Government of Ireland Act 1920 (Parliamentary and Dáil constituencies)

The Act provided for 52 MPs from 11 constituencies for elections to the House of Commons of Northern Ireland. These constituencies were in place from 1921 until 1929, when they were replaced with single-member constituencies elected by first past the post under the House of Commons (Method of Voting and Redistribution of Seats) Act (Northern Ireland) 1929.

The Act provided for 128 MPs elected from 28 constituencies for the House of Commons of Southern Ireland. Only the Dublin University MPs attended for the intended first meeting of the House of Commons of Southern Ireland, with those elected for Sinn Féin sitting as TDs in Dáil Éireann (see below). The members elected for Southern Ireland did meet to give legal effect to the Anglo-Irish Treaty.

The Government of Ireland Act reduced the representation from Ireland in the United Kingdom House of Commons from 105 to 46. Of these, 33 were to be elected from constituencies in Southern Ireland and 13 from constituencies in Northern Ireland. Each six-, seven- and eight-member constituency would also be a two-member constituency for the Westminster (except for Donegal, which would return only one MP), while every three-, four- and five-member constituency would be a one-member constituency for Westminster (except for Dublin University, which would continue to elect two MPs). As the Irish Free State was due to be established on 6 December 1922, just after 1922 general election, the representation at Westminster under this Act only took effect in Northern Ireland.

The First Dáil had used the constituencies which elected MPs to the House of Commons at the 1918 general election. In May 1921, Dáil Éireann resolved to use the constituencies in the Government of Ireland Act 1920 (in both parts of Ireland).[1] The 1921 elections were used to elect the Second Dáil. This increased the total number of seats in the Dáil from 105 in 1918 to 180 in 1921 (52 in Northern Ireland and 128 in Southern Ireland, subsequently the Irish Free State). Only representatives from Sinn Féin sat in the Dáil.[2]

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 to elect the members of the 4th Dáil at the 1923 general election.

• List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies in Ireland and Northern Ireland
• Historic Dáil constituencies
• Northern Ireland Parliament constituencies

• Text of the Act as originally enacted in 1920, from the Office of Public Sector Information
• Northern Ireland Parliamentary Election Results 1921–1972, compiled and edited by Sydney Elliott (Political Reference Publications 1973)

• http://www.election.demon.co.uk/stormont/boundaries.html