Extern minister

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Extern ministers in the Irish Free State were government ministers who ran a department but were not part of the Executive Council. They were nominated by Dáil Éireann (the lower house) and, unlike other ministers, did not sit in the cabinet. All ministers were formally appointed by the Governor-General. In practice, extern ministers were junior, technocratic figures and did not have to be lawmakers, though every extern minister who served happened to be a TD.

The idea of extern ministers was debated in the 1920s. James G. Douglas suggested modeling them on the Swiss Federal Council, while others traced ideas back to earlier “Directors” or argued they were similar to UK junior ministers. The aim was partly to placate republicans who opposed the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty by allowing them to hold ministries in a national unity government without taking the oath of allegiance demanded by the Treaty.

The draft constitution would have created an Executive Council of twelve, with four members (including the President and Vice President) required to be from Dáil Éireann. The other eight could include some non-Dáil members. British objections led to changes: extern ministers would have to take the oath and would be appointed by the Governor-General, even though they were nominated by the Dáil. This disappointed republicans, who hoped for independent or non-political figures.

On 6 October 1922, the Third Dáil passed resolutions and committees were set up to draft the constitution’s articles. The relevant provisions were Articles 55 and 56. Extern ministers were assigned to four portfolios: Posts and Telegraphs, Lands and Agriculture, Fisheries, and Local Government and Public Health.

From 1922 to 1927 extern ministers existed, but they effectively formed part of the Cumann na nGaedheal government with the Executive Council rather than acting as outsiders. No extern minister was chosen from outside the Dáil or from opposition parties. The plan for corporatist vocational councils mentioned in Article 56 was never carried out. The 1924 Ministers and Secretaries Act required that the parliamentary secretary of an extern minister be a Dáil member, whereas for Executive Council ministers the secretary could be from either house; in practice, only Dáil deputies were appointed.

A noted issue involved a report from the Minister for Agriculture, Patrick J. Hogan, submitted to the Executive Council in 1923; Labour leader Thomas Johnson objected that the report should have gone to the Dáil, not the Executive Council.

In 1927, Amendment No. 5 increased the size of the Executive Council from seven to twelve. With the council at its maximum size, there was little point in having extern ministers, so the practice ended and their portfolios were absorbed into the Executive Council. The amendment also reduced the likelihood of senators becoming extern ministers. Amendment No. 15 in 1929 allowed a senator to be a member of the Executive Council. The 1937 Constitution later required ministers to be members of the Oireachtas.

In 2013, the Constitutional Convention suggested allowing non-legislators to become ministers, but Taoiseach Enda Kenny rejected the idea. There have been two exceptions: Seán Moylan in 1957 and James Dooge in 1981–1982.