Oireachtas

“ The Executive decides that the Constitution would be improved by a particular alteration, the Oireachtas, if it approves of the alteration proposed by the Executive, embodies it in the form of an Act, and the Judiciary decides whether that Act can be and has been validly enacted, and then, and not till then, the Executive enforces it as a law upon the people at large. ”

“ Thus, the Constituent Assembly, endowing the more limited Assembly, the Oireachtas, with a power of amendment of the Constitution, reserved to the people on whose behalf it was enacting that Constitution absolute control of the exercise of that power, so that in every case after the period of eight years the decision of the people must be obtained and, during that period, such control was secured by the right to demand a Referendum. ”

“ It must, therefore, be asked upon what principle of construction the power of amendment so given should not extend to Article 50 itself? It has been sought on behalf of the appellants to limit the power of the Oireachtas during the eight year period by introducing analogies derived from the law of principal and agent. Reference is made to the rule of law by which an agent cannot himself extend the scope of the authority given to him by the principal and it is said that the Oireachtas is in the position of an agent towards the people. ”

“ The Ministers who are members of the Parliament/ Oireachtas shall alone be responsible for all matters relating to external affairs whether policy, negotiations, or executive acts. Subject to the foregoing provisions, the Executive Council shall meet and act as a collective authority: Provided, however, that each Minister shall be individually responsible to the Chamber/Dail Eireann for the administration of the Department or Departments of which he is head. ”

“ The Oireachtas may make provision by law for the payment of allowances to the members of each House thereof in respect of their duties as public representatives and for the grant to them of free travelling and such other facilities (if any) in connection with those duties as the Oireachtas may determine. Dáil Éireann Article 16
Every citizen without distinction of sex who has reached the age of twenty-one years, and who is not placed under disability or incapacity by this Constitution or by law, shall be eligible for membership of Dáil Éireann. ”

“ All judges shall be independent in the exercise of their functions, and subject only to the Constitution and the law. A judge shall not be eligible to sit in the Oireachtas, and shall not hold any other office or position of emolument. ”

“ For all these reasons I am quite satisfied that the power conferred upon the Oireachtas by Article 50 of the Constitution to make amendments of the Constitution includes a power to amend by alteration or repeal, and that the Oireachtas alone has the right to decide whether any particular alteration, addition, or omission, is desirable, and accordingly that neither Amendment No. ”

“ The members shall be elected upon principles of Proportional Representation. The Oireachtas shall revise the constituencies at least once in every ten years, with due regard to changes in distribution of the population, but any alterations in the constituencies shall not take effect during the life of Dáil Eireann sitting when such revision is made. ”

“ LXII. INCOMPETENCY OF PARLIAMENT TO PASS THE UNION BILL. Sir,—I, in the most express terms, deny the competency of Parliament to abolish the Legislature of Ireland. I warn you, do not dare to lay your hand on the Constitution.—I tell you that if, circumstanced as you are, you pass an act which surrenders the government of Ireland to the English Parliament, it will be a nullity and that no man in Ireland will be bound to obey it. ”

“ As an administrative body it can give a decision as to the constitutional validity of any Bill brought before or Act passed by, the Irish Parliament. In its judicial character it is a court of final appeal, with exclusive power to pronounce a decision upon the validity of an Act of the Irish Parliament whenever the validity thereof comes in question in the course of an action. [62] The decisions of the Privy Council are final; their twofold character as opinions and judgments deserve special attention. ”

“ Very early in the session, the English House of Commons, exercising its customary power of binding Ireland by acts passed in London, sent up to the House of Lords a bill providing that no person should sit in the Irish Parliament, nor should hold any Irish office, civil, military, or ecclesiastical, nor should practice law or medicine in Ireland, till he had first taken the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, and subscribed to the declaration against transubstantiation. ”

“ It shall not be lawful for the Irish Legislative Body to adopt or pass any vote, resolution, address, or Bill for the raising or appropriation for any purpose of any part of the public revenue of Ireland, or of any tax, duty, or impost, except in pursuance of a recommendation from Her Majesty signified through the Lord-Lieutenant in the session in which such vote, resolution, address, or Bill is proposed. ”

“ Government, &c.—The executive government of Ireland is vested in a lord-lieutenant, assisted by a privy council and by a chief secretary, who is always a member of the House of Commons and generally of the cabinet. There are a large number of administrative departments and boards, some, like the Board of Trade, discharging the same duties as the similar department in England; others, like the Congested Districts Board, dealing with matters of purely Irish concern. ”

“ House of Commons, Monday, July 10.—Glad the sitting's over; often get a little mixed here; never so magnificently as to-night. Reached 9th Clause Home-Rule Bill, which settles question of Irish Representation in Imperial Parliament. When Mr. G. brought in his Bill in 1886, he proposed to exclude Irish Members. Remember very well the cheer that filled the Chamber when that announcement made on introduction of Bill. ”