A member of the Council shall, on ceasing to be a member of that House of the Parliament of Southern Ireland or Northern Ireland by which he was elected a member of the Council, cease to be a member of the Council: Provided that, on the dissolution of the Parliament of Southern Ireland or Northern Ireland, the persons who are members of the Council elected by either House of that Parliament shall continue to hold office as members of the Council until the date of the first meeting of the new Parliament, and shall then retire unless re-elected.

The President of the Council shall preside at each meeting of the Council at which he is present and shall be entitled to vote in case of an equality of votes, but not otherwise.

The first meeting of the Council shall be held at such time and place as may be appointed by the Lord Lieutenant.

The Council may act notwithstanding a vacancy in their number, and the quorum of the Council shall be fifteen; subject as aforesaid, the Council may regulate their own procedure, including the delegation of powers to committees.

(3.) The constitution of the Council of Ireland may from time to time be varied by identical Acts passed by the Parliament of Southern Ireland and the Parliament of Northern Ireland, and the Acts may provide for all or any of the members of the Council of Ireland being elected by parliamentary electors, and determine the constituencies by which the several elective members are to be returned and the number of the members to be returned by the several constituencies and the method of election.

Power to Establish a Parliament for the whole of Ireland.

3.-(1.) The Parliaments of Southern Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland may, by identical Acts agreed to by an absolute majority of members of the House of Commons of each Parliament at the third reading (hereinafter referred to as constituent Acts), establish, in lieu of the Council of Ireland, a Parliament for the whole of Ireland, consisting of His Majesty and two Houses (which shall be called and known as the Parliament of Ireland), and may determine the number of members thereof and the manner in which the members are to be appointed or elected, and the constituencies for which the several elective members are to be returned, and the number of members to be returned by the several constituencies, and the method of appointinent or election, and the relations of the two Houses to one another; and the date at which the Parliament of Ireland is established is hereinafter referred to as the date of Irish union:

Provided that the Bill for a constituent Act shall not be [CXVI] B 3

introduced except upon a resolution passed at a previous meeting of the House in which the Bill is to be introduced.

(2.) On the date of Irish union the Council of Ireland shall cease to exist and there shall be transferred to the Parliament and Government of Ireland all powers then exercisable by the Council of Ireland, and (except so far as the constituent Acts otherwise provide) the matters which under this Act cease to be reserved matters at the date of Irish union, and any other powers for the joint exercise of which by the Parliaments or Governments of Southern and Northern Ireland provision has been made under this Act.

(3.) There shall also be transferred to the Parliament and Government of Ireland, except so far as the constituent Acts otherwise provide, all the powers and duties of the Parliaments and Governments of Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland, including all powers as to taxation, and, unless any powers and duties are retained by the Parliaments and Governments of Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland under the constituent Acts, those Parliaments and Governments shall cease to exist:

Provided that, if any powers and duties are so retained, the constituent Acts shall make provision with respect to the financial relations between the Exchequers of Southern and Northern Ireland on the one hand and the Irish Exchequer on the other.

(4.) If by the constituent Acts any powers and duties are so retained as aforesaid, the Parliaments of Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland may subsequently by identical Acts. transfer any of those powers and duties to the Government and Parliament of Ireland, and, in the event of all such powers and duties being so transferred, the Parliaments and Governments of Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland shall cease to exist.

Legislative Powers.

4.—(1.) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Parliament of Southern Ireland and the Parliament of Northern Ireland shall respectively have power to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland with the following limitations, namely, that they shall not have power to make laws except in respect of matters exclusively relating to the portion of Ireland within their jurisdiction, or some part thereof, and (without prejudice to that general limitation) that they shall not have power to make laws in respect of the following matters in particular, namely:-

(i.) The Crown or the succession to the Crown, or a regency, or the property of the Crown (including foreshore vested in the Crown), or the Lord Lieutenant, except as

respects the exercise of his executive power in relation to Irish services as defined for the purposes of this Act; or

(ii.) The making of peace or war, or matters arising from a state of war; or the regulation of the conduct of any portion of His Majesty's subjects during the existence of hostilities between foreign States with which His Majesty is at peace, in relation to those hostilities; or

(iii.) The navy, the army, the air force, the territorial force, or any other naval, military, or air force, or the defence of the realm, or any other naval, military, or air force matter (including any pensions and allowances payable to persons who have been members of or in respect of service in any such force or their widows or dependants, and provision for the training, education, employment and assistance for the reinstatement in civil life of persons who have ceased to be members of any such force); or

(iv.) Treaties, or any relations with foreign States, or relations with other parts of His Majesty's dominions, or matters involving the contravention of treaties or agreements with foreign States or any part of His Majesty's dominions, or offences connected with any such treaties or relations, or procedure connected with the extradition of criminals under any treaty, or the return of fugitive offenders from or to any part of His Majesty's dominions; or

(v.) Dignities or titles of honour; or

(vi.) Treason, treason felony, alienage, naturalisation, or aliens as such, or domicile; or

(vii.) Trade with any place out of the part of Ireland within their jurisdiction, except so far as trade may be affected by the exercise of the powers of taxation given to the said Parliaments, or by regulations made for the sole purpose of preventing contagious disease, or by steps taken by means of enquiries or agencies out of the part of Ireland within their jurisdiction for the improvement of the trade of that part or for the protection of traders of that part from fraud; the granting of bounties on the export of goods; quarantine; navigation, including merchant shipping (except as respects inland waters, the regulation of harbours, and local health regulations); or

(viii.) Submarine cables; or

(ix.) Wireless telegraphy; or

(x.) Aerial navigation; or

(xi.) Lighthouses, buoys, or beacons (except so far as they can consistently with any general Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom be constructed or maintained by a local harbour authority); or

(xii.) Coinage; legal tender; negotiable instruments (including bank-notes) except so far as negotiable instruments may be affected by the exercise of the powers of taxation

given to the said Parliaments; or any change in the standard of weights and measures; or

(xiii.) Trade-marks, designs, merchandise marks, copyright, or patent rights; or

(xiv.) Any matter which by this Act is declared to be a reserved matter, so long as it remains reserved.

Any law made in contravention of the limitations imposed by this section shall, so far as it contravenes those limitations, be void.

(2.) The limitation on the powers of the said Parliaments to the making of laws with respect to matters exclusively relating to the portion of Ireland within their respective jurisdictions shall not be construed so as to prevent the said Parliaments by identical legislation making laws respecting matters affecting both Southern and Northern Ireland.

5.--(1.) In the exercise of their power to make laws under this Act neither the Parliament of Southern Ireland nor the Parliament of Northern Ireland shall make a law so as either directly or indirectly to establish or endow any religion, or prohibit or restrict the free exercise thereof, or give a preference, privilege, or advantage, or impose any disability or disadvantage, on account of religious belief or religious or ecclesiastical status, or make any religious belief or religious ceremony a condition of the validity of any marriage, or affect prejudicially the right of any child to attend a school receiving public money without attending the religious instruction at that school, or alter the constitution of any religious body except where the alteration is approved on behalf of the religious body by the governing body thereof, or divert from any religious denomination the fabric of cathedral churches, or, except for the purpose of roads, railways, lighting, water, or drainage works, or other works of public utility upon payment of compensation, any other property, or take any property without compensation.

Any law made in contravention of the restrictions imposed by this sub-section shall, so far as it contravenes those restrictions, be void.

(2.) Any existing enactment by which any penalty, disadvantage, or disability is imposed on account of religious belief or on a member of any religious order as such shall, as from the appointed day, cease to have effect in Ireland.

6. (1.) Neither the Parliament of Southern Ireland nor the Parliament of Northern Ireland shall have power to repeal or alter any provision of this Act (except as is specially provided by this Act), or of any Act passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom after the appointed day and extending to the part of Ireland within their jurisdiction, although that provision deals with a matter with respect to which the Parliament has power to make laws.

(2.) Where any Act of the Parliament of Southern Ireland or the Parliament of Northern Ireland deals with any matter with respect to which that Parliament has power to make laws which is dealt with by any Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed after the appointed day and extending to the part of Ireland within its jurisdiction, the Act of the Parliament of Southern Ireland or the Parliament of Northern Ireland shall be read subject to the Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and so far as it is repugnant to that Act, but no further, shall be void.

(3.) Any order, rule or regulation made in pursuance of, or having the force of, an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom shall be deemed to be a provision of an Act within the meaning of this section.

7.-(1.) The Council of Ireland shall have power to make orders with respect to matters affecting interests both in Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland, in any case where the matter

(a.) Is of such a nature that if it had affected interests in one of those areas only it would have been within the powers of the Parliament for that area; and

(b.) Is a matter to effect which, it would, apart from this provision, have been necessary to apply to the Parliament of the United Kingdom by petition for leave to bring in a Private Bill.

(2.) The provisions contained in the First Schedule to this Act shall have effect with respect to the procedure for making such orders.

(3.) Any order so made by the Council of Ireland under this section shall be presented to the Lord Lieutenant for His Majesty's assent, in like manner as a Bill passed by the Senate and House of Commons of Southern Ireland or Northern Ireland, and, on such assent being given, the order shall have effect in Southern and Northern Ireland respectively, as if enacted by the Parliament of Southern Ireland or Northern Ireland, as the case may be.

Executive Authority.

8.-(1.) The executive power in Southern Ireland and in Northern Ireland shall continue vested in His Majesty the King, and nothing in this Act shall affect the exercise of that power, except as respects Irish services as defined for the purposes of this Act.

(2.) As respects Irish services, the Lord Lieutenant or other chief executive officer or officers for the time being appointed in his place, on behalf of His Majesty, shall exercise any prerogative or other executive power of His