Dáil Éireann (Irish Free State)
Dáil Éireann | |
---|---|
Type | |
Type | |
History | |
Established | 6 December 1922 |
Disbanded | 29 December 1937 |
Preceded by | Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic) |
Succeeded by | Dáil Éireann (Ireland) |
Leadership | |
| |
Structure | |
Seats | |
Length of term | 5 years |
Elections | |
Direct election by single transferable vote | |
Meeting place | |
Dáil Chamber, Leinster House, Dublin | |
Constitution | |
Constitution of the Irish Free State |
Dáil Éireann (Irish:
Composition
Under the Free State constitution, membership of Dáil Éireann was open to all citizens who had reached the age of twenty-one. However those who were legally disqualified or who were members of the Seanad were excluded. For most of the period of the Irish Free State the constitution also contained a controversial requirement that all members of the Oireachtas swear an oath of fidelity to the King, which caused Sinn Féin to refrain from taking any seats, as well as an Oath of Allegiance to the constitution of the Free State. The oath was, however, abolished by a constitutional amendment in 1936.
As today, during the Irish Free State, Dáil Éireann was elected on the basis of universal adult suffrage. However, the franchise was restricted to those over twenty-one. As adopted, the constitution required that a Dáil's term would last for four years, unless the law specified a shorter period or the house was dissolved early. However, after changes to the constitution and the law in 1927, the constitutional maximum became six years, and the legal maximum five1. The Dáil could theoretically have been dissolved at any time by the
The Free State constitution required that the Dáil be elected by "proportional representation" and the
As well as geographical constituencies, the Free State also included two
- 1922 general election
- 1923 general election
- June 1927 general election
- September 1927 general election
- 1932 general election
- 1933 general election
- 1937 general election
Powers
The Free State constitution provided that the President of the Executive Council would be appointed by the King "on the nomination of" the Dáil and that the
Technically a bill had to be approved by both Houses of the Oireachtas and to receive the
While during the early years of the Irish Free State there existed a theoretical possibility that the King, or the Governor-General acting on his behalf, might veto an act of the Oireachtas or dismiss the Executive Council against the wishes of the Dáil. (This occurred in 1975 in Australia when the Governor-General John Kerr dismissed the government and forced an election.) With the passage of the Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act, 1927 the British Government lost the right to formally advise the King in relation to the Free State and so the possibility of the Governor-General taking any action without the approval of the other institutions of government became very remote.
Unlike its modern successor, the Free State Dáil did not have authority to declare war, this power being reserved for the Oireachtas as a whole. However, in practice this distinction was not important. During the later days of the Irish Free State the Dáil, as the dominant component of the Oireachtas, had the effective authority to amend the constitution in any way it chose. Today this is a level of authority that no Dáil has had since 1941.
History
From 1919 to 1922 Dáil Éireann served as the revolutionary, unicameral parliament of the
On 29 December 1937 the
Footnotes
- The constitutional maximum was increased from four to six years by the Constitution (Amendment No. 4) Act, 1927. The five-year legal maximum was imposed by the Electoral (Amendment) Act, 1927.