TheSenate of Northern Irelandwas the upper house of theParliament of Northern Irelandcreated by theGovernment of Ireland Act 1920.It was abolished with the passing of theNorthern Ireland Constitution Act 1973.
Senate of Northern Ireland | |
|---|---|
| Devolved Parliament | |
 Arms of Northern Ireland, 1924–1972 | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
| History | |
| Established | 7 June 1921 |
| Disbanded | 30 March 1972 |
| Leadership | |
Lord Glentoran(last) | |
Sir Jack Andrews(last) | |
| Elections | |
| Elected by the Commons viaSTV | |
| Meeting place | |
| Senate Chamber Parliament Buildings,Stormont,Belfast | |
Powers
editIn practice the Senate of Northern Ireland possessed little power and even less influence. While intended as a revising chamber, in practice, debates and votes typically simply replicated those in the Commons.[1]
Location
edit
From 1932, when the building was completed, until 1972, the Senate of Northern Ireland met in the Senate Chamber ofParliament BuildingsinStormonton the eastern outskirts ofBelfast.To make parallels with theBritish House of Lords,members of the Senate sat on red benches.
Senators
editThe Senate consisted of 26 members. Twenty-four members elected by theHouse of Commons of Northern Irelandusing theSingle Transferable Vote(STV), elected in blocks of twelve with each senator's term lasting for two parliaments (i.e. two terms of the House of Commons) and twoex-officiomembers: theLord Mayor of BelfastandMayor of Londonderry.Convention held that, in the event of a by-election, only members of the Commons from the same county would vote on their replacement.[2]The election system was maintained even after the abolition of STV for the House of Commons.[3]
In 1925, at the end of the first parliament, the senators to retire were selected by lot.[4]At the subsequent election, voting papers from the Nationalist MPs andGeorge Hendersonwere deemed to have been submitted late, and were not considered. All these members had given a high preference to the Nationalist candidate, Vincent Devoto, and a subsequent analysis of the transfers showed that these would otherwise have been sufficient to elect him.[5]
Office-holders
editThe key offices in the Senate were:
- Speaker
- 2 Deputy Speakers
- Leader of the House
- Deputy Leader of the House (abolished in 1961).
Political composition
editDuring its history 142 people sat in the upper house. With the addition of theUnionistLord Mayor ofBelfast Corporationand Mayor ofLondonderry Corporation,together with boycotts of the Commons at various times by nationalist parties and fragmentation of the opposition into some parties too small to elect a Senator alone, the upper house proved to be even more heavily Unionist than the lower house. However aNationalist,Thomas Stanislaus McAllister,served two periods as deputy speaker.[6]
The table below shows the political composition of the twenty-four elected members of the Senate, after each election. It does not show subsequent changes of party allegiance, nor changes resulting from by-elections. Following the 1969 election, there was one vacant seat.[7]Other thanHugh O'Doherty,Mayor of Londonderry until 1923, all the ex officio members were Ulster Unionists.
| Election | Unionist | Labour | Nationalist | Ind. Unionist | Independent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1921 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1925 | 23 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1929 | 20 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 1933 | 18 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| 1937 | 20 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 1945 | 18 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 1949 | 17 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| 1953 | 18 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 |
| 1957 | 19 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 |
| 1962 | 18 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 |
| 1965 | 18 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 1969 | 16 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
Peerages
editPeers of the Realmwere disproportionately represented in the Senate. Nine senators were or became peers of the realm at the time of their membership of the Senate. These were thethirdandfourthDukes of Abercorn,Viscount Bangor,Viscount Charlemont,theMarquess of Dufferin and Ava,Lord Glentoran,theMarquess of Londonderry,Lord Massereene and Ferrard,andLord Pirrie.Lord Bangor and Lord Charlemont held Irish titles only; Lord Charlemont had been elected as anIrish representative peerand so sat in the House of Lords, Lord Bangor however did not. At least another three senators subsequently became peers by different routes.Lord Robert Grosvenorinherited the title ofDuke of Westminsterfrom his brother,Sir Basil Brookewas createdViscount Brookeboroughand Victor Cooke was created alife peerasBaron Cooke of Islandreagh.[8]
Abolition
editThe Senate, along with theHouse of Commons,wasproroguedby theNorthern Ireland (Temporary Provisions) Act 1972,and abolished completely by theNorthern Ireland Constitution Act 1973.The old Senate Chamber is now used as a committee room of theNorthern Ireland Assembly.
See also
editReferences
editSources
edit- Harbinson, John F. (1974).The Ulster Unionist Party, 1882–1973.Blackstaff Press.ISBN9780856400766.
- Whyte, Nicholas (17 February 2002)."Members of the Northern Ireland Senate, 1921-72".Northern Ireland Social and Political Archive.Retrieved31 August2017.
- Parliamentary debates (official report) Northern Ireland. The Senate.Vol. 56 vols. Belfast: H.M.S.O. on behalf of the government of Northern Ireland. 1921–1972.OCLC876621671.
Citations
edit- ^Harbinson, pp.122–123
- ^Harbinson, p.122
- ^"Abolition of P.R. in Ulster",Manchester Guardian,6 March 1929, p.7
- ^"Ulster Senate",Manchester Guardian,4 June 1925, p.2
- ^"Missing voting papers",Manchester Guardian,15 July 1925, p.18
- ^Norton, Christopher (2014).The politics of constitutional nationalism in Northern Ireland, 1932-70 between grievance and reconciliation.Manchester New York: Manchester University Press, Palgrave Macmillan.ISBN978-0-7190-5903-2.
- ^Harbinson, pp.178–180
- ^Whyte 2002