Executive Council of the Irish Free State

For formal and diplomatic purposes, the description "His Majesty's Government in the Irish Free State" was sometimes used.

In practice this meant that, as in Canada, the Governor-General was in most cases required to act on the advice of the Executive Council.

The remaining cabinet ministers were also nominated by the President but had to be approved by a vote of consent in the Dáil.

If the Executive Council ceased to "retain the support of a majority in Dáil Éireann" the entire cabinet was obliged to resign en masse, however they were permitted to remain in office as acting ministers until the appointment of successors.

The fact that an Executive Council that had lost the confidence of the Dáil could not request a dissolution created the possibility of a political stalemate.

Unlike the equivalent position since 1937 of Taoiseach, the President of the Executive Council did not have authority to advise the Governor-General to dismiss ministers.

This meant that the position of the President was weaker than that of most modern prime ministers, and he was the council's chairman as much as he was its leader.

The Executive Council itself was replaced in 1937 by a new cabinet, called simply the Government, established under the new Constitution of Ireland.

Executive Council of the Irish Free State pictured in 1928.
W.T. Cosgrave , first head of the Government in the Irish Free State (standing, far-right), representing the Irish Free State at the 1926 Imperial Conference in London, along with King George V and the Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom, Canada, Newfoundland , Australia, New Zealand and South Africa .