provisional Government itself sometimes styled itself as the Provisional Government of Ireland or (Rialtas Sealadach na hÉireann in Irish).
In addition, the Provisional Government is sometimes also referred to incorrectly, as having been the Provisional Government of the Irish Free State. However, the Irish Free State did not exist until 6 December 1922 at which point the Provisional Government ceased to exist (although those who had been its members were on that date elected as the first Executive Council of the Irish Free State).
Notwithstanding the above, to confuse matters somewhat, from 9 September 1922 the Provisional Government of Southern Ireland was accountable to a Provisional Parliament – and that Parliament was not a House of the Parliament of Southern Ireland. This is because on 27 May 1922, Lord Fitzalan pursuant to the terms of the Free State (Agreement) Act declared that the Parliament of Southern Ireland was dissolved and he called “a Parliament to be known as and styled the Provisional Parliament [of what was not stated]”[7]
[edit] Background
Under the Irish Republic's Dáil Constitution adopted in 1919, Dáil Éireann continued to exist after it had ratified the Anglo-Irish Treaty. In protest at the ratification, De Valera resigned the presidency of the Dáil then sought re-election from among its members (to clarify his mandate), but Arthur Griffith defeated him in the vote and assumed the presidency. (Griffith called himself President of Dáil Éireann rather than de Valera's more exalted President of the Republic.)
Most of the Dáil Ministers such as Reverend Christopher McCarthy became concurrently Ministers of this Provisional Government. Michael Collins became Chairman of the Provisional Government (i.e. prime minister). He also remained Minister for Finance of Griffith's republican administration. An example of the complexities involved can be seen even in the manner of his installation. In theory he was a Crown-appointed prime minister, installed under the Royal Prerogative. To be so installed, he had to formally meet the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Viscount Fitzalan of Derwent (the head of the British administration in Ireland). According to republican history, Collins met Fitzalan to accept the surrender of Dublin Castle, the seat of British government in Ireland. According to British constitutional theory, he met Fitzalan to 'kiss hands' (the formal name for the installation of a minister of the Crown), the fact of their meeting rather than the signing of any documents, duly installing him in office. Anti-treatyites, having opposed the Treaty in the Dáil, withdrew from the assembly and, having formed an opposition "republican government" under Éamon de Valera, began a campaign that led to the Irish Civil War. By mid-1922, Collins in effect laid down his responsibilities as President of the Provisional Government to become Commander-in-Chief of the National Army, a formal structured uniformed army that formed around the pro-Treaty IRA. As part of those duties, he travelled to his native County Cork. En route home on August 22, 1922, at Béal na mBláth (an Irish language placename that means 'the Mouth of Flowers'), he was killed in an ambush. He was 31 years old. After Collins' and Griffith's deaths in August 1922, W. T. Cosgrave became both Chairman of the Provisional Government and President of Dáil Éireann, and the distinction between the two posts became irrelevant. In December 1922, both Southern Ireland and the Irish Republic were replaced by the Irish Free State, with executive authority nominally vested in the King, but exercised by a cabinet called the Executive Council, presided over by a prime minister called the President of the Executive Council.
[edit] List of ministers
[edit] References
- ^ For a useful summary of the constitutional background, key dates and appointments concerning the Provisional Government, see Taoiseach’s Website. See also the Anglo Irish Treaty
- ^ This followed discussions between the Irish Treaty delegation and the British Government over who had authority to convene the “meeting”.
- ^ Notably, while this Act gave the force of law to the Treaty, it was not strictly the instrument which ratified the Treaty. That function was to fall to the Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922 passed on 5 December 1922.
- ^ Taoiseach’s Website
- ^ Source: Macardle (1999), pg 718 and DCU Website.
- ^ Taoiseach’s Website
- ^ Source: Macardle (1999), pg 718 and DCU Website.
[edit] See also
- Government of Ireland Act 1920
- Provisional Government of the Irish Republic (1918-1922)
- Provisional government
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