Ministers and Secretaries Act, 1924

The Ministers and Secretaries Act, 1924 was one of the key statute laws enacted by the Irish Free State. Two years earlier the Irish Free State Constitution had provided for the formation of a cabinet called the Executive Council. The Ministers and Secretaries Act, 1924 formally defined the government departments that were to exist in the Free State, created their titles and outlined their responsibilities. Though much of the Act has been repealed or amended, the Act is still seen as the foundation stone for the structures of modern Irish government.

Prior to the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, two governmental systems co-existed uneasily.

The legal government of Ireland was an executive and Irish Privy Council under the British Lord Lieutenant of Ireland but in reality run by the effective prime minister, the Chief Secretary for Ireland.

In January 1922, the Lord Lieutenant's administration was replaced by the Provisional Government, chosen by the House of Commons of Southern Ireland in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty and the earlier Government of Ireland Act 1920.

Between 1919 and 1922, alongside and challenging the legal but unpopular British régime, a self declared Irish Republic existed, having been chosen by the extrajudicial Dáil Éireann (House of Assembly) made up of Irish MPs elected in the 1918 general election. Its structures were laid out in its temporary constitution, the Dáil Constitution. Its executive, the Aireacht, was headed by the President of Dáil Éireann, who in August 1921 became President of the Republic.

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