The Government of Ireland Act 1920 (10 & 11 Geo. 5 c. 67) was an Act passed by the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace ...

to create two separate parliaments in Ireland: the

Parliament of Northern Ireland The Parliament of Northern Ireland was the home rule legislature of Northern Ireland, created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which sat from 7 June 1921 to 30 March 1972, when it was suspended because of its inability to restore ord ...

and the

Parliament of Southern Ireland The Parliament of Southern Ireland was a Home Rule legislature established by the British Government during the Irish War of Independence under the Government of Ireland Act 1920. It was designed to legislate for Southern Ireland,Order in Cou ...

. The Fifth Schedule to this act provided the constituencies for the House of Commons in these two separate parliaments. These same constituencies also replaced those provided in the

Redistribution of Seats (Ireland) Act 1918 The Redistribution of Seats (Ireland) Act 1918 ( 7 & 8 Geo. 5. c. 65) was an Act passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom which redistributed the parliamentary constituencies in Ireland for the House of Commons. It was enacted on the sam ...

for representation of Ireland in the

House of Commons of the United Kingdom The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 memb ...

at Westminster.

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( ; ; ) is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The History of Sinn Féin, original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffit ...

used these constituencies to elect the

Second Dáil The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of Un ...

(1921–22) and those constituencies in Southern Ireland were used to elect the

Third Dáil Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

(1922–23).

Constituencies

Operation of constituencies

The

First Dáil First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

had used the constituencies which elected MPs to the House of Commons at the 1918 general election. In May 1921,

Dáil Éireann Dáil Éireann ( ; , ) is the lower house and principal chamber of the Oireachtas, which also includes the president of Ireland and a senate called Seanad Éireann.Article 15.1.2° of the Constitution of Ireland reads: "The Oireachtas shall co ...

resolved to use the constituencies in the Government of Ireland Act 1920 (in both parts of Ireland). The 1921 elections were used to elect the

. This increased the total number of seats in the Dáil from 105 in 1918 to 180 in 1921 (52 in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

and 128 in Southern Ireland, subsequently the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State (6 December 192229 December 1937), also known by its Irish-language, Irish name ( , ), was a State (polity), state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-ye ...

). Only representatives from Sinn Féin sat in the Dáil. In practice this was confined to 125 TDs representing 130 seats. Only the Dublin University MPs attended for the intended first meeting of the

House of Commons of Southern Ireland The Parliament of Southern Ireland was a Home Rule legislature established by the British Government during the Irish War of Independence under the Government of Ireland Act 1920. It was designed to legislate for Southern Ireland,Order in Coun ...

, with those elected for

sitting as TDs in Dáil Éireann. The members elected for Southern Ireland assembled in January to give legal effect to the

Anglo-Irish Treaty The 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty (), commonly known in Ireland as The Treaty and officially the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was an agreement between the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain an ...

under the terms of the British government, which had not recognised the

Anglo-Irish Treaty Dáil vote The Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed in London on 6 December 1921 and Dáil Éireann voted to approve the treaty on 7 January 1922, following a debate through late December 1921 and into January 1922. The vote was 64 in favour, 57 against, with the C ...

. This included the Pro-Treaty Sinn Féin TDs and the four representatives of Dublin University. The

1922 Irish general election The 1922 Irish general election took place in Southern Ireland (1921–1922), Southern Ireland on Friday, 16 June. The election was separately called by a resolution of Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic), Dáil Éireann on 19 May and by an order of ...

was held on the constituencies under this Act. Under the terms of the Treaty, the

left the United Kingdom on 6 December 1922. Therefore, only constituencies in Northern Ireland returned MPs at the

1922 United Kingdom general election The 1922 United Kingdom general election was held on Wednesday 15 November 1922. It was won by the Conservative Party, led by Prime Minister Andrew Bonar Law, which gained an overall majority over the Labour Party, led by J. R. Clynes, and ...

held on 15 November, and the Westminster constituencies designated for Southern Ireland were never used. The 1923 general election was the first election in the Irish Free State, and was contested under the new constituencies in the

Electoral Act 1923 The Electoral Act 1923 was a law in Ireland which established the electoral law of the Irish Free State and provided for parliamentary constituencies in Dáil Éireann. Franchise Article 14 of the Constitution of the Irish Free State adopted ...

. In the

House of Commons of Northern Ireland The House of Commons of Northern Ireland was the lower house of the Parliament of Northern Ireland created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920. The upper house in the bicameral parliament was called the Senate. It was abolished with the ...

, the constituencies were replaced under the

House of Commons (Method of Voting and Redistribution of Seats) Act (Northern Ireland) 1929 The House of Commons (Method of Voting and Redistribution of Seats) Act (Northern Ireland) 1929 (19 Geo. 5. c. 5 (N.I.)) was an act of the Parliament of Northern Ireland at Stormont which changed the usual voting system used for the House of Co ...

with single-seat constituencies elected by

first-past-the-post voting First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or first-preference, and the candidate with more first- ...

Queen's University of Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

remained as a four-seat constituency until its abolition in 1969. The United Kingdom House of Commons constituencies in Northern Ireland were altered by the

Representation of the People Act 1948 The Representation of the People Act 1948 ( 11 & 12 Geo. 6. c. 65) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that altered the law relating to parliamentary and local elections. It is noteworthy for abolishing plural voting for parlia ...

, including the abolition of the

constituency. This took effect at the 1950 general election.

Comparison with 1918 constituencies

Constituencies in the Government of Ireland Act 1920 were defined by reference to one or more constituencies as defined in the

Northern Ireland

Southern Ireland

References

* ''Northern Ireland Parliamentary Election Results 1921–1972'', compiled and edited by Sydney Elliott (Political Reference Publications 1973)

External links

*http://www.election.demon.co.uk/stormont/boundaries.html {{Constituency Law Ireland Dáil constituencies (historic) Constituencies of the Northern Ireland Parliament 1920 in Irish law United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1920 Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning Ireland Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning Northern Ireland