The Government of Ireland Act 1920 (10 & 11 Geo. 5 c. 67) was an Act passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom which provided for parliamentary constituencies in the House of Commons of Northern Ireland and the House of Commons of Southern Ireland. Sinn Féin used these constituencies to elect the Second Dáil (1921–22) and the Southern Ireland ones to elect the Third Dáil (1922–23).
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Irish Republic (1921–22)
Sinn Féin decided to use these constituencies (in both parts of Ireland), for the purposes of the revolutionary Dáil Éireann. The 1921 elections were used to elect the Second Dáil. These seats replaced the Parliament of the United Kingdom constituencies provided for by the Redistribution of Seats (Ireland) Act 1918 (7 & 8Geo. 5 c. 65). These had been used as Dáil constituencies for the First Dáil.
The number of seats was increased from 105 to 180 (52 in Northern Ireland and 128 in Southern Ireland, subsequently the Irish Free State).
Unsurprisingly only Sinn Féin Deputies took up the opportunity to sit in the Second Dáil. The Ulster Unionist and Irish Nationalist MPs from Northern Ireland and the four Independent Unionist MPs representing Dublin University stayed away.
Southern Ireland (1921–22)
Only the Dublin University MPs attended for the intended first meeting of the House of Commons of Southern Ireland. The institution was however used to give legal effect to the Anglo-Irish Treaty, before the devolved Parliament was dissolved to be replaced by the constituent assembly of the Irish Free State (better known as the Third Dáil).
Northern Ireland (1921–29)
The Northern Ireland constituencies were used for the House of Commons of Northern Ireland, from 1921 until 1929. The Parliament of Northern Ireland then established new constituencies under the House of Commons (Method of Voting and Redistribution of Seats) Act (Northern Ireland) 1929.
Irish Free State (1922–23)
The Third Dáil redistributed constituencies in the Irish Free State (formerly Southern Ireland) by enacting the Electoral Act 1923 (No. 12/1923). The new constituencies were used for the election of the 4th Dáil in 1923.
List of constituencies
The Government of Ireland Act 1920 provided that Southern Ireland would continue to return 33 members to the United Kingdom House of Commons at Westminster, while Northern Ireland would return 13. Each six, seven and eight member constituency for the Southern Ireland House of Commons would also constitute a two-member constituency for the Imperial Parliament (except for Donegal, which would return only one member), while every three, four and five member constituency would constitute a one-member constituency for Westminster (except for Dublin University, which was to retain two members).
The existing 101 Irish constituencies for the Imperial Parliament were abolished, although the new constituencies were based on them.