The
Dublin Castle administration in Ireland was the government of
IrelandIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
under
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
rule from the twelfth century until 1922.
Its chief executive was variously known as the
Justicar, the Lord Deputy and, from the seventeenth century, the
Lord Lieutenant of IrelandThe Lord Lieutenant of Ireland , also known as the Judiciar in the early mediaeval period and as the Lord Deputy as late as the 17th century, was the King's representative and head of the Irish executive during the Lordship of Ireland , the Kingdom of Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great...
(also known as the
Viceroy), who was both the
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
(pre-1707)/
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
government representative in Ireland and the personal representative in Ireland of the King.
By the nineteenth century the Lord Lieutenant had declined in importance vis-a-vis his chief aide, the
Chief Secretary for IrelandThe Chief Secretary for Ireland was a key office-holder of state in the British administration in Ireland. Towards the end of Crown rule in Ireland, he operated in a manner similar to that of the Prime Minister in the English and later British Parliament...
.
The
Dublin Castle administration in Ireland was the government of
IrelandIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
under
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
rule from the twelfth century until 1922.
History of executive
Its chief executive was variously known as the
Justicar, the Lord Deputy and, from the seventeenth century, the
Lord Lieutenant of IrelandThe Lord Lieutenant of Ireland , also known as the Judiciar in the early mediaeval period and as the Lord Deputy as late as the 17th century, was the King's representative and head of the Irish executive during the Lordship of Ireland , the Kingdom of Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great...
(also known as the
Viceroy), who was both the
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
(pre-1707)/
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
government representative in Ireland and the personal representative in Ireland of the King.
By the nineteenth century the Lord Lieutenant had declined in importance vis-a-vis his chief aide, the
Chief Secretary for IrelandThe Chief Secretary for Ireland was a key office-holder of state in the British administration in Ireland. Towards the end of Crown rule in Ireland, he operated in a manner similar to that of the Prime Minister in the English and later British Parliament...
. By the late nineteenth century the Lord Lieutenant might be, but was not always a member of the British cabinet, while the Chief Secretary invariably was.
Under the Government of Ireland Act, 1920 the Lord Lieutenant was scheduled to take up a new role, that of the King's representative to the two Irish states,
Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and it is situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
and
Southern IrelandSouthern Ireland was the short-lived autonomous region of the United Kingdom established on 3 May 1921 and dissolved on 6 December 1922....
. However Southern Ireland never became a working reality and was replaced by the
Irish Free StateThe Irish Free State was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand....
in 1922. The lord lieutenancy was abolished, with his northern role given to the
Governor of Northern IrelandThe Governor of Northern Ireland was the principal officer and representative in Northern Ireland of the British monarch. The office was established on 9 December 1922 and abolished on 18 July 1973.-Overview:...
.
Other major offices
Other major offices in the Dublin Castle administration —
Chief SecretaryThe Chief Secretary for Ireland was a key office-holder of state in the British administration in Ireland. Towards the end of Crown rule in Ireland, he operated in a manner similar to that of the Prime Minister in the English and later British Parliament...
,
Under-SecretaryThe Under-Secretary for Ireland was the permanent head of the British administration in Ireland prior to the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922....
,
Lord Chancellor of IrelandThe office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland was the highest judicial office in Ireland until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. From 1721 to 1801 it was also sthe highest political office of the Irish Parliament....
,
Attorney-General for IrelandThe Attorney-General for Ireland was an Irish and then United Kingdom government office. The holder was senior to the Solicitor-General for Ireland, and advised the Crown on Irish legal matters...
(which was scheduled to have been replaced anyway by the
Attorney-General for Southern Ireland under the Government of Ireland Act), and the
Solicitor-General for IrelandThe Solicitor-General for Ireland was the holder of an Irish and then United Kingdom government office. The holder was a deputy to the Attorney-General for Ireland, and advised the Crown on Irish legal matters. In the sixteenth century a Principal Solicitor for Ireland simultaneously performed the...
— were all abolished. The Chief Secretary's office evolved to form the administrative basis for the new
President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free StateThe President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State was the head of government or prime minister of the Irish Free State which existed from 1922 to 1937...
(prime minister), with the Under Secretary's administrative role becoming that of the new chief civil servant in the Irish government, the Secretary to the Executive Council.
Sources
- Costello, Peter (1999). Dublin Castle in the life of the Irish nation. Dublin: Wolfhound Press. ISBN 0-86327-610-5.
- McCarthy, Denis , David Benton (2004). Dublin Castle: at the heart of Irish History. Dublin: Stationary Office. ISBN 9780755719754.
- Maurice O'Connor Morris Dublin Castle Harrison, 1889
- McBride, Lawrence W. The Greening of Dublin Castle: the transformation of bureaucratic and judicial personnel in Ireland, 1892-1922 Catholic University of America Press, 1991 ISBN 9780813207155
- Sturgis, Mark. Eds. Michael Hopkinson and Tim Pat Coogan The last days of Dublin Castle: the Mark Sturgis diaries Irish Academic Press, 1999 ISBN 9780716526261