Government of the 2nd Dáil

3rd Ministry

The 3rd Ministry was the Ministry of the Irish Republic that held office from 26 August 1921 – 9 January 1922. It was the appointed soon after the election of the Second Dáil on 24 May 1921.

Contrary to the practice during the first two ministries, when de Valera was re-elected as head of government in 1922 he assumed the title of 'President of the Republic', and therefore explicitly became the republic's head of state, rather than its prime minister. In imitation of the practice in the presidential systems of other nations, the cabinet members of the 3rd Ministry were styled as 'secretaries of state' rather than 'ministers'.

In January 1922 the Anglo-Irish Treaty was ratified and some members, including Éamon de Valera, resigned from the cabinet in protest and were not re-elected.

4th Ministry

The 4th Ministry was the Ministry of the Irish Republic that held office from 10 January – 9 September 1922. Following the ratification of the Anglo-Irish Treaty on 7 January 1922, Éamon de Valera resigned in protest and the 3rd Ministry fell. The 4th Ministry, headed by Arthur Griffith, and composed solely of members of the pro-Treaty faction of Sinn Féin, was elected the following day. Six non-cabinet ministers were appointed on 11 January.

Under the terms of the Treaty another cabinet, the Provisional Government, was also established just six days later, under the chairmanship of Michael Collins. The 4th Ministry therefore held office in parallel with the 1st Provisional Government. In August Griffith died of natural causes and Collins was killed in action, however the remaining members of the Ministry remained in office until, on 9 September, the Third Dáil elected a new Ministry under W. T. Cosgrave. Cosgrave took this opportunity to merge the Ministry and the Provisional Government into a single administration, the 2nd Provisional Government. Henceforth the country was governed by only one cabinet.

1st Provisional Government

The 1st Provisional Government was the Provisional Government that held office from 16 January – 30 August 1922. The Provisional Government was established under the terms of the Anglo-Irish Treaty as an interim administration that would govern Ireland (not including Northern Ireland) until the establishment of the Irish Free State in December. Its members were nominated at a meeting of "the members elected to sit in the House of Commons of Southern Ireland" (pro-Treaty Sinn Féin and four unionist members), on 14 January, and they took up office two days later. The British government formally transferred power to the cabinet on 1 April. Headed by Michael Collins as Chairman, its membership consisted solely of partisans of the pro-Treaty wing of Sinn Féin.

At the time the Provisional Government was established there was a pre-existing administration, in the form of the 4th Ministry of the Irish Republic but that cabinet was not recognised by the British government. The 4th Ministry came to office on 10 January, just six days before the Provisional Government, but continued in office after the latter's establishment. Thus, until September there were two parallel administrations, with an overlapping membership.

After the Civil War began on 29 June four members of the cabinet were seconded for military service and substitutes were appointed to temporarily take their places as acting ministers. Two new members, Michael Hayes and Ernest Blythe, began serving as acting ministers on 17 July and were added to the cabinet as permanent members on 27 July. Collins was killed in action on 22 August and so the cabinet met and elected Cosgrave as chairman on 25 August. Five days later the entire cabinet was reconstituted as the 2nd Provisional Government. After that date, the newly constituted Provisional Government appointed by that Dáil continued in being as the sole Government, until superseded on 6 December 1922, by the formation of the 1st Executive Council of the Irish Free State.