Parliament of Southern Ireland - Abolition

Abolition

The Irish Free State (Agreement) Act 1922 was passed on 31 March 1922 by the British Parliament. It gave the force of law to the Anglo-Irish Treaty, which was scheduled to the Act. Section 1(2) of the Act provided that for the purposes of giving effect to Article 17 of the Treaty the Parliament of Southern Ireland would be dissolved within four months from the passing of the Act.

On 27 May 1922 Viscount FitzAlan of Derwent, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, formally dissolved the Parliament of Southern Ireland and by proclamation called "a Parliament to be known as and styled the Provisional Parliament". From that date, the Parliament of Southern Ireland ceased to exist. The abolition of the Parliament effectively ended Southern Ireland which was not a country however, it was not until the establishment of the Irish Free State on 6 December 1922 under the terms of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, that Southern Ireland formally ceased to exist.