The External Relations Act, 1936 On the day of Edward’s abdication, the Dáil passed two Acts greatly limiting the role of the king.


• The Constitutional Amendment Act removed all reference to the British monarch and the Governor General from the Free State Constitution.


• The External Relations Act stated that Ireland and Britain would continue to be associated with one another and that the symbolic head of that association was the King of the Commonwealth. However, the only role that the king was to play in Irish affairs was in the appointment of Irish diplomats and formally signing treaties when advised by the Irish government to do so.


The External Relations Act came into law on 12 December 1936, much to the annoyance of the British government. In effect, it created the external association that de Valera had been demanding since the Treaty negotiations. At this point, successive legislation in Dublin had largely removed any ability the British government had to interfere in Irish affairs.


Bunreacht na hÉireann, 1937.


Bunreacht na hÉireann, 1937


By late 1936 the Free State’s relationship with Britain was only a shadow of what it had been under the terms of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. The Free State Constitution was now largely out of date. De Valera was also eager to replace the constitution, which he saw as an ‘English’ document, with a new constitution that had a more Irish identity. He began drafting a constitution from 1935. He consulted with members of the government, civil servants and Church leaders over the wording of the new document. However, he mostly worked with a small group, and in particular with Joseph Walshe, head of the Department of External Affairs.


The new constitution, Bunreacht na hÉireann, was formally accepted by the Dáil in June 1937 and passed in a referendum by a majority of 685,105 votes for and 526,945 against. Much of the opposition came from supporters of Cumann na nGaedheal, as well as women who felt that the wording would erode some of the rights they had gained since independence. (SEE BELOW)


The new constitution came into effect in December. Among its principal articles were:


• Articles 1, 4 and 5 declared that the name of the country was Éire, in English Ireland, and that the country was an independent and sovereign nation whose people had the right to freely choose their own form of government.


• Articles 2 and 3 stated that anyone born on the island of Ireland was an Irish citizen. These articles also made explicit Ireland’s claim to Northern Ireland, and that it was the will of the people to see the peaceful reunification of the entire island.


• Article 8 made the Irish language the first language of the country and English the second.


• Article 12 stated that the head of the country was a president who was to be elected by the people for a seven-year term. The president’s role was mostly ceremonial, but he or she was given the power to have government legislation reviewed by the Supreme Court to ensure that it was constitutional.


THE PURSUIT OF SOVEREIGNTY AND THE IMPACT OF PARTITION, 1912–1949 209


CHAPTER 6 TOPIC 3


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