The Ireland Act 1949 is a UK Act of Parliament which was intended to deal with the consequences of the then recently passed Republic of Ireland Act 1948 as passed by the Irish parliament (Oireachtas). The act is still largely in force, but has been amended. In Westminster System parliaments, an Act of Parliament is a part of the law passed by the Parliament. ... The Republic of Ireland Act was an enactment of Oireachtas Éireann passed in 1948, which came into force on April 18, 1949 and which declared that the official description of Éire was to be the Republic of Ireland. ... See also: 1947 in Ireland, other events of 1948, 1949 in Ireland and the list of years in Ireland. // Events January 8 - The Council of State meets for the first time when President Douglas Hyde test the constitutionality of the Offences Against the State Bill. ... The Oireachtas is the National Parliament of the Republic of Ireland1. ...

Provisions

The main provisions of the Ireland Act was the acceptance that the creation of a Republic of Ireland had meant that that state had left the Commonwealth of Nations, but that "...the Republic of Ireland is not a foreign country..." in UK law. An additional provision stated that the term "Republic of Ireland" could be substituted for "Éire" in the UK; this still has force of law. Flag of the Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations is an association of independent sovereign states, most of which are former colonies once governed by the United Kingdom as part of the British Empire. ... Map of Éire Éire (pronounced ) is the Irish for Ireland. ...

The act also changed the status of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom so as to reassure the unionist majority, giving a guarantee that it shall remain part of the United Kingdom so long as a majority of its citizens so desire. This was the first such legal guarantee given to the region. For an explanation of often confusing terms like Ulster, (Republic of) Ireland, (Great) Britain and United Kingdom see British Isles (terminology). ... In the Irish context, Unionists form a group of exclusively Protestant people in Ireland, of all social classes, who wish to see the continuation of the 1801 Act of Union, as amended by the Government of Ireland Act 1920, under which the Northern Ireland provincial state created in that latter...

Effects

The main reason for the Ireland Act was that as the Republic of Ireland had broken all constitutional links with the UK it was necessary to ensure, from a British perspective, that the citizens of the Republic of Ireland did not lose certain rights within the UK; other indirect results are that Irish citizens resident in the UK retained the right to vote in all elections and to stand as candidates and can hold certain public offices in which citizenship rules apply including the judiciary and police. Post-World War II reconstruction within the UK relied on Irish, and other Commonwealth citizens, contributing to the economic reconstruction and placing any barriers to immigration at this time was not a business or political option. The judiciary, also referred to as the judicature, consists of justices, judges and magistrates among other types of adjudicators. ... World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrinations, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons like the atom bomb. ...

The act also created some stir in the Republic of Ireland, as its Northern Ireland provisions gave that region a status which it previously did not have. The Irish parliament called for a Protest Against Partition as a result. This was the last public protest against partition by the Irish parliament.

External link

• Ireland Act 1949 (partial text; link to full text of statute as originally enacted)