Oireachtas of the Irish Free State

Oireachtas of the Irish Free State Oireachtas Shaorstát Éireann
Type
Type	Bicameral
Houses	Seanad Éireann, Dáil Éireann
History
Established	1922
Disbanded	1937
Preceded by	Dáil Éireann/ Parliament of the United Kingdom
Succeeded by	Oireachtas Éireann
Seats	213 60 Senators 153 Teachta Dála (TDs)
Elections
Seanad Éireann voting system	STV
Dáil Éireann voting system	STV
Dáil Éireann last election	1937 general election
Meeting place
Leinster House, seat of the both Houses of the Oireachtas since 1922.

The Oireachtas of the Irish Free State (Irish: Oireachtas Shaorstát Éireann) was the legislature of the Irish Free State from 1922 until 1937. It was established by the 1922 Constitution of Ireland which was based from the Anglo-Irish Treaty. It was the first independent Irish Parliament officially recognised outside Ireland since the historic Parliament of Ireland which was abolished with the Act of Union in 1800.

The Parliament was bicameral, consisting of Dáil Éireann (the lower house, also known as 'the Dáil' ) with 153 seats and Seanad Éireann (the upper house; also known as 'the Senate' or 'the Seanad') with 60 seats. The King, who was officially represented by the Governor-General, was also a constituent part of the Oireachtas. The Oireachtas of the Irish Free State were disbanded by the 1937 Constitution of Ireland which created the modern Oireachtas Éireann.

Like the modern Oireachtas, the Free State legislature was dominated by the powerful, directly elected Dáil. Unlike the modern organ, the Free State Oireachtas had authority to amend the constitution as it saw fit, without recourse to a referendum. During the Free State it was also the Oireachtas as a whole, rather than the Dáil, that had authority to commit the state to war, although this distinction was not significant in practice.

The earliest parliament in Ireland was the Parliament of Ireland, which was founded in the thirteenth century as the supreme legislative body of the lordship of Ireland and was in existence until 1801. This parliament governed the English-dominated part of Ireland, which at first was limited to Dublin and surrounding cities, but later grew to include the entire island. But the Parliament of Ireland was, from the passage of Poynings' Law (1494) until its repeal in 1782, subordinate to the Parliament of England, and later Parliament of Great Britain. This Parliament consisted of the King of Ireland, who was the same person as the King of England, a House of the Lords and a House of Commons. Under the Act of Union 1800 the separate Kingdoms of Ireland and Great Britain were merged on 1 January 1801, to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Throughout the 19th century Irish opposition to the Union was strong, occasionally erupting in violent insurrection.