Irish Head of State From 1936 To 1949 - Republic of Ireland Act

Republic of Ireland Act

The Republic of Ireland Act, 1948, which came into force on 18 April 1949, was remarkable in that it purported to reform the state into a republic without making any change to the Constitution, the ambiguous provisions of which remained unaltered. The Republic of Ireland Act contained three major provisions; it declared that:

• The External Relations Act was repealed.
• The state was a republic.
• The external relations of the state would henceforth be exercised by the president.

The Act also had the effect of automatically terminating the state's membership of the Commonwealth. The fact that he was now clearly and unambiguously the Irish head of state was celebrated by President Seán T. O'Kelly by visits to the Holy See and France. A visit to meet George VI in Buckingham Palace was also provisionally planned, but timetabling problems with the President's schedule prevented the meeting.

In 1953 the title of the monarch within the United Kingdom and its dependent territories was changed from " of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas..." to " of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories...".