Uuless 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 constituencies in Ireland to serve in the Parliament of
the United Kingdom shall be forty-two and the constituen-
cies returning those members shall (in lieu of the existing
constituencies) be the constituencies 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. à
(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 constituencies 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.
Finance
Irish revenue and expenditure
44. — (1) There shall be an Irish Exchequer and an Irish Consolidated Fund separate from those of the United Kingdom.
(2) The proceeds of all taxes levied in Ireland, whether under the authority of the Parliament of the United Kingdom or of the Irish Parliament, shall be paid into the Exchequer of the United Kingdom, but subject as herein-after provided, there shall be charged on and paid out of the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom or the growing produce thereof in each year to the Irish Exchequer a sum (in this Act referred to as ‘ the Transferred Sum”) consisting Of—
(a) such sum as may be determined by the Joint Exchequer Board established under this Act (herein-after referred to as the Joint Exchequer Board) to represent the net cost to the Exchequer of the United Kingdom at the time of the passing of this Act of Irish services ; and
(b) a sum of five hundred thousand pounds, diminishing in each year after the third year of payment by the sum of fifty thousand pounds until it is reduced to the sum of two hundred thousand pounds ; and
(c} a sum equal to the proceeds as determined by the Joint Exchequer Board of any Irish taxes imposed in Ireland by the Irish Parliamentunder the powers given to them by this Act.
(3) Provision shall be made by the Irish Parliament for the cost
of Irish services within the meaning ofthis Act, and any charge on the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom for those services, including any charge for the benefit of the Local Taxation (Ireland) Account, or any grant or contribution out of moneys provided by the Parliament of the United Kingdom so far as made for those services shall cease, and money for loans in Ireland shall cease to be advanced either by the Public Works Loans Commissioners or out of the Local Loans Fund.
Powers of Irish Parliament with respect to taxation 45. — (1) The Irish Parliament shall have power to vary (either by way of addition, reduction, or discontinuance) any Imperial tax so far as respects the Levy of that tax in Ireland, and to impose in Ireland any independent tax not being in the opinion of the Joint Exchequer Board substantially the same in character as an Imperial tax, subject to the following limitations : —
(a) The Irish Parliament shall not have power to impose or charge a Customs duty, whether an import or an export duty, on any article unless that articlé is for the time being liable to a Customs duty levied as an Imperial tax ; and
(b) The benefit to accrue to the Irish Exchequer from any addition to any Customs duty levied as an Imperial tax (other than a Customs duty on beer or spirits), or to any duty of income tax so levied, or to any death duty so levied, shall be limited as in this Act provided ; and
(c) The power of the Irish Parliament to vaiy an Imperial tax shall not be exercised with respect to the stamp duties mentioned in the Second Schedule to this Act; and
(d) The Irish Parliament shall not, in the exercise of their powers of taxation under this provision, make any variation of Customs or Excise duties the effect or which will be to cause the Customs duty on an article of a class produced, prepared, or manufactured in
nds to exceed the Excise duty by more than an amount reasonably sufficient to cover any expenses due to Excise restrictions ; and the Powers of the Irish Parliament to make laws includes a power to make laws for the purpose of giving effect to their powers of taxation under this provision.
(2) For the purposes of this Act — (a) The expression ‘* Imperial tax ?” means any tax charged for the time being in Ireland under the authority of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and includes a tax which has been discontinued under the powers given by this section to the Irish Parliament, but which would have been so charged but for the discontinuance ;
(b) The expression ‘ Irish tax ” means any tax charged under the authority of the Irish Parliament either by way of an addition to an Imperial tax or as an inde-
pendent tax.
Relations betwen Great Britain and Ireland as respects Customs
and Excise duties
46. — (1) Any articles which are brought into Great Britain from Ireland or into Ireland from Great Britain shall be deemed to be articles exported or imported for the purposes of information to be furnished under the Customs Consolidation Act, 1876; and section four of the Revenue Act, 1909, and for the purpose of any duty or drawbach payable in the circumstances for which provision is made under this section, but not for any other purpose.
(2) Where a Customs duty is levied in one country and not in the other, or is levied in both countries but at a higher rate in tbe one country than in the other, duty shall be charged and drawbach allowed in respect of articles being articles produced, prepared; or manufactured abroad as follows : —
(a) The Customs duty shall be charged on any such articles brought into the one country from the other country
ds —
as if they were articles imported from abroad, except that in the case of articles produced abroad but manufactured or prepared in the country from which they are sent, the Customs duty charged shall, if the drawback which would be allowed on the exportation of similar articles from the country into which the articles are brought is less than the duty payable on importation, be a duty equal to the drawback ; and
(b) À drawback shall be allowed on any such articles sent from the one country into the other equal to the drawback which would be allowed upon the exportation of the articles from the country from which they are sent.
(3) Where an Excise duty is levied in one country and not in the other, or is levied in both countries butat a higher rate in the one country than in the other, duty shall be charged and drawback allowed in respect of articles being articles produced, prepared, or manufactured in either country as follows : —
(a) À Customs duty shall be charged on any such articles brought into the one country from the other country as if they were articles imported from abroad, equal to the amount of the Excise duty levied in the country into which they are brought ; and
(b) À drawback shall be allowed on any such articles sent from the one country into the other equal to the amount ot the Excise duty levied in the country from which they are sent.
(4) The proceeds of any Customs duty charged under this section in Ireland on any article shall to the extent to which they exceed the proceeds of the Customs or Excise duty which would have been charged on the article in Great Britain be deemed to be the proceeds of a Customs duty levied as an Irish tax, if the duty is charged in respect of a difference of Customs duties, and be deemed to be the proceeds of an Excise duty levies as an Irish tax if the duty is charged in respect of a diflerence of Excise duties,
and as to the balance be deemed to be the proceeds of an Imperial tax. | (s) Nothing in this section shall affect any enactment under which articles deposited in a bonded warehouse without payment of duty may be transferred from one country to the other
country.
Supplemental provisions as to Transferred Sum and Irish revenue
47. — (1) The Transferred Sum shall be paid to the Irish Exchequer at such times and in such manner and according to such regulations as the Joint Exchequer Board may direct.
(2) In the event of the reduction or discontinuance of any Imperial tax by the Irish Parliament, the Transferred Sum shall be reduced in each financial year by such sum as may be determined by the Joint Exchequer Board to represent the amount by which the proceeds of the tax are diminished in that year in consequence of the reduction or discontinuance.
(3) If in any financial year the proceeds of any Irish tax imposed as an addition to any Customs duty levied as an Imperial tax (other than a Customs duty on beer or spirits), or to any duty of Income Tax so levied, or to any death duty so levied, exceed onetenth of the proceeds in Ireland of that duty as levied as an Imperial tax for the same period, the amount of the excess shall not be treated for the purposes of this Act as part of the proceeds of the Irish tax, and the amount payable to the Irish Exchequer in respect of the proceeds of the Irish tax shall be reduced accordingly :
Provided that —
(a) For the purposes of this provision, the proceeds of any tax shall be deemed to be the proceeds as determined by the Joint Exchequer Board : and
(b) The foregoing provision shall not apply in cases where the excess is solely due to the reduction of the rate of the Imperial tax.
(4) When any reserved service is transferred from the Government of the United Kingdom to the Government of Ireland, the
Transferred Sum shall be increased by such sum as may be determised by the Joint Exchequer Board to represent the equivalent of any saving to the Exchequer of the United Kingdom by reason of the transfer, and in determining that equivalent regard shall be had to the prospectof any increase or decrease in the cost of that service which may be expected to arise from causes not being matters of administration.
The sum by which the Transferred Sum is to be increased in pursuance ot this provision may be fixed by the Joint Exchequer Board so as to vary during the first ten years after the transfer, but subject thereto shall be a definite sum.
Charge on Transferred Sum of sums charged on the Guarantee Fund
48, — The charge on the Guarantee Fund under the Irish Land Purchase Acts in respect ot— (1) sums which owing to the deficiency of the Irish Land Purchase Account, are paid out of the Consolidated Fund on account of the dividends and sinking fund payments of Irish guaranteed land stock under section one of the Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act, 1891 ; and (2) sums which, owing to the deficiency of the income of the Irish Land Purchase Fund, are paid out of the Consolidated Fund on account of the dividends on stock under section twenty-nine of the Irish Land Act, 1903 ; (3) arrears of annual payments under subsection (4) of section thirty-six of the Irish Land Act, 1903 ; Shall cease, and any such sums or arrears which would under the Irish Land Purchase Acts have been made good out of the Guarantee Fund, shall be made good by means of deductions from the Transferred Sum under this Act in accordance with regulations made by the Treasury.
Development fund and road improvement grant
49: — (1) Nothing in this Act shall affect the powers of the Development Commissioners or the Road Board with respect to
2 jagte
Ireland under the Development and Road Improvement Funds Act, 1909, and for the purposes of that Act any Irish department shall be deemed to be a Government department within the meaning of that Act.
(2) Sd long as a sum equal to the net proceeds of the duties on motor spirits and the net proceeds of the duties on licences for motor cars levied in Ireland is paid as part of the road improvement grant under section ninety of the Finance (1909-10) Act, 1910, the proceeds of those duties shall not be treated for the purposes of the financial provisions of this Act as the proceeds of an Imperial tax levied in Ireland.
Irish Church Fund
20.— (1) The Irish Church Temporalities Fund shall belong to the Irish Government and be managed, administered, and disposed of as directed by Irish Act :
Provided that all existing charges on that fund guaranteed by the Treasury shall, if and so far as not paid, be paid out of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom, and be made good by means of deductions from the Transferred Sum under this Act in accordance with regulations made by the Treasury.
(2) The Irish Church Temporalities Fund means the fund under the control of the Land Commission by virtue of the Irish Church Act Amendment Act, 188r.
Supplemental provisions as to Irish Exchequer and Consolidated Fund
21, — (1) All sums paid into the Irish Exchequer shall form a Consolidated Fund, and be appropriated to the public service of Ireland by Irish Act, and shall not be applied for any purpose for which they are not so appropriated.
(2) Save as may be otherwise provided by Irish Act, the existing law relating to the Exchequer and Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom. shall apply with the necessary modifications to the Irish Exchequer and the Irish Consolidated Fund, and an oficer shall be appointed by the Lord Lieutenant to be the Irish Comptroller and Auditor-General.
(3) Save as may be otherwise provided by Irish Act, the accounts of the Irish Consolidated Fund shall be audited as Appropriation Accounts, in manner provided by the Exchequer and Audit Departments Act, 1866, and any Act amending the same, by or under the direction of the Irish Comptroller and Auditor-Gene-
ral.
Joint Exchequer Board
22. — (1) For the purposes of the financial provisions of this Act there shall be established à Board to be called the Joint Exchequer Board, consisting of two members appointed by the Treasury and two members appointed by the Irish Treasury and a Chairman appointed by His Majesty.
(2) It shall be the duty of the Joint Exchequer Board to determine any matter which is to be determined by the Board under this Act, and also to determine any other matter in connexion with the the Transferred Sum, or Irish revenue or expenditure, or the cost of any reserved service, which may be referred to them for determination by the Treasury and the Irish Treasury jointly, and the decision of the Board on any matter, which is to be determined by them shall be final and conclusive.
(3) Any vacancy arising in the office of a member of the Board, owing to the death, resignation, or incapacity of any member of the Board, shall be filled by the authority by whom the member whose place is vacant was appointed.
Charge of Irish Government loans on Transferred Sum and management by Joint Exchequer Board
28. — (1) If provision is made by Irish Act for securing any loan raised by the Government of Ireland upon the Transferred Sum and for the payment of such part of the Transferred Sum as in the opinion of the Joint Exchequer Board may be required for the services of the loan in each year direct to that Board, the Board may undertake on behalf of the Irish Government the issue and management of the loan and the application of the money paid to them for the services of the loan.
(2) Where provision is so made for the payment of a part of the Transferred Sum to the Joint Exchequer Board in connexion with a loan the management of which is undertaken by the Board in accordance with this section, the Treasury shall cause the requisite part of the Transferred Sum to be paid to the Joint Exchequer Board instead of to the Irish Exchequer.
(3) The accounts of the Joint Exchequer Board in respect of any sums received by them under this section in connexion with any loan shall be audited in the same manner as the accounts of the Irish Consolidated Fund are for the time being audited.
(4) Any stock or securities issued in respect of any loan raised by the Irish Government shall be deemed to be included amongst the securities in which a trustee may invest under the powers of the Trustee Act, 1893.
Asceriainment of true Irish revenue
24. — In ascertaining for the purposes of this Act the proceeds in Ireland of any Imperial tax or of any Irish tax, the Joint Exchequer Board shall treat the proceeds collected in Ireland as the proceeds of the tax in Ireland, subject to such adjustments as the Board think equitable, with a view to attributing to Ireland any proceeds of taxes collected in Great Britain but properly attributable to Ireland, and to attributing to Great Britain any proceeds of taxes collected in Ireland but properly attributable to Great Britain, and with a view to meeting cases where the rate of a tax is, or other conditions affecting the charge of à tax are, different in Great Britain and Ireland.
Alteralion of taxes to be treated as increases or reductions of taxes as the case may be
25. — For the purposes of this Act the withdrawal in whole or in part of an exemption from a tax shall be treated as the imposition of an addition to or as the increase of a tax, and the grant or extension of an exemption from a tax shall be treated as a reduction of à tax, and any other alteration of the provisions with respect to any tax in consequence of which the proceeds of the tax
mit res
are increased or diminished shall be treated as an increase or reduction of the tax, as the case may be.
Revision of financial arrangements in cerlain events
26. — (1) If it appears to the Joint Exchequer Board that during any three successive years after the passing of this Act, the aggregate of the total proceeds of Imperial taxes levied in Ireland as determined by the Board, and the total proceeds of Irish taxes as so determined, together with any share in any miscellaneous revenue of the United Kingdom to which the Joint Exchequer Board may consider Ireland to be entitled, exceeded in each of those years the amount of the Transferred Sum, together with the cost of any services which are for the time being reserved services, the Board shall present a report to that effect to the Treasury and to the Lord Lieutenant, and the Treasury and the Lord Lieutenant shall cause a copy of the report to be laid before the Parliament of the United Kingdom and the Irish Parliament respectively.
(2) The presentation of such a report shall be taken to be a ground for the revision by the Parliament of the United Kingdom of the financial provisions of this Act, with a view to securing a proper contribution from Irish revenues towards the common expenditure of the United Kingdom and extending the powers of the Irish Parliament and the Irish Government with respect to the imposition and collection of taxes.
(3) For the purpose of revising the financial provisions of this Act in pursuance of this section, there shall be summoned to the Commons House of Parliament of the United Kingdom such number of members of the Irish House of Commons as will make the representation of Ireland in the Commons House of Parliament of the United Kingdom equivalent to the representation of Great Britain on the basis ot population ; and the members of the Irish House of Commons so summoned shall be deemed to be members of the Commons House of Parliament of the United Kingdom for the purpose of any such revision.
His Majesty may by Order in Council make such provision for
SC
so summoning the members of the Irish House of Commons as His Majesty may think necessary or proper, and any provisions contained in any such Order in Council shall have the same eflect as ifthey had been enacted in this Act.
Provisions as to Judicial Power Tenure of office by judges
CAE À judge of the Supreme Court or other superior court
in Ireland, or of any county court or other court with a like juris-
diction in Ireland, appointed after the passing of this Act, shall be appointed by the Lord Lieutenant, and shall hold his office by the same tenure as that by which the office is held at the time of the passing of this Act, with the substitution of an address from both Houses of the Irish Parliament for an address from both Houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and during his continuance in office his salary shall not be diminished or his right to pension altered without his consent.
Irish appeals
28. — (1) The appeal from courts in Ireland to the House of Lords shall cease ; and where any person would, but for this Act, have à right to appeal from any court in Ireland to the House of Lords, that person shall have the like right to appeal to His Majesty the King in Council ; and all enactments relating to appeals to His Majesty the King in Council, and to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, shall apply accordingly.
(2) When the Judicial Committee sit for hearing any appeal from a court in Ireland in pursuance of any provisions of this Act, there shall be present not less than four Lords of Appeal, within the meaning of the Appellate Jurisdiction Act, 1876, and at least one member who is or has been a judge of the Supreme Court in Ireland.
(3) A rota of privy councillors to sit for hearing appeals from courts in Ireland shall be made annually by His Majesty in Council, and the privy councillors, or some of them, on that rota shall sit to hear the said appeals. À casual vacancy occuring in the rota during the year may be filled by Order in Council.
(4) Nothing in this Act shall affect the jurisdiction of the House of Lords to determine the claims to Irish peerages.
Special provision for decision of conslitutional questions
* 29. — (1) If it appears to the Lord Lieutenant or a Secretary of State expedient in the public interest that steps shall be taken {or the speedy determination of the question whether any Irish Act or any provision thereof, or any Irish Bill or any provision thereof, is beyond the powers of the Irish Parliament, he may represent the same to His Majesty in Council, and thereupon the said question shall be forthwith referred to and heard and determined by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, constituted as if hearing an appeal from a court in Ireland.
(2) Upon the hearing of the question such persons as seem to the Judicial Committee to be interested may be allowed to appear and be heard as parties to the case, and the decision of the Judicial Committee shall be given in like manner asif it Were the decision of an appeal, the nature of the report or recommendation to His Majesty being stated in open court.
(3) Nothing in this Act shall prejudice any other power of His Majesty in Council to refer any question to the Judicial Committee or the right of any person to petition His Majesty for such reference.
Appeal in cases where the validity of an Irish law is questioned
30. — (1) Where any decision of the Court of Appeal in Ireland involves the decision of any question as to the validity of any law made by the Irish Parliament, and the decision is not otherwise subject to an appeal to His Majesty the King in Council, an appeal shall lie to His Majesty the King in Council by virtue of this section, but only by leave of the Court of Appeal or His Majesty.
(2) Where any decision of a court in Ireland involves the decision of any question as to the validity of any law made by the Irish Parliament, and the decision is not subject to any appeal to
the Court of Appeal in Ireland, an appeal shall lie to the Court of Appeal in Ireland by virtue of this section.
Lord Lieutenant Office of Lord Lieutenant
