The Republic of Ireland Act 1948

The Republic of Ireland Act 1948
Oireachtas
  • An Act to repeal the Executive Authority (External Relations) Act, 1936, to declare that the description of the State shall be the Republic of Ireland, and to enable the President to exercise the executive power or any executive function of the state in or in connection with its external relations.
CitationAct No. 22 of 1948
Territorial extentIreland
Passed byDáil Éireann
Passed2 December 1948
Passed bySeanad Éireann
Passed15 December 1948
Signed bySeán T. O'Kelly (President of Ireland)
Signed21 December 1948
Commenced18 April 1949
Legislative history
First chamber: Dáil Éireann
Bill citationBill No. 19 of 1948
Introduced byJohn A. Costello (Taoiseach)
Introduced17 November 1948
First reading17 November 1948
Second reading24 November 1948
Second chamber: Seanad Éireann
Second reading10 December 1948
Repeals
Executive Authority (External Relations) Act 1936
Related legislation
Ireland Act 1949 [UK]
Keywords
Republicanism, Head of state, Diplomatic credentials, Commonwealth membership criteria
Status: Current legislation

The Republic of Ireland Act 1948[a] (No. 22 of 1948) is an Act of the Oireachtas which declared that the description of Ireland was to be the Republic of Ireland, and vested in the president of Ireland the power to exercise the executive authority of the state in its external relations, on the advice of the Government of Ireland. The Act was signed into law on 21 December 1948 and came into force on 18 April 1949, Easter Monday,[1][2] the 33rd anniversary of the beginning of the Easter Rising.

The Act ended the remaining statutory role of the British monarchy in relation to Ireland, by repealing the 1936 External Relations Act, which had vested in George VI, in his capacity as a symbol of the cooperation of the nations that were members of the Commonwealth with which Ireland associated itself, and his successors those functions which the Act now transferred to the President.


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  1. ^ The Republic of Ireland Act 1948 (Commencement) Order 1949 (S.I. No. 27 of 1949). Statutory Instrument of the Government of Ireland. Retrieved from Irish Statute Book.
  2. ^ "When Was Easter Sunday in 1949?". Retrieved 21 June 2013.