Royal Assent (Ireland) - Granting, Reserving or Withholding Royal Assent

Granting, Reserving or Withholding Royal Assent

As with the King and other governors-general in the dominions, the Governor-General of the Irish Free State had three options:

1. The granting of the Royal Assent, meaning that a Bill became an Act;
2. The reserve of the Royal Assent "for His Majesty's Pleasure" meaning that the Bill was put into abeyance pending approval of the Bill by the King-in-Council within one year of the Bill having been presented to the Governor-General. If approval was not given within one year the Bill was deemed vetoed;
3. The withholding of the Royal Assent, which meant that the Bill was being vetoed.

Between 1922 and 1928 the Governor-General acted as the agent of both the King and the British Government. As a result, he could act on the advice of either, or on his own initiative withholding or refusing Assent. Following the implementation of a decision of a Commonwealth Conference, the British Government's relationship with all dominion governors-general was terminated, leaving each governor-general to be the exclusive representative of the King (who has received the new style King of Ireland.

Unknown to the Executive Council (His Majesty's Government in the Irish Free State) the first Governor-General, Timothy Michael Healy, was given instructions to exercise the withholding and refusal powers by the United Kingdom Secretary of State for the Dominions, in a number of specific areas:

• The passage of a Bill that conflicted with the Anglo-Irish Treaty;

• The passage of a constitutional amendment to abolish the Oath of Allegiance to the Irish Free State (which included as subsidiary promise of fidelity to the King).

Neither of these scenarios occurred during the term of office of Governor-General Healy. By the time his successor, James McNeill took office in 1928 the British Government's power to instruct the Governor-General had been abolished. Though theoretically he could have done so, the third Governor-General, Domhnall Ua Buachalla, chose not to veto the Constitution (Removal of Oath) Act, 1933 enacted in 1933.