ABSTRACT
Distrust of the Legislature is a feature of post-War political practice. It is a distrust based, in some cases, on a deteriorating parliamentary personnel, in others on a belief that the Legislature of the nineteenth century is unsuited to deal with the problems of the twentieth. The Irish Constituent Assembly was not carried along by the current of Continental political theory. The Irish Constitution originally divided the legislative power between the Oireachtas and the people expressing their will through the Referendum or the Initiative. The Oireachtas has the exclusive right to regulate the raising and maintaining of the armed forces of the Saorstat, and every force is subject to its control. The Dail constitutes the central organ of the legislative system. It provides motive force in the legislative machine. Its authority extends to two spheres—the legislative and the executive.
