User:Jnestorius/Oath of Allegiance (Ireland)
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In the Irish Free State, the oath of allegiance[fn 1] (also Treaty oath, legislative oath, Free State formula, and other names) was an oath of allegiance to the Free State Constitution and an oath of fidelity to King George V. Legislators were required to take the oath before taking their seats in the Oireachtas; similarly for extern ministers not members of the Oireachtas. It was to be administered by the Governor-General or an authorised representative. It read:[3]
- I ... do solemnly swear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the Irish Free State as by law established, and that I will be faithful to H.M. King George V, his heirs and successors by law in virtue of the common citizenship of Ireland with Great Britain and her adherence to and membership of the group of nations forming the British Commonwealth of nations.
The requirement and wording of the oath was specified in Article IV of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921,[3] which formed the basis of Article 17 of the 1922 Constitution, enacted by the pro-Treaty Constituent Assembly.[4] The Treaty ended the 1919–21 War of Independence, but the oath and other contentious provisions led to the 1922–23 Civil War. Fianna Fáil, founded by the anti-Treaty losers of the Civil War, entered Dáil Éireann in 1927 after its TDs were deemed to have "complied with ... Article 17"; the party claimed they had subscribed to an "empty formula" rather than taken an oath. The oath was abolished in 1933, shortly after Fianna Fáil first formed the Free State government.