Government of the 2nd Dáil

First Provisional Government

The First Provisional Government was the Provisional Government that held office in 1922 from 16 January – 30 August. The Provisional Government was established under the terms of the Anglo-Irish Treaty as an interim administration that would govern until the establishment of the Irish Free State in December. Its members were nominated by the House of Commons of Southern Ireland on 14 January and they took up office two days later. The British government formally transferred power to the cabinet on 1 April. Headed by Chairman Michael Collins, its membership consisted solely of partisans of the pro-Treaty wing of Sinn Féin.

At the time the Provisional Government was established there was a pre-existing administration, in the form of the Fourth Ministry of the Irish Republic but that cabinet was not recognised by the British government. The Fourth Ministry came to office on 10 January, just six days before the Provisional Government, but continued in office after the latter's establishment. Thus, until September there were two parallel administrations, with an overlapping membership. This anomalous situation did not come to an end when the two competing cabinets were merged into the Second Provisional Government in September. The Provisional Government was intended to answer to the Third Dáil, which was recognised as a legitimate provisional parliament under British law. However British law did not recognise the Second Dáil, which was in session when the First Provisional Government came to office. Therefore the Provisional Government was not officially accountable to any body until the Third Dáil convened on 9 September.

After the Civil War began on 29 June four members of the cabinet were seconded for military service and substitutes were appointed to temporarily take their places as acting ministers. Two new members, Michael Hayes and Ernest Blythe, began serving as acting ministers on 17 July and were added to the cabinet as permanent members on the 27 July. Collins was killed in action on 22 August and so the cabinet met and elected Cosgrave as Chairman on 25 August. Five days later the entire cabinet was reconstituted as the Second Provisional Government. After that date, the newly constituted Provisional Government appointed by that Dáil continued in being as the sole Government, until superseded on 6 December 1922, by the formation of the 1st Executive Council of the Irish Free State.

ource

* [http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/DT/D.P.A.200001.html Dáil Debates] , 10 January 1922.

Footnotes

ee also

*Members of the 2nd Dáil
*Dáil Éireann
*Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic)
*Government of Ireland
*Constitution of the Irish Free State
*Politics of Ireland