View source for Governor-General of the Irish Free State

{{Short description|Representative of the monarch of the Irish Free State from 1922 to 1936}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Use Hiberno-English|date=July 2022}}
{{Infobox official post
|post            = Governor-General of the<br /> Irish Free State<br />Seanascal Shaorstát Éireann
|body            = 
|insignia        = IFSGreatSeal.png
|insigniasize    = 120px
|insigniacaption = [[Great Seal of the Irish Free State]]
|image           = 
|imagesize       = 
|imagecaption    = 
|style           = [[Excellency|His Excellency]]
|residence       = [[Áras an Uachtaráin|Viceregal Lodge]]
|appointer       = [[Monarchy in the Irish Free State|Monarch of the Irish Free State]]:{{Plainlist|
* [[George V]] (1922–36)
* [[Edward VIII]] (1936)
}}
|appointer_qualified = 
|precursor      = [[Lord Lieutenant of Ireland]]
|formation      = 6 December 1922
|first          = [[Tim Healy (politician)|Tim Healy]]
|last           = [[Domhnall Ua Buachalla]]
|abolished      = 11 December 1936
|succession     = [[Executive Council of the Irish Free State]]<ref>[[Constitution (Amendment No. 27) Act 1936]] — The office was abolished before the current Irish constitution providing for a president came into force.</ref>
}}

The '''governor-general of the Irish Free State''' ({{langx|ga|Seanascal Shaorstát Éireann}}) was the official representative of the [[Monarchy in the Irish Free State|sovereign]] of the [[Irish Free State]] from 1922 to 1936. By [[constitutional convention (political custom)|convention]], the [[Governor-General|office]] was largely ceremonial. Nonetheless, it was controversial, as many [[Irish nationalism|Irish Nationalists]] regarded the existence of the office as offensive to [[Irish republicanism|republican]] principles and a symbol of continued [[United Kingdom|British]] involvement in Irish affairs, despite the Governor-General having no connection to the [[Government of the United Kingdom|British Government]] after 1931. For this reason, the office's role was diminished over time by the [[Executive Council of the Irish Free State|Irish Government]].

The 1931 enactment in London of the [[Statute of Westminster 1931|Statute of Westminster]] gave the Irish Free State full legislative independence. However, the Irish considered that full legislative independence had been achieved in 1922. The role of governor-general in the Irish Free State was removed from the Constitution on 11 December 1936,<ref name=1948bill>{{cite web|url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/seanad/1948-12-09/4/|title=The Republic of Ireland Bill 1948—Second Stage – Seanad Éireann (6th Seanad) – Thursday, 9 December 1948|website=[[Oireachtas]]|access-date=30 March 2020|archive-date=26 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190126001104/https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/seanad/1948-12-09/4/|url-status=live}}</ref> at the time of [[Abdication of Edward VIII|Edward VIII's abdication]] as king of the United Kingdom and all the [[Dominion]]s.

==Governors-general of the Irish Free State (1922–1936)==
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! rowspan=2 | {{Abbr|No.|Number}}
! rowspan=2 | Portrait
! rowspan=2 | Name<br/>{{small|(Lifespan)}}
! colspan=3 | Term of office
! rowspan=2 | Monarch
! rowspan=2 | [[President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State|President of <br/> Exec. Council]]
|-
! Took office
! Left office
! Time in office

|- style="height:2em"
! 1
| [[File:Tim healy.jpg|60px]]
| [[Tim Healy (politician)|Tim Healy]]<br/>{{small|(1855–1931)}}
| {{nowrap|6 December}} 1922
| {{nowrap|31 January}} 1928
| {{Age in years and days|1922|12|6|1928|1|31}}
| rowspan=4 | [[George V]]
| rowspan=2 | [[W. T. Cosgrave|Cosgrave]]

|- style="height:2em"
! rowspan=2 | 2
| rowspan=2 | [[File:Portrait of James MacNeill.PNG|60px]]
| rowspan=2 | [[James McNeill]]<br/>{{small|(1869–1938)}}
| rowspan=2 | {{nowrap|31 January}} 1928
| rowspan=2 | {{nowrap|1 November}} 1932
| rowspan=2 | {{Age in years and days|1928|1|31|1932|11|1}}

|-
| rowspan=3 | [[Éamon de Valera|De Valera]]

|- style="height:2em"
! rowspan=2 | 3
| rowspan=2 | [[File:D ua buachalla.png|60px]]
| rowspan=2 | [[Domhnall Ua Buachalla]]<br/>{{small|(1866–1963)}}
| rowspan=2 | {{nowrap|27 November}} 1932
| rowspan=2 | {{nowrap|11 December}} 1936
| rowspan=2 | {{Age in years and days|1932|11|27|1936|12|11}}

|- style="height:2em"
| [[Edward VIII]]

|}

==Selection==
The governor-general was appointed by the King on the advice of his Irish ministers. Initially, the British government had some involvement in the appointment process. However, this ended following the [[1926 Imperial Conference]]; thenceforth, only the government of the Irish Free State was formally involved. A further effect of the 1926 conference (in particular, of the [[Balfour Declaration of 1926|Balfour Declaration]]) was that the monarch also ceased to receive formal advice from the British government in relation to his role in the Irish Free State; such advice thenceforth came officially only from the [[Executive Council of the Irish Free State]] (the Cabinet).

The [[Constitution of the Irish Free State|Free State constitution]] did not limit the governor-general to a fixed term of office. But, in 1927, the Irish government decided that no governor-general would serve a term longer than five years.{{Citation needed|date=December 2011}}

==Role==
Under the constitution of the Irish Free State, the governor-general was bound to act in accordance with the "law, practice and constitutional usage". His formal duties included the following:

* Executive authority: The [[executive (government)|executive authority]] of the state was formally 'vested' in the king, but exercised by the governor-general. The governor-general appointed the Executive Council to "aid and advise" him, but with few exceptions was bound to act on the Executive Council's advice. 
* Appointment of the Cabinet: The [[President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State|President of the Executive Council]] (prime minister) was appointed by the governor-general after being selected by [[Dáil Éireann (Irish Free State)|Dáil Éireann]] (the lower house of parliament). The remaining ministers were appointed on the nomination of the president, subject to a vote of consent in the Dáil.
* Convention and dissolution of the legislature: The governor-general, on behalf of the king, convened and dissolved the {{lang|ga|[[Oireachtas of the Irish Free State|Oireachtas]]}} on the advice of the Executive Council.
* Signing bills into law: The king was formally, along with the Dáil and the [[Seanad Éireann (Irish Free State)|Seanad]], one of three components of the Oireachtas. No bill could become law until it received [[Royal Assent]], given by the governor-general on behalf of the king. The governor-general theoretically had the right to veto a bill or reserve it "for the signification of the King's pleasure", in effect postponing a decision on whether or not to enact the bill, for a maximum of one year. When it was suggested in the [[House of Lords]] that the Land Bill 1926 be vetoed in this way, the [[Lord Chancellor]] said, "It would not be effective, for if this Bill were vetoed a similar Bill could be passed to-morrow".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1926/mar/03/appeal-from-the-irish-free-state-courts#column_406|title=Appeal From The Irish Free State Courts|date=3 March 1926|work=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]]|pages=HL Deb vol 63 c406|no-pp=y|access-date=22 November 2017|archive-date=10 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160810062750/http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/1926/mar/03/appeal-from-the-irish-free-state-courts#column_406|url-status=live}}</ref>
* Appointment of judges: All judges were appointed by the governor-general on the advice of the Executive Council.

Until 1928, the governor-general served an additional role as the British government's agent in the Free State. This meant that all official correspondence between the British and Irish governments went through the governor-general and that he had access to British government papers. It also meant that he could receive secret instructions from the British government. For example, Tim Healy was formally advised by the British government to veto any attempt to abolish the controversial [[Oath of Allegiance (Ireland)|Oath of Allegiance]] to the Crown, sworn by Irish parliamentarians. {{Citation needed|date=April 2024}}

However, at the same [[imperial conference]] from which the change in the mode of the governor-general's appointment arose, it was agreed that thenceforth the [[governor-general|governors-general]] of [[dominion]]s such as the Free State would lose the second half of their dual role and no longer be representatives of the British government, with this role being carried out instead by [[high commissioner]]s. Furthermore, because, under the changes agreed, the British government lost the right to advise the king in relation to the Irish Free State, it could no longer issue binding instructions to the Irish governor-general.

The first two governors-general lived at the Viceregal Lodge (now known as {{lang|ga|[[Áras an Uachtaráin]]}}, the official residence of the [[president of Ireland]]). The last governor-general resided in a specially leased private residence in [[Booterstown]], [[County Dublin]]. The governor-general was officially referred to as His [[Excellency]]. However, unlike all the other governors-general within the [[British Empire]] in the 1920s and 1930s, none of the governors-general of the Irish Free State were ever sworn in as members of the [[Privy Council of the United Kingdom|Imperial Privy Council]]. Uniquely among all the governors-general in the British Empire at that time, none of the governors-general of the Irish Free State ever publicly wore the official ceremonial uniform for someone of their rank.

==History==
===Origins===
The [[Irish Free State]] was officially established on 6 December 1922, under the terms of the 1921 [[Anglo-Irish Treaty]]. While Irish political leaders favoured the creation of a republic, 'the Treaty' required, instead, that the new state would be a [[Dominion]] within the [[British Empire]] under a form of [[constitutional monarchy]]. Central to the agreed system of government was to be a "representative of [[the Crown]]". The new office was not named in the treaty, but the committee charged with drawing up the [[Constitution of the Irish Free State|Free State constitution]], under General [[Michael Collins (Irish leader)|Michael Collins]], decided, after considering a number of names, including "Commissioner of the British Commonwealth"<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=1kcmAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Commissioner%22+%22British+Commonwealth%22+%22Irish+Free+State%22 ''The birth of the Irish Free State, 1921-1923''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210925012307/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=1kcmAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Commissioner%22+%22British+Commonwealth%22+%22Irish+Free+State%22&dq=%22Commissioner%22+%22British+Commonwealth%22+%22Irish+Free+State%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjDtLGK4J7kAhVeUBUIHTM1B28Q6AEISTAF |date=25 September 2021 }}, Joseph Maroney Curran, University of Alabama Press, 1980, page 207</ref> and "President of Ireland",<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=jf0lAAAAMAAJ&q=%22President+of+Ireland%22 ''Ireland and the Crown, 1922-1936: the Governor-Generalship of the Irish Free State''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210925012307/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=jf0lAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22objectionable+title+%27Governor-General%27%22&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=%22President+of+Ireland%22 |date=25 September 2021 }}, Brendan Sexton, Irish Academic Press, 1989, page 56</ref> that the representative would bear the title of "Governor-General", the same as that used by the Crown's representative in other Dominions, i.e. Canada, Australia, [[Dominion of New Zealand|New Zealand]] and [[Union of South Africa|South Africa]]. However, the [[Irish language]] title was ''{{lang|ga|Seanascal}}'',<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=-zxFAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Seanascal+Shaorstait+Eireann%22 ''Díosbóireachtaí Pairliminte: Tuairisg Oifigiúil''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210925012308/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=-zxFAAAAYAAJ&dq=seanascal+governor+general&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=%22Seanascal+Shaorstait+Eireann%22 |date=25 September 2021 }}, Volume 4, Stationery Office, 1923</ref> meaning "high steward", which was later used in [[English language|English]].<ref>[https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&tbm=bks&ei=emxmXfORJNKA5wLmxLj4DQ&q=%22seanascal+is+a+high+steward%2Fmajor+domo.+It+was+the+term+employed+by+de+Valera+in+lieu+of+Governor+General%22&oq=%22seanascal+is+a+high+steward%2Fmajor+domo.+It+was+the+term+employed+by+de+Valera+in+lieu+of+Governor+General%22&gs_l=psy-ab.3...39296.39296.0.51977.1.1.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0....0...1c.2.64.psy-ab..1.0.0....0.aL2d3KDVJcU ''Studies''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210925012331/https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&tbm=bks&ei=emxmXfORJNKA5wLmxLj4DQ&q=%22seanascal+is+a+high+steward%2Fmajor+domo.+It+was+the+term+employed+by+de+Valera+in+lieu+of+Governor+General%22&oq=%22seanascal+is+a+high+steward%2Fmajor+domo.+It+was+the+term+employed+by+de+Valera+in+lieu+of+Governor+General%22&gs_l=psy-ab.3...39296.39296.0.51977.1.1.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0....0...1c.2.64.psy-ab..1.0.0....0.aL2d3KDVJcU |date=25 September 2021 }}, Volume 89, page 363</ref>

As put regarding what the Anglo-Irish Treaty said first, and what the Constitution of the Irish Free State said thereafter, 

{{Blockquote |text="On a textual reading of the Treaty..., an office of a ‘Governor-General’ did not need to be created. Rather, another form of representative of the Crown could have been chosen by the State if it had so wanted. This was because Article 3 of the Treaty only provided that such a representative would be ''appointed'' like that of the Governor General in Canada, and not that there had to ''be'' a Governor-General of the State, or one titled as a Governor-General.... [T]he creation of an office of the Governor-General was what was chosen by the drafters of the Constitution, and the text of the Constitution appears to support a reading of some level of discretion on how the representative of the Crown was to exist."<ref>[http://www.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46181-1_6 ''The Representative of the Crown and the Governor-General of the Irish Free State: Text and Context''], Graham Butler, The Representative of the Crown and the Governor-General of the Irish Free State: Text and Context, 2024, page 95</ref>}} 

The Crown's representative was expressly bound by the same constitutional conventions as the [[Governor General of Canada|governor general of Canada]], which would limit him to a largely ceremonial role. It was hoped that, if he was given the same title as that used in other dominions, then, if the [[British government]] attempted to violate convention by using the office of governor-general to interfere in the Free State's affairs, these other nations would see their own autonomy threatened and might object.

===Cosgrave executive===
The first two governors-general of the Irish Free State assumed office under the pro-Treaty, [[Cumann na nGaedheal]] government of [[W. T. Cosgrave]]. When it came to choosing the first governor-general, there was speculation about a number of possible candidates, including the famed Irish painter Sir [[John Lavery]] and [[Edward VIII|Edward, Prince of Wales]]. However, the Irish cabinet let it be known that it wished [[Tim Healy (politician)|Tim Healy]], a former [[Irish Parliamentary Party]] MP, to be appointed, and the British government ultimately agreed.

When it came to selecting Healy's successor, the Irish cabinet chose [[James McNeill]], an [[Ulster]]man, from one of the six out of nine Ulster counties which had remained in the Union with Britain, who was a former member of Collins's constitution committee and a former chairman of [[Dublin County Council]]. Because, unlike his predecessor, he was not the United Kingdom's official representative in the Free State, but merely the personal representative of the king, McNeill found himself with less influence than Healy had possessed.

===De Valera executive===
After the [[1932 Irish general election|1932 general election]], the Cosgrave government left office and was succeeded by the anti-treaty [[Fianna Fáil]] party of [[Éamon de Valera]], who now became [[President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State|President of the Executive Council]]. Fianna Fáil's immediate goal was to republicanise the Irish Free State and, as such, it opposed the very existence of the governorship-general. With this in mind, de Valera's cabinet decided to boycott and humiliate McNeill at every turn. This policy was followed, for example, during the [[1932 Eucharistic Congress]], when McNeill was sidelined and, on one occasion, the [[Irish Army|army's]] band was withdrawn from a function that he attended. On another occasion, two ministers publicly stormed out of a diplomatic function in [[Dublin]] when McNeill arrived as the guest of the French government. In late 1932, de Valera and McNeill clashed when the Governor-General published his private correspondence with de Valera and de Valera sought McNeill's dismissal. King [[George V]], however, acting as peacemaker, persuaded de Valera to withdraw the request on the basis that McNeill was due to finish his term of office within a few weeks. He then persuaded McNeill to bring forward his retirement to 1 November 1932.

On McNeill's retirement, de Valera advised the king to appoint the aged [[Domhnall Ua Buachalla]], a former Fianna Fáil [[Teachta Dála|TD]], to the post. The new governor-general (who almost always styled himself as {{lang|ga|Seanascal}}) was formally advised by the cabinet to withdraw from public life and confine himself to formal functions such as giving [[royal assent]], issuing proclamations, dissolving [[Dáil Éireann]], and appointing, on de Valera's advice, ministers to the [[Executive Council of the Irish Free State|executive council]]. In 1933, constitutional amendments were passed removing the governor-general's [[Constitution (Amendment No. 20) Act 1933|role in recommending the appropriation of money]] and [[Constitution (Amendment No. 21) Act 1933|the power to veto legislation]].

===Abolition===
{{main|Constitution (Amendment No. 27) Act 1936}}

In December 1936, when King [[Edward VIII]] [[Abdication of Edward VIII|abdicated]] from all his thrones, including that of the Irish Free State (as created in the [[Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927]] and [[Statute of Westminster 1931]]), the Irish cabinet decided to finally abolish the governorship-general. Taoiseach [[John A. Costello]], speaking in 1948, described the [[Constitution (Amendment No. 27) Act 1936]], which effected the change, as follows:<ref name=1948bill />
{{quote|This Act purported to vest all those powers in the Government, or rather, to put it more technically, to make all those powers exercisable by the Government. That Constitution (Amendment No. 27) Act was signed by the Governor-General on the 11th December, 1936. It may be of interest to recall that that was his death warrant: he ceased, the minute he signed that, to be Governor-General. Also it might be of interest—it is of no interest now, except to constitutional lawyers—to consider how it was that the representative of the King who had abdicated the previous day was able to give the assent of that King to a constitutional amendment.}}

However, de Valera was later advised by the [[Attorney General of Ireland|attorney general]] and senior advisors that the amendment was not sufficient to abolish the office entirely, which still continued by virtue of [[Letters Patent]], [[Order in Council|Orders in Council]], and [[law of the Republic of Ireland#Statute law|statute law]]. Though officially insisting that the office had been abolished (de Valera instructed Ua Buachalla to act as though he had left office and to leave his official residence), de Valera introduced a second law, the [[Executive Powers (Consequential Provisions) Act 1937]], to retrospectively eliminate the post from [[Law of the Republic of Ireland|Irish law]]. Under its own terms, the act applied retroactively, so that the office would be deemed to have been fully abolished on 11 December 1936.

Ua Buachalla and de Valera, although once close friends, fell out over Ua Buachalla's treatment in the abolition of the viceregal post, with Ua Buachalla initiating legal proceedings to sue de Valera. However, their relationship was eventually healed and, when de Valera later became President of Ireland, he appointed Ua Buachalla to the [[Council of State (Ireland)|Council of State]] in 1959. Ua Buachalla was the last surviving governor-general, dying aged 97 on 30 October 1963.

==See also==
* [[Great Seal of the Irish Free State]]
* [[History of the Republic of Ireland]]
* [[Irish head of state from 1922 to 1949]]
* [[Governor of Northern Ireland]]

==References==
{{inline|date=March 2024}}

* {{cite book |first1=Graham |last1=Butler |chapter=The Representative of the Crown and the Governor-General of the Irish Free State: Text and Context  |editor-first1=Laura |editor-last1=Cahillane |editor-first2=Donal K. |editor-last2=Coffey |year=2024 |title=The Centenary of the Irish Free State Constitution: Constituting a Polity? |series=Palgrave Modern Legal History |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |publication-date=2024 |pages=91–111 |doi=10.1007/978-3-031-46181-1_6 |isbn=9783031461804 }}

* {{cite book |last1=Sexton |first1=Brendan  |title=Ireland and the Crown, 1922–1936: The Governor-Generalship of the Irish Free State |date=1989 |publisher=Irish Academic Press |isbn=9780716524489 |language=en}}

===Citations===
{{Reflist}}
{{Governor-General of the Irish Free State}}
{{Irish Free State}}
{{Governors-general}}
{{Representatives of the monarch in Commonwealth realms and Dominions}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Governor-General Of The Irish Free State}}
[[Category:Governors-general of the Irish Free State| ]]
[[Category:Lists of governors-general|Ireland, Governor-General]]
[[Category:Lists of political office-holders in Ireland|Governor-General]]
[[Category:Ireland and the Commonwealth of Nations]]
[[Category:Monarchy in the Irish Free State]]