Law

Government of Ireland Act 1920 (repealed 2.12.1999)

United Kingdom · statute

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In force since 1999-12-02, as the publisher states.

Copy read on 2026-11-09. The page it was read from

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.

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Contents: 64 provisions
  1. Title and introductory text
  2. 1 † Establishment of Parliaments of Southern and Northern Ireland.
  3. 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  4. 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  5. 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  6. 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  7. 8 † Executive powers.
  8. 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  9. 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  10. 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  11. 20 † Establishment of Southern and Northern Ireland Exchequer.
  12. 21 † Powers of taxation.
  13. 22 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  14. 25 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  15. 26 Provisions as to land purchase annuities.
  16. 27 Existing public loans.
  17. 28 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  18. 29 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  19. 30 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  20. 31 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  21. 33 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  22. 34 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  23. 35 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  24. 37 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  25. 38 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  26. 39 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  27. 40 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  28. 41 Application of existing enactments and rules.
  29. 42 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  30. 44 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  31. 45 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  32. 46 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  33. 47 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  34. 48 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  35. 49 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  36. 50 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  37. 51 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  38. 52 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  39. 53 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  40. 54 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  41. 56 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  42. 57 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  43. 60 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  44. 61 Continuation of existing laws, institutions, &c.
  45. 62 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  46. 64
  47. 65 Special provisions as to Freemasons.
  48. 66 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  49. 67 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  50. 68 † Provisions as to certain officers of local authorities, universities or colleges.
  51. 69 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  52. 71 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  53. 72 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  54. 73 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  55. 74 Definitions.
  56. 75 Saving for supreme authority of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
  57. 76 † Short title and repeal.
  58. FIRST SCHEDULE
  59. SECOND SCHEDULE
  60. THIRD TO FIFTH SCHEDULES
  61. SIXTH SCHEDULE
  62. SEVENTH SCHEDULE
  63. EIGHTH SCHEDULE
  64. NINTH SCHEDULE

Proposed changes to this act

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64 provisions

Title and introductory text

Government of Ireland Act 1920 (repealed 2.12.1999) 1920 c.67

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1 † Establishment of Parliaments of Southern and Northern Ireland.

(1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (2) For the purposes of this Act, Northern Ireland shall consist of the parliamentary counties of Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry and Tyrone, and the parliamentary boroughs of Belfast and Londonderry.

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8 † Executive powers.

(1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (7) The seats of the Goverments of Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland shall be at Dublin and Belfast, respectively, or such places as the Parliaments of Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland may respectively determine. (8) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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20 † Establishment of Southern and Northern Ireland Exchequer.

(1)(2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (3) Save as may be otherwise provided by Act of the Parliament of Northern Ireland, the existing law relating to the Exchequer and Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom shall apply with the necessary modifications to the Exchequer and Consolidated Fund of Northern Ireland . . . (4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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21 † Powers of taxation.

(1)—(3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (4) Any articles which are brought into Great Britain or the Isle of Man from Ireland, or into Ireland from Great Britain or the Isle of Man, shall be deemed to be articles exported or imported for the purposes of the forms to be used, and the information to be furnished under the Customs Consolidation Act 1876 or any Act amending that Act, but for not any other purpose. (5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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26 Provisions as to land purchase annuities.

(1) Purchase annuities payable in respect of land situate in Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland respectively, including any arrears thereof due or accruing due on the appointed day, shall be collected by the Governments of Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland, and the amounts so collected shall be paid into their respective Exchequers, but nothing in this Act shall confer on either such Government any powers with respect to the redemption of purchase annuities. (2) In each year a sum equal to the amount payable in that year in respect of purchase annuities shall be paid into the Irish Land Purchase fund or account, or other appropriate fund or account, out of moneys provided by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. (3) Where after the appointed day an existing purchase annuity is redeemed, a sum equal to the annuity shall be paid out of moneys provided by the Parliament of the United Kingdom to the Exchequer of Northern Ireland, in each year so long as the purchase annuity would, if not redeemed, have continued to be payable. (4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (5) For the purposes of this Act— the expression “purchase annuities," . . . , includes annuities for the repayment of advances made under any of the Land Purchase Acts prior to the Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act 1891, and annuities for the repayment of advances made under the Labourers (Ireland) Act 1906 or under any other Act relating to land purchase in Ireland; the expression “existing purchase annuity” means a purchase annuity payable in respect of an advance made in pursuance of a purchase agreement entered into, or, in the case of a purchase annuity payable under the Labourers (Ireland) Act 1906 in pursuance of a scheme approved before the passing of this Act; the expression “new purchase annuity” means a purchase annuity payable in respect of an advance made in pursuance of a purchase agreement entered into or, in the case of a purchase annuity payable under the Labourers (Ireland) Act 1906 in pursuance of a scheme approved, after the passing of this Act.

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27 Existing public loans.

(1) The power of collecting and enforcing the payment of sums due on account of loans made before the appointed day to authorities and persons in Southern Ireland or Northern Ireland out of the local loans fund, the development fund, the road improvement fund or other similar public fund, shall be transferred to the Governments of Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland respectively, and the amounts so collected by them shall be paid into their respective Exchequers: Provided that this section shall not apply to advances out of the local loans fund for the purposes of the enactments relating to land purchase in Ireland. (2) A sum equal to the amount due in respect of such loans shall in each year be paid into the appropriate fund out of moneys provided by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and shall, subject to the deduction of such sum as the Joint Exchequer Board think just to cover such loss as may be anticipated to result from payments on account of any such loans proving to be irrecoverable, be made good by deductions from the Northern Ireland residuary share of reserved taxes in accordance with regulations made by the Treasury.

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41 Application of existing enactments and rules.

(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act and any modifications or adaptations made by Irish Transfer Orders under this Act, all enactments relating to the Supreme Court of Judicature in Ireland and the judges and officers thereof shall apply to the Supreme Court of Judicature in Northern Ireland and the judges and officers thereof, as they apply to the Supreme Court of Judicature in Ireland and the judges and officers thereof, and as if for references to the High Court of Justice in Ireland there were substituted references to the High Court of Justice in Northern Ireland and as if for references to the Court of Appeal in Ireland there were substituted references to the Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland. . . . (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (3)(4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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