Truck Acts The Truck Acts were one of the earliest pieces of labour legislation. They were aimed at the common practice of employers paying wages in kind by way of tokens, food, clothing or other non-cash form. They might, for example, only be spent in shops owned by the factory owner. A wide range of abuses was possible. The Truck Act, 1831 repealed this legislation, […]
Early Twentieth Century The Workman’s Compensation act 1897 required employers to pay compensation to employees injured in the course of work. It applied initially to workplace as hazardous, but the scheme is extended by a 1906 Act to cover all employees engaged in manual labor, whose income did not exceed to £250 per annum. The 1903 Vice-Regal Commission was appointed on Poor Law reforms. A […]
A Department of Social Welfare An important reform was the establishment of the Departments of Health and Social Welfare in 1947. They recognised these areas as distinct policy areas with separate ministerial responsibilities. Irish society at the time was much more agricultural and rural based than the United Kingdom. The resources available to governments are much lower, and the Irish equivalent of British reform was […]
1937 Constitution The Constitution was accepted by a plebiscite at the end of 1937. It replaced the Free State Constitution, which had been very heavily amended. Emergency-type provisions for non-judicial trial, had, in effect, been written into the Free State Constitution following continuing IRA activity. Article 2A of the Free State Constitution, inserted in 1931, supported a very draconian Public Safety Act. That Act provided […]
Cereals The Agricultural Produce (Cereals) Acts, 1933 to 1956 conferred functions on the Department in relation to cereals. The initial 1933 legislation sought to secure that wheat and flour consumed in Ireland should be made in Ireland to arrest the contraction of the milling industry into a number of large units, prevent ownership from passing into the hands of non-nationals and encourage the use of […]
1898 Act Reforms Significant reforms in local government occurred in the 20 years prior to the Dail Declaration of Independence. The Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 effectively removed local government from the Irish autocracy and placed it into the hands of elected councillors. The franchise was based on adult male ratepayers, which was substantially representative of nationalist Ireland. The cost of rates was shifted from […]
1952-65 The social welfare legislation was consolidated and reformed in 1952. There were incremental developments from then onwards. There was severe immigration, employment and immigration in the 1950s. 1951 saw the introduction of a contributory old age pension. Children’s allowance was extended to the first child in 1963. The second Program for Economic Expansion 1963 sought to improve social welfare services in line with improvements […]
Early Reform The powers of the Local Government Board were transferred to the Department of Local Government in 1924. Another early pieces of legislation in the Free State reformed of the poor law system and placing t on a county wide basis. County Boards administered the new system. Rural District Councils were abolished by the Local Government Act 1925, which transferred their functions of the […]
Dominion Status On 6th December 1922, the Irish Free State became a dominion with the same status as Canada and South Africa. Dominions were self-governing. Until the Treaty of Locarno, they were bound by international treaties made by the Crown. Initially they sat with Great Britain under League of Nations, the predecessor of the United Nations. After the 1926 Imperial Conference at Westminster, dominions became […]
Emergency Powers Act Following the Anglo-Irish Agreement, 1938, the Irish government obtained access to the British government’s preparatory work for emergency legislation in to control the economy in the looming war. The Emergency Powers Act, 1939 provided that the government could by emergency order do anything necessary to deal with the emergency. This is to include control of rail, roads, ports and aerodromes, maintenance and […]
Department of Industry and Commerce Irish Department of Industry and Commerce was one of the original government departments created under the Ministers and Secretaries Act, 1924. It succeeded to most of the functions of the UK Board of Trade. It also succeeded to the equivalent Dáil Eireann department, including the Ministries of Labour, Industry, Trade, Commerce and Economic Affairs. These four ministries were amalgamated into […]
Home Rule The Third Home Rule Bill finally became law in 1914. The Parliament Act 1911 had removed the power of the House of Lords to veto legislation which had been passed by the House of Commons in three successive sessions. The enactment of legislation which provided for Home Rule on a 32 County basis, brought Ireland to the verge of civil war. The Home […]
Overview The Irish Free State Constitution followed the examples of many international constitution in providing for a declaration of personal constitutional rights. This included the following liberty of the person inviolable person may not be detained or imprisoned except in accordance with law dwellinghouse inviolable freedom of conscience and free profession or religion subject to public order and morality free expression of opinion right to […]
First Dail Declaration In January 1919, the Sinn Fein members of parliament elected in the 1918 UK General Election formed an assembly in the Mansion House, Dublin instead of taking their seats in parliament. It was not immediately apparent, if this was a determined effort to assert independence or whether it was symbolic. Many of the elected Sinn Fein members were still in prison. The […]
Position on Foundation The United Kingdom had been long committed to free trade until the first World War. During the war and thereafter, protective duties were imposed on a range of goods. After the establishment of the Irish Free State, Irish exports to Britain on certain commodities became subject to import duties. Agriculture remained predominant and was the focus of much economic policy. A fiscal […]
Pre-Modern The present legal system has evolved in the context of the history of Ireland. The present-day legal system is the product of and still contains many elements which evolved in and can be traced to particular historical phases. The ancient Irish Brehon laws were displaced in the Pale with the arrival of the Anglo-Normans in the 12th century. In practice, however, the jurisdiction of […]
The Irish Free State Constitution The Irish Free State came into existence on 6 December 1922. On that date, all existing laws in Ireland including those enacted by the UK Parliament up to that date became part of the laws of Ireland. The Dail, Courts and various institutions that existed prior to that date during the revolutionary period were dismantled. In effect, there was deemed […]