8.--(1) The Irish Senate shall consist of forty senators nominated as respects the first senators by the Lord Lieutenant subject to any instructions given by His Majesty in respect of the nomination, and afterwards by the Lord Lieutenant on the advice of the Executive Committee.

(2) The term of office of every senator shall be eight years, and shall not be affected by a dissolution; one fourth of the senators shall retire in every second year, and their seats shall be filled by a new nomination.

(3) If the place of a senator becomes vacant before the expiration of his term of office, the Lord Lieutenant shall, unless the place becomes vacant not more than six months before the expiration of that term of office, nominate a senator in the stead of the senator whose place is vacant, but any senator so nominated to fill a vacancy shall hold office only so long as the senator in whose stead he is nominated would have held office.

[Sidenote: Composition of Irish House of Commons.]

9.--(1) The Irish House of Commons shall consist of one hundred and sixty-four members, returned by the const.i.tuencies in Ireland named in the First Part of the First Schedule to this Act in accordance with that Schedule, and elected by the same electors and in the same manner as members returned by const.i.tuencies in Ireland to serve in the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

(2) The Irish House of Commons when summoned shall, unless sooner dissolved, have continuance for five years from the day on which the summons directs the House to meet and no longer.

(3) After _three years from the pa.s.sing of this Act_, the Irish Parliament may alter, as respects the Irish House of Commons, the qualification of the electors, the mode of election, the const.i.tuencies, and the distribution of the members of the House among the const.i.tuencies, provided that in any new distribution the number of the members of the House shall not be altered, and due regard shall be had to the population of the const.i.tuencies other than University const.i.tuencies.

[Sidenote: Money Bills.]

10.--(1) Bills appropriating revenue or money, or imposing taxation, shall originate only in the Irish House of Commons, but a Bill shall not be taken to appropriate revenue or money, or to impose taxation by reason only of its containing provisions for the imposition or appropriation of fines or other pecuniary penalties, or for the payment or appropriation of fees for licences or fees for services under the Bill.

(2) The Irish House of Commons shall not adopt or pa.s.s any resolution, address, or Bill for the appropriation for any purpose of any part of the public revenue of Ireland or of any tax, except in pursuance of a recommendation from the Lord Lieutenant in the session in which the vote, resolution, address, or Bill is proposed.

(3) The Irish Senate may not reject any Bill which deals only with the imposition of taxation or appropriation of revenue or money for the services of the Irish Government, and may not amend any Bill so far as the Bill imposes taxation or appropriates revenue or money for the services of the Irish Government, and the Irish Senate may not amend any Bill so as to increase any proposed charges or burden on the people.

(4) Any Bill which appropriates revenue or money for the ordinary annual services of the Irish Government shall deal only with that appropriation.

[Sidenote: Disagreement between two Houses of Irish Parliament.]

11.--(1) If the Irish House of Commons pa.s.s any Bill and the Irish Senate reject or fail to pa.s.s it, or pa.s.s it with amendments to which the Irish House of Commons will not agree, and if the Irish House of Commons in the next session again pa.s.s the Bill with or without any amendments which have been made or agreed to by the Irish Senate, and the Irish Senate reject or fail to pa.s.s it, or pa.s.s it with amendments to which the Irish House of Commons will not agree, the Lord Lieutenant may during that session convene a joint sitting of the members of the two Houses.

(2) The members present at any such joint sitting may deliberate and shall vote together upon the Bill as last proposed by the Irish House of Commons, and upon the amendments (if any) which have been made therein by the one House and not agreed to by the other; and any such amendments which are affirmed by a majority of the total number of members of the two Houses present at the sitting shall be taken to have been carried.

(3) If the Bill with the amendments (if any) so taken to have been carried is affirmed by a majority of the total number of members of the two Houses present at any such sitting, it shall be taken to have been duly pa.s.sed by both Houses.

[Sidenote: Privileges, qualifications, &c. of members of Irish Parliament.]

12.--(1) The powers, privileges, and immunities of the Irish Senate and of the Irish House of Commons, and of the members and of the committees of the Irish Senate and the Irish House of Commons, shall be such as may be defined by Irish Act, but so that they shall never exceed those for the time being held and enjoyed by the Commons House of Parliament of the United Kingdom and its members and committees, and, until so defined, shall be those held and enjoyed by the Commons House of Parliament of the United Kingdom, and its members and committees at the date of _the pa.s.sing of this Act_.

(2) The law, as for the time being in force, relating to the qualification and disqualification of members of the Commons House of Parliament of the United Kingdom, and the taking of any oath required to be taken by a member of that House, shall apply to members of the Irish House of Commons.

(3) Any peer, whether of the United Kingdom, Great Britain, England, Scotland, or Ireland, shall be qualified to be a member of either House.

(4) A member of either House shall be incapable of being nominated or elected, or of sitting, as a member of the other House, but an Irish Minister who is a member of either House shall have the right to sit and speak in both Houses, but shall vote only in the House of which he is a member.

(5) A member of either House may resign his seat by giving notice of resignation to the person and in the manner directed by standing orders of the House, or if there is no such direction, by notice in writing of resignation sent to the Lord Lieutenant, and his seat shall become vacant on notice of resignation being given.

(6) The powers of either House shall not be affected by any vacancy therein, or by any defect in the nomination, election, or qualification, of any member thereof.

(7) His Majesty may by Order in Council declare that the holders of the offices in the Irish Executive named in the Order shall not be disqualified for being members of either House of the Irish Parliament by reason of holding office under the Crown, and except as otherwise provided by Irish Act, the Order shall have effect as if it were enacted in this Act, but on acceptance of any such office the seat of any such person in the Irish House of Commons shall be vacated unless he has accepted the office in succession to some other of the said offices.

_Irish Representation in the House of Commons._

[Sidenote: Representation of Ireland in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.]

13. Unless and until the Parliament of the United Kingdom otherwise determine, the following provisions shall have effect:--

(1) After the appointed day the number of members returned by const.i.tuencies in Ireland to serve in the Parliament of the United Kingdom shall be forty-two and the const.i.tuencies returning those members shall (in lieu of the existing const.i.tuencies) be the const.i.tuencies named in the second Part of the First Schedule to this Act, and no University in Ireland shall return a member to the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

(2) The election laws and the laws relating to the qualification of parliamentary electors shall not, so far as they relate to elections of members returned by const.i.tuencies in Ireland to serve in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, be altered by the Irish Parliament, but this enactment shall not prevent the Irish Parliament from dealing with any officers concerned with the issue of writs of election, and if any officers are so dealt with, it shall be lawful for His Majesty by Order in Council to arrange for the issue of any such writs, and the writs issued in pursuance of the Order shall be of the same effect as if issued in manner heretofore accustomed.

So far for the const.i.tutional clauses. The clauses from 14 to 26 are occupied with finance. They are so technical that it will be more convenient to subst.i.tute the terms of the very clear Memorandum issued by the Government:--

OUTLINE OF FINANCIAL PROVISIONS.

_Present Irish Revenue and Expenditure._

It is estimated that the revenue to be derived from Ireland in the year 1912-13 will be as follows:--

Customs 3,230,000 Excise 3,320,000 Income tax 1,512,000 Estate duties 939,000 Stamps 347,000 Miscellaneous 137,000 Post Office 1,354,000 ----------- Total 10,839,000 -----------

It is estimated that the expenditure for Irish purposes in the year 1912-13 will amount to 12,354,000. The expenditure may be divided for the purposes of this Memorandum as follows:--

All purposes not separately specified 5,462,000 Post Office 1,600,000 Old Age Pensions 2,664,000 Charges under the Land Purchase Acts 761,000 National Insurance and Labour Exchanges 191,500 Royal Irish Constabulary 1,377,500 Collection of revenue 298,000 ---------- Total 12,354,000 ----------

The expenditure therefore exceeds the revenue by 1,515,000.

It is antic.i.p.ated that in a period of ten or fifteen years the charges under the existing Land Purchase Acts will increase by 450,000, and under the National Insurance Act by 300,000. On the other hand, it is estimated that within twenty years the cost of Old Age Pensions will decrease by 200,000.

_Charges upon the Irish Exchequer._

The Bill provides for the establishment of an Irish Exchequer and an Irish Consolidated Fund.

From the Irish Exchequer will be defrayed the whole of the present and future cost of Irish government, with the exception of the expenditure on certain services, termed in the Bill Reserved Services.

_Charges upon the Imperial Exchequer._

The Imperial Government will retain the control, and the Imperial Exchequer will continue to bear the cost, of the Reserved Services, namely, Old Age Pensions, National Insurance, Labour Exchanges, Land Purchase, and Collection of Taxes. For a period of six years the Royal Irish Constabulary will also be one of the Reserved Services.

There are provisions for the transfer to the Irish Government of certain of the Reserved Services under the conditions stated below.

_Revenue of the Irish Exchequer._