Government of Ireland Act 1920

The Government of Ireland Act ( full title: An Act to Provide for the Better Government of Ireland ) from 23 December 1920, the second law of the British Parliament for the creation of the Home Rule (ie, autonomous self-government ) in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. He is also known as the fourth Home Rule bill.

Background

The first two legislative proposals for the creation of Home Rule in Ireland in the years 1886 and 1893 were both blocked by the former upper house ( the House of Lords) and not entered into force. The third law in this regard was introduced in 1912, also blocked by the upper house, but received two years later due to new laws the royal assent. But shortly after World War I broke out initially delayed the implementation of this law, which was completely abandoned due to the developments in Ireland ( Irish War of Independence ) in the end. It was not until the 4th amendment that eventually became the Government of Ireland Act, was successful.

Details

The law, introduced by the government under David Lloyd George, divided the island of Ireland into two regions: Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland, both of which should be given an independent government. Southern Ireland this comprised the entire island except for the six counties of Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry and Tyrone and Derry and Belfast city districts that formed Northern Ireland. This division of the island was an attempt by the British government to bring the demands for home rule the Irish nationalists on one side and to remain in the UK, the Unionists on the other side under one roof. So Northern Ireland comprised by law 6 of 9 counties of the province of Ulster - this was considered as the maximum area in which the Unionists formed a comfortable majority.

Each of the two countries should maintain its own Parliament, which should from his Majesty ( the British king), a ( Southern Ireland or Northern Ireland ) and the Senate ( Southern Ireland or Northern Ireland ) House made ​​. Common to both territories were a single Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, who represented the king in Ireland, and an Irish Council ( Council of Ireland ), which should coordinate matters of common interest of both countries. Both countries continued to be allowed to send a certain number of MPs in the British parliament in Westminster. Elections for both lower houses were finally held in May 1921.

Injury

The Parliament of Northern Ireland was created in 1921. Upon his inauguration in Belfast City Hall, King George V gave his famous call for reconciliation between North and South. The speech was designed by the government of David Lloyd George on the recommendations of the President of the Union of South Africa Jan Smuts. She opened the door for formal contacts between the British government and the Irish Republican Administration under Eamon de Valera and thus paved the way for the Anglo - Irish Treaty.

Southern Ireland never became a reality. All 128 elected parliamentarians of the southern Irish House of Commons refused to come together as a house and gathered herself instead as a Second Dáil. In contrast, however, in Northern Ireland there was the Government of Ireland Act of 1920 for a long time part of the Northern Ireland Constitution. Only in 1998, under the Northern Ireland Act and the Good Friday Agreement, these passages were deleted.