ABSTRACT
The powers that the local bodies exercise can be obliterated at will by the Oireachtas. It was the aim of the Constituent Assembly that the government of Ireland should be decentralized. In the Free State all the powers of government reside in the executive and legislative organs at Dublin. In April 1922 the Ministry of Local Government was established by the Provisional Government. Its functions and duties were defined in the Ministers and Secretaries Act, 1924. The Ministers and Secretaries Act provides the central machinery which controls the local authorities. The Local Government Act of 1925 secures a comprehensive reorganization of the local bodies themselves. The old system was swept aside and a radical reform carried through. In the first place the Rural Districts were abolished as administrative units. The reform of the system for the relief of the poor was from the first taken up by Dail Eireann. The Irish Poor Law dated from 1838.
