Chapter XV: Part II: of the National Insurance Act, 1911, and the Labour

Exchanges Act, 1909; or

(d) All public services in connexion with the administration of
Post Office Savings Banks, Trustee Savings Banks, and
Friendly Societies;

the public services to which the resolution relates shall be transferred accordingly as from a date fixed by the resolution, being a date not less than a year after the date on which the resolution is passed, and shall on the transfer taking effect cease to be reserved services and become Irish services:

Provided that this provision shall not take effect as respects the transfer of the services in connexion with Post Office Savings Banks, Trustee Savings Banks, and Friendly Societies until the expiration of ten years from the appointed day.

(3) On any transfer under or by virtue of this section, the transitory provisions of this Act (so far as applicable) and the provisions of this Act as to existing Irish officers shall apply with respect to the transfer, with the substitution of the date of the transfer for the appointed day, and of a period of five years from that date for the transitional period.

_Irish Parliament._

[Sidenote: Summoning, &c., of Irish Parliament.]

6.--(1) There shall be a session of the Irish Parliament once at least in every year, so that twelve months shall not intervene between the last sitting of the 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 Irish Parliament.

[Sidenote: Royal assent to Bills of Irish Parliament]

7. The Lord Lieutenant shall give or withhold the assent of His Majesty to Bills passed by the two Houses of the Irish Parliament, subject to the following limitations; namely--

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

(2) He shall, if so directed by His Majesty, postpone giving the
assent of His Majesty to any such Bill presented to him for
assent for such period as His Majesty may direct.

[Sidenote: Composition of Irish Senate.]

8.--(1) The Irish Senate shall consist of forty senators nominated as respects the first senators by the Lord Lieutenant subject to any instructions given by His Majesty in respect of the nomination, and afterwards by the Lord Lieutenant on the advice of the Executive Committee.

(2) The term of office of every senator shall be eight years, and shall not be affected by a dissolution; one fourth of the senators shall retire in every second year, and their seats shall be filled by a new nomination.

(3) If the place of a senator becomes vacant before the expiration of his term of office, the Lord Lieutenant shall, unless the place becomes vacant not more than six months before the expiration of that term of office, nominate a senator in the stead of the senator whose place is vacant, but any senator so nominated to fill a vacancy shall hold office only so long as the senator in whose stead he is nominated would have held office.

[Sidenote: Composition of Irish House of Commons.]

9.--(1) The Irish House of Commons shall consist of one hundred and sixty-four members, returned by the constituencies in Ireland named in the First Part of the First Schedule to this Act in accordance with that Schedule, and 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.

(2) The Irish House of Commons 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.

(3) After _three years from the passing of this Act_, the Irish Parliament may alter, as respects the Irish House of Commons, the qualification of the electors, the mode of election, the constituencies, and the distribution of the members of the House among the constituencies, provided that in any new distribution the number of the members of the House shall not be altered, and due regard shall be had to the population of the constituencies other than University constituencies.

[Sidenote: Money Bills.]

10.--(1) Bills appropriating revenue or money, or imposing taxation, shall originate only in the Irish House of Commons, but a Bill shall not be taken to appropriate revenue or money, or to impose taxation 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 Irish House of Commons shall not adopt or pass any resolution, address, or Bill for the appropriation for any purpose of any part of the public revenue of 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 Irish Senate may not reject any Bill which deals only with the imposition of taxation or appropriation of revenue or money for the services of the Irish Government, and may not amend any Bill so far as the Bill imposes taxation or appropriates revenue or money for the services of the Irish Government, and the Irish Senate may not amend any Bill so as to increase any proposed charges or burden on the people.

(4) Any Bill which appropriates revenue or money for the ordinary annual services of the Irish Government shall deal only with that appropriation.

[Sidenote: Disagreement between two Houses of Irish Parliament.]

11.--(1) If the Irish House of Commons pass any Bill and the Irish Senate reject or fail to pass it, or pass it with amendments to which the Irish House of Commons will not agree, and if the Irish 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 Irish Senate, and the Irish Senate reject or fail to pass it, or pass it with amendments to which the Irish House of Commons will not agree, the Lord Lieutenant may during that session convene a joint sitting of the members of the 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 Irish House of Commons, and upon the amendments (if any) which have been made therein by the 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 the two Houses present at the 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 any such sitting, it shall be taken to have been duly passed by both Houses.

[Sidenote: Privileges, qualifications, &c. of members of Irish Parliament.]

12.--(1) The powers, privileges, and immunities of the Irish Senate and of the Irish House of Commons, and of the members and of the committees of the Irish Senate and the Irish House of Commons, shall be such as may be defined by Irish Act, but so that they shall never exceed those for the time being held and enjoyed by the Commons House of Parliament of the United Kingdom and its members and committees, 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, as for the time being in force, relating to the qualification and disqualification of 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 apply to members of the Irish House of Commons.

(3) Any peer, whether of the United Kingdom, Great Britain, England, Scotland, or Ireland, shall be qualified to be a member of either House.

(4) A member of either House shall be incapable of being nominated or elected, or of sitting, as a member of the other House, but an Irish Minister who is a member of either House 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 either House 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 either House 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 Irish Executive named in the Order shall not be disqualified for being members of either House of the Irish Parliament by reason of holding office under the Crown, and except as otherwise provided by Irish Act, the Order shall have effect as if it were enacted in this Act, but on acceptance of any such office the seat of any such person in the Irish House of Commons shall be vacated unless he has accepted the office in succession to some other of the said offices.

_Irish Representation in the House of Commons._

[Sidenote: Representation of Ireland in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.]

13. Unless and until the Parliament of the United Kingdom otherwise determine, the following provisions shall have effect:--

(1) After the appointed day the number of members returned by
constituencies in Ireland to serve in the Parliament of the
United Kingdom shall be forty-two and the constituencies
returning those members shall (in lieu of the existing
constituencies) be the constituencies named in the second
Part of the First Schedule to this Act, and no University
in Ireland shall return a member to the Parliament of the
United Kingdom.

(2) The election laws and the laws relating to the qualification
of parliamentary electors shall not, so far as they relate
to elections of members returned by constituencies in
Ireland to serve in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, be
altered by the Irish Parliament, but this enactment shall
not prevent the Irish Parliament from dealing with any
officers concerned with the issue of writs of election, and
if any officers are so dealt with, it shall be lawful for
His Majesty by Order in Council to arrange for the issue of
any such writs, and the writs issued in pursuance of the
Order shall be of the same effect as if issued in manner
heretofore accustomed.

* * * * *

So far for the constitutional clauses. The clauses from 14 to 26 are occupied with finance. They are so technical that it will be more convenient to substitute the terms of the very clear Memorandum issued by the Government:--

OUTLINE OF FINANCIAL PROVISIONS.

_Present Irish Revenue and Expenditure._

It is estimated that the revenue to be derived from Ireland in the year 1912-13 will be as follows:--

£
Customs 3,230,000
Excise 3,320,000
Income tax 1,512,000
Estate duties 939,000
Stamps 347,000
Miscellaneous 137,000
Post Office 1,354,000
-----------
Total 10,839,000
-----------

It is estimated that the expenditure for Irish purposes in the year 1912-13 will amount to £12,354,000. The expenditure may be divided for the purposes of this Memorandum as follows:--

£
All purposes not separately specified 5,462,000
Post Office 1,600,000
Old Age Pensions 2,664,000
Charges under the Land Purchase Acts 761,000
National Insurance and Labour Exchanges 191,500
Royal Irish Constabulary 1,377,500
Collection of revenue 298,000
----------
Total 12,354,000
----------

The expenditure therefore exceeds the revenue by £1,515,000.

It is anticipated that in a period of ten or fifteen years the charges under the existing Land Purchase Acts will increase by £450,000, and under the National Insurance Act by £300,000. On the other hand, it is estimated that within twenty years the cost of Old Age Pensions will decrease by £200,000.

_Charges upon the Irish Exchequer._

The Bill provides for the establishment of an Irish Exchequer and an Irish Consolidated Fund.

From the Irish Exchequer will be defrayed the whole of the present and future cost of Irish government, with the exception of the expenditure on certain services, termed in the Bill Reserved Services.

_Charges upon the Imperial Exchequer._

The Imperial Government will retain the control, and the Imperial Exchequer will continue to bear the cost, of the Reserved Services, namely, Old Age Pensions, National Insurance, Labour Exchanges, Land Purchase, and Collection of Taxes. For a period of six years the Royal Irish Constabulary will also be one of the Reserved Services.

There are provisions for the transfer to the Irish Government of certain of the Reserved Services under the conditions stated below.

_Revenue of the Irish Exchequer._

The Bill provides, in the first instance, for the period during which the yield of Irish taxes is less than the cost of Irish administration, and contemplates certain modifications after a financial equilibrium has been attained.

During that period the revenue of the Irish Exchequer will consist of a sum transferred annually from the Imperial Exchequer, and termed in the Bill the Transferred Sum, together with the receipts of the Irish Post Office.

The Transferred Sum will be fixed at the outset at such amount as will cover, with the addition of the Post Office revenue, the present expenditure on Irish Government, with the exception of the cost of the Reserved Services. Included in the Transferred Sum will also be a specified sum as surplus. The amount of this surplus will be £500,000 annually for a period of three years, then diminishing by £50,000 a year for six years till it reaches £200,000, at which sum it will remain.

Subject to this variation in the amount of the surplus and to certain minor variations specified in the Bill, and subject also to any changes consequent upon the exercise by the Irish Parliament of the powers of increasing or reducing taxation which are defined below, the amount of the Transferred Sum, fixed in the first year after the passing of the Act, will remain the same until an equilibrium is reached between the total revenue derived from Ireland and the total expenditure on Irish purposes.

_Revenue of the Imperial Exchequer from Ireland._

The Bill provides that until such equilibrium is established the whole of the proceeds of all Irish taxes shall be collected by the Treasury of the United Kingdom, and be paid into the Imperial Exchequer. (This provision does not apply to Post Office revenue.)

The revenue so collected should be sufficient to cover the Transferred Sum and to provide a balance sufficient to defray a part of the cost of the Reserved Services. As the revenue from Ireland increases in the future, the receipts of the Imperial Exchequer will increase proportionately, and the yearly deficit which will fall at the outset upon the Imperial Exchequer will gradually be lessened and ultimately disappear.

_Joint Exchequer Board._

The Bill establishes a Joint Exchequer Board of Great Britain and Ireland, consisting of two members appointed by the Imperial Treasury and two by the Irish Treasury, with a Chairman appointed by His Majesty the King.

The duty of the Board will be to determine certain questions of fact arising from time to time under the financial provisions of the Bill.

The figures given in this Paper are estimates only, and do not purport to be final. The Bill, therefore, does not rest upon these figures, but enables fuller returns to be obtained after the passing of the Act, and it provides that the amounts of Irish Revenue and Expenditure for the purposes of the Act shall be, not the figures given in this Paper, but such sums as may be determined after the passing of the Act, upon the basis of these fuller returns and of the more accurate figures of Revenue and Expenditure which will then be available, by the Joint Exchequer Board.

_Revenue and Expenditure Accounts._

If, however, the estimates given above are assumed, for purposes of illustration, to be the figures finally determined, the Irish Government's Budget in the first year would balance as follows:--

------------------------------+------------------------------
_Revenue._ | _Expenditure._
£ | £
Transferred Sum 6,127,000 | All purposes not
Post Office 1,354,000 | separately
| specified - 5,462,000
Fee Stamps 81,000 | Post Office - 1,600,000
| ----------
| 7,062,000
| Surplus - 500,000*
---------- | ----------
Total - 7,562,000 | Total - 7,562,000
------------------------------+-------------------------------
* Subject to subsequent reduction as stated above.

The Imperial Government's receipts and expenditure on Irish account would balance as follows:--

------------------------------+--------------------------------
_Revenue._ | _Expenditure._
£ | £
Irish Revenue | Transferred Sum 6,127,000
(excluding Post | Old Age Pensions 2,664,000
Office and fee | National Insurance
stamps) 9,404,000 | and Labour
Deficit 2,015,000 | Exchanges 191,500
| Land Purchase--
| (1.) Land
| Commission 592,000
| (2.) Other
| Charges 169,000
| Constabulary 1,377,500
| Collection of
| Revenue 298,000
---------- | ----------
11,419,000 | Total 11,419,000
------------------------------+--------------------------------

_Powers of Varying Taxation._

The Bill confers on the Irish Parliament the following financial powers:--

1. It may add to the rates of Excise Duties, Customs Duties on beer and spirits, Stamp Duties (with certain exceptions), Land Taxes, or Miscellaneous Taxes, imposed by the Imperial Parliament.

2. It may add to an extent not exceeding 10 per cent, to the Income Tax, Death Duties, or Customs Duties other than the duties on beer and spirits, imposed by the Imperial Parliament.

3. It may levy any new taxes, other than new Customs Duties.

4. It may reduce any tax levied in Ireland, with the exception of certain Stamp Duties.

The Imperial Treasury will collect the revenue arising from any increases in taxation enacted by the Irish Parliament in the exercise of these powers; and an addition will be made to the Transferred Sum of such amount as the Joint Exchequer Board may determine to be the produce of the additional taxation. Similarly, if taxation, is reduced by the Irish Parliament, a deduction will be made from the Transferred Sum corresponding to the loss of revenue due to the repeal of a tax or to collection at the lower rates.

The Irish Exchequer will therefore gain or lose by any increase or decrease in taxation enacted by the Irish Parliament, and the net revenue of the Imperial Exchequer will remain unaffected by such changes.

If Excise or Customs Duties are imposed at different rates in Great Britain and Ireland respectively, provision is made for the adjustment of the taxes paid in respect of articles passing from one country to the other.

As administrative difficulties might arise in certain cases if the 10 per cent. limitation mentioned above were in terms to prohibit additions to the taxes in question to an extent of more than 10 per cent. of the rates of tax, the Bill effects the object in view by enacting that only such proceeds of the tax as do not exceed 10 per cent. of the yield of the Imperial tax shall be transferred to the Irish Exchequer.

The Bill makes no specific reference to the powers of the Imperial Parliament to levy taxation in Ireland. The provision in clause 1 that the supreme power and authority of the Parliament of the United Kingdom shall remain unaffected retains the existing powers of the Imperial Parliament in this regard.

_Transfer of the Reserved Services to the Irish Government._

After six years, the control of the Royal Irish Constabulary will pass to the Irish Executive. The Irish Parliament is empowered to assume at any time, with twelve months' notice, legislative and executive control with respect to Old Age Pensions, to National Health Insurance, or to Unemployment Insurance, together with Labour Exchanges. When any such transfer of Reserved Services is effected, the financial burden will be assumed by the Irish Exchequer, and an addition will be made to the Transferred Sum corresponding to the financial relief given to the Imperial Exchequer.

_Loans and Capital Liabilities._

Loans made for the purposes of land purchase and loans made before the passing of the Act for other Irish purposes will be among the Reserved Services, and the payment of interest and sinking fund charges will be made by the Imperial Exchequer.

New loans may be raised by the Irish Parliament on the security of the Irish revenue. Provision is also made for enabling the joint Exchequer Board, if so authorised by the Irish Parliament, to issue the loans and to meet the interest and sinking fund charges by means of deductions from the Transferred Sum.

The Bill provides for the apportionment between the two Exchequers of liability for existing loans raised for Irish services.

_Readjustment when Financial Equilibrium is reached._

When the total revenue received from Ireland by the Imperial Treasury has been sufficient, during three consecutive years, to meet the total charges for Irish purposes, the Exchequer Board shall report the fact with a view to a revision of the financial arrangements. Since it is impossible now to foresee what services may remain at that time as Reserved Services, what loans may have been contracted during the intervening years, and what changes may have been made in the rates of taxation, the Bill does not attempt to enact the modifications which may then be desirable.

It contemplates, however, as part of the present financial settlement, that Parliament will then consider, on the one hand, the fixing of such contribution by Ireland to the common expenses of the United Kingdom as may be equitable, and, on the other hand, the transfer to the Irish Legislature and Government of the control and collection of such taxes as may be deemed advisable.

The remaining clauses--from 27 to 47--are concerned with readjustments as to judges, civil servants, police and other matters, and do not vary substantially from the corresponding clauses in the Bill of 1893 (published in Appendix D). The first meeting of the Irish Parliament is fixed for the first Tuesday in September, 1913.

There are only two other clauses which require special notice, as adding fresh provisions to those laid down in the Bill of 1893.

The first is the 26th clause, which gives to the Irish special powers of representation at Westminster in the case of a revision of the financial arrangements:--

"For the purpose of revising the financial provisions of this Act in pursuance of this section, there shall be summoned to the Commons House of Parliament of the United Kingdom such number of members of the Irish House of Commons as will make the representation of Ireland in the Commons House of Parliament of the United Kingdom equivalent to the representation of Great Britain on the basis of population; and the members of the Irish House of Commons so summoned shall be deemed to be members of the Commons House of Parliament of the United Kingdom for the purpose of any such revision."

The second--Clause 42--provides that Irish laws shall be interpreted always in legal subordination to Acts of the Imperial Parliament:--

"(2) Where any Act of the Irish Parliament deals with any matter with respect to which the Irish Parliament have power to make laws which is dealt with by any Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed after the passing of this Act and extending to Ireland, the Act of the Irish Parliament shall be read subject to the Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and so far as it is repugnant to that Act, but no further, shall be void."