Extern minister

In the Irish Free State, an extern minister, formally a Minister who shall not be a Member of the Executive Council, was a minister who had charge of a department but was not a member of the Executive Council. Extern ministers were individually nominated by Dáil Éireann (the lower house), whereas of the Executive Council only the President was: he in turn nominated the other members. All ministers were formally appointed by the Governor-General. The Executive Council included the senior ministers, exercised cabinet collective responsibility, and had to be TDs (members of the Dáil); the extern ministers filled more junior technocratic roles, and need not be legislators, though in fact all were TDs. In practice, all ministers formed a united administration, and no extern ministers were appointed after 1927.

Leo Kohn suggested the model for extern ministers was the "Directors" created outside the 1919 Dáil Cabinet by the First Dáil.Nicholas Mansergh disagreed and suggested the Swiss Federal Council was the model. The idea of extern ministers was first mooted as a way of placating republicans opposed to the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty on which the Free State was founded. It would have allowed republicans to hold ministries in a national unity government without their having to take the Oath of Allegiance which the Treaty required of members the Oireachtas (parliament). The draft constitution provided for an Executive Council of twelve, of whom four, including the President and Vice President, must be members of the Dáil; of the other eight, at most three might be members of the Dáil or Seanad (upper house). However, British government objections meant the proposal was altered, and extern ministers were required to take the Oath and, though nominated by the Dáil, were appointed by the Governor General. These monarchist changes were unacceptable to republicans.

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