Government of Ireland Act 1920

72 Certificate of Speaker with regard to Irish members of the House of Commons

(1) If the Lord Lieutenant certifies that the number of members of the House of Commons of Southern Ireland or Northern Ireland validly returned at the first election of members of the Parliament of Southern Ireland or Northern Ireland is less than half the total number of members of that House, or that the number of members of the House of Commons of Southern Ireland or Northern Ireland who have taken the oath as such members within fourteen days from the date on which the Parliament of Southern Ireland or Northern Ireland is first summoned to meet is less than one half of the total number of members of that House, His Majesty in Council may, by Order, provide for the dissolution of the Parliament of Southern Ireland or Northern Ireland, as the case may be, and for the exercise of the powers of the Government of Southern Ireland or Northern Ireland, as the case may be, by the Lord Lieutenant with the assistance of a committee consisting of such persons (who shall be members of the Privy Council of Ireland) as His Majesty may appoint for the purpose, and of the powers of the Parliament of Southern Ireland or Northern Ireland, as the case may be, by a legislative assembly consisting of the members of the said committee, together with such other persons as His Majesty may appoint for the purpose, and the Order may make such modifications in this Act in its application to the part of Ireland affected as may appear to His Majesty to be necessary for giving effect to the Order, and for making the provisions of this Act (including provisions as to the Council of Ireland) operative in all respects in that part of Ireland, and may contain such other consequential, incidental, and supplemental provisions as may appear necessary for the purposes of the Order, and any such Order shall have effect as if enacted in this Act but may be varied by any subsequent Order in Council.

(2) The person holding office in the House of Commons of Southern Ireland and of Northern Ireland corresponding to the office of Speaker of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom shall, at the expiration of the said period of fourteen days from the date on which the Parliament of Southern Ireland or Northern Ireland, as the case may be, is first summoned to meet, send to the Lord Lieutenant a list containing the names of the members of the House who have taken the oath as such members, and, for the purposes of this section, a member shall be deemed not to have taken that oath unless his name is included in a list so sent.

(3) At any time within three years from the first day of June, nineteen hundred and twenty-one, His Majesty in Council may, subject as hereinafter provided, by Order provide for the revocation of any Order in Council made under subsection (1) of this section and for the issue of a proclamation summoning a Parliament as constituted by this Act to meet for the part of Ireland affected by such Order in Council; and, if such a proclamation is issued and an election is held in pursuance thereof, subsections (1) and (2) of this section shall apply in the case of that election in like manner as they applied in the case of the first election of members of the Parliament of that part of Ireland:

Provided that, before any Order in Council is made under this subsection, a draft thereof shall be laid before each House of Parliament for a period of not less than thirty days during the session of Parliament, and, if before the expiration of that period both Houses present an Address to His Majesty against the draft or any part thereof, no further proceedings shall be taken thereon, but without prejudice to the making of a new draft Order.