The

Government of Ireland Act 1920 The Government of Ireland Act 1920 (10 & 11 Geo. 5 c. 67) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act's long title was "An Act to provide for the better government of Ireland"; it is also known as the Fourth Home Rule Bill ...

(10 & 11 Geo. 5 c. 67) was an Act passed by the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

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 Coun ...

. 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 was an Act passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom which redistributed the parliamentary constituencies in Ireland for the House of Commons. The new constituencies were used for the 1918 g ...

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 me ...

at Westminster.

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

used these constituencies to elect the

Second Dáil The Second Dáil () was Dáil Éireann as it convened from 16 August 1921 until 8 June 1922. From 1919 to 1922, Dáil Éireann was the revolutionary parliament of the self-proclaimed Irish Republic. The Second Dáil consisted of members elect ...

(1921–22) and those constituencies in

Southern Ireland Southern Ireland, South Ireland or South of Ireland may refer to: *The southern part of the island of Ireland *Southern Ireland (1921–1922), a former constituent part of the United Kingdom *Republic of Ireland, which is sometimes referred to as ...

were used to elect the

Third Dáil The Third Dáil was elected at the general election held on 16 June 1922. This election was required to be held under the Anglo-Irish Treaty signed on 6 December 1921. It first met on 9 September and until 6 December 1922, it was the Provisio ...

(1922–23).

Constituencies

Operation of constituencies

The

First Dáil The First Dáil ( ga, An Chéad Dáil) was Dáil Éireann as it convened from 1919 to 1921. It was the first meeting of the unicameral parliament of the revolutionary Irish Republic. In the December 1918 election to the Parliament of the Unite ...

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 (Irish legislature), which also includes the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann (the upper house).Article 15.1.2º of the Constitution of Ireland read ...

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 ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

and 128 in

, subsequently the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between th ...

). 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 ( ga , An Conradh Angla-Éireannach), 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 ...

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 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 Bonar Law, which gained an overall majority over the Labour Party, led by J. R. Clynes, and a divided Liberal Party. ...

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 o ...

. 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 w ...

, 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 was an Act of the Parliament of Northern Ireland at Stormont which changed the usual voting system used for the House of Commons of Northern Ireland f ...

with single-seat constituencies elected by

first-past-the-post voting In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

Queen's University of Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

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 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 parliamentary elections, including ...

, 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 Ireland 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