Government of Ireland Act 1920

PROVISIONS AS TO PARLIAMENTS OF SOUTHERN AND NORTHERN IRELAND.

11 Summoning, &c, of Parliaments

(1) There shall be a session of the Parliament of Southern Ireland and of the Parliament of Northern Ireland, once at least in every year, so that twelve months shall not intervene between the last sitting of either Parliament in one session and their first sitting in the next session.

(2) The Lord Lieutenant shall, in His Majesty's name, summon, prorogue, and dissolve the Parliament of Southern Ireland and the Parliament of Northern Ireland.

12 Royal assent to Bills

The Lord Lieutenant shall give and withhold the assent of His Majesty to Bills passed by the Senate and House of Commons of Southern Ireland or the Senate and House of Commons of Northern Ireland, and to orders of the Council of Ireland, subject to the following limitations :—

(1) He shall comply with any instructions given by His Majesty in respect of any such Bill or order; and

(2) He shall, if so directed by His Majesty, reserve any such Bill or order for the signification of His Majesty's pleasure, and a Bill or order so reserved shall not have any force unless and until within one year from the day on which it was presented to the Lord Lieutenant for His Majesty's assent, the Lord Lieutenant makes known that it has received His Majesty's assent.

13 Constitution of Senates

(1) The Senate of Southern Ireland shall be constituted as provided in the Second Schedule to this Act.

(2) The Senate of Northern Ireland shall be constituted as provided in the Third Schedule to this Act.

(3) The provisions contained in the Fourth Schedule to this Act shall have effect with respect to the nomination, election and term of office of members of the Senates of Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland.

14 Constitution of the Parliaments

(1) The House of Commons of Southern Ireland shall consist of one hundred and twenty-eight members returned by the constituencies in Ireland named in Part I. of the Fifth Schedule to this Act, and the number of members to be returned by each such constituency shall be the number mentioned in the second column of that Part.

(2) The House of Commons of Northern Ireland shall consist of fifty-two members returned by the constituencies in Ireland named in Part II. of the Fifth Schedule to this Act, and the number of members to be returned by each such constituency shall be the number mentioned in the second column of that Part.

(3) The members shall be elected by the same electors and in the same manner as members returned by constituencies in Ireland to serve in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, except that at any contested election of the full number of members the election shall be according to the principle of proportional representation, each elector having one transferable vote, as defined by the [7 & 8 Geo. 5. c. 64.] Representation of the People Act, 1918, and His Majesty in Council shall have the same power of making regulations in respect thereto as he has under subsection (3) of section twenty of that Act, and that subsection shall apply accordingly.

(4) The House of Commons of Southern Ireland and the House of Commons of Northern Ireland when summoned shall, unless sooner dissolved, have continuance for five years from the day on which the summons directs the House to meet and no longer.

(5) After three years from the day of the first meeting of the Parliament of Southern Ireland or Northern Ireland, that Parliament may alter the qualification and registration of the electors, the law relating to elections and the questioning of elections, the constituencies, and the distribution of the members among the constituencies, provided that in any new distribution the number of the members shall not be altered, and due regard shall be had to the population of the constituencies other than University constituencies.

15 Application of election laws

(1) All existing election laws relating to the Commons House of Parliament of the United Kingdom and the members thereof shall, so far as applicable and subject to the provisions of this Act, and especially to any provision enabling the Parliaments of Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland to alter those laws as respects the House of Commons of Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland respectively, extend to the House of Commons of Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland and the members thereof.

(2) His Majesty may, by Order in Council, make such provisions as may appear to him necessary or proper for making any provisions of the election laws applicable to elections of members of the Senate and House of Commons of Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland.

16 Money Bills

(1) Bills imposing taxation or appropriating revenue or moneys shall originate only in the House of Commons of Southern Ireland or Northern Ireland, but a Bill shall not be taken to impose taxation or to appropriate revenue or moneys by reason only of its containing provisions for the imposition or appropriation of fines or other pecuniary penalties, or for the payment or appropriation of fees for licences or fees for services under the Bill.

(2) The House of Commons of Southern Ireland or Northern Ireland shall not adopt or pass any vote, resolution, address, or Bill for the appropriation for any purpose of any part of the public revenue of Southern Ireland or Northern Ireland or of any tax, except in pursuance of a recommendation from the Lord Lieutenant in the session in which the vote, resolution, address, or Bill is proposed.

(3) The Senate of Southern Ireland or Northern Ireland may not amend any Bills so far as they impose taxation or appropriate revenue or moneys for the services of the Government of Southern Ireland or Northern Ireland, or for services administered by the Council of Ireland and may not amend any Bill so as to increase any proposed charges or burdens on the people.

(4) Any Bill which appropriates revenue or moneys for the ordinary annual services of the Government of Southern Ireland or Northern Ireland, or services administered by the Council of Ireland, shall deal only with that appropriation.

17 Disagreement between two Houses of Parliament of Southern Ireland or Parliament of Northern Ireland

(1) If the House of Commons of Southern Ireland or Northern Ireland pass any Public Bill, which is sent up to the Senate of Southern Ireland or Northern Ireland at least one month before the end of the session and the Senate of Southern or Northern Ireland reject or fail to pass it or pass it with amendments to which the House of Commons will not agree, and if the House of Commons in the next session again pass the Bill with or without any amendments which have been made or agreed to by the Senate, and the Senate reject or fail to pass it or pass it with amendments to which the House of Commons will not agree, the Lord Lieutenant may, during that session, convene a joint sitting of the members of such two Houses.

(2) The members present at any such joint sitting may deliberate and shall vote together upon the Bill as last proposed by the House of Commons and upon the amendments, if any, which have been made therein by one House and not agreed to by the other, and any such amendments which are affirmed by a majority of the total number of members of such two Houses present at such sitting shall be taken to have been carried.

(3) If the Bill with the amendments, if any, so taken to have been carried is affirmed by a majority of the total number of members of the two Houses present at such sitting, it shall be taken to have been duly passed by both Houses :

Provided that, if the Senate of Southern Ireland or Northern Ireland shall reject or fail to pass any Bill dealing with the imposition of taxation or the appropriation of revenue or moneys for the public service, such joint sitting may be convened during the same session in which the Senate so reject or fail to pass such Bill.

18 Privileges, qualifications, &c. of members of the Parliaments

(1) The powers, privileges, and immunities of the Senate and House of Commons of Southern .Ireland and the Senate and House of Commons of Northern Ireland, and of the members and of the committees thereof, shall be such as may be defined by Act of the Parliament in question, and, until so defined, shall be those held and enjoyed by the Commons House of Parliament of the United Kingdom and its members and committees at the date of the passing of this Act.

(2) The law for the time being in force relating to the qualification and disqualification of the members of the Commons House of Parliament of the United Kingdom, and the taking of any oath required to be taken by a member of that House, shall, save as otherwise provided by this Act, apply to the members of the Senate and House of Commons of Southern Ireland and members of the Senate and House of Commons of Northern Ireland.

(3) A person shall not be disqualified for being a member of the Senate or House of Commons of Southern Ireland or a member of the Senate or House of Commons of Northern Ireland by reason only that he is a peer, whether of the United Kingdom, Great Britain, England, Scotland, or Ireland.

(4) A member of the House of Commons of Southern Ireland or Northern Ireland shall be incapable of being chosen or elected or of sitting as a member of the Senate of Southern Ireland or Northern Ireland, and a member of the Senate of Southern Ireland or Northern Ireland shall be incapable of being chosen or elected or of sitting as a member of the House of Commons of Southern Ireland or Northern Ireland; but a Minister of Southern Ireland or Northern Ireland who is a member of either House of the Parliament of Southern Ireland or Northern Ireland shall have the right to sit and speak in both Houses, but shall vote only in the House of which he is a member.

(5) A member of the Senate or House of Commons of Southern Ireland or Northern Ireland may resign his seat by giving notice of resignation to the person and in the manner directed by standing orders of the House, or, if there is no such direction, by notice in writing of resignation sent to the Lord Lieutenant, and his seat shall become vacant on notice of resignation being given.

(6) The powers of the Council of Ireland or the Senate or House of Commons of Southern Ireland or Northern Ireland shall not be affected by any vacancy therein, or by any defect in the nomination, election, or qualification of any member thereof.

(7) His Majesty may, by Order in Council, declare that the holders of the offices in the executive of Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland named in the Order shall not be disqualified for being members of the Senate or House of Commons of Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland respectively by reason of holding office under the Crown, and, except as otherwise provided by Act of the Parliament of Southern Ireland or Northern Ireland, the Order shall have effect as if it were enacted in this Act, and on acceptance of any such office the seat of any such person in the House of Commons of Southern Ireland or Northern Ireland shall not be vacated.