National University Of Ireland (constituency)

National University of Ireland (NUI) is a university constituency in Ireland, which currently elects three senators to Seanad Éireann. Its electorate is the graduates of the university, which has a number of constituent universities. It previously elected members to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom (1918–1921), to the House of Commons of Southern Ireland (1921) and to Dáil Éireann (1918–1936).

Representation

House of Commons of the United Kingdom

Under the Redistribution of Seats (Ireland) Act 1918, NUI was enfranchised as a new university constituency and continued to be entitled to be represented by one Member of Parliament in the British House of Commons until the dissolution of Parliament on 26 October 1922, shortly before the Irish Free State became a dominion outside the United Kingdom on 6 December 1922. In 1918 the electorate included all registered male graduates over 21 (or over 19 if in the armed services) and all female graduates over 30. There were 3,819 voters registered for the 1918 general election. Most, if not all, of those electors would have been plural voters also entitled to vote in a territorial constituency. The 1918 general election took place on 14 December and the results were declared on 28 December, except for the university constituencies. NUI voted between 18 and 22 December and the result was declared on 23 December. Eoin MacNeill was elected (and also for Londonderry City) standing for Sinn Féin and therefore did not take his seat in Westminster, instead serving as a member of the first Dáil Éireann.

House of Commons of Southern Ireland

The Government of Ireland Act 1920 established a devolved home rule legislature, within the United Kingdom, for twenty-six Irish counties which were designated Southern Ireland. NUI was given four seats in the House of Commons of Southern Ireland. At the 1921 Southern Ireland House of Commons election, all 128 seats were elected unopposed. Of these, 124 were Sinn Féin members, who formed the TDs of the Second Dáil. This included the four representatives of the NUI.

The Parliament was dissolved as part of the arrangements under the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1922.

Dáil Éireann

In the 1918 general election, Sinn Féin contested the election on the basis that they would not take seats in the United Kingdom Parliament but would establish a revolutionary assembly in Dublin.

The university was, in Irish republican theory, entitled to return one Teachta Dála (known in English as a Deputy) in 1918 to serve in the Irish Republic's First Dáil. This revolutionary body assembled on 21 January 1919. In republican theory every MP elected in Ireland was a member of the First Dáil. In practice only Sinn Féin members participated, including the Deputy for the university.

In May 1921, elections were held to the parliaments established under the Government of Ireland Act 1920. Sinn Féin had decided to use the polls for the House of Commons of Northern Ireland and the House of Commons of Southern Ireland together as an election for the Irish Republic's Second Dáil. At the last meeting of the First Dáil on 10 May 1921, it passed a motion, the first three parts of which expressed this constitutional position.
# That the parliamentary elections which are to take place during the present month be regarded as elections to Dáil Éireann.
# That all deputies duly returned at these elections be regarded as members of Dáil Éireann and allowed to take their seats on subscribing to the proposed Oath of Allegiance.
# That the present Dáil dissolve automatically as soon as the new body has been summoned by the President and called to order.

No voting occurred in Southern Ireland as all the seats were filled by unopposed returns. Except for Dublin University all constituencies outside Northern Ireland elected Sinn Féin TDs. The Second Dáil first met on 16 August 1921, thereby dissolving the First Dáil. The Third Dáil was also elected under the constituencies established by the Government of Ireland Act 1920. On 6 December 1922, this became the house of representatives of the new Irish Free State.

From the Electoral Act 1923 the Irish Free State defined its own Dáil constituencies. National University of Ireland was reduced to three seats. This Act abolished plural voting for University constituencies and enfranchised women on the same terms as men. Qualified voters could register for a university or a territorial constituency but not for both. The qualifications for an elector to be registered as a university voter were set out in Section 1(2)(c) of the 1923 Act. They were to be registered at "the University constituency comprising a university in which he or she has received a degree other than an honorary degree".

The Constitution (Amendment No. 23) Act 1936 repealed provisions of the Constitution of the Irish Free State

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