Ireland Act 1949 - Provisions

Provisions

The Act's long title summarises the Act's several purposes:

An Act to recognise and declare the constitutional position as to the part of Ireland heretofore known as Eire, and to make provision as to the name by which it may be known and the manner in which the law is to apply in relation to it; to declare and affirm the constitutional position and the territorial integrity of Northern Ireland and to amend, as respects the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the law relating to the qualifications of electors in constituencies in Northern Ireland; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.

The effects of the Acts various subsections are as follows:

• s. 1(1) - Recognised that the country known in British law as "Eire" ceased to be "part of His Majesty's dominions" (i.e. a member of the Commonwealth) on 18 April 1949 (the date that the Irish "Republic of Ireland Act 1948" came into force). This provision also clarified that Ireland had remained a member of the Commonwealth until that date, as it had been held by some that Ireland was already a republic outside the Commonwealth.
• s. 1(2) – Declared that all of Northern Ireland would continue as part of the United Kingdom, and would remain within the Commonwealth, unless the Parliament of Northern Ireland consented otherwise.
• s. 1(3) – Established that the country up to then known in British law as "Eire" will in future be referred to by subsequent British legislation by the name "Republic of Ireland".
• s. 2(1) – Declared that, even though the Republic of Ireland was no longer a British dominion, it would not be treated as a foreign country for the purposes of British law.
• s. 2(2) – Established that the Irish ambassador to the United Kingdom would enjoy the same legal privileges with regard to taxation as the High Commissioners representing Commonwealth countries.
• s. 3(1) – Continued in force certain existing British laws in relation to the Republic of Ireland that had previously related to the Irish state.
• s. 3(2) – Made blanket provision for how certain wording in existing British legislation should be construed; for example, references to "His Majesty's dominions" were to be construed as including a reference to the Republic of Ireland despite its actual change of status.
• s. 3(3) – Excluded from the generality of the preceding subsection any requirement for the Oireachtas to assent to any change in the law relating to the succession to the throne or the royal style and titles; and also ended the requirement for the Irish government to receive notifications under the provisions of the Regency Act 1937.
• ss. 4 and 5 – Made certain technical provisions in relation to both transitional matters and to the citizenship of certain individuals born before the Irish Free State ceased to form part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
• s. 6 – Made a number of technical changes to the electoral law relating to the election of MPs to sit at Westminster for Northern Ireland. The principal change meant required a voter to have lived in Northern Ireland for at least three months prior to the registration date; this change was introduced because the Government of Northern Ireland did not want people from the Republic coming to Northern Ireland to vote in elections there.