IRISH FREE STATE

Southland Times, Issue 22008, 6 May 1933, Page 5

IRISH FREE STATE

REMOVAL OF THE OATH. QUESTION OF ALLEGIANCE. (British Official Wireless.) Rugby, May 4. In a statement regarding the passage of the Free State Removal of Oath Bill, Mr J. H. Thomas said the United Kingdom Government had made clear its view that the abolition of the oath was in direct conflict with the treaty obligations. This was confirmed by the form of the Free State legislation. The treaty was the fundamental basis of the position of the Free State and in order to achieve its object the. Fiee State had been compelled to include clauses in the legislation purporting not only to abolish the requirement of a Parliamentary oath, but also the repeal of proviijipns of the Constituent Act and the Constitution of the Free State, which set out that the treaty had the force of law and over-riding authority in relation to the Constitution. The United Kingdom Government considered the passage of the Bill v/ould not affect the duty of allegiance to the King or amount to an act of secession. They were advised that the allegiance of the members of the Free State Parliament did not depend upon the swearing of the oath, which by the treaty and Constitution they were required to take, and therefore failure to take the oath was not in itself a repudiation of allegiance. This did not alter the fact that in the view of the United Kingdom Government the removal of the oath was a breach of the treaty.