Chapter IX: Section III: The Executive

A.--EXECUTIVE COUNCIL/AIREACHT.

ARTICLE 50.

The Executive Authority of the Irish Free State/Saorstat Eireann is hereby declared to be vested in the King, and shall be exercisable, in accordance with the law, practice and constitutional usage governing the exercise of the executive authority in the case of the Dominion of Canada, by the Representative of the Crown. There shall be a Council to aid and advise in the government of the Irish Free State/Saorstat Eireann to be styled the Executive Council/Aireacht. The Executive Council shall be responsible to the Chamber/Dail Eireann, and shall consist of not more than twelve Ministers/Airi appointed by the Representative of the Crown, of whom four Ministers shall be Members of the Chamber/Dail Eireann and a number not exceeding eight, chosen from all citizens eligible for election to the Chamber/Dail Eireann, who shall not be members of Parliament/Oireachtas during their term of Office, and who, if at the time of their appointment they are members of Parliament/Oireachtas, shall by virtue of such appointment vacate their seats; Provided that the Chamber/Dail Eireann may from time to time on the motion of the President of the Executive Council determine that a particular Minister or Ministers not exceeding three, may be members of Parliament/Oireachtas in addition to the four members of the Chamber/Dail Eireann above mentioned.

ARTICLE 51.

The Ministers who are required to be members of the Chamber/Dail Eireann shall include the President of the Executive Council/Uachtaran and the Vice-President of the Executive Council/Tanaist.

The President of the Executive Council shall be the chief of the Executive Council and shall be appointed on the nomination of the Chamber/Dail, and the Vice-President of the Executive Council and the other Ministers who are members of Parliament/Oireachtas shall be appointed on the nomination of the President of the Executive Council; and he and the Ministers nominated by him shall retire from office should he fail to be supported by a majority in the Chamber/Dail, but the President of the Executive Council and such Ministers shall continue to carry on their duties until their successors are appointed.

ARTICLE 52.

Ministers who are not members of the Parliament/Oireachtas shall be nominated by a Committee of members of the Chamber/Dail Eireann chosen by a method to be determined by the Chamber/Dail so as to be impartially representative of the Chamber/Dail. Such Ministers shall be chosen with due regard to their suitability for office and should as far as possible be generally representative of the Irish Free State/Saorstat Eireann as a whole rather than of groups or of parties. Should a nomination not be acceptable to the Chamber/Dail, the Committee shall continue to propose names until one is found acceptable.

ARTICLE 53.

Each Minister not a member of the Parliament/Oireachtas shall be the responsible head of the Executive Department or Departments as head of which he has been appointed as aforesaid; Provided that should arrangements for Functional or Vocational Councils be made by the Parliament/Oireachtas these Ministers or any of them may, should the Parliament/Oireachtas so decide, be members of and be nominated on the advice of such Councils. The term of office of any such Minister shall be the term of the Chamber/Dail Eireann existing at the time of his appointment or such other period as may be fixed by law, but he shall continue in office until his successor shall have been appointed: and no such Minister shall be removed from Office during his term unless the proposal to remove him has been previously submitted to a Committee chosen by a method to be determined by the Chamber/Dail so as to be impartially representative of the Chamber/Dail and then only if the Committee shall have reported that such Minister has been guilty of malfeasance in office or has not been performing his duties in a competent and satisfactory manner, or has failed to carry out the lawfully-expressed will of Parliament/Oireachtas.

ARTICLE 54.

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.

ARTICLE 55.

Ministers who are not members of the Chamber/Dail Eireann shall by virtue of their office possess all the rights and privileges of a member of the Chamber/Dail except the right to vote, and shall, if not members of the Parliament/Oireachtas, comply with the provisions of Article 17 as if they were members of the Chamber/Dail, and may be required by the Chamber/Dail to attend and answer questions.

ARTICLE 56.

Should the President of the Executive Council die, resign or be permanently incapacitated, the Vice-President of the Executive Council shall act in his place until a President of the Executive Council shall be elected. The Vice-President of the Executive Council shall also act in the place of the President of the Executive Council during his temporary absence.

ARTICLE 57.

The members of the Executive Council shall receive such remuneration as may from time to time be prescribed by law, but the remuneration of any Minister shall not be diminished during his term of office.

ARTICLE 58.

The Representative of the Crown, who shall be styled the Governor-General of the Irish Free State, shall be appointed in like manner as the Governor-General of Canada and in accordance with the practice observed in the making of such appointments. The salary of the Governor-General of the Irish Free State shall be of the like amount as that now payable to the Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia and shall be charged on the public funds of the Irish Free State/Saorstat Eireann and suitable provision shall be made out of those funds for the maintenance of his official residence and establishment.

ARTICLE 59.

The Executive Council shall prepare the Budget of receipts and expenditure of the Irish Free State/Saorstat Eireann for each financial year and shall present it to the Chamber/Dail Eireann before the close of the previous financial year.